Found out yesterday afternoon that I won’t get a chance to be The Actor. “They liked you very much, but it’s not going any further,” is what my manager told me. The feedback wasn’t any more specific than that, so I have to go with my instinct, which tells me that I did an okay job, but I probably should have been off book (not really possible with just two days to prepare, but if other actors could do it, it puts me at a disadvantage). The play takes place in New York, and it wouldn’t be the first time in my life that I didn’t get an acting job because I don’t have that ephemeral thing that makes New Yorkers New Yorkers.
It’s hard not to second-guess myself when I don’t get an cast in a role, especially since the ratio runs about 600:1 in favor of rejection . . . and though The Actor is profoundly disappointed that I won’t get a chance to be part of this production, The Writer is pretty proud of what we got out of the experience. In fact, I told Anne yesterday that I feel like I’m standing at the gates of something cool. I don’t know what it is, but I think I’m about to scrape something wonderful off my brains.
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I was listening to the Garden State soundtrack for the first time in a while yesterday and noticed the “luscious mix of words and tricks” line in a Shins song… My brain was instantly like “aHA! That’s what that’s from.”
Amazing that I never noticed that line before.
However, “I drink good coffee…” (also from the Garden State soundtrack) was a bit more recognizable 🙂
It’s amazing how much of that soundtrack I wouldn’t have picked up to listen to on my own but is now in my personal “top 40 ever”
I think it started with a conversation with a friend about “..what’s Wil Wheaton up to these day?..” Then somehow I stumbled upon this site and thought excitedly, “He’s into Linux?!” Anyway, one of the first things I noticed about the site it how well written it is. There’s a self deprecating, and at the same time, irreverent sense of humor imbued in everything, and it takes more that just celebrity to keep people interested in a blog. Also, your grammar is very good 😉 An introspective insight into an audition is why I keep reading WWdN.
*Cheers!
“..feel like I’m standing at the gates of something cool. I don’t know what it is, but I think I’m about to scrape something wonderful off my brains.”
And we’re looking forward to seeing what that scraping reveals —
yeah, i was going to ask if someone was listening to too much of the garden state soundtrack besides me (for the last 3 months). oh well…
about the jorb, eh. at least you had the chance to audition. you always have so much going for you that it seems like anything else might just knock the equilibrium off, you know. keep it simple – it’s the easiest way of enjoying life. ^_^
mmmmmm… brains!
Well it’s a shame about the role, but the way you wrote about the experience was something else. I hope you discover what it is you are at the Gates of, because I think it is going to be quite something.
Carry on…. there will be more auditions, but you can ALWAYS write regardles 🙂
You’re getting out. You’re taking your cuts.
You know, as well as anyone, it’s about quality at-bats.
QABs will translate into hits. Sometimes it’s a dinger, and sometimes it’s a sqeaker that finds a hole.
Either, keep taking your swings.
Ah! Rejection! I know it well. I have no witty commentary nor helpful pep-talk to add, so I won’t try. But I will advise you to hie the hence to a Trader Joe’s and get yourself a big can of Bay Blend. Bestest coffee ever.
Man, I have something to learn from your insight. I recently was gearing up to do my first big leading roles as an opera singer – that’s two books of music and a lot of wear on the voice – and though it was with a small professional company, I was more than stoked.
The company had to cancel the production a month from showtime and now have filed Chapter 11 so I won’t even be paid a percentage for a while. My Writer Guy was asleep when all this happened, and when he woke, the Tenor told him to go back to sleep because the Tenor was too depressed to deal with him.
So congrats to you anyway for having a more alert and strong-willed Writer.
So, Wil, how’s that script coming?
Oh wait. You’ve never talked about writing a script. Humm. That’s odd.
oh i LOVE the feeling of standing on the edge of something cool. I like to say epiphany, only because i like to use the word epiphany (it makes me feel smrrt) but it
Everything happens for a reason.
