Moving to L.A. was hectic. To start things off, we had to plete my official adoption and file the papers with the authorities. I decided to keep my inal roy Francis Armitage to honor my te father Frank Armitage.

  Then we had to get a passport and visa for me. As Steve was a US citizen, it wasn’t too difficult to get a visa.

  At one point, Steve suggested that I give up my British citizenship and bee a full-fledged Ameri, but I was hesitant. Thankfully, Kathy supported me, being a Brit herself.

  So we shelved the argument for a few years at the very least, if not more.

  Luckily for us, Steve had an apartment in Santa Monica that he had purchased from his iahus saving us the time to look for a pce. The pce was a walking distance from Santa Monica Pier. Even the school wasn’t too far from the pce.

  The best part of the apartment was the extended baly in the living room where one could sunbathe right at home.

  So here I was, lying on the baly on a beach chair, soaking in the mid-m sun, with a good amount of suns spttered all over my body and enjoying my summer vacation.

  Yup, a good life.

  It was at that moment that Steve came to the baly, “Troy! My dearest son!”

  I opened a single eye zily and deadpanned, “I’m your only son. Or am I, Dad?”

  Steve chuckled nervously, “Well yes. The thing is, I am bored out of my mind writing this script and desperately need a break. So I thought, we could begin your ag csses.”

  I perked up immediately after hearing that. Steve is currently w on this script he is adapting called [Wonder Boys] and works long hours in his study room. So I hadn’t disturbed him too much about my promised ag lessons.

  “To begin with,” Steve began, “I might have directed a few actors who got nominated for awards but that doesn’t make me an expert on ag. Still, I’ll do my best. Let’s move inside, I have made some preparations for you.”

  When I followed him in, I saw the Sony camcorder he had set up on a tripod stand.

  “I used to practice filming in my college days using an old Super 8 camera but now we have better options. This will help you tons if you work with it. Now, your first se is this, you have to ehe room from the door, you’ll slowly e to the kit, pick up that bottle of water from the ter, take a sip, carry the bottle back with you, and then lightly kick the soccer ball lying there in frustration, then sit on the couch as if you are extremely tired and a little sad.”

  He expihe se iail and pointed out the various props he had prepared in advance. He is a meticulous director, you have to give him that.

  “My first goal is to get you familiar with the camera settings,” He tinued his expnations, “One of the most important rules of shooting is to never look into the camera unless you are addressing the audience, like, I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie Ferris Bueller. That would be the only exception.”

  Hearing that name, I instantly remembered the movie where the protagonist broke the fourth wall every fug minute. “Yeah, I’ve seen it.”

  He had a thoughtful look on his face as I said that.

  “So you uood the se or do we o go over it again?” He asked.

  “No, I’m all set.” I gave him a thumbs-up as I walked out of the door.

  Luckily the door wasn’t soundproof and I clearly heard when he said the word, “A!”

  Taking a deep breath in and out to calm myself, I opehe door and walked in, doing everything in my power not to look at the camera. I slowly walked towards the kit, picked up the bottle, and took a sip.

  All the while ign the camera that Steve had picked up. He was followih a closeup. But I didn’t pay it much mind. Then I moved towards the couch but kicked the football on the way. Then I sat down tiredly as I let out a lethargic sigh. I stared at the wall in front of me as I thought sad thoughts like my favorite ice cream fvor running out or that my favorite TV show had been celed.

  That’s when I heard it, “Cut!”

  I immediately rexed and looked up at Steve for his evaluation.

  “Not bad for a first-time performance, but if I see this as your audition tape, direct reje.” He said bluntly.

  I was crestfallen at his admission.

  He pced a hand on my shoulder, “Don’t worry too much, that’s why we are here, right? Now let’s see your first se and I’ll tell you your mistakes. Then we will reshoot, okay?”

  He sat beside me on the sofa and began the repy of the se we had just shot. The video repyed my performance from entry to the point where I casually sat down, staring into the abyss.

  Instantly, I khe biggest fw in my performance. I tried too hard not to look at the camera. Thus my shoulders and movement e out to be very stiff. The moment I took a sip of water, there was a closeup of my fad I could see the nervousness lingering there.

  Then I kicked the ball and that portion came out retively well. The st part where I plonked down on the coud looked sad seemed good enough to me. Then again I’m the amateur here so I have no idea if my evaluation is any good.

  “You caught something?” Steve asked, his gaze fixed on my face.

  So I told him of my evaluation of the performance.

  “Yes, most of your points are valid. After kig the ball your performance improves, although it still be better. An advice for you, don’t ighe camera, fet about it entirely. Let’s do it again from the beginning.” Steve excimed excitedly.

  For the first time in all these months, I’ve seen the man so eted about something. This could be because this is the first father-son activity we have doogether. Or this could be because he is doing something he loves. Filming.

  Ign that line of thought, I went out of the dain and began reshoots.

  We shot that same se a total of six times before Steve passed the shot. I was so happy that my smile would be visible for ao see. Steve ruffled my hair affeately seeing that.

