Taking A Risk

It all started when I told my friends that a film company was coming to our town doing international auditions for a movie. Their goal was to find new talent to play big roles. That way it wouldn’t cost as much to hire us and they could spend more money on filming and promotion. Taking normal civilians and turning them into movie stars, it was brilliant. But with such a promise came a lot of people auditioning hoping to be the one who made it. 

I’ve shown interest in being an actor by doing the school plays and such but I’ve never been definitive about it, so when my friends said I should audition I didn’t think anything of it. Until I got home and looked into it a little bit. I found that they would be paying the actors $150,000 for 2-3 weeks of filming and a couple more weeks of promotional tours. That’s not much if you were Brad Pitt but for a civilian getting paid minimum wage, that's a dream come true. So I eventually convinced myself to do it. I mean it’s not like it was guaranteed that I would get a part at all so really why not give it a try and take a bit of a risk? The directors sent me a copy of the script and list of the characters. The main character reminded me a lot of myself in a way so I decided I might as well go for the main roll. 

A month later I was driving up to my town’s local studio where the film company had set up for auditions. I had decided to give this my all so I practiced twice a day for 30 minutes. I could slowly see progression in my acting and now I am more confident than ever. I could see a big line of people hoping to get a roll and make it big in the movie biz. I was starting to get worried because I could see a lot of guys that were taller and better looking than I am. When I finally got to the front of the line after hours of seeing worried and disappointed people walk out of the very doors I was about to walk into. 

Inside was well air conditioned and there was food on tables against almost every wall. I was given a name tag and told to go to the room where they were doing the auditions. When I got in the room I was greeted by the directors and the role casters, those were the people that I really needed to impress. The directors reminded me of the piece that I was told to prepare for the role I wanted. It was a small part of the script that included dialogue and actions. The directors ask me if I'm ready then say “3, 2, 1, Action!”

 I did the scene perfectly with no mistakes, just the way I had practiced. I even got a standing ovation afterward. I was very happy with my performance and so were the directors. The casters didn’t look impressed but I knew they were. The directors thanked me and we shook hands. I made my way out with the biggest smile on my face. As soon as I got home I texted my friends telling them how good I did. I got back a bunch of “congrats” and thumbs up emojis.

A couple of weeks later I got an email saying I got the main roll and congratulating me, there was also a document with the filming days and promotion tour schedules. I flipped out when I got that email. My friends and I went out to celebrate that night. My friends brought up a good point asking how I'm going to manage my normal job and my new job. I went home and thought on it for a bit. I came to the conclusion that I would have to take a huge risk and quit my job because I wouldn’t have time to work on anything else. It was really hard but with support from my family and friends I was able to build up the courage to resign from my job. Afterward I bought a plane ticket to Atlanta, Georgia where they would be filming.

When I landed in Atlanta, I went to the hotel the film company would be paying for us to stay at. After getting settled in I went to the film studio. When I got there I stared in awe. The studio was huge, I could see people with headsets and golf carts going back in fourth in a hurry. I saw huge set pieces going in and out of the buildings. It was just as the movies showed it. So much commotion was making me anxious, I needed to calm down so I took a deep breath said a quick prayer and got out of my car. I made my way towards the studio and was met by a lady wearing a headset once I got there. She was talking so fast that all I could understand was “make up trailers” and “ASAP!” I made my way to the make up trailers and got on my makeup. It seemed to barely make a difference but whatever. I went back to the studio and was told to drive to the first place we would be filming. The place we would be filming was up on a mountain somewhere. I could see a huge camera on a crane and lots of other equipment. Someone yelled “we’re on in five!” 

Five minutes later I'm the center of attention, the guy behind the camera says”ready? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Action!” I’m a movie star. After a few more weeks of filming and promotion the movie was released in theaters around the world. It was a huge success. It got a 99% on the rotten tomatoes and more than 100 10/10 ratings. I did it, It was worth the risk after all.