 One of my friends just shared a commercial she was in in a Christmas commercial in 2020, and I immediately recognized it as a commercial that I auditioned for. So I thought it would be so much fun if we looked at the final product that I wasn't casting. My audition, the entire thing, so you're gonna be able to see what a commercial self-tape audition is like. And I'm gonna tell you everything, how I got the casting call, what the specs were for the casting call, and what the Zoom callback was like because it was on Zoom. And I often see these commercials on TV or online before a YouTube video or something. And then I'm like, oh, that's what they were going for. So it's always really fun to see the commercials that I auditioned for. And I'm always happy, of course, to see my friends in it. I wasn't able to find the original email when it was requested for me to film the self-tape audition, but I was able to find the one where they checked my availability to see if I was still available for the shooting dates and then the email where they released me. So I got this audition from my agency and they submitted me through SF Casting. So because I am represented by Marla Dell Talent in San Francisco, they submit me through SF Casting Networks. And I think it was around September 23rd to the 25th where they asked me for the audition and I submitted it. Usually I have 24 to 48 hours for a commercial self-tape to give it back to my agent. So send them my self-tape. And in this case, the specs were Latina 25 to 35 and they were looking for all kinds of sizes. So in this case, there wasn't any kind of height restriction, anything like that. And they said they were open to accents. So I know that they specifically wanted accents because in the Zoom audition or callback, which I'll tell you about in a second, they did have me do the monologue with an accent. And for commercials, they will usually give you the usage. So this one was for three months in the winter because it was a Christmas commercial. And for new media online, I know it's on their YouTube channel. So it was that kind of usage. So if they ever wanted to use it again, let's say if they wanted to use this commercial again next year, then they would have to contact that talent again and say, hey, we're gonna be using this again. Can we pay you X amount of money to renew it for another three months for this holiday season? The wardrobe was of course, holiday casual. And because I was working at an office and I didn't have time to take a big chunk of time off of work because it was later in the afternoon, I had to just wear the same clothes. So to work, I wore this outfit because I was like, you know, it's not too Christmasy, but that blue is in a lot of Christmas decorations. So that's the shirt that I wore. The casting office in this case was Kristen Beck casting, which I have auditioned for lots and lots of times in San Francisco. And this commercial is not an NDA commercial. I did not have to sign a paper that said that I couldn't talk about it, which is a reason why I'm gonna share with you all of the details with the casting director was how I got this audition. So then based off of the email that my agency sent me, that self-tape audition request, I recorded this self-tape audition. Hi, my name is Veljika Rodriguez. I'm with Marla Dell Talent. I'm 5'10 in San Jose. Dear Mrs. Claus, for centuries, you have run this holiday, searching tirelessly for the perfect gift, keeping the flame in every tradition. Thank you for being in every family, in every heart, giving until you can give no more, and then giving again. There is a Mrs. Claus in all of us. Dear Mrs. Claus, for centuries, you have run this holiday, searching tirelessly for the perfect gift, keeping the flame in every tradition. Thank you for being in every family, in every heart, for giving tirelessly until you can give no more, and then giving again. There is a Mrs. Claus in all of us. In that self-tape audition, if you notice anything different that you usually do for your self-tapes, it's because I did exactly what they asked me to do. So in the beginning I slated as they asked and then did my audition and then at the end I put a full body shot. So if you are submitting a commercial audition and they didn't give you directions, either go back to the email and read it again or go back to the casting call and read it again because it's likely that they put what they wanted. If they didn't put any description at all, they might not want your slate because now they can take a look at your online profiles to see how tall you are or to see additional photos of you. So don't worry about it if they didn't ask for a slate or you can choose to do a quick slate at the beginning saying hi, my name is Beljika Rodriguez and I'm auditioning for Blink Project. I think I submitted that self-tape audition on the 25th of September and then on the 27th, 26th or 27th, they told me that I got a callback. So they sent me a notice through SF Casting that said the details. So my callback was on September 28th at 2.25pm and that was going to be on Zoom, of course, because that's the safest way to do it right now. And so this was one of my first few Zoom callbacks. I had a couple before this and they've all been pretty much the same. I received a link and again, the date of the callback, I was at work. So again, I had to be like, hey, boss, I got a callback. Can I leave the office for like 30 minutes again? So again, I found a well-lit room and I took my tripod to work so that I could use my tripod and not have to find where to put it. And I was lucky that I was able to find a quiet, nicely lit room with a blank wall behind me. And when you click on your callback link, your Zoom link, you will come into a waiting room. Usually there'll be somebody there who asks you if you already got the sides, if you have any questions and then usually you can mute yourself but keep your camera on so they know that you're still there. They know that you're not completely gone. Usually they ask you to stay within hearing distance in case they're like, hey, you're next or we're ready sooner than we thought and they do usually give you an estimate if they're running behind or if they're