There are a lot of forms of success. Yesterday was full of fun although the end may not have been as successful as some might think to me it was a very fun time! My aunt took me to breakfast for my birthday before I had to go to work. After work and grabbing a bite to eat, I headed out armed with the GPS to the city for the Millionaire casting call. I arrived at my hotel in good time (enough to watch a rather depressing All Star Game). I did manage to get a few hours of sleep before I woke at 4AM. I arrived at the Hilton about 5AM and was given instructions on where the other auditioners were assembling (the doors did not open until 6). I was pleasantly surprised in seeing only 25-30 people in front of me. I was not sure if there would be people with tents and sleeping bags or not. I also noticed the local tv crew on the scene. I texted the house to have someone start taping… just in case. However, for whatever reason, my sister (who drops her daughters at the house before she goes to work at 6) failed to receive the message. Figures since the gentleman right in front of me was interviewed. I will have to keep checking the site to see if the segment pops up.
By 6AM, there was a good number of people in line. The camera travelled the length of the line along with staff from Millionaire who encouraged us to show some enthusiasm. Of course, that was not difficult for me. Some of the people behind me were a bit camera shy wishing for a paper bag to put over their head. Honestly, what would happen if one of them were selected to be on the show if they could not be on film for a passing camera?
At about 6:15, the first 300 were corralled into a waiting room where t-shirts were thrown out. Then came the big moment. We were shown to the the testing site where we were given a 10 minute 30 question multiple choice test. I thought I was back in grade school with a bubble test with a number 2 pencil. This made it extremely easy to learn who passed since the cards with our responses were fed into an electronic reader. Although I thought that I had done well, my number was not one of the many of my group who were announced. However, there were a few from my table who did. Plus, a friend from the theater who was in a later group successfully completed the test and was to return for an interview at noon. Good luck, Squirmy!
On my way home, I stopped into Wal-Mart where one of my former co-workers said that she had seen me on the news. After grabbing some breakfast at McD’s, I came home and crashed. So although I will not be advancing to NYC and being asked “Is That Your Final Answer?”, the experience was priceless. Plus, he newscast at noon reported that the response was so positive that there may be another cattle call in the future.
There was something in the paper about auditions in my area, but your writeup is much better than the paper’s small blurb. Sorry you won’t be moving on to the next round, but at least you’re famous from the news. 😉
Yes, D. They were in your neck of the woods earlier this week. Plus the response here was so great that they anticipate a return to the area in the future. So much fun though!
Cool that you had fun, guess your advancement wasn’t meant to be. Perhaps the shy people in line were really great “at home” players of Millionaire and saw being on camera as a bad side effect to getting to play the professional version of a favorite game or something like that, who knows… maybe they figured – no more camera time than necessary!!