Ok, take this for what you will. I've been a part of two professional auditions in the past six weeks. I've also been involved with the shooting of a promotional piece for another potentially high profile project. Ok, being these are my first forays into the field (not counting the student projects I've been apart of), I felt like I should share with you a few observations that I've made and a few things I have learned. (Some of this, ok a lot of this, is meant to be tongue in cheek and in lieu of my going off at the person at the time when it really wasn't my place to.)
- Headshots!! Please have one. Not just one you can email but a hardcopy of one. YES, A PRINTED OUT ONE. Emailing one is ok in advance but printing those out doesn't always work to the best of your advantage. Want to impress even more then on the back of that picture have your resume printed. I said printed! Only staple it to the picture if its absolutely unavoidable. If you do have to staple, then do it yourself and don't have someone who works in your office do it. More importantly, MAKE SURE THEY ARE UP TO DATE. The last thing that any person doing the casting wants is to see a headshot that is before you dyed your hair and got a facelift. On that note, make sure the picture make you look like you. I've seen a few headshots pass through my hands that made the person look either eight years older or eight years younger than they really were. Wanting to look younger I can understand but looking older? Umm, whatever. Better still, I had a headshot pass through my hands of a young actress (who is also a model) whose headshot made her look like a completely different person. The girl looked about ten years older than she was for real and looked like she was trying to imitate Iman or something. It was not very favorable toward her. When she walked in to the audition today, she had new headshots that looked much better. For starts, she was smiling and the pic made her look like she looked at the audition (for the most part).
- Ok, enough about headshots. When you get into the audition, be prepared for anything. There are two types of auditions, ones where you get the pieces of a script (called "sides") that you are auditioning for in advance and ones where you don't. Actually, there is a third that is more for theater productions where you bring a preprepared piece. If you are not given the sides in advanced, then be prepared for anything. I say anything as in: being asked to read for multiple parts (this is not a big deal) and, more importantly, be prepared that you might have to sing a few bars of a song. In a gospel production, like the audition that I shot today, know that you might get asked to sing something especially. This ought to be a given as singing seems to be very popular in a lot of church productions. You're not being asked to audition for American Idol here, just prove that you are not completely tone deaf. William Hung (or whatever that guy's name was) need not apply. My point is have something ready just in case you are asked about any musical talents. ESPECIALLY if the character is a musical person.
- Having said that last bit about being prepared for anything, Be able to improv! I would suggest some knowledge of improv to any actor, even if your forte is not comedy. Improv is going to help you at the very least get into your character's head and react how you feel they would react to something. Two of the best moments and arguably most famous (in my opinion), in the film "The Empire Strikes Back" were improvised. I leave you to guess which I am referring to for now. The point about being able to improv is that you are able to get inside a moment and allow yourself to act. . . as opposed to . . .
- It's great you can memorize your lines but its called acting! I've seen people do this at two separate auditions. It's glaringly obvious and rarely 100% forgivable. What I am referring to is where an actor comes into an audition and he or she has the lines memorized then gets up in front of the casting people (and me with the camera in both these cases) and recites what he or she has memorized instead of acting the part. It is one thing if you are just getting the side at the audition, want to prove you are quick at learning your lines and are not sure what to do with a part. It's another when you have the sides in advanced and still don't act the part when you are auditioning. Part of auditioning is about what you are bringing to a character and not just that you know your lines. Yes it is important to know you lines but its what you do to bring those lines to life that will get you cast. The line of the day came from an actress who was already cast in the production and was asked to read with one of the people auditioning. "Oh, you wanted me to act for this?" I did my best not to laugh out loud.
- Speaking of laughing or not laughing . . . Once you are cast and on the set DO NOT START GIGGLING AND BREAK CHARACTER WHEN THE CAMERA STARTS ROLLING!!!! Do I even need to elaborate on this? You will ruin shots. You will get people mad at you. You will not get asked to do future roles.
- Just a personal opinion of mine, nothing more: When you are asked to talk a little about yourself, it's usually to get an impression of your personality, what you will bring to the character and the production, how you will work with others on the set, and to get an idea of how professional you will be on the set. You should keep that in mind and respond accordingly.
- Last but not least, read character descriptions. This is as much an idea for casting directors as for actors. If you are a 30-something male of slim build then ask yourself if you should REALLY be auditioning for an overweight late 50s male who loves to eat and has a belly to prove it. For that matter, if the character is a 40 year old, blond-haired, British occultist who chain-smokes then ask yourself why the heck are you in the audition, Keanu. 'Nuff Said!
Just a few random thoughts. Needed to vent mostly. Thanks for your time. Cheers!