Unbelievable, after almost two years of auditions, classes and training, I finally booked my first national commercial! I can’t tell you who hired me because it’s not allowed, but look for me in white coveralls!
Ok, let me start from the beginning…I originally auditioned for this job back in the middle of June. I didn’t hear anything back so figured it was a done deal. Well, we went on our annual family vacation to Big Bear in the middle of July and wouldn’t you know it…I get a callback. I had already turned down an audition for a TV series because we couldn’t get down the mountain, but when the call came the next day for the callback, I knew I had to make it work somehow. Well, I truly believe that God works in mysterious ways because we ended up having two cars available on the day of the callback. So needless to say, we left our beautiful surroundings and headed into Los Angeles for the callback.
We drove and we drove and thought that the GPS had gotten us completely lost! We were out in the middle of nowhere when we ended up at a security guard’s gate in Chatsworth! I explained that I felt we were lost and just laughed and knew exactly where we were going. He directed us to this incredible mansion in this private, gated community. Think about the biggest house you’ve ever seen and double it, that’s what these houses were like! I went to the back of the house towards the multi-car garages and inside one of them was an obstacle course. Unbelievable! The callback was to run the obstacle course – woo hoo, something I love to do! Needless to say, I ran it in record time and then was told I was free to go. Wow, 2-1/2 hours of driving and a 5 min callback – what a business!
Well, I got the call the next day that I was being put on “avail”, once they confirmed the dates and my availability, I got the call that I actually booked the job. What a feeling, I can’t even begin to describe what it was like to get that call, my first national commercial. Then the work began. I had to be in Santa Monica by 3pm on Friday afternoon for wardrobe and after sitting and sitting some more, we finally left there by 6:15pm! The good news was that we didn’t have to come back for the second fitting on Monday, but to just report in on Tuesday for rehearsal and the shoot on Wednesday.
Tuesday was an exhausting day. We spent the whole time running the commercial over and over and over. The lights were hot, the director was demanding at times and the outfits were very confining – I wouldn’t have traded it for the world! I had a blast and couldn’t wait for the actual shoot on Wednesday.
We reported to work at 7am and worked the whole 10-1/2 hours! I’m glad we had the chance to rehearse what we were supposed to do so that the shoot went pretty smoothly. There were six of us kids and we handled the pressure pretty well. There were so many crew members and cameras and we did what were pros! What a day. It was an amazing experience; and even though we had to stand around quite a bit waiting for the cameras to move or for the other kids to do their parts, it was still a great experience and I made some great new friends and learned lots of new things! Patience is a virtue and when you feel you’re not getting anywhere in this business – lo and behold, something great comes along! Ryan Ballance
Ryan is repped by The Savage Agency.
