The Basics--Casting Final
Ok. To finish up casting...
Agents/Managers submit their actors' headshots/resumes to the casting directors for certain projects. The casting director then puts together a list of actors he/she will bring in to audition. Many times if a casting director doesn't know the actor or hasn't seen an actor in a while, he'll bring him in for a PRESCREEN. This is simply an audition for only the casting director so he can determine if he wants to bring you in for the creative team.
When auditioning for musicals, actors are usually asked to prepare 1-2 of their own songs in the style of the show they're auditioning for along with material from the show (given out by the casting director--usually a song and 1-2 scenes). When auditioning for TV/Film/Plays, actors prepare material from the show and maybe a monlogue (for plays).
Monologue Myth:
In school they told us we HAD to have monlogues in our repetoire (classical and contemporary). That's not really true. First of all the monologues you'll prepare now may not be pieces you even want to use for a specific audition 2 years later. Secondly, you will be growing as a performer and you'll want to update your audition materials as you do. The only time it definitely helps to have a few monologues in your rep is for open calls. Open calls for plays usually ask for a monologue. If you have an agent you won't need to go to open calls (although it's good audition practice if you're rusty). If you do not have an agent, you may be going to a lot of open calls.
Typically the audition process goes like this:
(Pre-Screen)
First Audition--for the director/music director
Second Audition (CALLBACK)--for the entire creative team (maybe producers)
Possible Third Audition--for everyone! The creative team, all the producers, the writers, etc;
The bigger the audition, the crazier the audition process.
What's fun is when you have 4+ auditions in one day--1 for a new TV pilot, a callback for a new Broadway musical, a voice-over audition, and a commercial audition. Things can (and WILL) get crazy so be ready for it.
For a complete listing of all NY/LA casting directors from Daytime TV to Primetime from Commercials to Broadway pick up a HENDERSON'S CASTING DIRECTORS GUIDE at Drama Books. It's a great thing to have because you'll want to send thank you notes to the casting directors after your audition and you'll need their addresses :) I use mine almost everyday.
BREAK A LEG!
2 Comments:
i'm exhausted just reading about your day. Isn't it smarter to select a couple of auditions and really go for them as opposed to going after everything?
what percentage of auditions can you expect to land?
It would be smarter to select a couple of auditions and go for them instead of going for everything...and sometimes that's what I do. My agent will call with an appointment for something and if my day is already full and the project isn't so hot, I'll pass. I rarely pass on voice-over/commercial/print castings though b/c they require no prep time, just time getting to and from them during the day; also I need the AFTRA (v/o) union pay to accumulate for health insurance coverage, the print jobs b/c they pay on 1099's (helps me with my taxes), and in general booking the jobs is good for my relationship with my agent, my ego, and my wallet. The legit (tv/film/theater) auditions are the difficult ones--preparing all the material, etc; and so I will pass on those sometimes if I feel I have too much on my plate for the day.
As far as what percentage of auditions can an actor expect to land...I'd say 10% or less--1 out of every 10 legit auditions, and less than 1 out of 10 for commercials/vo's/and print because casting is seeing many more people for the job.
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