kerouac says

i was back in the casting director's office yesterday, as the reader for auditions for another independent film, and again it was instructive in ways i hadn't anticipated. i watched a young actress i had actively disliked on stage a few months ago give a pitch-perfect reading that somehow left the director and the screenwriters unmoved. the next actress in after her read the same scene, not nearly as well, and got a much heartier reaction. it may have been because she was an old comrade of the director, or it may be because the scene involved two girls saying their first lesbian i love yous, and the freaking girl PUT HER TONGUE IN MY MOUTH.

you never touch the reader without asking. you always ask. and you certainly ask if you're going to swap spit. geesh.

i think i earned some cred, though. the boys making the film (and pardon me for using the diminutive, but the writer, the producer and the director all must be under twenty eight, and they're very . . . rumpled and curly-headed) gave me a standing ovation after she left. and the casting lady must have been impressed because she asked me if i would be the official reader for the film (which, you know, sounds great, and i appreciate that she asked me because she thinks i'm good at it, but i'm sort of wondering if i'll ever get paid) and could i please come back tomorrow to audition for a camera phone commercial?

yeah. i think i could swing that.