How I Unexpectedly Booked an HBO Show: And What I Learned

In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you why I never should have booked this HBO show. Also, if you watch this video until the end, I've got a great bonus video for you. It's the one biggest mistake actors make during auditions, and it might surprise you. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center, where I share information with you From my 39-plus years working as a full-time actor. So I— look, as a full-time actor, you're self-employed, and it was very difficult for me to turn down jobs. And on a little bit of a side note, I've never turned down jobs based on money. Look, I'm not going to fly across the country and lose money on a job, but even if it was a low-paying job or I didn't make that much money, I always did it. I'm not saying that's what you should do. That's what I've always done. I've always felt that work seems to get more work, and also there's no better way to introduce yourself, especially to somebody new, than to work with them. And assuming that everything goes great, which I certainly hope, you know, always happened, well, why wouldn't they hire me again if something is right for me? So, and on a personal level, there were times where it was difficult with my family. I don't mind sharing that with you, where we had some plans and all of a sudden the job came up and it was always uncomfortable and I backed out most of the time, not all the time. If it was like something really major and we were booked to go away for a period of time, That, that felt a little bit different, but I would always try to maneuver things around. Maybe I'd fly back for the job and then fly back to vacate, whatever it was. And it wasn't, it wasn't easy, but it was very hard for me to say no. So I auditioned for the HBO miniseries We Own This City, and just so you know, it's not an easy show to watch. It's a matter of fact, it's a, it's a very difficult— it's an incredible miniseries. And it was created— actually, there was a book that was written about these special police officers in Baltimore City who just did horrible things. And David Simon, George Pelecanos, they adapted the book, wrote the miniseries. So I just want to let you know ahead of time, it might not be one that you want to watch. But I auditioned for it, and I auditioned for the role of William Papura, who is— it's a real, real character because it's all based on real reporting. And I was the attorney for Josh Charles's character, one of the police officers who was arrested, and he is in jail, and I was his attorney. So Love the audition. And as, as you guys know, and I, I've said this before, I never think I'm going to book the job. I just want to have a good time at the audition, which I did. Then I got a callback. That was great. And a little bit later, there were, there were no definitive dates at this point for the, for the shoot. Got a call from the casting director's office. Congratulations, you got booked. Here's the date. I was going to be away on vacation with my family, and we had planned this for a while. And I thought about it, and I can tell you, in the last couple of years, I've gotten better at saying no. Still not easy. I, I still, you know, will think about it a lot and, you know, sometimes dream about it and, you know, think, oh, I really want to do this. It's so hard getting work anyway. But I turned it down. I just thought, I'm at a different stage in my career now, and I don't have to take everything that comes my way. And if there's something like this, we were going to be away. And once again, I did think about— I'm one flight away, maybe a couple-hour flight where I could possibly— and then I thought, you know what, it's crazy because I'd have to fly in the day before. You know, do wardrobe and then spend another day doing it, and I'm going to fly back. I'm going to miss 3 days of vacation with my family. And that— I tell you, once again, I'm in a different place right now, and spending time with family is top priority for me. So I turned it down. Once again, it was hard. And here's the crazy thing. While we were on vacation, I got a phone call from casting and she said, look, someone— she didn't say who, she didn't say if it was one of the actors, whether it was crew, doesn't make any difference— somebody on the set got COVID and everything shut down. Everything got postponed. And she said, by any chance, are you available for this new shoot date? I was already going to be back from vacation. I said, yeah, love to do it. And so that's exactly what happened. And so I guess I just wanted to say to you, look, these are business decisions that you have to make. Are you willing to break commitments to do a job? And there's not a— it's not a right or wrong answer. It's whatever you want to do. And, but I also just wanted to let you know, it's just crazy how sometimes these things happen. That's why this industry can be so difficult. You know, sometimes you get 2 bookings for the same day. Sometimes bookings, you know, just work out perfectly date-wise and time-wise. So anyhow, I just wanted to share that with you. If you've ever had any crazy experiences with either turning down a job, accepting a job, dates changing, uh, what your philosophy is, please share it in the comment section of the channel so that way we can learn from you as well. That's the whole point of having this channel, of people sharing information, learning from each other. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up, that's helpful. And please share the link with your fellow actors. I did say I was going to share this bonus video. You can see the link right up here. Actually, it's not a link, it's a little exclamation point, I guess, or an i. I don't know what that thing stands for, but anyhow, just use that. You'll be able to watch this really helpful video. And can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.