Strangely, she panicked a little. She was completely interested in participating, but she wanted me to understand that her monologue might not be very good.I was confused. The short we had shot together was essentially a monologue. She hadn’t had the tiniest problem with memorization, and she has some real comedy chops. So what was the problem?

She can never find a good comedy monologue. Ahhh… That makes more sense. I’ve heard this complaint before. There are many, many choices for a man to show of his comedic timing, but it’s much tougher for a woman.

It had always been my understanding that an actor’s audition monologues were supposed to be from plays that had been produced and would be recognizable, but she felt it was far more important to have a funny piece that could show off the actor. Makes sense. So, after reassuring her that she wasn’t going to ruin her standing with me through her monologue, I offered to write her something she could use. (Not so much for our audition, but in general.) I explained that I have made the offer to many actors that if they told me what kind of character they want to play, I would write them something to show them off. No one ever takes me up on it. Easier to complain, I guess. And after all, coming up with ideas is the writer’s job, not the actor’s.