Amanda fought the urge to fidget. With how terrible the third and fourth batch did, the associates decided to pick straws as to who will join the bosses in the observation room.
The observation room was behind a two-way glass where they could clearly hear and see the current sample tape being recorded in the other room. It was a way to see how auditionees respond to just a couple of cameras and cues without the pressure of grave looking individuals observing them. And it shows how you act when you think the bosses aren't looking. Cuts down the bad weeds earlier.
It was just her bad luck to have picked the short straw. It's been an hour since the audition started and Amanda just wanted to be anywhere but here.
With every auditionee getting no other reaction but frowns from her bosses, the room's silence just became graver and graver to the point she didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.
Amanda gave the center of the room a wide berth as she tried to wedge herself into the corner, she found for herself and shared a stressed knowing look with another colleague.
'Someone, please, get us out of here please.'
'Take me with you when you get a chance to escape.'
'Let this end.'
Amanda have been having eye conversations with the same theme with everyone else.
When the current auditionee did a little laugh when she fumbled over impromptu lines, the silence from the center of the room became even more stifling.
A sudden snort from the center of the room nearly made her jump to attention.
"No professionalism whatsoever." The derision in those words were practically dripping with venom.
"It's no use getting your blood pressure up over such lousy acting, Eduard."
"No amount of your teaching would improve these kids, Sophia." Eduard, the head of the talent department remarked.
Sophia, the lead acting coach, gave a shrug. "Some of them need the basics pounded into them. Not entirely so dire as you make it out to be." She gave the current auditionee a little smile. "Train them to the bone so the pain can make them remember."
"Teaching them will be one of the things we will need to cover." Ava, the vice-chairman, gently added, "But it will be with people that are worth teaching."
"Most of them are around 18 years old. Most of them should have at least the basics down." Eduard continued to grumble.
"No one wants to invest on something that another agency can just swoop in to get." Sophia pointed out. "That's why we're not looking at anyone younger than 18 years of age. It makes more sense." She looked at Ava and the quiet woman beside her, "And as I've mentioned the training would need to swift and strenuous. It would be months of only training before we can let them handle smaller jobs."
Ava gave her a small smile, "As you've cautioned everyone repeatedly. No worries, Sophia, we're more than ready to invest in the long game."
The vice-chairwoman's executive assistant gave everyone in the room a stern stare. A wordless warning to forget everything they've heard in the room.
Amanda kept her head down and pretended to have heard nothing. A little employee like her knows when to act as part of the furniture.
Another auditionee came in and even through the two-way glass, they could see her shaking with nerves. She can't even look straight at the camera. When she stuttered her way through a few lines the room collectively cringed. Amanda just wanted to bury her face in her hands from shared mortification.
The door suddenly opened and little hurried footsteps broke the tension in the room.
"Godmother!" a little child of 5 or 6 years old ran towards the vice-chairwoman and gave her a hug.
"Did you enjoy your little jaunt?" Ava looked over Cassie and noted she looked well enough despite the little mishap the girl's guards have shared with her.
Cassie let out a bright smile. "Oh yes! Everything was fascinating!"
"Why don't you sit with me and tell me about it?" the woman beside Ava asked quietly.
The little girl's broke into a bigger grin, "Grandmother! You're here!" and she launched herself at the older woman.
The older woman chuckled as a secretary brought another chair and placed it beside her. "I've wanted to see you but I heard you escaped." She patted the girl's head, "Your hair looks lovely today, darling."
Cassie beamed at her and angled her head from side to side to give her grandmother a better view, "Isn't it just pretty grandmother? A sister helped me!"
"Did you thank that sister then?"
"Oh, yes! I promised to be friends with her!" the little girl looked at through the two-way mirror and pointed excitedly, "That's her! That's my new friend!"