Saturday

This is why I wish so much that the ipad had been cooperating- I think it was more fun to blog daily before I knew what was going to happen.  It's harder now to write only about what we felt on Saturday, when we know now what happened during the following days.  But oh well.  You do what you can.  I'll blog until I'm tired and that will be a post.  Maybe this is the last one, maybe there are more.  We'll just have to see.

Saturday morning was her last showcase- kid runway.  Before we got to Shine this was by far her favorite.  Now that we've gotten through an intense week of acting, she can't decide which one she likes best.  The acting bug has definitely bitten her.  And while she's really fun to watch during acting, I get nervous for her.  My favorite to watch is the modeling because she's herself.  She doesn't look nervous at all, she's got a big smile and a casual jaunty walk and she looks like she's having the time of her life.  There are no lines to flub or choices to make.  Just be you.  And of course some people hate it and don't look natural and feel scared, but she doesn't.  So it's my favorite.

After that we had promised the girls we'd go get ice cream.  There was a Haagen Dazs shop in the hotel which we had avoided all week because they talked so much about healthy eating and giving your body the best fuel for its work.  Absolutely true.  But sometimes after you're done you need to celebrate with a little ice cream.

 

We met some amazing friends this week that I hope we continue to keep in contact with.  AMTC families are pretty much just awesome- I would have any of these girls AND their mamas over any day of the week.  It was really fun to enjoy mom time with people who completely understood what we've been doing these last eight months.

During the afternoon we had one more seminar and then it was time to get ready for the acting finale.  They streamed it live, so some of you might already have had the joy of sitting through the entire thing.  For which I thank you.  Sometimes it's not as fun to do when you're not a judging VIP and when you don't know any of the people.  If you want to go see it now, it's online here, click acting finale 2013.  Her scene read begins at 17:56 and her group improv is at 57:20.  The talent finale is on there too.  It's called AMTC 2013.  She wasn't in it because she didn't do singing or dancing, but it's kind of fun to watch.  Some of the people are super talented.  The beginning has some more well known AMTC grads who came back to perform.  Mathai who was on Adam Levine's team for The Voice in season 2 did a song.  And then she signed autographs after.  Gillian was so giddy!

  
She's just as beautiful and talented in person as she was on tv, and she's SO NICE. 

After all that was done, we went to dinner at a restaurant in the hotel with a bunch of friends and then went back to check the boards again.  They'd been telling us all week that some of the agents were planning to leave early and would be posting their callbacks whenever it was convenient for them.  If you missed seeing your number on the board and didn't go to your callback, you pretty much just blow your chance at working with that agent.  So we checked it a lot, and good thing, because we had a callback scheduled for 10 pm that night which would be an actual film audition!

The agency is local to our area, so they called back pretty much everybody in our team who could fit the specs for the look of the part.  It was supposed to be a 12 year old mean girl with heavy makeup and a pink streak in her hair.  And honestly that's a bit of a stretch for my fresh-faced 9 year old who hates to be mean to anybody and just started acting.  But hey, you never know, and every audition gives her more experience and advice that could help her later.  Plus even if this part didn't work for her, it gets her in front of the casting director who is probably working on multiple projects and maybe could use her in something else. 

So she did the audition.  She felt like it went well.  We didn't get a second callback for the part though- some of the other girls were asked to go to the set next Saturday to do another audition with the director.    I know that was confusing when I was talking about it before- yes it was a callback, but we didn't get a callback from the callback, if that makes better sense.  :)  They did say that they're going to need four or five more girls for non-speaking extras in the hallways and stuff and they might contact us this week if she's got the right look for one of those. 

She was a little bummed about it when we got back to the room but I was really proud of her attitude. " I got a callback mama!  And even though I'm not gonna get this part, one of my friends will probably get it!  That's so awesome, and God has something different planned for me.  It will be okay."