I don’t have very much on my bucket list. I have been very fortunate in life to see and do more than I could have ever dreamed! I was never one of those girls who dreamed of a wedding or being married at all really. But somehow I was fortunate enough to marry my best friend and a great guy (both the same fellow!!)
I never thought I could have kids and having rarely been around children, I wasn’t so sure that I wanted one. And yet somehow, I had the world’s best kid who was a breeze to raise and who has become my other very best friend as an adult.
I have traveled to every state in the USA and I have experienced many amazing things. I grew up in a zoo. I have been to many Broadway shows and even got to work behind the scenes on Broadway and the Grand Ole Opry. I have caught alligators in the Tensaw Swamps and snakes in the Arizona Desert. I have stayed in the finest hotels and camped in the most rugged conditions. I have sunned on the beach in Acapulco and frozen my butt off trying to wash off in a melted, snow fed river.
Having done all of this and more, what could I possibly put on a bucket list??
A couple of my bucket list items were to ride in a hot air balloon and then a helicopter. I got the opportunity to ride in a balloon with a group and as we rode around the city trying to find a place from which to take off, the weather looked more and more ominous. Eventually the whole expedition was scratched and something told me that I was better off staying on the ground, so I just took that wish off of my bucket list altogether.
A few years later I had the opportunity to ride in a helicopter, so I took that one off of the list as accomplished not just abandoned like the balloon ride.
As I’ve gotten older I haven’t really added anything to the list, except that when I turned 40 I decided I wanted to do something I had never done before every year from that point forward. So far I have done that. Some years it was as simple as just going somewhere I had never been before. Other years it has been as momentous as graduating for college at the ripe old age of 56. Overall, it has kept me thinking and trying new things.
After graduating with a BFA in theatre I decided to add a couple of things to my bucket list. One of those things was doing a commercial. Really I would have been happy to do any kind of film work, but a commercial seemed most attainable at the time.
A few years ago I was asked to come test to be in a short training film for a company based in Canada. I went to the ad agency here in town and had a new experience doing a filmed audition. The woman who had contacted me to come in for this was very kind and helpful since I knew nothing about what I was doing.
In school they had a class called “Acting for the Camera.” I never took it. It never fit into my schedule and quite frankly not only was I scared to take it, I thought it would be a waste of my time. After all, no one and I mean NO ONE was ever going to put my ugly mug on TV or a movie. My adviser helped me substitute something else for that class. During that filming session at the ad agency I was regretting the decision to skip that class!!
I learned a ton that day auditioning for the training film. The woman patiently taught me terms and tricks to acting on film. She not only let me read the part, she had me do other things that she could film and keep for future potential jobs with them. But not only did I not get the part, I never heard from her again.
Later on, I was filmed in a promotional video for a play I was doing. Again the filming process was fun and I learned a lot. I never wanted to actually watch the video though. Since then I have had to watch videos of plays I’ve been in at “viewing parties” and I did watch the appearance I made recently on “Talk of Alabama” just because I finally realized if I was going to learn what I did wrong and what I needed to do to improve I was going to have to watch myself. It is torture to watch, but I have done it.
And just as I was making a huge decision about the next phase of my life, I got the opportunity I thought would never actually happen, I got a chance to be in a commercial. I hesitated, but when it was placed in front of me a second time, I decided to jump at it. The old “say yes now and worry about it later” trick I tend to pull.
I was excited and terrified all at once. I had less than two days notice that I had been picked and just as I got the script, life went crazy as it tends to in moments like this. My son got sick and needed to stop by for some medicine, the guys decided to drag out the noisy job in the basement for two more days than planned, a friend got ill and needed me to fill in for her as a volunteer for half a day, and another friend wanted to stop by and talk some things through. I had made plans to have dinner with my husband and go see a play the night before, so I woke up the day of the shoot having done nothing to prepare. I had to get together a wardrobe to take, and only had time to read through the script once.
Driving to the location, I felt unprepared and nervous. Once I got there, much like when I finally get on stage, I felt the nerves disappear and I had a blast! It was repetitive with times of just sitting around while scenes were set up, but I was fascinated by the equipment and how the camera and the boom mic had to be strategically placed. While some of the other actors talked or ate, I watched and learned or reread my lines to be ready for the next shot. I knew I had no experience at this, but I didn’t want it to obviously show.
Usually on stage I am told to be louder. On film I kept being asked to talk softer. It was a definite change for me! I kept wondering if I sounded like AN ACTOR! Was I being too over the top for film??
Just as I saw behind the scenes at the TV station that day weeks ago, I was able to see how things are not always what they seem on film. Where performing live on stage certainly has its element of the “magic of theatre,” film takes that world behind what you see to a whole new level.
And just as in live theatre, there are all of the personalities on the set that are fascinating to watch. The method actor who needs their motivation to do so much as pick up a fork when asked. The jokester who keeps everyone laughing, the stars, the extras, and me- the novice who is just soaking it all in.
I know I ended up in the wrong place a few times, even though I was trying to stay out of the way while observing everything I could, but overall I don’t think I made a total idiot out of myself. On a day when I am doing something so new and foreign to me, not being a total idiot is my main objective!
After almost 6 hours of work, I was very pleased that I had had the gumption to agree to this new endeavor and I was excited to have done the only thing I had on my bucket list. I need to think of a new goal- don’t you have to have SOMETHING on your bucket list to keep you from kicking said bucket??
Anyway, I have no idea when the commercial will come out. If I get a link to share when it does and IF I can figure out how to link it here, I will share it with you. Until then I have to say that the big decisions I was making for my future I now see in a different light. Not because I think I have a future on the big screen after one shoot, (not hardly!) but because I learned a little bit more about myself, something I try to do with each new experience.
I have a big decision to make by Monday and the past two days cleared up a few things for me. As soon as I make this call, I am sure I will feel compelled to write about it. I’ll leave it to you if you are compelled to read it.
