Joresa Blount’s Celeb Locale with Damian Bailey
Part 1
Part 2
How To… Prepare for a Casting Call
The Audition Room: 5 minutes of power!
I’m an expert on self-sabotage. I know how to give any role away to the next actress. She may not be a better actress than I, but she walked in with the tools I left at my front door. Here’s how you can avoid giving your power away in the audition room:
1) Be Prepared. Go ahead, laugh at how obvious this may sound. Unfortunately, many times actors show up looking great, smelling good but simply not prepared. Doing a few quick reads of the sides is not enough. Do your homework. Answer those magical acting questions – “Who am I? What do I want? What will happen if I don’t get what I want?” Think about what your character looks like, talks like, walks like. Ask yourself, what would my character wear. If you can afford it, meet with an acting coach. If not, meet up with another actor to run lines. It’s a job interview. There is no time to be casual.
2) Get Confident. Preparation is a tremendous help to being confident in the room, but it doesn’t completely do the job. There is this wonderful place called the waiting area. There, all the mind games greet you to throw you off your A-game. In five minutes, you can come to a number of self realization I’m a bit overweight, my hair isn’t as great, I wore the wrong color, I don’t have the longest legs, my voice doesn’t sound like hers and on and on. Being confident about yourself, your skills and the unique essence you bring in the room is just as important as being prepared. You may not be a supermodel or have the best skin, but you have to be the best you. You are all you have. So love you, and stop apologizing for having short legs.
3) Be knowledgeable. Yes, another funny and obvious requirement worth discussing. Some actors show up to auditions not knowing who they are auditioning for, not having read the play they are auditioning for, or checked for potential scheduling conflicts. As an actor, you must conduct yourself as a business owner. You are your business. You are the recruiter of casting directors and agents, the HR manager who gets you paid, CEO who makes all executive decisions about the direction you are going in as well as the publicist who promotes your work. Get all the information you need about the audition and the project. Record this information before the audition, and make notes after your audition. Keep a record of who you met, and any comments they made about your performance. This information will be especially helpful for those wonderful postcards we like to send out.
4) Don’t forget your manners. Now your mother has been teaching you to be polite since the days of tearful tantrums and cravings for happy meals. Why on earth would you forget your manners when you go meet your future employer? Show up with your headshot. When there are hundreds of actors submitting headshots for one job one, you don’t want to be remembered as unprofessional by not bringing your headshot and resume. Saying that your agent or you sent it over via email is not the way to go. Casting directors don’t bring their computers with them when holding auditions! Always have a headshot and resume with you at all times. Also, don’t forget to say thank you after your performance, no matter if it was a good or bad day for you. Saying thank you can go a long way especially when you seal it with a smile. You never want to end by saying you suck. I mean, who wants to watch someone beat themselves up? And if you can’t remember anything else, please be nice to everyone you meet during your audition. Don’t make the mistake of thinking someone isn’t important, or something is ‘off the record.’ People are always watching and listening. With so much competition, don’t let your bad attitude or need to gossip about industry people throw your job opportunity out the door.
Closing: Now these simple tips can take you from a green actor to an actor that means business. If you only get 5 minutes take total control and be the best you can be on that day.
-Joresa Blount