Off-Off BroadwayIn New York City, Louis investigates the subculture of underemployed actors and performers. As he witnesses the difficulties they face breaking into the industry, he himself attempts to land himself a role as a singer on a cruise ship.
Episode GuideHis first meeting is with Lisa Gold, the director of TVI Studios (Talent Ventures Inc.), a company that assists young actors in breaking through into the business. Lisa herself has performed in theater and commercials, as well as singing and entertainment on cruise ships. She suggests that it's not so much talent that determines success in acting, but that it's more to do with the audition performance. At TVI, Lisa shows Louis a photo gallery of the various people involved with the company in the past. Louis proceeds to "audition" for an advertisment on Lyme Disease with Lisa holding his script. Lisa thinks Louis has a good shot at a career in commercials, branding him a likeable character. She also suggests he comb his hair. Nicole, a staff member at TVI, is seen discussing a headshot of a customer and Louis interupts them to find out a little about how the company works. Nicole lends some truth to a cliche that an audition success is decided within the first minute of entering the room. She also thinks Louis would be more suited to being a "sidekick quirky fun best friend" on account of his relaxed demeanour. It is when he is leaving TV that Theroux expresses his desire to give Musical Theater a shot, something Nicole is experienced in. Louis then meets up with James Lorenzo, a veteran actor who is a personal trainer by day. At a local gym, Louis discusses the business with James, who believes success does not come over night and is a scary prospect. Louis agrees to meet again with James later in the week, and proceeds to meet with Sarah Adams, an actress on the set of a hair commercial. She says she has taken classes on acting and testifies that they do help. Sarah thinks commercial work is acting "in a sense" and is mainly an avenue for more exposure. She shows Louis her apartment, which is also where she works her publicity from. Sarah takes Louis to an acting class led by Robert McGaskill, where acting skills are trained in a variety of exercises. Louis freely participates with the group, though does seem a little out of his depth, compared to the other actors. In discussion with Robert, we find the exercises are quite vulnerable but there's a reason for it; acting is a dangerous profession. He does believe that Louis has a chance, providing he practises constantly (suggesting 20 years would be a reasonable time span to practise). In a voiceover, Louis reveals he intends to audition for a production of Hey Mr. Producer, which would be performed on a Norweigian cruise ship. Meeting again with James, he learns a few tricks of the trade. James shows a wide variety of headshots, showing his versatility as an actor and the characters he could play. James also agrees with the previous suggestion that he would fit a "quirky best friend" role rather than a leading part, something which hurts Louis a little. Lorenzo reminds Louis that the business is full of disappointment and is a cruel world, but says not to let the stings take you down. The pair travel to Robert Kim's to get some headshots for both Louis and James. James has a lot of photographs taken of him in several costumes and styles, which Louis gets prepared by a make-up artist. Kim is as enthusiastic with Louis as he was with James, yet Louis still "feels a bit vanilla" about himself. Louis takes the shots to Nicole, who decides the majority of the photographs are useless because he "looks like an idiot" in them. Nicole tells a few white lies on his application, bending the truth about some of his previous work. Louis is told to pick a song for his audition, and he finally settles on "With A Little Help From My Friends" by The Beatles after struggling with George Michael's "Faith". Louis practises the song with a vocal coach, who thinks he's not a "powerhouse" singer but does have a lot of charm. On a third meeting with James, Louis accompanies him to an audition run by Multi Ethnic Talent, a company who would help him get further work in the business. James is visibly nervous but performs several relaxation techniques while Louis sits in a few of the interviews to get a feel for the business. James believes you need to relax before bringing the emotion back up for the audition itself. The agency are impressed with Lorenzo's monologue, who see him as a character actor. James himself is quite modest about his performance when complimented by Louis, before they part ways and Louis makes his way to his audition. At the audition, the casting directors are looking for a versatile "triple threat" actor; one who can sing, dance and act. Louis meets with Nicole and is nervous about his audition. The two practise the song outside in the queue. Louis Castle is called to the audition room, Louis' stage name for the day. The casting crew are introduced to the actors and all agree that open auditions such as this are difficult and they do sympathise. The competition in the room is clearly talented and Louis looks nervous as he approaches the piano to discuss his piece with the pianist. The music starts without Louis, who is struggling to find his tune, but before long he's singing and ends flamboyantly. Louis is not called back for the dance session. The casting crew reveal they only take on about three actors from three hundred or so, which highlights the difficulty of the auditions. Outside, Louis asks the pianist how his audition went and is given a lukewarm response. Nicole translate the response to "keep your day job", suggesting the pianist was humouring Louis. Despite not getting the part, Louis isn't affected by the cycle of acceptance and rejection that is core to the actor's life. A final meeting with James Lorenzo concludes the episode, with Louis musing on his performance. He believes he doesn't have the talent to make it as an actor, but James provides him with good advice, renewing Louis' respect for the actors who perform for a living. TriviaLouis' stage name, Louis Castle, is taken from his mother's surname.
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