Industry Woes

Hey guys how you been? Hopefully you've been doing a little better than I have in fact, I can almost bet you have lol. Well the last time I wrote to you guys I was nervous about my audition that i had that night for the Bridal show showcase. I promised that I'd update you guys on how it went so here goes..

Obstacle #1 was actually finding the place. I knew the boutique was in the Eton plaza (the one in woodmere with Trader Joe's in it) but it took me ten minutes of driving around the parking lot before I realized that the place was actually inside the tiny "mall". ughh. So I walk in the building with my freshly shaven face (which I'm actually starting to like), dark blue jeans, black v-neck, black dress shoes. pea coat and scarf. I walk down the hallway with my head swinging back and forth from left to right looking for this audition site all the while practicing my posture. Needless to say I was nervous and it showed.

After walking for what seemed like forever I noticed a line of about 14 of the tallest women (besides volleyball players) that I've ever seen. This had to be the place. Before I go any further let me throw this in here

Disclaimer:

*Note, the world is full of beautiful women and men(no homo). Me saying that a girl is PHYSICALLY beautiful does not discredit my love for Brooke at all. I may be biased and think that she is an "angel" but im not ignorant. Other people are beautiful also.*

With that out of the way..

As I drew closer to the crowd not only did i notice that the young women were tall ( about 5'11" barefoot + wearing 4 in heels) but, I noticed that they were quite possibly the most beautiful girls/women I've ever seen in Ohio. If I wasnt nervous before I definitely was now. I got in line behind them and smiled at some of the younger girl's mothers who must have sensed I was nervous and in efforts to calm me down smiled back and said "you look very nice". Did it work? FUCK NO but, it stopped my shaking lol. After standing in line for about 40 sec. I realized that all the male models were actually sitting at tables while the women were in line to the boutique. So I got outta line and quickly sat down at a table with friendly lookin dude who if I had known was a "talker" I would have reconsidered my seating choice.

As I'm sitting there watching the girls go in the boutique one at a time, I did what any other insecure male would at that moment. I began to size up my competition. I looked around at the different guys who to be honest, didnt really have much that was special looking about them. To their credit however all of them looked as though they had skin like a baby's behind, smooth and blemish free. In this industry that is always a big plus. Out of the 10 total guys there I will have to admit probably 3 of them had striking facial features that would help them stand out from a crowd their downfall however, was the fact that they were "pretty boys". When we all finally stood up I could tell that most of these guys looked like they never did anything physical in their lives besides pick up a styling brush in other words, there were alot of "frail" looking guys. I'm not a "big" guy by any means but my v-neck was makin me look like Ronnie next to these fools. Advantage Marc right? Let's see..

Meanwhile as the guys sat, the women went in, put on dresses and strutted. Half of these "beautiful" women lost their beautiful status in MY book once they took off their jackets. Talk about skinny! Ribcages and shoulders galore. I couldn't help but feel sorry for these girls who see beauty in being thin just because Hollywood says so. That sight was actually quite saddening and made me forget my nerves for a moment. That is until a short brunette woman abruptly interrupted my daydreaming and appeared in front of me asking for my "Name and Agency?". Time to get started.

The woman apologized to the guys for our long wait and in an effort to expedite things asked all the men to line up and take turns walking in the hallway yes, in plain sight of the women's audition line, waiting parents and mall goers. How exciting. Even though I was one of the last to arrive, with the way we lined up I was second in line to walk. The lady asked us to walk down the hallway, pivot, walk back and repeat. So walk down and back twice. The guy ahead of me walked down came back only once and before he could go down again she said "Thank you Thomas, that's enough". Ouch. Now my turn. I made sure my head was back and I was "tall" and began my long walk. I stopped. I posed. I pivoted. I came back. I posed and before I could begin my second trip down the hallway i heard the woman say "honey?". In my head I thought dammit!! well this is it, I'm gonna get the boot a la Thomas. I replied "Yes ma'am?" waiting for the bad news. To my surprise all she said was "Be sure to smile this time. You have a nice smile can you please show us?". *whew. So I embark on another trip down the hallway and back probably over doing the smile (ughhh) and when I get back I'm expecting to hear "Okay Marc, thank you. Have a nice day" instead she asks me to do my walk one more time but, only halfway down the hallway this time. She said she wants to see "How you're pivoting, one more time".

This was good and bad I realized, Good for that fact that she is so interested in me that she actually wants me to walk 2 and 1/2 times instead of 1 but, this request was bad for the fact that I knew my pivot was questionable. I did my walk and tried sooo hard to pivot smoothly. I walked back towards her tall, confident and with a smile. For the first time in the entire day I was confident. I "knew" that I was gonna be in that show. I "knew" that I was the best model there. I was just standing there waiting for HER to tell me that. She instead told me this, "Thank you Marc, I've seen enough".

......

Shock, sadness, confusion. It all hit me at once. I just smiled, thanked her, grabbed my jacket and left. Whether or not I'm going to get a call back from them, who knows? All I know is that I can't swell on it if I don't. I am still in classes and am still learning. That was a learning experience and it was far from the "end of the road". All in all I'm staying optimistic but, somewhat doubtful of getting a call back. If I do I'll be sure to tell you guys though. Oh well, it was an experience and I'll grow from it. I may not gain work from the audition but, I did gain a bunch of confidence that's for sure! :)