I received the email on Friday afternoon for the call back on Monday. I had been on my way to the health club and scrapped that to go to The Drama Book Shop, as the recommendation for the call back was to prepare a scene that was dramatic, emotional and painstaking. I didn't have that scene in my back pocket. I picked up some good material there, though, nothing really landed on me. I went back to The Drama Book Shop and bought the play of "The Normal Heart". I read that on Friday evening and then wrote a two page scene of my own. I was already invested in the story, being Albert's Mother, in "The Normal Heart". It didn't make sense to me to prepare a scene from another play, nor did I have time to prepare a scene before Monday.
I was scheduled to be on-call for the nursing gig that weekend and had many patients to see on both Saturday and Sunday. I worked on what I had written a few times during the day on Saturday in between patients, though the focus wasn't there for a long enough period of time to accomplish anything. I worked till very late on Saturday, got up early Sunday morning to start in again on the patient trail, scanned in the information that I had received for the audition, attached that along with what I had written that was waaaaay too wordy, and sent an email to Craig asking him if I could hire him to rework the scene to simplify it would he have time to do that on that Sunday, that I wanted to go into the call back the next day with something that came from me and that I was invested in.
Craig was terrific in getting back to me promptly, that he would look at it. We then agreed that we would talk Sunday night when I finished seeing patients. I got back around 8:30 PM, let Craig know that I was home, he emailed me what he had written for the two page scene, incorporating what I wanted to say in a more succinct and simpler way. It made me teary when I read it and it felt right to me. He suggested that I connect with Roz for a Skype session, which I did and which I found to not only be helpful in preparing the architecture and intensity of the scene, it also allowed me to rehearse with someone who was also invested in the material. The collaboration was meaningful and effective.
I am grateful for my connection with Craig and Roz. I have known them for several years and have worked on other projects with them. Roz and Craig are the real deal. They are genuine, imaginative, industrious, realistic and know how to get things done. The list of positive and effective attributes could go on.
I am working with Craig as my writing coach for my first pilot. My first big writing project ever. I just registered Nurse Angel with the Writers Guild of America, East. Stay tuned!
Roz will be interviewing Catherine about her performance in the movie on the Everything Acting Podcast App. And as Catherine puts it: Stay tuned!
