Audition Video Beck Matheson
THE ESCAPE GAME
SEASON FIVE
The boy has a swoop of thick brown hair beneath a cowboy hat, lips so red he might have been sucking on a cherry lollipop, and an angelic smile. He also appears to be standing in a Wild West saloon.
“Howdy. The name’s Beck, and I’d like to welcome you to the Sweetbrier Saloon.
Also known as . . . my parents’ gardening shed.
” He bats at a kerosene lamp hanging from the ceiling.
Shadows dance across the wood walls. “Last year, I converted this place into my sixth escape room. And yes, the theme is heavily inspired by the Sweet-brier Treasure. I’m obsessed with that stuff.
The moment I heard about this season’s prize—!
” He mimes his head exploding. “But I can’t be the only one who feels that way, so what makes me stand out from the crowd? One word: lasers. As in, laser focus.”
He picks up a deck of playing cards and starts to shuffle.
“This room took me five weeks to create. I scoured flea markets and craft stores for the props. The stag antlers over there came from an estate sale. The whiskey kegs and liquor bottles are mostly from thrift stores.” He starts doing tricks—fanning the cards in a line down his arm, then flipping them over in a mesmerizing wave.
“This old cash register is a kid’s toy, painted to look authentic.
Even these cards are handmade.” He fans the cards out and flips them toward the camera, revealing aces and spades, hearts and clubs.
“Hint: there’s a clue hidden in the face cards, but you’ll have to play the game to find out what it is. ”
He slings himself onto a barstool. “I’ve had a lot of hobbies.
Coding. Mechanics. Pinball competitions.
Alpacas . . . Long story. But escape rooms have been my passion for years.
Playing them and creating them. It’s one thing to solve puzzles, it’s another to mastermind them yourself.
Now, I’m not saying I’m gunning for the Game Master’s job, but I like to think that I’ll be able to hold my own in this competition.
So, Louis Augustus Russell?” He hops off the stool and pulls a pistol from a holster at his side, aiming it at the camera. “I challenge you to a duel!”
The gun clicks anticlimactically. Beck grins. “It’s also possible that I have way too much time on my hands. So . . . call me? Though I also accept communications via telegraph and pony express.”
He laughs at his own joke, and the video ends.
Producer notes:
Inside knowledge of escape rooms, good for media interviews
Did he say alpacas??
Obsession with Sweetbrier—he’ll be motivated
Loving the doe-eyed look, the optimism. We’re going to eat this kid alive.