King of the Pencils.


If I had a pencil for every time I have been penciled for a job and not got it, I’d now have an awful lot of pencils. At the very least, I’d have break into a new pencil case.

Admittedly, I just used the word pencil far too many times (there I go again). Perhaps this will help illustrate my point; the pencil-ratio of this blog and the pencil-ratio after castings pretty much match up 1:1.

(For those who don’t know, being penciled for a job means you’re down to the last few – and they'd like you to remain available for the shoot dates, just in case.)

The most recent occasion was particularly frustrating. The company had got as far as asking my availability for a wardrobe fitting and checking that my passport was up-to-date for the shoot, then called again the following day to say I hadn’t got it.

To be fair, I was surprised I’d been in the running for the job; I didn’t think I did very well at the original casting (which I've already covered here). It’s a shame, though; being penciled brought it back into my mind again – and the prospect of the money couldn’t have been better timed in the lead-up to Christmas.

At least things are heading in the right direction. If I never heard back, I’d assume I was doing something wrong. That said, it’s also possible that I’m not doing something right, to ease my transition from pencil to ink.

Perhaps it will end up like that old cliché of waiting for a bus: eventually, a load of jobs will come along at once.

Here’s hoping...

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