Free Help For Cancer

Big Audition June 25 – 28th, 2010

Wow, what a weekend and also the weeks leading up to this audition. Let me start at the beginning. I heard about the contest in the beginning of June or late May. Finding someone to help with a video was not easy. Once that was found we did a video for the OWN Network (Oprah Winfrey Network) and I uploaded it. Much to my surprise I received an email saying that my video could not be used. The only thing we could figure is that we had two children in the video with too much personal information.

Back to the drawing board. Completed the new video, sent it up and it was loaded onto the site.

Then the work really began by trying to attain votes through all of the social networks. I spent hours and hours sending out bulk emails, tweets, facebook pushes, etc. (This is not my forte at all.) Honestly, the whole thing made me a bit crazy. One night I stayed up until 3:00 am reading and searching for blogs of people who went on the auditions. There were a few that gave a fair amount of information while also increasing my trepidations about going to this at all. Too late, flights were already booked!

Next I spent quite a bit of time preparing to go on the face-to-face audition in Atlanta. Many times I thought that I am too old, as it is very apparent on regular TV that everyone is young unless they have been in the industry forever and have a huge following. None-the-less I decided to go for it anyway. Of course I have NEVER done anything so outrageous in my life! Even though we are broke we took our money, booked the flight, hotel and car. All I can say is that I have the best husband around.

I LOVE ATLANTA! The people are so friendly!  I met people on the plane, at the hotel, at the audition, and all were very friendly.  It made me miss my home town of New York City.  So many people think that New Yorkers and New York are not friendly.  I have found it to be the opposite, full of people interested in the life around them and easy to open up and speak to you.  This was the same in Atlanta and I really loved it.  Now back to the main story.

The day of the audition was very hot – of course. I wore a long linen skirt, brown, sleeveless knit top and killer platform shoes. My small suitcase acted as a briefcase with my show idea binders inside. Along with snacks, water, umbrella and hand-fan. To say that I was a nervous wreck was the understatement of the century. I was sweating profusely and a bit shaky. Terrified of facing my big 30 seconds. Do you get that? All you had was 30 seconds to try and sell yourself. I stunk! I went in with twelve other people and we each had our turn to sell ourselves. I cannot remember what I said but it was very conservative. Here is what I should have said. Hi, everyone, my name is Debbie and I am such a nervous wreck I cannot even think. On top of that I am sweating so much that my nicotine patch is actually floating down my back. The crowd would have laughed and then I should have said this: I am here to tell you that medical and alternative are two valid therapies that are opposed to each other. Many people believe that they have to choose one or the other. This is a complete lie! The actual truth is that they both are more effective when used together thereby giving the patient more options in their efforts to rectify or achieve health. My show idea is to show how these can effectively work together. Thank you. Bang, that would have said it all. Oh well.

If I was comfortable and got the crowd to laugh first, at least there would have been actual interest and communication. So I blew my 30 seconds. Bummer. But, I saw other people that were great in their presentation and also have fantastic ideas and from what I saw they did not get a call back either. When the show for the host boot camp starts I will be interested in seeing who actually ends up there. If one of the people that I saw is not there, then I will know that these casting people has their own ideas guiding them through. One of the blogs I read was a lady who had credentials out the wazoo, her presentation was professional, funny and very different. Much to my surprise she did not get a call back either. She also stated in her blog that she nailed her 30 second presentation. Go figure? (She also happened to be my age, around her late 40’s. Myself, I will be 50 this November.) As an aside, I love the BBC because they have actors of all ages. The American propensity to push barbie dolls is very annoying and completely disregards the largest segment of our society, which are Baby Boomers!

Okay, I finished my little gripe. I knew going into this that whether or not I made it into the competition show, my goals have not changed. So now, I just continue in my quest to provide answers for people undergoing treatment.

One thing I will say is this; the organization of the crowds at the audition was like a well oiled machine. Very smooth and fast. The poor people interviewing all the applicants had a long, very hot day, sitting in the tents listening to people for many hours. What a whirlwind. There you have it, a small glimpse into someone going for something really big. I learned many things that will improve my website, presentations and myself, so there was no loss.  Yes, its a bummer, but hey, I fudged it.  Next time, if there is a next time, I will know better.  : )