Knott's Halloween Haunt auditions draw crowd
Posted
Nearly 300 auditioned Monday for temporary work portraying monsters at Knott's Berry Farm's annual Halloween Haunt. Most of the jobs pay minimum wage and call on the characters to don costumes and makeup, scaring guests at the park. Despite the low wages, some applicants spent Sunday night on the sidewalk in front of Knott's employment office in Buena Park to be among the first to audition. About 300 actors from last year's Halloween Haunt were invited to try out. By early afternoon, almost all 300 had filled out applications.
Read more from The LA Times.
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As a 6 year Screamsters veteran at CP, I'm still impressed every time I hear about the things Knott's does with their Haunt. I would love the opportunity to work even just one night out there. These guys are the best of the best (although we like to think we're close behind :)) and they have been doing it for so many years. I know I have heard that in the past monsters had to "serve their time" working in a maze for 5 years before they could get to the street haunts. It sounds from reading the article that they may have changed that a little bit.
David Roberson, 52, works as a janitor for the Long Beach UnifiedSchool District. But he's been taking temporary monster roles atKnott's for 16 years, all for the joy of dressing up and acting like atortured creature.
"A lot of us here would do it for free," he said as he waited to be called into an audition at the park's employment office.
And that's the truth for about anyone who loves doing this kind of stuff. It's not a job, it's a passion.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
Especially if you call them actors. I don't think any of them are going to score an Equity card for that work.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
The ones you see around the parks no, but there are some haunt actors who actually act, and are really good at it.
Check out these guys, and they are not even the best at it, just the ones I could remember had a web site.
Morté aka Matt, Ego sum nex
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