Harrison's Acting Career

Back in early July, I got an email for Harrison’s third ever audition. And not only that, it was a "straight to callback" audition, so he had already made it through one round of cuts without being present. It was my second week at my new job and really poor timing because I didn’t yet feel like I had enough time invested in the job to ask for a few hours off to take him. Jer had an important meeting at work that day and couldn’t get away either. Against my hopes and “what ifs,” we almost cancelled the audition. But Jer’s meeting was rescheduled last minute and he was able to pick Harrison up in the middle of the workday. I dressed Harrison in a onesie, per the casting agency's request, combed his hair out of his eyes, and told him to break a leg but to not dislocate a toe like Daddy. And off they went, driving an hour to Glendale for a five minute audition.

What does an audition look like for a one-year-old? Since it was a callback, there were quite a few people in the room, likely some that were involved in the filming, some from the casting agency, some from the company he was auditioning for. They made it clear when Jeremy walked in to the room with Harrison that they already very much liked Harrison and his look, so that was a win. Jer held him face out to the camera and they looked at him and shot some video. They wanted him to be squirmy, and he delivered (clearly understanding and taking direction, haha), and then they were done.

The next day I received a call from his agent that he was “on avail” for the role. Industry speak for “keep these specific shoot dates available because he is one of the two or three we’ve narrowed it down to.” Cool! Excitement mounted, but I also kept it in check. Harrison and Jer(!) had been on avail together after a previous audition and nothing amounted from it. But third time ended up being the charm- I got a call the next day saying he had booked the job!

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A quick interlude- If you know me the way I know myself, you may wonder why my child is signed with an agency and going out for auditions. It’s not necessarily my style, for sure, BUT, we are in Los Angeles, and a good friend of ours is an agent and she loves what she does so much that it is infectious. We had an in with her, so why not take it? And it’s been fun. And interesting to see this part of the entertainment industry firsthand on a few levels. Don’t misunderstand- we barely have our toes in it- Harrison has been on only three total auditions. But they are fond memories now, ones we can laugh about (like his first one, when he was asked to be held by a complete stranger in front of the camera and all he did was cry and try to get back to me), ones we can smile and reminisce about (like the second one that asked for a “real father and son,” so he was with Jer on camera, and as previously mentioned they got thisclose to booking it together), or simultaneously be excited about and let down by (like this third one, spoiler alert- he booked it and shot it but is nowhere to be seen in the actual promo.) So we are both taking it seriously and doing it for fun, and we will continue to do so until it doesn't work for any of us involved.

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So Harrison booked a job! His first ever role- “Baby” in a Fox Sports Promo called “Complicated.” And you know, I take back everything I said I that little interlude above. We’re not doing this for any reason other than the TOTAL VALIDATION that our child is ADORABLE. In an industry where you mostly need to have the right look in the right place at the right time, the right look for any baby role is “cute,” right?? And booking it is only the first round of validation that you have a cute child. Then you get on set and everyone who has a role in getting your child on film is just glowing over how adorable he is. Total validation, right there.

The shoot date and time were in the middle of Jer’s and my workday, so Jer planned for half a day off and I planned to stay out of it all because I had no other choice. But I ended up with an unexpected half day of work the day of the shoot, and we were able to make it a family affair. 

We drove up to a college in Monterey Park and met with the 2nd Assistant Director to fill out all the paperwork. I had to put a star next to every line that asked for Harrison’s SSN because I forgot to bring his social security card (newbie alert), and I have yet to memorize his number. We called the 2nd AD later during the day to fill in those blanks. (I did remember to bring every other form of identification!)

Harrison’s outfit was a red onesie and white socks with red details. The Costumer had emailed me a few days previous for his size, rather than having him go in on one of the days they were doing fittings. (Go figure- the location for the fittings was literally next door to Jeremy’s work, while every other location involved in this process was at minimum 45 minutes away.)

His onesie said “I have a Michigan in my diaper.” That clued us in to the content of the promo. Well, that and the fact that we were at a football stadium and all the actors we were surrounded by were very large men in Ohio State gear. 

Harrison’s role was to look cute in his onesie for a closeup photo. We sat out in the stadium and since it was a closeup, Harrison sat in Jeremy’s lap for the pictures. This made it tremendously easier than I anticipated; I had some bad visions of him not cooperating if he couldn’t be right with one of us. The photographer spent about 10 minutes taking pictures of Harrison, under the direction of Production Designer, while those of us standing to the side did everything we could to make Harrison smile and laugh. He did exactly what they needed without much effort, and soon we went back inside to wait for the photos to be approved.

A half hour later we were given the go ahead to leave, and that was that.

(While we were there they were also shooting two other promos- “Spartans,” and “Wolverine.”)

So what happened next? Nothing, really. Except trying for months to find the promo with the information we had: a Fox Sports promo called "Complicated," and the deduction that it was for an Ohio State vs Michigan football game based on what we saw on set. So ... lots of waiting since the promo was shot in July and the game is on November 25th. I searched around here and there for the it over the past few months, but figured it wouldn’t air until the week of the game. And what do you know- my deduction skills were on point! I searched for the promo on Monday night and easily found it, shortly after it had been posted. I got so outwardly excited that Jer knew what I was looking at without asking me.

We sat on the couch together and excitedly watched the 29 second promo ... and ... no Harrison. And that was that.

What a surge of emotions- we’d been waiting since July to see this promo, to be able to share it and say “There’s my cute baby!” But, no cute baby. Excitement —> Letdown. It was clearly the correct promo, and they just clearly decided that their original intent with his picture didn’t work with the final product. I naively hoped that maybe there was going to be another promo, or some print ads, or SOMETHING with his picture on it, and that I would find it later. But upon watching the it a few more times, I think it looks like his picture would have fit somewhere in the 5-7 seconds portion, and they just went with different pictures.

Without further ado ... here is the promo Harrison booked, sans Harrison.

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So today we have some more fond family memories, and one picture from set that shows a bit of how cute Harrison was that day (and every day). It is too bad we don't have access to the pictures they took that day, because I'm sure they were even cuter.

And now maybe I might be on a mission. Maybe fourth time will be the charm. I will (finally) change out Harrison's headshot to make it more current, and his adorable toddler self will shine through in that photo and he will have another audition and make it through to booking another job ... and he will actually be in the final product. Stay tuned!

I'd be remiss to not give a shout out and huge thanks to Bri and Laura at DDO Kids for making this experience happen due to the hard work they put in for all of their clients- from the ones who are on Nickelodeon daily to the ones who have had three auditions in the span of 16 months. We're proud to be part of DDO!