Monday, October 18, 2010

Incredible!

So I have been hunting for a job and a few people, including my mom, directed me to the open casting call for segment hosts on the new Marilyn Denis Show!

A few years back I went to an open call in Toronto at the old City TV building for Much More Music VJs. Obviously I'm not doing that job and never did so you can imagine how it turned out! BUT, there were only about 50 or 60 people there and we got to wait inside, I waited for maybe an hour!

So when I was boarding the Via train in London to head back to TO for another shot at TV, I didn't think the fact that the train got in past the starting time of 10am since the auditions went until 5pm... It just so happened that I saw a woman I used to work with at a radio station in London, in the train station, and she was going to the audition too! We travelled together and it turned out to be quite the day!

So we got to Union Station and figuring the audition process wouldn't last all day, or at least not until the departure time of the return train of 7pm, I went to the tourist booth and asked for directions to some of the museums! Might as well take in some culture right? I had also texted a few friends in Toronto to see if they wanted to get together!

We walked up University and west on Queen to the old building that now houses CTV programs that were once owned by CHUM. To my complete astonishment, the lineup for hopefuls was outside the building, ALL THE WAY AROUND IT!!! When we got our application forms to fill out, my number was 471!!!!

We figured it couldn't possibly take THAT long, surely they were prepared for such an event! We got in line at about 10:45am, and finally got in front of a camera crew at about 5pm!

When we first got in line, another woman got there at around the same time. We all started to fill out the forms and I noticed that her name was Shauna too, spelled the same way! That's pretty rare for my name in my experience, and we mused at the odds of us showing up for the auditions at exactly the same time! CRAZY!

Also, about 30 min into our wait, I realized I had left my cell phone on the train!!! There were several areas of "expertise" you could pitch a segment on. Of course my pitch was going to be on technology, and I didn't even have my cell phone!!! That, I said, will be my first segment, how to get your phone back! Via Rail was fantastic in tracking me down and getting it back to me by the way! Fantastic customer service!!!

We had the absolute best time though! Chatting in line, encouraging one another, talking about our lives! And hey, we even saw Craig from The Bachelorette, having a coffee with a City News reporter! I kept trying to get a closeup of him but hilariously a car or person would step in front of the lens at the most inopportune moments!

What a great experience! I have never in my life waited 6 hours in line for ANYTHING! Not even concert tickets in the 80s!!!

They told us it may be a month before we find out how we did! The memories of just having the courage to try and the great experience I had will last forever though!

Good thoughts!

1 comment:

  1. Shauna, we miss you. Please keep us updated. You are a true inspiration!

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