“Lauren, they want you back on Monday.”
“They what?” you say, your mouth half full of noodles. You were in the middle of dinner when your agent, Karen, called.
“It’s called a call-back, sweetie,” she says enjoying your moment of weakness, something you rarely showed. That was something that led to your decision to go into acting. Well, sort of. After moving to L.A. for college, you decided to pursue a part time career as an actress. Your resume consists of commercials for alcoholic beverages, feminine products, and orange juice as well as a few jobs as an extra on kids shows.
“On Monday? But the audition was Friday,” you say, realizing that was only yesterday. As you pace in an L shape in your tiny kitchen, Karen explains to you how things will go on Monday. This was the first audition you did for an actual role, you stuck to small things, just to pay the bills, in addition to the checks you got from Youtube. You made beauty videos on Youtube, which you started back in the summer before your junior year in high school. Nearly three years later, you had a steady 200,000 subscribers, which saying was insane was an understatement. It started out as a hobby, but became so much more.
“Be there early, like always. Promise to call me after, too,” she says. Karen became more than an agent, she was your mentor, as well as your manager.
“Okay, I promise. Talk to you Monday,”
“Talk to you Monday, bye,”
“Bye.”
Tuesday Evening
“Hello, Ms. Stone, this is Amanda, the casting director from Roseden Production Company, we spoke at your callback and at the screen-test. I’m just calling to say we’d like for you to come back tomorrow for another screen test, this time with the person casted for Oliver. We’ll expect you at 11 tomorrow morning, if you have any questions, we’ve also sent an email and our contact information is on there. See you tomorrow,” a voice message plays. You stare at the little red number flashing on your home phone. After your callback Monday, they asked you to do a screen test with the actor Colin Ferguson, who would play the father the next day. Everything was going very quickly, you had only heard about the audition a week before, and decided to do it because it was your favorite book. The book, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith had been your favorite book since high school. Now, you’re going to screen test with “Oliver”. Things were moving fast, for better or for worse.
Wednesday Morning, 11:08
“Oh, here he is, our Oliver’s here,” Amanda, the casting director says. A boy with bright green eyes and messy hair enters the room and says to you, “Hi, I’m Harry Styles, I’m playing Oliver,” with an extended hand.
