Actors Pages Blog

Tips: How to Be Great at Auditioning

So back awhile last week, I have noted down things you need to prepare before auditioning, such as looking for prominent cast, understanding audition materials, exploring the role, and dressing well. As what I have initially promised, today, we are going to discuss some concise points on how to be great AT auditioning. Pay attention and you will be great on it - this is my pledge. Should you take your chance and obtain your dreamed-role! Here you go, actors.

Overcome Your Fears

Getting nerves before auditioning is normal. However, you need to conquer your fears in order to show the casting director that you are the right one for this role. You might have moaned to me, “How can I get relax while I know that my future is on this audition!” There is a handy method you can use, warming up. Warming up is an obligation if you want to be relaxed. Just like a pitcher warms up before a ball game, you can do some stretches and vocal exercises before entering the “burning” room. Get in your line and you will do fine.

Avoid Talking To Other Actors

This is not the right time to go along with other actors. It is said that who stands stronger, they will win the race. The fact is other actors will only try to distract you. If you have signed in and currently been waiting for others to read for the same part, you need to be patient and focus on what you came here to do. Once again, you should avoid talking to other actors.

 It is the Time – Face the Casting Director

Get in the line and show him you can do your best! There are two types of casting director, the one who will sit and chat with you for few minutes and another one who will just get right into the business. Whatever type you face, you need to remember to not suck up with the director. This dirty trick might work at the start but trust me; you will only leave bad impression. The only thing you need to do is to make the director believe that you ARE the character.

If you are too nervous to perform in front of him, you can pretend as if you are not at the audition but you have involved in the production. When you enter the room, do not touch the director aside of casually shaking his hands. These are some basic rules you need to follow. Work well on it and they will call you back for the next audition.

Good luck at auditioning!

TIPS: What to Do Before Auditioning

For most actors, both expert and beginner, audition is like a specter of its own. Audition is a nerve wracking experience as well as a deadly card for each of you. You cannot deny that your dreams lie on it. If you win the auditions, you are going to be a happy berry bee for getting your desired role. In other hand, if you lose the battle, you have to give up all your dreams. This is pretty cliché, isn’t it? In order to win the audition, not only do you need to be good but also to be great. This time around, I will explain things you need to do before auditioning. But next time, I promise to bring up the topic on how to be great at auditioning. So, actors, you better stay tune!

Look For Prominent Castings

Before auditioning, you and your agent are going to submit a photo and resume to the casting director. There are a lot of auditions out there; you just need to look for one which fits on you. Sometimes there are open call castings where anybody can join without any exception. However, most of auditions are held by invitations. You better keep your eyes wide open.

Start With the Audition Material 

You need to be all set on everything - that is I am going to say. After you get the invitation, you need to start the lines by reading the entire script, if possible. Fortunately, you will not be required to know the entire script while auditioning. Always remember that an actor needs to defeat hundreds of others to win a single role. Starting with the audition materials is a good step. For instance, if you are applying at the show which has been airing on TV, you should begin watching to show and observing the role.

Focus On the Character You Are Going To Shoot

As my earlier statement, it is unnecessary to remember the whole dialogs, just commit on the character you are going to portray. Knowing the character deeply is a good start, including how old, where from, how the character feels about other characters in the story. Once again, learn the script and character with whatever method you feel comfy.

Going to the Audition

It is about the time! Final preparation should be done perfectly. Pick the suitable dress for the audition. Instead of choosing randomly, you need to look at the character you are going to cast. If the character is a cowboy, you can wear, for instance, jeans and booty boot. Just because you are about to meet the casting direction, you do not have to be fret by wearing formal suit. I keep my fingers crossed on you!

Why am I not getting any auditions?!

Did you ever ask yourself this question?

I bet you have. At least once in your career.

Actors Pages support team is getting emails of this sort on a weekly basis. “Your site sucks”, “Your casting calls are fake”, “There is a technical issue with the site” and the list is long…

Rest assure that our site is working well, and so do many other casting sites. The issue is not on a technical level, but with the profession itself.

This article is not for the working actor, it is for the non working actor. Yes it’s very frustrating to have such a strong desire to perform and get no real chance. It’s very painful to feel like you’re the most talented actor out there, yet to receive no auditions or not enough auditions.

If you feel like that, then you are not alone. You are in the company of millions of frustrated artists. You have every right to feel frustrated, but you need to wake up!

If you want to be an actor, the first thing you need to understand that you have chosen one of the most competitive professions in the world. For every role there are hundreds if not thousands of actors that are trying to submit their pictures.

There is usually one casting director that looks at the submissions. And in most cases he will look at the first 20-30 and call about 5-10.

In bigger productions he may call 50-100 actors per role, but this is not a usual thing.

What can you do to help your chances?

1) Well, first of all don’t get discourage. It may take a week, a month, or a year for you to get in to the casting office and show your skills.

2) Even before that, you need to make sure your profile looks professional.Your pictures need to look professional, your resume needs to look professional, your entire profile needs to look clean and professional.

We get so many actors asking why they don’t get any auditions, but they have an awful picture and invested 2 minutes to build their resume. This won’t work and it’s obvious why they don’t get called in to a casting call.

3) Register to as many casting sites (legit ones) that you can. Yes, it cost money, but so does any other thing in life. You need to be ready to invest something in your career.

Think about it this way, you have spent 3 years of subscription and it cost you 3 x $12= $36 (Actors Pages is the cheapest deal on the web, other sites might be more expensive). Now you got a role at the end of the 3rd year that paid you, let’s say $100. So basically for an investment of $36 you almost tripled your cost.

of course we are not doing this to receive $100 after 3 years, but this is just a small sample to show you how to go about your career. You will have to invest wisely in order to succeed.

I hope this short article helped you a bit and took a way a bit of your frustration. Keep believing, keep frighting and keep dreaming,

Robin Hood :)