running ahead of schedule, they'll tell you it'll be about 15 minutes or there's three people in front of you, whatever it is. So after a few minutes, it was my turn and I got a little message inviting me to a different room, a different Zoom room. And so then I went over there and usually there's a bunch of different people who have their camera and their voice off. In this case, everybody else's stuff was hidden except for the director. So it was just me and the director doing this audition. He explained what he wanted to see and he asked me to do it. So then I did it once. He gave me some feedback and asked if I can do it in an accent and like some kind of Latinx accent. And I said, I'm not really comfortable with it because if you guys have seen my videos from a few months ago, I'm working on being able to do that since I'm about Latina and it's asked for a lot in commercials and I don't feel that I naturally have an accent. I even try to have my mom teach me hers. But yeah, so I told him I wasn't confident with it. And so he asked me to do it in Spanish and that was really surprising, which has happened to me before where they asked me to translate it immediately in Spanish or say some lines in Spanish because I am fluent. It's actually my first language. And so when he said that, I was like, okay, one second. And I took three to five seconds at the most thinking, are any of the words in this monologue? Because I had of course memorized it. In English, I said, are any of these words words I don't usually use in Spanish that I don't know because I don't speak Spanish every single day and I grew up speaking Spanish, but at home and I got a little bit of schooling in Mexico when I was really young. So although I'm fluent, no se decir todas las palabras del mundo. So I was like, okay, let's do it. So I performed it in Spanish and then he was like, cool. I don't know if he knew Spanish. I don't think he did. But then he was like, okay, now do it again with the Latino accent. So then I did it with an accent. And I was like, oh, he's like, you did great. And I was like, you're really nice for saying that. And that was it. That was the callback. The next day I got another email from my agency letting me know that they had put me on check avail. So put me on hold. And two days after that, they let me know that they had released me. So usually if you are submitting directly to casting and not through your agent, you'll never hear back if you don't get cast. So usually if I don't hear back from the date that they had said they're going to be filming, then I know I was in cast. And this one in particular filmed on October 2nd, I know. So I still made myself available that day. I still didn't plan anything for that day in case they called me the morning of and said, hey, our actress got sick or our actress had an emergency and couldn't make it, whatever it was. I made sure that I was available just in case because I know they had considered me. And here is the final product. Dear Mrs. Claus. Dear Mrs. Claus, for centuries you've run this holiday. Every heart. Dear Mrs. Claus, this year, let it be a new year for Mrs. Claus's everywhere. Am I bummed? I didn't get it. A tiny bit because I love Christmas and I would have loved to have been in a Christmas commercial, but not really. None of the auditions I submit to. It's very rare that I get upset for not getting a certain role. And it's usually because it's a project that I really had been looking forward to. Like if I ever auditioned for the office and they didn't cast me, then I would be really sad. But in general, I don't really think about it. After I submit an audition, I really forget about it. And I think it's because it's been a long time since I've been acting. But at the beginning, when I was first auditioning for acting specifically in theater, it was very nerve-wracking because I knew a lot of people in the theater community and I really wanted to get a role in this production and I would schedule something to go do. So after the audition, I would schedule to go like spend $20 at a store or go get ice cream or go take a walk with my boyfriend, something to distract me. And usually in theater, you also have a date that they're gonna announce who got cast by. So on that date, I would also have some kind of something like go out to dinner with friends and distract myself entirely from even being able to think about it because of course, if I'm just sitting on my couch, thinking about the fact that I didn't get it and I really wanted it, of course it's gonna make you upset. This was really fun to look at and this happens to me all of the time that I recognize commercials that I auditioned for because I had to memorize it so the lines are just forever in my brain. So next time I find a commercial or something that I auditioned for that isn't an NDA, I will do this again because I like doing this. So the actress that they cast instead of me is actually my friend Natalia Dominguez and the reason why I'm saying instead of me is because in the specs, I did say it was a Latina 25 to 35. From me saying the commercial, I saw that there was only one Latina and she is of course beautiful, super talented, so nice. I remember the first time I met her because we met on a commercial shoot for Goodwill a couple of years ago and we didn't end up being in the same commercial because they were two different commercials they were shooting on the same day, different scenes. But I just remember being like, oh my gosh, she's so nice and she was wearing these really cool yellow pants I still remember and she just had really, really cool style. Anyways, you guys should go check her out if you wanna see some of her acting. The last two things I saw her in, one was on Netflix, it's called Freshman Year, she's the lead actress in that and then there's a short film here on YouTube called Killer Couch, I believe it's Killer Couch by Brave Maker and she's also the lead female actress in that and at the end of every video I feature another channel. This is today's feature which is Brave Maker where you can see the short film if you would like to be featured on my next video make sure you're subscribed, like this video and leave me a comment.