Leave The Audition Room Quickly

Screenwriters are taught to enter a scene late and leave early. The theory is that since most writers tend to overwrite, they are taught to write as little as possible to convey their stories. Well I will now say that the same theory applies to acting, especially auditioning.

I just walked out of an audition for a show I read for two years ago, and the feedback was given that I was too contemporary (the show takes place in Victorian times). Ironic since I am about as old school white america as they come…think Richie Cunningham from Happy Days (guess I’m too cool for my own good!).

Anyway, the audition went well and both director and casting director were laughing at the end, which is always a very good sign. Since I was suddenly standing on such fertile ground, I felt liberated enough to start explaining why I hadn’t done well in the past audition (nearly two years ago). Somehow, thankfully, my legs took over and dragged me out the door before I made a buffoon of myself and I managed to simply thank them and get the F out. As I walked along the street I still felt like I wanted to explain why I wasn’t hadn’t been what they were looking for last time and that I could have done period if they asked me to but I’ve been in acting classes where people lose all connection to their emotions when they go period and it’s better to be real since the words will do the period stuff for you (not true BTW…your behavior is as important as how you speak and modern body language would be considered vulgar at the turn of the century).

The question is why am I still hanging onto a two year old audition and what should I do to let it go? Well I guess now I can let it go since they have seen me again, but a two year exile is a lot for one ‘contemporary’ audition. After all, they could have redirected me (hmm, maybe the note was ‘contemporary’ but there was more than that?).

So, what did I do? Well, knowing that I was too contemporary, I went in there and killed it Victorian style! I laid it on thick, with both body and dialogue and have now safely replaced their old negative view of me with a positive one. The lesson is regardless of how the audition goes, leave the audition room as soon as you can and make sure you don’t start treating the casting director like a therapist because you are just one of a million actors they will have to see in their life and it is self-indulgent and rude to take more of their time than you have to, unless they initiate conversation with you.

So make changes when you make a mistake, and then flush them from your mind. Believe in yourself enough to know that a mistake won’t haunt you forever if you strive to continuously improve your skills and then tout those improvements to anyone who will listen. BTW, this applies to any situation in life. If you need to get something off your chest, get a therapist or talk to your sister, but don’t abuse people’s time when they are on the clock. While that clock is ticking and you are blathering on about your problems, they are losing money…and you are losing auditions. In simple terms, it is unprofessional.

Now that’s Hacking Hollywood!