I Went To The Reality TV Casting Session So You Didn't Have To

And waited, waited, waited for two hours yesterday to have my chance in front of the producers of this prospective show (if you remember from my previous post, the team is shooting a pilot first).  I brought work, though, so it was fine.I waited in an upstairs lounge at the Nassau Inn.  While sitting around, I also filled out an application form that included all sorts of nosy prompts.Describe yourself. "Pet peeves include oily hair."Did your parents go to Princeton? "No."Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? "Yes.  Of the pillow variety.  Her name is Dianne."Why do you want to be on this show? "I WANNA BE FAMOUS!!!  No, not really.  But maybe a little?"People got called up one by one for interviews.  Everyone remaining made small talk ("You were curious about this too?"  "Yup."  "How are they gonna film this?  They'll NEVER get into Eating Clubs.")  A tall, broad-shouldered, chiseled-jaw type's interview lasted almost half an hour.  ("They must've really liked him.")Then it was my turn to go into the conference room and submit to an on-camera interview.There were two women inside.  I didn't get their names, but it turns out they're from town.  Our application said that they have "vast experience in documentary, commercial and music video production."(Previously I was told that there would "be a director and an executive producer from a big-name production company... Think of companies like Miramax, Fox Searchlight, etc. The executive producer that will be there has made many, many incredible movies that you’ve seen in the past 5 years, many of which won Oscars.")They mic-ed me up and placed me in a red chair, staring straight into a camera.  They sat down next to the camera and asked me questions.  I flashed my teeth and smiled with my eyes.  I turned every story into an opportunity to relate a humorous anecdote (...and THAT's how I almost died on a longboat in Laos!")  At the end I delivered a really beautiful soliloquy on the soul of a Princeton student (... and the question is, how do you deal with all that competition, all that rejection, and still maintain that perfectly smooth Princeton facade?).And that was that.If you're still curious about the whole thing, though, I wrote down the description of the show we were given in our application packet:

We are producing a pilot for an Ivy League campus lifestyle reality show.  The program will center on a group of students and follow their lives and lifestyles as they attend one of the most prestigious and exclusive universities in the United States.  The cast may or may not be friends prior to production but it is anticipated that they will share a common bond with each other as they navigate through the pressures and excitement of campus life at Princeton.   Much of the content of the show will be drawn from the real lives and experiences of the cast.The pilot episode will be shot in Fall 2010, with the series anticipated to be produced in the Spring of 2011... Cast finalists will be notified by mid-July of their selection.