You may not have gotten the job, but you got a great story from it, had an awesome time, and now you feel as if you are on the threshold of something spectacular.
Seems to me you got more than you bargained for… and it’s all good!
*proud*
Tasty, tasty brain scrapes! Now, with even more Gray Matter!
Half the calories and twice the taste, with just a hint of Hegel! Yummm!
“…I’m about to scrape something wonderful off my brains.”
I wish I’d written that.
You know, it could be worse. You could test concrete and soil for a living. Okay, I jest. That’s what I do and I actually enjoy my job. (Take that liberal arts education! I use my philosophy and religious studies degrees to work in construction!) I can’t complain, as it’s far better than the months and months of unemployment I endured after graduating. You know, at least you have a manager to tell you when something’s not going to work out. This is a big contrast to non-entertainment professions, where you have to sit and wait by the phone for a week hoping and praying that your interviewers will call you back for a second interview. The waiting was always the worst part of the interview process.
Follow your intuition wil.. it seems like you felt alot like this before you got the book deal too.
🙂
~I study nuclear science, I love my classes….~
Hey Wil,
Well, I can certainly teach you about that “ephemeral thing that makes New Yorkers,” since I am a native NYer. Need any tips? *giggles*
Anyway, great attitude, and insite, in this entry. I commend you. 🙂
So sorry to hear you didn’t get the gig. But I can’t wait to see what you scrape up instead.
Here’s a word of advice from your elder (I’m 17 days older than you)… heh heh heh
Everything in life happens for a reason, even if you don’t know what the reason is.
It wasn’t meant to be, so don’t over-think why you weren’t cast, you end up killing more brain cells than necessary, which in turn creates more of that brain goo you’d end up scraping off.
In my humble opinion, you were meant for bigger and better things. I’ve always thought that.
But what the hell do I know, I’ve been standing at the same damn gate for 32 years wondering when they intend on letting me in. (Sometimes you just have to climb over to see what lies on the other side… I just hope the gate isn’t electrified… but that would just be my luck)
Maybe a bad brain fry is better than a good brain scrape… gives you something to think about.
🙂 Kel
“scrape something wonderful off my brains”
great image.
… sometimes I think I’m standing in front of the gates of hell, and the devil is scraping my brain…
That’s a bad thing, right?
Word of advice (yes, more advice)… verify the address of the gate you are standing in front of, before the scraping of brains is attempted.
It’s like geocaching… in order to find the cache, you must make sure you have an accurate GPS (unlike the one I have, accurate within 300 yds, a major POS)… I could be accidentally scraping brains in front of the gates of Disneyland, and that could scare the children, when I should have been 300 yards down the road (which puts me in the parking lot) and the only humans I would be scraping brains in front of there would be the parking lot cast dressed in funny attire. A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE.
Location is everything.
tough break.
right attitude.
keep up the good work wil.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the role. But it seems like you had a good time auditioning. And you wrote a very cool blog about it, so not a total loss.
A New Yorker? As in Manhattan? Well, that would have been interesting to see you pull off. I hate to say this (please don’t hate me!) but you seem very Southern Californian to me. I don’t know why that is, maybe I know too much about you from reading these blogs from day one. But I know you’re a fine actor and it would have been cool to see you do something different, like your recent CSI work.
Hey Wil,
It sounds to me like you had a kick ass audition. There really isn’t any good way to console someone when they didn’t get a part… but when I auditioned for parts in college I told myself and my friends, “You can only pick the parts you don’t get.”
That has gotten me through a few auditions, and it was that sentiment that helped inspire me and a few friends, sick of not getting cast, to start a radio sketch comedy show.
I’ve been reading WWDN for a few months now, and I’ve seen you act since I was a kid. You can write, and you can act. Keep doing it, and try out for a few more theatre parts… Remember, you can only choose the parts you son’t get, and the books you don’t write, the pictures you don’t take…