Acting on ‘The Mother of Invention’

Production began in the fall of 2008 for an independent movie. At the time I resided in Los Angeles. I submitted to audition after audition. Finally I was called in to audition for a movie. That movie was “The Mother of Invention”.

The audition was held at the director’s apartment, which was only a short bus ride from where I lived. The audition itself was relaxed. They videotaped the audition. I was nervous, but I was able to relax a little after my first attempt. I don’t remember much more about the audition except that I left thinking I would not get the part.

I was called back to read for the part again. Apparently they liked me, but they wanted to see me read again. Again I left thinking I would not get the part. I thought I would never hear from them again.

I spent the next few days in complete isolation at home as there was a knot in my stomach that was a combination of excitement and nervousness on whether I would be selected or not and would make videos every now and then to improve on my voice and expressions, which you can check out here the official website online.

One day, weeks later, my phone rang. It was one of the directors. I thought it was to tell me that I did not get the role. The reason for the call was to ask me if I were still interested in the movie.

The first scene they shot with my character involved me sitting at a desk in the background. Andrew Bowser, who also played the main character, was in the foreground talking to the camera. The crew dowsed the desk with lighter fluid. My job was to pretend to work on an invention, and have it “accidentally” set on fire.

It had to be lit as though the desk spontaneously caught fire. I had to hide a lighter from the view of the camera, light the desk on my cue, and pretend to be surprised by the fire. I was very surprised when it caught fire. I jumped out of the chair.

At the San Diego Convention Center we shot a scene of us running into the building to attend the young inventor’s convention. I was not told ahead of time that we did not have permission.

We shot the scene once in the center of one side of the building. Then we went through the parking structure to another side of the building. They had someone be a lookout for security. When they thought it was clear to shoot we began the scene. Andrew and I ran up to the side of the building we were at before from the other side of the building.

As we were walking away from the building we were approached by a security guard. After a few moments a couple of detectives arrived. We were questioned. Eventually we were allowed to leave, but I thought we were going to be in trouble for a moment.

About Clara

Clara Martin is a social media strategist and a content editor. She likes to cover business, finance and investments. She is currently managing In Trona Ut.

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