Your Next Best Audition

Dec 16

Strategy = save your time without sacrificing results

First of all… I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. What I can do is support you, when you decide you DO what want to do something.

If you want to stop auditions from consuming so much time, if you’re looking for another technique to perform better in a pinch, this one’s for you.

I got five tips for you.

The first two? Reconnaissance. Like any good strategy, it starts with gathering intelligence. This means on the project, AND..on you.

The project details: who, what, where, when and how.

Who are the creative powers that be (And do you fuck with it? Can you work with it?) What are you auditioning for? When is the audition and where or how do you submit, or audition? This could just be in your smartphone notes, okay. Just, note, note note.

Every casting call has its own set of materials required for submission. Put all your need-to-know information in one place for a stress-free, hassle-free experience. This is so important to your peace of mind,

There’s a Project Details cheat sheet in our free audition workbook!

As soon as you find something to audition for, take some notes, and you’ll thank yourself later. The last thing you want after putting in the time and effort is to make a mistake that disqualifies you from consideration (or, from not going after it at all!)

2. Then comes you: you gotta make the time to prepare. Which means you gotta know what kind of time you have.

This is reconnaissance on yourself. What is the realistic amount of time you can put into preparing for this audition? I don’t recommend you go into preparing for your audition without carving the time.

Here’s what’ll happen otherwise: this audition is gonna spill and flood inappropriate times in your life. You’re gonna be thinking about it way more than you actually put in the work.

There’s never enough time, you know. But there’s always just the right amount of time for what YOU can do. Is there one hour you can schedule in your available free time to prepare?

Once you book that work time for yourself, you don’t have to worry about it so much. You see? Even if you begin to worry, you can now remind yourself: well, i’m gonna work on it. I made some time to work on it.

Would it be great if you had more time? Sure. But ANY experienced performer will tell you: there’s always not enough time, but always just enough time.

Scheduling the time might not be easy if you’re not used to it, but it is simple, and the results are huge. You get to quit thinking about your audition as you eat, as you drive, as you sit with friends. Stop letting auditions consume more time than necessary! When you block out the time in your calendar, you can relax knowing that you created yourself a time and place for all those nerves to transform into your best work.

3. Learn actions, not lines.

So the time comes to WORK! But first, here's what we're NOT gonna do:

reading aloud "with emotion"
Lay in our beds IMAGINING the work
Sit and read our lines to ourselves
Reading and mumbling them over and over and over....... and over.
Stress for the perfect way to "say" our lines and memorize how to "say".
Assign emotions and cadences and psychologies without assigning ACTIONS.

If you only have one hour free in your schedule to prepare for your audition, I want you to learn actions, not lines.

The reason being: when someone watches your tape, or watches you in the room, they’re watching you DO something. You want to practice DOING enough so that when it comes time for you to press record on the self tape, or walk into the audition room, you are ready to DO in front of these people.

okay, what do i mean “learn actions, not lines”?

i boiled down my basics into a 4-step process for you. ready? okay:

STEP 1. | Underline every sentence. Count it, and see how many opportunities you have to play different actions. My rule of thumb is play a different action for every sentence. If you have to repeat actions, you are always doing something different even still (is it more, is it less, etc;).

STEP 2. | Now that you’ve identified each sentence and how many, assign an action per sentence.

WARNING: rabbit hole! If you catch yourself losing momentum because you’re sitting there trying to come up with the perfect , most right, most sensible action , on the spot.. Take a breath, and hear me out: Go with the first action that comes up for you. No matter how outlandish or nonsensical, honor the first idea you had and keep it moving. It takes humility and grace to allow yourself to try, even if you fail.

♡ Some more working tips: ♡

Don't underestimate the potential of simple actions. (K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple, at the Start.)
You dunno the potentials of ANY actions without trying them on. Try it on before you knock it.

STEP 3. | Alriiiiiiiight, you have your first draft of actions to try on! Now let's try them on. Don’t forget to give yourself a few minutes to transition from studying your lines, to beginning to work your lines. Do a few warm=up things you like. Connect your feet with the ground. You’re not just a brain floating in a jar!

Then, we run it.

Take it slow, as in sentence by sentence, and try on each action. Go from the beginning to the end, without stopping. You may get tempted to stop. To go back and re-try a sentence because it didn’t feel right. Take it as a chance to practice your focus, to let go, to stay present, to allow yourself to be awkward and clumsy, because discovery and growth is an awkward and clumsy process.

Truly, fuck the flow right now, What matters most at this time is doing the action you’ve decided with as much integrity as possible. Going slowly, from one action to another, is important because if you are rushing from sentence to sentence and not being clear with yourself on action after action — you’re cheating yourself of the opportunity to practice doing. In general, it can become a bad habit of gliding over something that should not be glided over.

I’m going to shut up about action I promise, just one last thing about starting slowly: You can always speed up later!!!! Once you got it down!!! Because what are you speeding through, when you don’t even got it down?

STEP 4. | Okay, you made it to the last sentence, painstakingly (I know..but GREAT WORK1) trying on an action per sentence with all due integrity. Now we gotta reflect, before you begin again.

Most of us might want to run it back, right after. You know you can do better, “Let me do it again ASAP”. But you do that 4 more times in a row, and you burn yourself out. What’s the rush!? Even if you have only one hour to prep for this audition, moving intentionally counts.

Stop rushing to do it again!! You dont even know what you just did! Yet! So here we are, step four, reflect.

Set a timer for 1~5 (or other) minutes, to taste. Stream of consciousness, let your mind go free and write down anything that comes to you without judgement. Go until you hear the timer go off.

Then, repeat Steps 2-4 for the time you have scheduled.

Every new cycle, play with the same actions. Then play with different ones. Play.

♡ Another tip on reflecting on actions ♡

Those actions you picked? Write them down as a list, in order. Just use key words just so you know action what you’re referring to.
See them in a sequential list. Look at it and use it for your reference for a more focused freewrite,
You can reflect on this list + your recollection/articulations of what you just did in that first run.

4. FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD AND BRIGHT ABOUT YOUR FUTURE... WARM THE F UP! ALWAYS.

NOW COMES THE DAY OF THE AUDITION. Or the day you’re setting up your self tape.

As actors, our entire instrument is our body and mind. Before any performance, whether it's an audition or for a full-on production, if you're not going to prepare your body and mind for optimal condition.... Well, I'm just not sure what you hope to achieve in sub-optimal conditions. You feel me?

Invest the extra 10 minutes. IN EVERYTHING. BEFORE YOU PRACTICE AT HOME, BEFORE YOUR LITERAL AUDITION, BEFORE SHOWTIME.

Not a lot of time? Keep it simple with this:

Start with your breath. Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth, drawing breath from deep in the diaphragm.
Rotate all your joints CLOCKWISE & COUNTER while intentionally breathing. Go head to toe -- start from the neck down to the ankles.
Relax your shoulders. Relax your jaw. Bring your eyes into the room. Open your chest.
Let negative and intrusive thoughts simply pass through you. Don't push, don't hold on, let it come and let it pass.

Alright.

YOU DID YOUR BEST.

5. LET GO TO KEEP GOING.

Audition done! You did it! And....now... maybe you’re still dwelling.

I say this with the best intentions: you are wasting time dwelling.

I promise it's not wasting my time, the casting director's time, the other actors' times..... just yours. After every audition, it is just as crucial that you know how to let it all go. Or it WILL drain you oof precious energy, and life.

What are you holding on to? And why? Can you let go of it? What will it take?