7 THINGS CASTING DIRECTORS HATE

I have been lucky enough to work as a casting director and  reader for different projects. You learn a lot when you are on the other side of the camera. Here are seven things you might want to stop doing as they may be ruining your audition.

NOT KNOWING YOUR MEASUREMENTS

If I had a dollar for every time an actor didn’t know his/her height in feet I’d afford an iPhone 6. Guys, your measurements are one of the basic things that you should know. Have them in meters, kilos, centimeters, inches, LITERS if need be. Know your height, shoe size, dress size, collar size etc but don’t you ever EVER ask the casting director what your size is… we are not tailors!

LACK OF PREPARATION AND TARDINESS

This should actually have been point number one. When you have a specific time slot for your audition, please make sure you come in at least 10 minutes before your appointment. Personally, I arrive early to give myself time to sign in, fix my make up, make sure my phone is on silent then spend the rest of the time to just BE! I don’t waste my time catching up with other actors (do that after the audition) or looking over my lines. This is the time to be silent and focus on what you’re about to do. I see many actors come in for auditions and start chatting with other actors or start going over their sides. It’s too late for that, if you dont have your lines by now, you won’t have them in the next five minutes. It’s even worse when you come in right on time and get ushered into your audition straight away thus giving you absolutely no time to quiet your mind. Also, if you want to use a prop for your scene, BRING IT WITH YOU. Just because there is a spoon in a scene doesn’t mean the casting director is going to provide you with one.

NOT KNOWING YOUR LINES

There is a big difference between forgetting a line or two and not knowing your lines. If you were given enough time to prepare there is no reason as to why you shouldn’t be off book. You are allowed to come in holding your sides and glance over them during your audition but guess what, the previous actor had his lines memorized and so is the next one. If the three of you are equally good, the director will use the fact that you don’t know your lines as a sign of being unprofessional and concentrate on the other two. It’s a competition, people! You want to look your best. Don’t leave anything to chance.

NOT FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS

I have been here before. This all boils down to LISTENING (which is very different from hearing). You don’t listen because of nerves. I have worked in many call backs where the actor does his first take for the director. It goes great and is given a few notes to incorporate in the next take. The actor includes NOTHING of the new direction he was given. The director concludes that he can’t take direction and automatically loses the role. I hate seeing this happen because most of the time the actor could have probably booked the role but because he was thinking of other things while the director was giving adjustments, he lost the spot. Little hint; if the  director gives you extra direction at a callback, that’s actually a good sign. It means he is interested, otherwise he would’ve just said “thank you for coming”. The whole film industry is about taking direction, if you can’t do it in a small casting room, you definitely won’t do it in on set with hundreds of cast and crew.

CUTTING YOURSELF OFF

Kills me every time I see this happen. An actor is in the middle of a beautiful scene then decides to stop because he forgot a line. Guess what; NOBODY CARES! As long as you don’t go out of character, just keep acting, baby. Chances are, we didn’t even notice. That long pause you took because you had forgotten your line could have been perfect for that scene but you cut yourself off, now we can’t use that take! As an actor you need to TRUST. Just trust that you’re doing the right thing. If it’s wrong, the director will let you know.

NOT USING YOUR READER

Sounds obvious but it’s not. The fact that I even have to write about it, proves it. When you go for an audition and have the privilege of having a reader help you, please USE THEM. Use them for your eye line, touch them if you must, give them direction. They are there to help you make your scene real. A word of caution though, lets not get extreme, especially with kissing scenes- there we can make believe 🙂

TOO MANY EXCUSES/APOLOGIES

You will make mistakes during your audition. The director may not like how you do something and ask you to change it. It’s all part of the process. What we don’t want to hear is, “sorry”. STOP APOLOGIZING. It’s an audition. It’s not meant to be perfect. If you keep apologizing, it will show that you are an amateur, you’re not ready for the big leagues. When the director yells “cut’ and gives you a note, all you have to say is “OK” not ‘sorry’ . Also, if you come in late for your casting please spare us those tired excuses of your car breaking down, your grandma dying (for the third time), being abducted by aliens or whatever other silly excuse your brain cooks up. Just take responsibility coz at the end of the day, your excuse does not make you any ‘less late’. Little hint; no one buys those excuses by the way, we just nod or shake our heads in ‘sympathy’ because we wanna move things along. What you can do however to redeem yourself is give a kick-ass audition that will make us forget that you were late in the first place.

Epic Line: When we care too much, it blinds us!

-House of Cards-

Disclaimer: this blog is proudly brought to you by the voice(s) in my head. It does not intend to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any personal issues. If symptoms persist, contact this person immediately !!