"Hi Judy,
I'm wondering if I could ask your advice on a weird callback I had today.
I signed in and we all waited for a while. They had been going in groups of 4 but by the time they got to me they had no one left. They did ask one girl to stay and go again with me, but the scene was supposed to be with two other guys as well. There were two parts to the commercial - we did the first take and the director cut us off before the second part. He then quickly went into the next take and I felt rushed right into it, so the second take was probably really jumbled and again he never let us get to the second part. When the girl and I got outside she said that that was nothing like it was the first time she went in.
I've been rushed through auditions and callbacks before and rarely feel good about how it went after.
What would you have done in this situation?"
-Feeling Rushed
I understand your frustration.
It doesn't sound like an ideal callback situation. And I think you handled it as best you could. It is possible they were going according to appointment time and not according to the sign in list.
If you ever feel rushed. You can always say, "Let me do that again" or "Can I have another pass at that?" When all is said and done, you have to let it go and move on to the next opportunity. You did nothing wrong.
We have to adopt that attitude of divine nonchalance, in which we do our best but there is little to no need for the job. Always happy to be of service to the spot as you are a unique and fantastic talent, should they choose you.
All the best,
Judy Kain
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Judy Kain has been a professional actress now for 37 years, showcasing her skills and talents in over 350 commercials and in over 80 roles for film and television.
Some of her more well-known credits include a Television Series Regular on The Jackie Thomas Show and a Recurring role on the Emmy-winning show Mad Men, a role which won her a SAG Award. Her other favorite recurring credits include Married with Children, For Your Love, Grosse Pointe, and Manhattan, AZ with Chad Everett. She has done numerous guest appearances on the hit shows Modern Family, The Middle, Bones, Castle, Scrubs, Desperate Housewives, ER, Seinfeld, The District, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, Friends, and The Drew Carey Show just to name a few. Her teaching career has also lead to immense success, being voted BACKSTAGE WEST'S FAVORITE ON-CAMERA COMMERCIAL TEACHER IN LA in 2010 and 2011. Her other acting classes have won BACKSTAGE WEST'S FAVORITE IN LA as well, and continue to produce amazing results for her students. She teaches Advanced Callback, Commercial A to Z and Commercial Wednesday Workouts.