Chapter 237:

Leblanc smiled at the reception lady and walked towards the seats amongst the other actors.

That was when he noticed something strange.

‘Huh…’

‘…Oh no…’

He couldn’t help but get worried when seeing the people in the group. He actually knew most of them, though the others didn’t.

All of them were named actors, and one of them already had a sitcom under his belt.

The previous day he had received his audition script for the audition, and it also had a small character description which described Joey Tribbiani as an Italian American struggling actor.

And judging by their outfit, it was clear that they understood the role pretty well.

‘How will I compete with these?’

This made him sigh.

But after a thought, he refrained from worrying too much. The audition was just minutes away. What was the point of thinking about others’ auditions?

Shaking his head, he leaned back in his seat and opened the script.

This was his 8th audition for the role of Joey Tribbiani. He began auditioning in front of just one judge, and with each round, the number of judges increased, and this one was going to be the final round, a network test, to see if the actors fit the role. However, reaching this stage also meant that at least one of them was going to be selected. This thing was certain.

‘I already have a hangover from last night.’

He rubbed his nose and thought about what had happened earlier that morning. There was a big bump on his nose, and it only made him frustrated.

‘I hope they don’t notice it.’

This was unlikely, but he still hoped they wouldn’t care about it.

Shaking his head, he focused on the script.

Just then, someone walked toward him and put a clipboard in front of him.

“This is the pre-negotiated contract.” The person was another staff member, “This was discussed a few days ago with you. Please give it a read, but you will have to sign it before walking in for the audition.”

Leblanc nodded. He was familiar with the process of auditioning and casting.

Usually, it would be the agent handling the extra stuff, including the negotiation with the studio, finding roles and searching for scripts.

However, since he was still very new to the acting scene, he couldn’t yet afford to have an agent and didn’t wish to go for an agent who asked for a cut from future roles.

Taking a pen from the staff, he looked and began to go through the contract.

The most important point in the contract was a $15000 per episode deal.

It wasn’t much compared to others who were already part of the show, but Leblanc knew he had yet to prove himself to the studio and to the audience.

He also knew the task was not going to be easy since he would be filling the shoes of a somewhat well-known actor, and being a new face, he was going to face a lot of criticism.

‘I will worry about this when I get that role.’

Shaking his head, he continued to go through the contract. It wasn’t long and only stated the most important terms. He was told there would be another contract he would need to sign if he gets the part, but there won’t be any more negotiation on the per-episode salary.

He didn’t mind this either and knew well why the networks would do this.

There were basically two reasons, one was to not give the actor a chance to renegotiate if he gets selected for the role, and in a way, lowball him by deciding the salary beforehand. The second reason was that it would put some sort of pressure on him, and that would either bring up the best or the worst of him.

‘Let’s hope I don’t fuck this up too.’

As time passed, the actors went in one by one and came back with an expressionless faces. It was hard to tell how the auditions were going.

Leblanc, however, knew one thing, there was a chance there would be one or two cast members of the show in the room too.

He knew it just based on the fact that the script had other characters’ dialogues as well. However, he didn’t quite recognize the scene, it was most likely a demo or part of one of the next seasons because he didn’t find anything like this in season 1, even though he rewatched the whole thing at least two times.

Just as he was musing in his thoughts, another actor walked out of the room, and the staff who had given him the contract earlier called out the next name.

“Next, No. 8, Oliver Leblanc Queen.”

Leblanc took a deep breath and stood up.

‘This is it.’

Handing over the signed contract to the staff, he walked into the room for his audition.

As soon as he walked in, he found himself in an office setup.

In front of him was an office table, and a young man was sitting on the other side.

It only took one glance at him for Leblanc to know who this person was. Matthew, the actor who’s playing the role of Chandler Bing.

Leblanc nodded at him and looked around.

He saw a long table on the other side, just outside the office setup. At the table were six people.

He recognized most of them too. All of them were higher-ups from Dream Vision studios and the people behind the [Friends] ‘s success.

There was Susan, who was the producer and director. There was also Jennifer Charles, the Head of the Talent Agency, and two producers from the RBO channel as well.

However, what surprised him most was the person sitting at the centre.

Will Evans.

‘I wasn’t expecting him…’

Joey smiled at them.

It was at that moment that Susan took a paper from the table.

“Oliver Leblanc Queen?”

“Yes.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr Queen.”

“Likewise.”

“Alright, so you’re here for the audition of Joey Tribbiani. You have received two scene scripts, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. But before we start, I want to ask if you’re alright?”

“Um, yeah,” Leblanc was a bit taken by the question, “What happened?”

“That’s what I am wondering,” Susan asked, “What happened to your nose?”

“Well, uh,” Leblanc looked around and slowly muttered, “Ahem, it’s kinda a long story, it started with drinking, and I would rather not talk about it.’

His nervous expression made Will smile as he asked, “Well, we are now curious about it. Don’t be nervous. You can share with us.”

He had noticed Leblanc being very nervous and wanted to relax him a bit. It was natural for any actor to be nervous, especially if the part they were auditioning for could be the ‘big break’ they had been waiting for.

“Um, what happened was I was too anxious about the role,” Leblanc scratched the back of his head and began to recount last night’s events.

