Arabella Winston had moved to Los Angeles from Denver, Colorado when she was 22 years old. She had decided to make her move despite her parents’ and friends’ objections. She was tall, athletic, and very attractive, and had graduated from college with a BA in acting. She was 26 now and taking Mr. B’s acting workshop and doing very well. She’d been in other acting workshops, but his was the best.
This morning she was standing in the checkout line at a Safeway store as Alice Tripp, a character in the film, “A Place In The Sun.” Arabella was dressed as a factory worker, and was counting the money in her change purse to be sure she had enough for the items in her basket. She was buying ingredients to make a birthday cake for George, another character in the film who she’s in love with and is carrying his baby. In the movie, Alice makes a special dinner with a birthday cake and ice cream for George, who doesn’t show up until the wee hours of the morning after the dinner has been ruined and the ice cream has melted.
The exercise of going to the market as Alice had been very helpful. She had a new appreciation for how someone like this was treated and how it affected her self-confidence. She felt every bit of research she did in doing this kind of character work brought her closer to being Alice. She was now homeward bound to make the birthday cake.
Arabella had been living with a very successful producer named Jeff Reynolds, who was 15 years her senior. They had met a year ago at a screening of one of his films. He was attractive, intense, and could be intimidating. He praised her for her beauty and sense of style, but wasn’t exactly taken with the idea of her having an acting career. His lack of enthusiasm for her work and overall lack of interest in her career made her feel less and somehow unimportant.
When she arrived home from the market, Jeff seemed annoyed and told her that her cell phone had been ringing non-stop and asked why she hadn’t taken it with her. She told him she was doing character work and didn’t want it to distract her while she was out. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. She felt stupid for trying so hard to do good work. Her exercise that morning which she’d felt so good about now seemed trivial and unimportant. Jeff clearly made her feel ridiculous for thinking she could succeed in this business. She hated the feeling that she didn’t measure up, especially when he walked out of the room the way he just did.
When she picked up her phone, she discovered her agent had called three times. When she called him back, he bristled that she hadn’t returned his call sooner. He hadn’t sent a text, as he wanted to talk to her in person. When he finished scolding her, he told her that they wanted to see her that afternoon for a supporting role in the new David Sanders film. They had to re-cast the role, thus the short notice, as they needed to move quickly.
Arabella was jumping for joy! She ran to her computer to read the email with all of the info on the character and the scene. It was perfect. She was this person. She knew her, she understood her, she loved her. This was her part, she had to get it.
When she walked into the casting director’s office that afternoon at five, she was really nervous, but oddly enough, felt more ready than she’d ever been in her life. They were waiting for her and took her right into read. It was a tough room, they were polite, but not exactly friendly. No one went out of their way to make her feel at ease. When she finished the audition, they were very positive and told her how much they liked what she did with the part and the little dance she’d improvised at the end. One of the producers was even smiling at her as she left. It couldn’t have gone better.
The casting director walked her out and said they were seeing two other actresses and they’d let her know something in the next couple of days. Two days was an eternity. She thought about calling Jeff to tell him how well it had gone, but decided against it. She wanted to tell someone who would be excited for her and called her agent instead.
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