RILEY, 20s, and LUNA, 20s, sit in a waiting area with a few
other young women. They are separated by one chair. They
are all holding scripts and are not interacting. Riley is
mouthing lines from the script. Luna sits with the script in
her lap, good posture, looking straight ahead. A CASTING
ASSISTANT comes in.
CASTING ASSISTANT
Rashid Waadi?
Riley smiles at the Casting Assistant. A woman walks past
the CAMERA in the direction of the Casting Assistant. We do
not see the faces of Rashid or the Casting Assistant, only
Riley and Luna. Riley and Luna are left. A few beats pass.
RILEY
This is my sixth audition this
week.
Luna nods in acknowledgment.
RILEY (CONT'D)
And it's only Wednesday. I have an
awesome agent.
Luna nods again.
RILEY (CONT'D)
He sends me out on everything.
He's really great.
Awkward beat. Riley is talking to calm herself mostly.
RILEY (CONT'D)
I had fourteen auditions last week.
I'm so exhausted by the end of the
day, I just have difficulty, you
know, holding down a job. I mean I
was let go, fired actually, from
this bartending gig. But it's all
good. My boss... my boss was not
the nicest guy.
Luna remains polite, acknowledging, Riley without engaging.
Another beat.
RILEY (CONT'D)
I've been to so many auditions,
I've seen the same actors over and
over. Rashid, the girl just called
in, I saw her yesterday, and three
times last week.
Beat.
RILEY (CONT'D)
I haven't seen you.
Luna smiles.
RILEY (CONT'D)
My name is Riley.
LUNA
Luna.
RILEY
Luna? Is that like a made-up
professional name?
LUNA
No. It's my real name.
RILEY
Wow. That's cool. Riley is
totally made up. I was born Wendy
Smith. Can you believe it. And of
course there is already a Wendy
Smith in SAG. So I changed it. I
had to change it.
LUNA
How did you get Riley?
RILEY
Oh, it's really stupid. You don't
want to know.
LUNA
OK.
RILEY
It was my dog. The name of my dog.
I just figured, you know, Riley
sounds cool. When I was a kid I
named my Golden Retriever Riley.
Red Riley we used to call him. I
like Riley. So I took that.
Beat.
RILEY (CONT'D)
I told you it was stupid.
LUNA
No. It's a nice story.
RILEY
I don't know why my agent sent me
on this audition. Did you read the
breakdown?
LUNA
No.
RILEY
It says multi-ethnic woman,
twenties, athletic.
LUNA
Interesting.
RILEY
I get the twenties thing. And they
don't give a shit that we're
athletic or not. They say that
because they don't want fat girls
showing up.
LUNA
I see.
RILEY
But the multi-ethnic thing, I mean
you know what that means?
LUNA
I guess it means what it says.
RILEY
Well, it means no white girls and I
have to tell you, it also means no
black girls. They want an olive
complexion, you know where the girl
could be Arabic, or Indian or
Italian maybe, like some mixture.
LUNA
That's why I don't read the
breakdowns.
RILEY
Well, I'm not multi-ethnic. An
neither are you. We are both
totally not multi-ethnic.
LUNA
Maybe we can inhabit a multi-ethnic
character.
RILEY
They don't care about that. The
second you and I walk into that
room, they will dismiss us. I mean
they aren't going to say it. They
don't say anything, actually. They
smile that phony smile and you
introduce yourself and do your
thing and they say goodbye. It's a
waste of time, really.
LUNA
Then why are you here?
RILEY
Because... because it's an
audition... and that is what we do,
right? Actors drop everything and
anything to do every audition they
can get.
LUNA
You are lucky to have an agent that
takes care of you.
RILEY
Well... well, he has only been my
agent for a month. And since I
have not had one call back since he
signed me, how much you want to bet
he will stop taking care of me very
soon.
LUNA
If you signed with him, he can't
just drop you.
RILEY
OK, I'm not really signed. I'm
freelancing. He's like checking me
out. Why are you here?
LUNA
The same reason you are here.
RILEY
You don't meet the breakdown
description, so there's no way.
You know there's no way, right?
LUNA
I have had to enter many rooms in
my life where I'm not wanted.
RILEY
You know, I hate that girl, Rashid.
I have no reason to hate her. But
she and I keep showing up at the
same auditions and now rather than
friends, we are competitors. We
are adversaries. And so now I hate
her.
LUNA
That's too bad.
RILEY
I didn't mean...
LUNA
What?
RILEY
To imply that I will hate you.
LUNA
That's good to know.
RILEY
It's the process, the way the whole
business is set up. It makes us...
LUNA
Yes?
RILEY
It makes us have contempt for each
other.
LUNA
I think if you chose to look at
your fellow actors as colleagues,
colleagues that are having the same
experience as you... maybe you
would have compassion rather than
contempt.
RILEY
Maybe.
LUNA
And stop reading the breakdowns.
You are an actor, right?
RILEY
Yes.
LUNA
So act.
RILEY
I'm just so afraid I'm not good.
Maybe I'm not good.
LUNA
Maybe. And maybe the people who
sit in that room, maybe they are
not good. Maybe no one has any
idea if they are good at what they
do. And yet we do it. So just do
it.
RILEY
Right.
Rashid comes out of the room. She walks past the CAMERA.
The Casting Assistant is partially in FRAME, though we do not
see her face.
CASTING ASSISTANT
Riley Brazil.
Riley looks at Luna. Luna at Riley.
RILEY
It's a great name, don't you think?
LUNA
Sure.
Riley gets up follows the Casting Assistant off screen.
CUT TO BLACK.
THE END.
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