Friday, November 18, 2005

Well, That's Didn't Go Over Well

They were having interviews for a Reality TV pilot today searching for a film student to interview famous directors. I missed my spot early in the day, but stopped by at the end and got squeezed in.

They were working at a fast pace and so they laid out the instructions quickly to me...

"Can I go over what I'm supposed to say?"

"Sure."

"Okay, you want my name, my three favorite directors and two questions I would ask one of the directors?"

"Yes. And I'll play the director."

"Okay, I can ask anything I want?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. My name is Greg Johnson," a sudden wave of nervousness hit me, "My three favorite living directors are Michael Mann, Quentin Tarantino, and Alex Payne. I'd like to ask Alexander Payne a question. So Alex, I know you went to film school back in the day and I have a theory that a lot of young men go to film school to increase their chances at getting women. My question is whether being a successful filmmaker has gotten you more women?"

The girl interviewer slumps over in her chair, apparently it's been a long day.

"This isn't entertainment tonight. It's supposed to be filmmaker to filmmaker."

"Oh. I thought you said anything I wanted."

"Yeah, but about the filmmaking process."

"Well, that screws up the second question, too."

Shrug. I pause uncomfortably trying to think of a non-lame question.

"Okay, how many times during the week do you read something or hear about something you think would make a good movie?"

"All right, thanks for coming in."

2 comments:

robyn said...

Dear Greg

If this show doesn't want questions like that than it's probably going to be a boring show.

From Robyn

Anonymous said...

i agree with robyn, and i would add that taking your route was not a mistake. the people casting know what they want and they are going to find it. it doesn't do you any good to pretend to ask questions that you aren't interested in just like the two dozen other auditioners did. you say what you want to say in a way that gets them to notice you, and either they like it or they don't, but you don't fade into the grey like i'm sure all of the others did.