Craig’s List - 50% - Hit or Miss

As I've mentioned before Craig's List is a hit or miss. When you find something interesting, you never know what your going to get. I recently found two posts that provided two different situations.

Day 254 Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Originally, I had the interview/audition the day before but I professionally rescheduled for today. I haven't been to Pasadena before now but I took the trip to embrace this talk show host opportunity that I knew very little about. When I received the phone call on Day 248 Thursday, May 26, 2011 the conversation was fairly vague.

The key memorable word for me in the conversation was Pasadena. I remembered submitting for that on Craig's List but that was since April 19th. That was obviously over a month ago.  I have to be honest, I was impartial about going. Mainly because I've auditioned for a lot of stuff in LA and you can most times judge the quality of the project by the initial communication approach.

The professionals in LA execute near to the same way I've done it in Tampa, I do it now (Hustle and Shuffle) and exactly how I would do it in the future. Two simple examples are sending a follow up conformation email and leaving a contact phone number for questions. Both were lacking in this project and the follow up email was lacking in the one below.

Furthermore, I'm not a judgmental person. I do take note of the flags but it takes time before I make any conclusion's.

When I arrived, I started to notice some flags right away. First the interview was at an apartment building. That was a complete first. The person at the door was hesitantly inviting because he was focused on his phone most of the time. The icing on the cake was that the actual apartment didn't have curtains on the windows. The windows were covered with newspaper. As I was guided my way around the building and finally to the door, all I could think was, "What in the world did I get myself into?"

According to the lady a few people got scared and turned around when they saw the newspaper on the window. I don't blame them but I'm a fearless person. It didn't bother me. Moreover, the lady conducting the interview was nice and welcoming. I had to fill out an application for a while. To me it was more of an application that someone would fill out after they got the job but I took a deep breath and just went along with it.

Just based on the presentation of a few things I had no real expectations from this opportunity and I affirmed the situation by telling myself, "This is good practice and I need it." The lady was excited about me because she was impressed by my blog and what she saw. She even made some suggestions pointing towards them wanting me as a host. That suggestion developed even more throughout the interview.

I had a huge smile throughout the interview. Its a genuine smile but its also a smile with a subconscious voice. The smile could be saying I'm so over qualified for this or it could be indicting how ready I am to be done with this. I not sure which one. I could be both but as I said, I don't judge. I go with the flow.

The show is a African American community base show. As a result, questions were based around the community and myself. I have a handful of experience with the community because of Wide aWoke Wednesday's, so that's another thing that gave me an advantage.

In the beginning parts of the interview was distracting because some one in the kitchen was making a lot of unnecessary noises with pots and pans. When he as told to stop things got better. It got much better when another person apart of the team joined the process. He altered my attitude because when he told me about himself, I was able to recognize his experience in television. His experience and knowledge made this opportunity seem more valuable.

I left the interview thinking this talk show maybe a lot more professional then the interview's presentation. I left feeling pretty positive about it. As the lady walked me out she told me key words that would give anyone the impression that they would be selected. One thing she told me before I left was that she liked that I mentioned leadership as one of my best qualities because no one else said that.

I normally expect an immediate respond after an interview and if I don't get that response I tend to evaluate various reasons why they didn't choose me. Most time they are probably wrong.

This show is in its infant stages with no budget and the information is still vague to me. However, they did confirm the show would be shot in a state of the art studio. That was encouraging enough for me. I need the experience more then anything else. Just as long as its not going to be produced an apartment with newspaper on the windows (lol).

Note to self: I am behind on writing this post and there is a possibility that if I wrote this on time I might of questioned my choice to talk about my late night experience. I went as far as showing my portfolio and telling them the a lot about my quest. I have become very selective about doing that lately for many reasons. However, as I'm writing this I am also aware that the lady left a message for me on my phone this morning. As soon as I'm done writing this post I'm going to possibly hear the results of this audition. 

Day 258 Saturday, June 4, 2011

* On May 28th I noticed an ad on Craig's List stating this:

Are you part Arsino Hall, Will Smith and Jamie Foxx? Do you like getting the crowd going and having a good time? Are you intelligent, articulate, stylish and playful?

We are looking for a young hip announcer for an internet reality talk show. The show is a twice monthly free event on the lot at CBS Studio Center and is streamed live over the internet. We have a live band and usually other entertainers as well. The show discusses love and relationship issues and encourages audience participation.

Interviews will be held at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. There is no pay, but you will get credit and online exposure.

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I responded by saying:  

Many people say I'm the next Aresnio Hall but I'm not.

I'm The one and only Motown Maurice. Also known as The Future of Late Night Television.

I would love the opportunity to share my electric energy with your program.

I can send you anything you need upon request.

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I received the call for an audition opportunity on Tuesday, May 31st. I was part excited because the audition was at CBS studious off of Radford near Sherman Oaks. I was at the same location last year for the Minute to Win It audition on day 25 and the diversity showcase audition on day 16 I somewhat crashed a few days before.

I didn't do any preparation for this audition and I went in just being myself. First they were intrigued by my name and I gave them the story. Then they asked what I have been up to. I confidently said, "I've been here since September and I have been questing away to host my own late nationally syndicated late night talk show.

There was follow up questions but my intuition pointed out the change of energy. Believe me I did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, I was so on point with my answer that they didn't know what to ask me soon after. Which meant I'm not what they are looking for. They stayed friendly but I could tell the interview was over.

The lead lady concluded I wasn't what they were looking for because I was so focused and possibly because I was so accomplished. I saw the name Arsenio Hall in their message and I came in guns blazing about my quest. That didn't help me at all. They were really looking for a warm up guy for their developing show. I wish the put warm up guy in the listing.

Final Thoughts

Lately I've been successful with a lot of things and its because I leave out my quest. It didn't take long to notice it was working against me. So why did I mention my question here? I mentioned it because I wanted to. I think partly because I didn't the part that badly so I took a chance. Once again I got the same results.

It obviously worked for me in the Pasadena story above but not this one. Could part of the reason be an understanding of struggle, passion and ambition based on race? The conductors of this audition was all Caucasian opposed to the others above.  

Whatever the case is, I'm not worried about it. Overall, its 50% - Hit or Miss when your dealing with Craig's List's. I know what my chances are when I mention my quest but sometimes I want to push the envelope.  The main lesson for me is that just because that audition was at CBS doesn't mean it wasn't affiliated with CBS. They we're basically renting out room space. Anyone could do the same thing.  

As the quest continues...

The Future of Late Night

Motown Maurice