10 Steps to Nailing Auditions
How to nail your audition in 10 easy steps
Auditions are hard. Whether it's a commercial casting or for the big screen, it's important to feel positive about your performance. Here are 10 steps to make you more confident in the audition room.
1. Be prepared
No matter how good an actor is, no one can walk into an audition unprepared and sail through unharmed. It won't impress the panel or casting director and no one will find it amusing.
2. Book the room
Sometimes you just won't be right for a job. It will have nothing to do with your abilities and everything to do with how you look. It may be a question of being a bit too tall, or not looking enough like the 'other guy we've already cast' to play his sister. Booking the room with a good performance, however, will get you remembered. And you never know when the casting director might invite you to audition for another part that suits you perfectly...
3. Have a good time
As scary as a panel may be, they secretly want you to be brilliant. They want the thrill of finding someone amazing and for their job to be done. The more you enjoy yourself, the more likely you'll be relaxed and give a good performance.
4. Be kind to the runners
Whether it's a receptionist or a runner who greets you, they will report back to the panel if you've been patronising or rude. You're not there to complain about how bad traffic was or to shout at them about how you should have been seen 10 minutes ago, you're there to impress. A kind word (or an unkind one) goes a long way in the industry.
5. Pay attention to you and you alone
You may be put off by the fact that other auditionees are the same casting type as you or that they're loud or talkative. Be polite; acknowledge the others, but remember to focus on you!
6. Acknowledge everyone in the room
As you go in, don't just say hello to the casting director. Acknowledge those behind the camera, the piano, and the desk. They're all there for a reason.
7. It's okay to ask where to look
Sometimes a panel will want you to address them, sometimes they'll ask you to address the wall behind them or someone specific. It's okay to ask! Different casting directors prefer different things.
8. Listen to direction
One of the most common mistakes made in the room is when actors are given a piece of direction and don't adapt their performance. Make sure you're fully aware of what the direction is and modify your performance as best you can. If anything is unclear, ask!
9. Say thank you and leave
Casting directors are almost always on a tight schedule and normally they will have another actor to see directly after you. Making small talk or spending ages gathering your belongings aren't good ideas. There's time to sort yourself out outside the audition room.
10. Write everything down
Who you met, the role, the casting director, everything. Remember to congratulate yourself on what you achieved and note what you could have done better.