So on Tuesday night I was browsing craigslist and saw and add that was titled...."Pregnant Actress Needed." When I opened up the add it said...
A national company is producing a series of educational videos pertaining to Maternal Newborn Care. We are looking for someone who fits the role of a 23-27 week pregnant patient. Acting experience is preferred but not required. You must be available for at least three consecutive days of video shoots. Please email me if you are interested. Thank you.
I have been working REALLY hard at getting my private practice off the ground but as it is still not where I am wanting or needing it to be, I have been trying to find something that would give us some extra money for our next trip home and pre school tuition which is due, believe it or not, in a couple of months. Anyway when I read this I thought...."Why not, I will respond." The next morning (yesterday) I received a call from the production company asking if I would like to come in and audition for the part. Upon further conversation, she told me that they were making a video educational series for nursing students. She asked me if I would be available November 7th-11th. I was disappointed because I told her I would be out of town until the 7th but was available the other days. She that would not be a problem. She then told me that I would need to memorize a script that she was going to send me and come into Coeur d'Alene the following morning to read for the part. I was hesitant because if I got it, this would start the day after I returned from Mexico and there was some traveling involved. However, she then told me I would get paid $30 an hour and Cliff and I had heard enough. We were going to make it work if I were to get the role....... She sent me the script last night and it was very basic and not long at all. The only thing I was worried about was playing a character who had something wrong with her baby. Not something I really wanted to think about.
Cliff rearranged his schedule so that I could drive to Idaho this afternoon. I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if I was the only one auditioning or if there were several others or even what the audition was going to be like. When I got there I realized I had a time slot reserved just for me and the casting director. They put me on a green stage with a little set and a production assistant was there to read lines with me. She then asked me to do the scenes I had memorized. While I did this, she took notes and watched me through a screen from the back. After the two short scenes I had rehearsed she told me she had a curve ball for me. She gave me two scenes I had not seen before and told me that she wanted me to read them quickly and memorize them as fast as I could. They were a lot harder to memorize than the other two and more difficult to portray as well. One of them was basically me yelling at the "nurse" to tell me what was going on with my baby. When I was done, she asked me about my acting experience. I told her I had no film experience but had done several live theatre productions in high school and college. She then told me that she could tell and she thought I was a very good actress. I had not been that flattered in a very long time. She then offered me the part!!! I was pretty excited.
She then went on to describe what the three days would be like during shooting. She said I would be filming 15-20 scenes a day and that a lot of the script I would not get until that day because they production company was still working on it and that was why she needed to know if I could memorize quickly but still perform it well. I told her I thought that would be fine. She then said.....I hope you don't mind but we are actually going to be filming in Spokane. I told her this was great because that was where I was from. She then said it would be at an actual hospital....Holy Family. I started to laugh and told her this hospital was two blocks from my house and was actually where I was going to be delivering. She thought this was very funny. She told me that I would probably know all of the nurses by a first name basis by the time we were done.
So anyway. I shoot November 8th, 9th, and 10th. On Tuesday and Wednesday it will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Thursday it will be from 7 p.m to 2 a.m. That one will be a challenge. I'm excited. I think it will be fun and after doing the math....Cliff and I realized that the pay will cover the three plane tickets we need to buy for our trip home in early summer (Ryla and Noah will fly for free). I have been praying that God would open doors for me to provide for my family and this was certainly a fun door to be opened. I will let you know how it goes.....and if they let me I will take some pictures. Oh and Dad....no worries.....only my belly will be exposed for a couple of scenes.
