Being Coached To Argue

      TV off today, no distractions. I figure I don’t need anything competing with my thoughts or attention. Especially since I’m not watching anything good. It’s weird to choose something you know you’re going to mostly be ignoring. I never pick a movie or something I’d actually be interested in watching, so I’m basically picking something to ignore. Then why pick? I thought about it after I wrote to you about it a couple of weeks ago. This deserves my attention. My complete attention. Although, now I’m noticing the nice breeze coming through the house, and the chirping of birds, and I’m thinking how calming it is. It goes to show that there are all kinds of ways to be distracted, and that we probably don’t need to be adding to them. Now I sit staring at the screen, wondering if sometimes the idle chatter from the TV provides some kind of launching point for ideas. And that’s how quickly it can change. I’m sticking with it. Afterall, I have a lot to say, I was just wondering if I was too far into the first paragraph to begin. It may seem a bit abrupt. Should I complete the thought I’m on? Have I already done that? This is what it’s like when I feel that I’m thinking too much about it, instead of just doing it. Part of switching from thinker to doer is “doing.” That’s the major part actually. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff online about “seizing the day,” and “living for the moment.” They all basically sound about the same. Do. There’s no amount of planning that can prepare you for doing. It might not ever feel like the “right” time to do something. You just have to do something. I read one today that was an illustration of how you may have to start, re-start, and continue making improvements to get things “right,” but if you never begin, you’ll have no idea what it will take to get your ideas in motion. All I’ve read points in the same direction, do things.

     Alright, now that that’s out of the way, we can get on to last week. What a doozy! I got home from band practice last Thursday around 10:30pm. I had to wake up at 4am! I needed to leave by 5 to get to LA by 8. I made it. I got to where I needed to be before 7:30. They said I could wait in my car or just stand around until 8. I opted for waiting in my car. I would always rather have to kill time than rush. I’m glad I had extra time. It gave me time to think more about my character. I’m happy to tell you that my Covid test was negative. When I first got there, we had to fill out HR-type paperwork, so we could get paid. It was all done on our phones, which was kind of cool. I had not had an experience like that. It was relatively easy. We waited for a while until everyone was ready. We were case #2 out of I don’t know how many. After we got our makeup done, we went to wait in a different room, the green room. Makeup was no big deal, they just wanted to try to make my redness a little less noticeable. I think it worked. They had producers that helped us with our story while we were in the green room. It was good that they did. You may think you’re good at improvising, but you won’t know until you try. The guy I was in the scene with had never acted before! I guess he was a “walk through” extra before, but never any lines. He was a nice guy, but didn’t seem to really get the idea. And who can blame him!? It was actually kind of difficult. Once I got there, and realized what was about to happen, I thought it would be extremely hard for someone with no prior experience to step right up. Not everyone can fake it easy.

     The thing that they coached us most on was bantering back and forth. They let us know that the judge may ask us all kinds of questions, and that we needed to be ready to respond as if the story was true. So we went over it, and over it. It seemed like they had watched the show a lot, because they were coming from all different directions. It was very helpful. My counterpart was not adapting as easy as I was. They kept making it abundantly clear that they expected us to banter back and forth. We are both nice guys, so it was out of our nature to be rude, and interrupt, but they made it clear that they wanted us to argue. They said we could relax after the judge had told us to stop, but they expected us to quarrel. He was not getting it. After about an hour, they told us that I was doing great, but that if he didn’t get his energy up, they would have to skip us. That seemed to make him nervous, and he apologized to me. I told him there was no need, and I tried to work with him a little bit, to see if I could get him to do what they wanted. Then, all of a sudden, it was go time! They brought us to the set. It was so exciting. We did a few still-type shots, and they gave us the run down on what was going to happen. The judge did not seem to like me right away. I was getting into my spiel, and it seemed to be going well. Then she asked him some questions. I interrupted, like I was coached to. I got a warning. Then there was some more back and forth. Finally, she slams her fist, and says she’s heard enough. She didn’t believe me, court was over, and she walked out the room. I thought I had messed up. Then the next thing I know, our coaches are overjoyed. Apparently, upsetting the judge is like striking gold, and we killed it!