The one where I get to see a casting session

Up at 4am as usual. The estate agents are still kicking off.

Fuck’s sake.

Is anyone managing my flat right now? I’m finding this all hard to deal with. Snotty emails a’plenty.

11am. Head off to see JFS. He’s just finishing directing his first feature and is leaving for London today. I get there around 12pm. I got lost. It’s exciting. His life is taking off and it’s nice to see a face from home. I’ve seen his plays at Guildford, as well as him performing up at Edinburgh in Dutch Elm. He’s this week’s Hollywood story having just sold a huge pitch to Sony with him writing and directing. He’s a jammy git, but I feel genuinely happy for him. He’s off to London at 3pm so needs to pack so I head off to the office for an hour.

3pm. I’m late. I’m stuck in traffic. Right now xxxx xxxxxxx is in the casting rooms at Tam’s office. I park. And run in. I’m going to my first casting today to see how it’s done.

3.15pm. Thank fuck. They’re fifteen minutes behind. I’m now in the room with Mr X, Tam's boss, Tamara, Max (who’s reading) and Sarah (who’s reading). And in comes xxxx. He does his thing and… you know what? He’s good. I liked him. I want him to get the part. He did a great job. I love this city!

Castings: these are when actors come in to read for films. If the writer/director’s there it means that they’re pretty far up the tree. It means they’re nearly there. xxx got quite emotional but it was fascinating to watch Mr X actually direct and do his thing and see the actor respond. Not coming from that world I liked seeing how these things are done. I think he thought he’d blown it, the actor that is. He really hadn’t. I looked over at Tam. The expression in our eyes was ‘fuck. He was good.’ And mine was also ‘and fuck. He is hot.’ But that’s besides the point. I wanted to chase after him going ‘you were great’ but, again, not my job.

XXX left and the moment the door shut, we’re all talking about him. We’re not ripping him apart. We all agree, he did a great job, he wants it, he likes it, he deserves a shot at this. And, he's a nice guy.

I gave Mr X his Van Morrison tickets and off he went, leaving me and team Randi. Too tired to do anything, I was meant to see a friend, but I headed off out for dinner with Randi, Gina and Tam. Randi then picked up the tab. Which was ever so nice of her. I probably should send her some flowers… on Mr X’s account?!

Still, it was fascinating to see a casting at work. I'd never get this chance back home - just seeing how things are put together and what's what. It's very different from London. Very different indeed. I'm feeling horribly lucky (and pleasantly full).