  “Okay champ, now you got the basic idea of filming. , we o instill the value of emotions in your se,” Steve expined, “For that, you have to put yourself in the character’s shoes. Before perf, think about what he is going through, and what his thought process will be. At the same time not overdoing the expressions.”

  He took a pause then tinued, “For example, if I tell you to act sad because you flunked your test, it is possible that as a noviay act to areme level as if y died which will be too much emotion for such a simple se. Do you uand that?”

  I nodded as I uood what he was saying. Gauge the level of emotion while perf the se but don't overdo it at the same time. Subtlety is the key to good ag.

  “Now sider this sario,” Steve began. “Your character is named Mark. Mark’s parents work long hours so they are rarely home. Mark was at the babysitter’s pce, who is a 16-year-old boy. The babysitter tried toug him inappropriately. Mark didn’t uand the reason, but he didn’t like it, so he ran bae. Then he opehe door, drank some water, kicked a ball, then sat down on the couch thinking about the i at the babysitter’s home.”

  I looked at him gobsmacked, “You gave me such a lewd sario for my first se?”

  He looked me directly in the eye as he said, “The fact that you uand why this sario is wrong is enough for me to know about your emotional maturity. If you uand it, you do it. If by any ce you don’t uand I’ll be happy to give you the talk.”

  “Oh God, please no!” I excimed instinctively. I had watched enough live-a at my old house for ay. Not to mention, I probably have already had sex in my st life as I seem to kreme graphic details.

  “That’s what I thought,” Steve said smugly, “Now that you have the whole setting of the se we will do it one more time.”

  I groaned audibly, "I thought the st take was good enough."

  “Hey! Don’t be like that,” Steve chided me. “Some directors like to do one se dozens of times before they are satisfied. If you don’t have the patience for retakes, I suggest you better bee a banker or a wyer.”

  I did not pin again as I moved towards the door to reshoot.

  “This time think about your character’s as and why is he doing that,” Steve called out from behind the camera.

  A few mier I am seeing the test shot and I am amazed at the differen my own performance. In all my previous shots, it could be seen that I was ag to be someone else.

  This time, Mark’s movements and expressions seem more natural. The way he kicked the ball in anguish and the way he had a lost, sad, and frustrated expression as he stared into the abyss is marvelous.

  “Woah.” It slipped past my lips unsciously.

  “Woah indeed. Your performance just noerfect. If anything could be at fault, it would be my camerawork which is obviously not my specialty.” He said with a proud tone and that ever-present smile on his face.

  A sense of giddiness bloomed in my gut as I heard the first true praise ing out of him that day.

  “Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” Steve rebuked me gently. “Right now you haven’t even delivered any dialogue.”

  Just like that, I was kicked off my pedestal again. Of course, how I fet that? All auditions out there with any signifit role include exging lines with the casting director or a staff member.

  “For the se, you will be doing an improv. An improv is an improvised se acted out on the spot by the actors themselves without any script using their own knowledge and quick wit. During many auditions, some zy casting directors ask for an improv performao remove those actors who are not fast enough to perform on their feet.” Steve lectured.

  I nodded along though I already knew about improv.

  “Your topiprov is you as a kid giving an adult ‘the talk’.”

  I looked at his amused face with a probably horrified expression. He is definitely bonkers.

  “Eww… we please do somethier. Anything else, please?” I begged with what I thought was my best puppy dog expression.

  “Cute,” He quipped. “But no. You will be doing this se only. You use any bad word you want, but only as long as this se is being filmed. You must go into as much detail as you know. If I find your knowledge insuffit, then I’ll fill in all the bnks left out.”

  I closed my eyes in embarrassment. I k would be so bad, but somehow I knew he wouldn’t budge from his decision even if I insisted.

  “You do realize that I am eight and won’t be doing any such activity for years to e, don’t you?” I asked rhetorically.

  He still answered, “If you had no knowledge of the topic, I would have gdly let you remain i for a few more years. But since you do, we o make sure you don’t have any misceptions. You know inplete knowledge is worse than no knowledge at all. It was your Mum’s idea to let me enlighten you oopic. Since you don’t wao expin it to you, we will do it in reverse.”

  O dear Joseph, Mary, and Jesus! Why ’t this earth swallow me alive?

  “To make things iing, sider this as a edy se. You make expressions or voice modutions to make the se funnier. You even make up some funny things for the se and ter expin what was wrong and what was not.” Steve said.

  Seeing my look of hesitation he said, “Oh e on. You always go on about how smart you are and how mature you are, now prove it. You know this is rather tame when you are older, there may even be ses where you have to do this stuff on s, rather than just talking about it. Remember, for an actor, his role es first, everything is sedary.”

  I shuddered mentally at the thought of doing a sex se in front of the camera. At least I rest assured for now that I am safe for a decade uhe child prote ws.

  “Hmm, make sure to use your alter ego, Mark, but make him more cheerful, not like the gloomy se you just did.”

  This was the most embarrassing sario that had been sprung up on me. Yet, I knew I had to tackle it head-on and leave behind my inhibitions if I wao bee a serious actor.

  AN: Read ahead on Webnovel/Patreon.