Typical Day
At 8:00AM, Shia LeDoof is woken from his slumber by his phone's alarm clock. In his daze, Shia resets it to 9:30AM. After all, he's off work at the restaurant today, and his audition isn't for another seven hours or so. Alarm reset, he turns over, easily drifting back to sleep...
...and completely misses the email that his agent sent last night regarding a last-minute audition at 10:00AM today. Sorry Shia.
The phone rings at 9:15AM. It's Shia's agent; is he on his way to the audition? When he replies that it isn't for a few hours, she sternly replies that it's his other audition, and that he should probably get some pants on. Scrolling through the email, Shia curses himself for getting that extra shut-eye as he jumps out of bed.
Even though the "just rolled out of bed" look is all the rage, this morning's audition is for a commercial and calls for him to be "clean-cut and relatable." That means a shower and a quick run-through of the wardrobe options. Plaid shirt, or button-up and tie?
Grabbing the classier outfit, he dresses while looking over the script, or as commercials call it, copy. It's for a major burger chain, and he's only got one line: I'll have one. Easy, and even if he forgets it, they'll have it written on a white piece of paper in front of him.
At 10:15AM, Shia rushes through the casting office's door and finally takes a breath. Inside he sees a dozen other guys that look pretty much like him—and half of them are even dressed like him (the other half chose plaid). It looks like they've been waiting a while. Shia signs in on the sign-in sheet (that's what it's for) and sits on one of the benches spread around the office. He proceeds to rehearse his one line.
At 11:15AM, Shia checks his phone. Yup, he's been there an hour. Probably time for another pee break.
Finally, at 11:25AM, Shia goes into the audition room itself. There he is greeted by a camera, the person operating the camera, and the expected white piece of paper, written in teeny tiny letters. Thank goodness he had enough time to memorize.
Post-audition, he runs a bunch of errands, grabs lunch, and heads home for a breather. At 1:30PM he logs into his various online actor profiles. This is where Shia submits himself to indie films, company industrials, plays, music videos, and anything else that might consider paying him to perform. His restaurant pays him to perform, sure, but there's only so many ways you can say "and how would you like your meat?"
And only so many times he can hear "any way I find it." Everyone in this town's a comedian.
2:45PM hits, and wouldn't you know it, Shia is in the hallway, ready for his second audition of the day. This morning was rough, but that's because it was last minute and Shia loves sleep; most of the time, Shia is very well prepared.
That includes showing up fifteen minutes early, because as his drama school taught him, early means you're on time, on time means you're late, and late means you're not getting the job. And since this is for a television role (much excite), Shia needs to take it very seriously.
After a really great audition where he had everyone laughing—and in this audition, that's a good thing—Shia is done for the day.
Just kidding. He stops back home for a couple hours, grabs some dinner, does a few more online submissions, then heads out for his 6:30PM master class downtown. Why on Earth would Shia, an already well-trained actor, pay good money and spend good time in a classroom for four hours two nights a week? Because an artist's craft always needs work, especially when they're not working.
Also, class is a great way to meet people. Like the talented introvert who Shia has had his eye on for the last few weeks. He'll ask her out eventually, he just doesn't want to do it until all weeks of the class are over. It's supes awkward to have to act with someone who rejected you/you rejected (just ask Bruce and Demi).
Finally, completely exhausted from his day running around town, Shia collapses onto his bed at 11:00PM. He worked his butt off and did everything a professional actor is supposed to do, and even if he doesn't book anything (and thus made absolutely nothing), he still feels completely accomplished. And that's why he still does it.
Almost asleep, Shia hears his phone ding at 11:15PM, alerting him to a new email. Reaching for the bedside table, he sees it's from his agent. Callback tmrw; plz confirm ASAP!!!
Smiling, he confirms online. Also, he makes sure his alarm is set. A call back is one step closer to a job; wouldn't want to miss this one.
Just to be safe, he sets two more.