Ground Hog’s Day

I should call this blog Ground Hog’s Day because once again, Emma was “on avail” and didn’t get the part. And it was like waking up to the same disappointment a million times before. OK, maybe not a million but it seems that way.

Friday, Emma’s agent notified us that she was under strong consideration, aka “on avail,” for a national JC Penney spot.  Of course we were pretty stoked about the possibility of her being a kid spokesperson for one of the most enduring department store brands in the U.S.

The days ticked by. Monday was the fitting. Saturday we were telling ourselves that she was still in the running until they notified her agent that the avail had been lifted. My husband rationalized that she likely hadn’t gotten the part as more time passed because they were simply checking if their first choice  was good to go on all fronts. I was more hopeful.  At one point over the weekend I looked up at the ceiling before going to sleep and murmured, “Please? Just let her get this one?”

But I’m not bitter.  I’m sullied. Practiced in this school of auditioning to know better than to put any value on this “on avail” charade.  Of course until she gets one.

Oh, I keep wanting to share Emma’s print commercial calling card with you.  Here are a couple of shots from it.

The cover of Emma's ZED card.

A picture from Emma's ZED card.

Emma’s DIRECTV Commercial Shoot

In December, Emma booked her first big commercial for DIRECTV. But it was not your ordinary gig.

From what we understand, the company wanted to do something uber creative for its end of the year executives meeting. As a surprise, the CEO decided to shoot a commercial that depicted all of its executives as young kids talking about their accomplishments and vision for the company. The spot wouldn’t air on TV but it would definitely be a DIRECTV keepsake. We were excited!

Emma was cast as “Karen,” a DIRECTV Internet Technology executive who was of Greek descent. Isn’t it interesting how Emma can go from being almost cast as a young Reese Witherspoon to someone who’s Greek? She’s a chameleon!

When we got the wardrobe list, it asked us to bring all Emma’s office/professional attire. Uh, yeah. Should I throw in the heels as well? I mean aside from a cardigan (that has a rainbow peace sign on it), the child owns nothing that resembles professional garb.   Her manager told us that we shouldn’t panic and that they would provide the clothes for her at the fitting.

Sure enough, Emma looked like she was ready for Wall Street. Or El Segundo. The company’s HQ.

Emma’s lines were pretty complicated. She had to say things like:

“When I grow up I want to work with transactional websites. I want to make customers ridiculously happy.”

And…

“Our new loyalty program saved over xx thousand customers. That’s a lifetime value of over $xx million dollars. directv.com signed up thousands of new subs.” (Editor’s note: had to delete the actual numbers)

Here’s the kicker.  Emma nailed it in two takes!  We received the reel last week, and she was great!  Here are some pics from the set.

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