"The Waiting is the Hardest Part"

Tom Petty could easily have been talking about the life of an actor when he penned those lyrics almost three decades ago. (Interestingly enough, to that point he has said, "(The song) is about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true. I've always felt it was an optimistic song...")

I've been fortunate enough to have a few commercial auditions lately -- even getting callbacks and put on avail -- and the other day someone asked, "Do they let you know either way if you get the job?" For those of you in the business, you know that the answer is a resounding NO. In the industry, no news is bad news. Even when you get a callback or put on avail, you rarely hear if they decide they don't want you. Time just passes and you assume you didn't get it...

Life as an actor -- at least where I'm currently at -- is filled with a lot of waiting. Now, don't get me wrong; there are many, many things one can, and should, be doing to further his or her career. But, some things just require waiting - waiting for the agent to call with that audition, waiting to get in the room, waiting to hear from your agent if you've been called back, and if so, waiting to get back in the room again, waiting to find out if you've been put on avail, waiting to hear of you've booked the job, etc., etc.

And, as I said, unless you book the job (or the time passes when the job is shooting) you never really know when the waiting on that project is over. The hope is that you have other projects that you are waiting on, so that when the disappointment comes that you didn't get one, there is always the waiting for another to occupy your mind...

Hmm... with all this waiting, it's just lucky I'm such a patient person ;)