mostly david ephgrave

I’m starting to wonder if being pencilled for a commercial actually means anything. When you're pencilled, the production company want you to keep the shooting dates free in your diary; in other words, you’re down to the last few. It’s a step up from the alternative, which is not hearing anything, and assuming – but not knowing for sure – that you’re out of the running. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to this point a fair few times in the last couple of years, but have been unlucky enough to not get any further. In some senses, it’s a boost in confidence: I must be doing something right. Then again, maybe I’m not getting it quite right enough. I'm aware that's a stupid thing to say, knowing how fickle the world of commercial casting is. A lot of it is down to how you look – but it’s frustrating to get close so many times, without getting the money in the bank. The worst thing is you often don’t hear anything else after being pencilled. The filming dates ge...

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 ...