Deal or No Deal

What an adventure!! I think everyone should attend a casting call at some point. It was such a fun time and I got in many hours of quality people watching. So here's the recap:

I had decided the night before not to go down and spend the night in line - it was supposed to be a balmy 30 degrees and I didn't feel like loosing any extremities. Plus I needed to get some stuff ready for Nathan's recital which was Saturday night. I was busy doing misc stuff and didn't get to bed until 12:30am...so when my alarm went off at 2:00am I was still pretty sleepy but the prospect of winning a million dollars was enough for me to get my butt out of bed. I left the house at 3:30 and drove to my mom & dad's to pick my mom up. We got down to RC Willey (where the casting call was held) a little after 5. There was NO parking in the RC Willey lot - see sign above - unless you wanted your car towed, but we were lucky enough to get a spot right up front on the street next to the parking lot. We brought some chairs to sit in and books to read to pass the time. It was so weird to see all those people waiting in the dark...some were in tents, or on blow up mattresses with sleeping bags. We actually did pretty good because the people only about 10-15 spots in front of us had stayed there all night so it looked as if we were the first of the morning arrivals. Here's a pic of mom and I waiting in the dark...this was before our noses were red from the cold.

Here's a pic where you can see just how many people were there BEFORE us...crazy psychos.

About 7am a guy with a blow horn came out and said they were getting ready to move us in, please pack up all your stuff and get ready. As people packed up their stuff there grew to be large empty spaces and then panic ensued. Instead of everyone just filing along the 'Disneyland back and forth lines' they just started scooting under the tapes and the whole group surged forward...because if you didn't you'd be left in the dust. People who hadn't packed up their stuff yet just let it there...here's one group's 'leftovers'...a TV, a lovesac, a guitar, there was even a generator and gas to run the TV...and pizza and diet Pepsi.


When people didn't know where to put their stuff they left it on the 'grassy knoll'...I wonder if anyone saw the second gunman??


Everyone got all excited at this point. Makeup and hairspray and lipgloss were everywhere you looked. As we neared the tiny door to enter the warehouse everyone got excited...the time was near! Well, all that hope and excitement was squashed when we entered the warehouse and saw even more Disneyland style back and forth lines. See below:


We weaved our way through and came to a stop and filled out more paperwork that was given to us. It was at this point I wondered if my choice of shoes was the smartest...I was wearing #78 (see post below). As the warehouse slowly filled up everyone settled in for what seemed to be a long wait. About 30 minutes after entering, a casting director for Deal or No Deal got up in front and explained how things would work. She told us that they were not only casting for DOND but for many other NBC gameshows...some of which are not even on air yet. She said that if selected we would hear from the show within six months. Then they started taking people up for auditions. There was a section of the warehouse that had big black curtains up to screen it off from the thousands of onlookers. See: Right where the bright circle glare is right smack dab in the middle of the pic is my head.


Within the section there were 6 (maybe there were 8??) tables each with a casting person. When we got up to the front we were divided into groups of 10 and shuffled to a table. We were each then given 20 seconds to say our name, age, occupation and something interesting about ourselves. Mine went something like this:

My name is Holly _ (insert my last name here)__ and I want to go to Hollywood! I am 27 fabulous years young and I currently work two jobs to put my husband through school. I am a receptionist during the day and I wait tables at night. We can't have children and would love to adopt one child from each continent - which will cost us a small fortune, and that is where you come in.

They were strict on the 20 seconds thing too...if you went over they just said "Next" and you were done. After all ten of us said our thing the casting guy pointed to me and two other ladies and said you three stay and the big casting director came over. He came right up to me and asked what my story was...I wasn't sure if I was supposed to repeat what I had previously said, so I said something else. I told him I had a strange fascination with shoes and these (motioning towards my shoes) are number 78. He turned to the woman on my left and she started her thing and all she got out was her name and he walked away. Our casting guy then signed our papers and then directed us to another line. We waited there and went behind another curtain to another casting director...in groups of 10 again only this time we got 15 seconds. I said the thing about adoption again and the casting lady said "That's a lot of kids." I said that you can't count Antarctica so it was only 6. She asked three ladies to stay behind for another question and asked the rest of us to leave our applications with her.

I have to admit that I was kind of sad that I didn't get asked to stay behind again. But I figured that out of 10,000 or so that auditioned, only 2,500 (maybe even less) made it past the first cut so that is pretty good. I hope I made an impression on someone and that I get a call to go on one of the shows.

After we left RC Willey my mom and I went to lunch and then to DSW and then home so I could make it to Nathan's recital. I did get another pair of shoes and an ADORABLE bag (thanks mom!)

Overall, it was a great time. I had fun hanging out with my mom all day - she is sure great to get up at some ungodly hour and come wait in the line with me. I am lucky to have her! The people watching was pretty fantastic...and I tell you what, some people should never be let out of their mobile homes - except to go to Walmart... One woman with really short hair actually had balloons tied to a tiny little ponytail at the top of her head. We began to affectionately call her Pebbles. This is the best picture I could get of her, she's in the blue coat.

HERE is the KSL news story if you want to read more about it.