Booked Law & Order (yes the OG one!)
- Hayley Pace
- 55 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Hayley books their NYC Rite of Passage while in Woodstock for the it birthday, just two months after their official Permanent Residency approval.
I couldn’t believe it. But that’s my pattern. It’s silent for months, years even, and then I book, and I book BIG.
It was my first network TV audition with my manager Facé. I was on an extended winter vacation in Woodstock at my friend Marilyn’s country home, whose family has owned for decades. I hadn’t been getting many auditions at all — a couple non-union ones came in since I signed with Facé in April of 2025. It’s been slow, and we’ve all been feeling it. I did the tape with whatever scraps I could maneuver from the house, including exposed lightbulb lamps as key lights, Cinematic mode blasting, with barnwood truss’ running in the background, framing me perfectly. After doing this for 15 years, you learn how to get scrappy when a tape comes in on the fly. Part of the slate instruction was that I had to mention where I was taping from.
When I booked the part, I got a text from the director, Peter Stebbings. Something that….had never happened before. He told me my audition was wonderful, and the blue draft had more lines for me. He added an appendage that he lives 20 minutes from Woodstock. What are the odds that he was a fellow Canuck as well! 🇨🇦
Instantly, I felt more relaxed about walking on set, because I had a friend there. I was surrounded by a tight-knit family who have become a well-oiled machine. It’s easy for co-stars to feel excluded. But that’s not the experience I had. Every single cast and crew member made this memorable in a positive way that I will never forget. They treated me like I was part of the family.
Peter and I picked up where we left off over text message. He was an incredibly easy director to work with. He never made me feel like I was doing something wrong. when he came to give me direction, he would explain my choices back to me before making adjustments. This is classic cognitive behaviour therapy that I recognized from my own training. He made me feel empowered and in control. He was collaborating with me about the moment before, actually taking-in my interpretation of the scene. Believe it or not, I haven’t worked with many directors who have made me feel this way.
David Ajala and Reid Scott were among the most intimidating to work with: but not because they were unkind or distant. They were seasoned, professional actors who had been working most of their lives. And not one of them made me feel like I was small. They welcomed me on set with open arms, like I had been there the whole time.
After a busy morning of shooting and set ups, Peter comes up to me and says, “OK. We have everything we need. This next one is just for you. Play with it, give me something different. Whatever you want.”
I thought, “Ooooooooooo…..fun.” 😈 Little did I know, it would be me who got punk’d!
David Ajala started taking jabs at me. while rolling, suddenly I hear a line that wasn’t there before.
“Tell me the truth” he demanded. I turned to him, surprised, shocked that he just inserted a line like that! Script supervisors are on top of you for a verbatim performance! What was David thinking?! But I couldn’t stop to say, “What? That’s not the line.” I had to stay in the scene. In reaction, I batted my next line back to him with ferocity. Now we have something new showing up.
When the director called cut, I said “That was amazing! What did you do to me?!”
David laughed and said, in all seriousness, “ I don’t usually throw ad-libs to co-stars. But I could see you can handle it. You were locked in. So I played.”
And play he did. The cut the editor decided to use was indeed the scene where David was throwing me improv, and it was the most truthful of the takes I did in coverage. He shook the surface level out and got down to the ground of threatening my character with real consequences.
I was beyond Nirvana for weeks on end after this shoot. I still am. After watching my episode last night, I feel invigorated with positivity. I am finally on the playing field in New York City, right where I belong. Now it’s time to go for the goal.