“So last night, I was talking to a friend of mine, and you know, I was kinda amped up and had a lot of anxiety, and he said, ‘You know what we should do? The show you’re going to is called Friends. It’s about six friends, right?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Yeah’, and then he goes, ‘So we should go out and get shit-faced because we’re friends.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a great idea.’

The judges on the audition panel glanced at each other as Leblanc continued.

“So we went out, and we got drunk, and I kinda wo- I slept at his place on the couch, I got up this morning and went into the bathroom. And I had stood up too fast, and kinda blacked out and did a faceplant into the toilet, and here I am.’

The audition panel couldn’t help but chuckle at his story, even Will and Mathew, who was sitting at the office desk, smiled.

“Alright, let’s begin the audition.”

Leblanc nodded.

“You are already aware of the scene. Joey goes to Chandler’s office, and Chandler tries to find a job for him at his place.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, start whenever you’re ready.”

Joey took a deep breath and sat on the chair in front of Chandler.

When Leblanc gave the signal, Susan said, “Action!”

“Hey, look Joey, I’m just saying if you need something to hold you over, I can get you a job right here as an entry-level processor.” Chandler said to Joey as a matter of fact.

Joey looked confused, “But don’t you need experience for a job like that?”

Chandler nodded and replied, “It’s not that hard to learn. And as for people realizing you have no idea what you’re doing, hey, you’re an actor. Act like a processor. People will think you’re a processor.”

Just then, someone entered the room. It was the same staff who was standing outside.

“Hey Chandler, here’s this morning’s projections.”

“Hey, thanks.” Then he introduced the two to each other, “Scott Alexander, Joey Tribbianni. Joey is a uh, fellow processor.”

“No kidding.” Scott acted surprised and crossed his arms.

Joey glanced back at Chandler in shock, the latter then signalled him to continue on the act, “Oh yeah yeah. I process.” Then pointing at Scott, he added, “People want the processing,” Then, pointing at himself, he continued, “I’m the one they call.”

Scott asked, “Where do you work?”

Joey scratched the back of his head, “Uhh, well, right now, I’m in between things. You know how it is. One day you’re processing, the next day you’re not so much… processing anymore.”

Suddenly Chandler stood up, “I was just telling Joey about the opening in Fleischman’s group.”

Scott nodded, “Fleischman’s group. Whatever you do, don’t touch his sandwiches.”

Looking at the two, he gave a loud laugh and walked out of the room without turning back, “Uh-Ha-ha-ha…”

Joey also pointed at him and laughed along with him, “Ha-ha-…”

As soon Scott left, Joey turned around and spread his arms in exasperation, he said to Chandler, “Are all you processors dorks?”

…

“That was a good one,” Susan nodded, “We will have another scene. You will have to act like an ‘actor’ here, and I want to see the ‘oblivious’ character trait of Joey in this one.”

Leblanc took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

Matthew sat straight and focused on the paper on the desk.

The next moment, Joey entered the office. “Hey”

“Hey, how’s the first day goin’?” Chandler asked, raising his head in surprise.

Joey shrugged and said while gesturing his hands, “Pretty good. It’s like you said. It’s mostly just putting numbers from one column into another column.”

“Well, there you go.”

After a moment, Joey said, “Hey, and everybody is so nice. I just had a good talk with that lady with the red hair, Jeannie.”

Chandler raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Jeannie, the head of east coast operations Jeannie?

Joey nodded, “Yeah, turns out our kids go to the same school.” Smiling while shaking his head, he added, “Small world, huh?

Chandler stared at him, “Weird world. Your kids?

Joey nodded, “I figure my character has kids”.

Chandler sighed and said, “Ya know there isn’t a part of that sentence I don’t need explained.”

Joey took a breath and began to explain, “Well, see, when you’re acting, you need to think about stuff like that. My character, Joseph the processor guy, has two little girls, Ashley and Brittany.” After a moment of pause, Joey put his hands on his heart and made an adoring expression while saying, “Ashley copies everything Brittany does.”

Chandler smiled while looking at the file on the desk,” Ohh, well, invisible kids can be that way sometimes.”

Joey nodded, “Yeah. Joseph and his wife, Karen, are thinking of having a third kid…” After a pause, he said, “Ya know what?” Then snapping his finger, he added, “Just did.”

Chandler leaned back on his chair and replied sarcastically, “Really? Wow. That’s some pretty powerful imaginary sperm you must have there.”

Joey shrugged as if it was a matter of fact.

“Cut!”

Susan had a smile on her face. “That was really good, Mr Queen.”

Leblanc smiled, “Thank you.”

Will also leaned forward and commented, “Yes, it was good. We will contact you if you’re finalised. Thank you for coming here.”

Leblanc nodded, and then, turning toward Matthew, he added, “It was nice meeting ya,”

After Leblanc walked out, Matthew turned towards the audition panel, “I like this guy.”

…

//DreamNote//

The story behind the broken nose is actually a true story. Matt Leblanc, who played Joey Tribbiani, got drunk with his friends the night before and broke his nose at the toilet on the audition morning. When he told this to the judges, it lightened the mood in the room and put things in his court.

Previous week’s 1500 power stone bonus chapter is coming in an hour. I have to write 500-600 more words, but before that I need to run an errand.

Just to make it clear, this book is NOT dropped, it’s just going through an inconsistent phase which will soon be rectified.

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