Here’s a short story about a Friday audition that turned into a Monday callback that turned into a Wednesday booking that turned into a Friday firing. That’s right, I was let go from a commercial booking a mere two days after landing the job. To make the circumstances particularly unusual, the boot came in the midst of my fitting.
As I was escorted upstairs by a PA, I thought about how cool it was to be one step closer to being on set of a national commercial production. I arrived at the makeshift office location and found a mix of production team and ad agency in the thick of preparing for a big shoot just two days away.
Wardrobe wasn’t quite ready, so I was put in holding, which was adjacent to what appeared to be the war room. Approximately ten minutes ticked by as I waited to be called in, but the call never came. Instead, a request to call my representation would be made by the same PA who escorted me up. “Sure,” I said. “What should I tell them?” The PA couldn’t give me direction, so he asked, again, that I call my reps. “Of course. Do you need to speak with them?” This time he offered, “It has to do with contracts.”
I excused myself to make the call. Once connected, I learned that, behind the scenes, moves were being made to cast the backup for my role. At that moment, details were sparse, but my team was working to gather more information and to keep the deal together. In the meantime, I was asked to hang tight.
I made my way back to holding and was met by the PA, who was prepared to excuse me. I let him know I’d be standing by a few minutes per the direction of my team. Production appeared to know little about what was happening, but welcomed me to stay. After an awkward ten minutes, I received word from my reps that the deal was off.
Long story short, my team did a fantastic job protecting our interests and pulled me from a deal that ultimately would have taken more than what would have been gained. All in all, this was a great experience. It was deflating at first, but when the specifics came to light, I took comfort in knowing my team made me the priority and was not prepared to settle for lesser terms.
I’m sharing this one for the actors out there trekking through their own battlefields. You win some, you lose some. And sometimes you lose the ones you win.