The Secret to Successful Auditions

Q.  How difficult is it to get cast in a show?  

A.  VERY.  

 

Since my partner Will and I started making pantomime 5 years ago, we have been fortunate to develop some fabulous relationships with a whole bunch of incredibly talented actors.  The success of our projects we owe to the hard work and good grace of the people around us who have believed in us and put their shoulder to the wheel.  The Big Tiny is as much a family as a company, and the knock on effect of this is that in any given year, we are often in the fortunate position of having only a handful of parts to cast. 

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the larger commercial producers to cast their shows.  Bigger shows with bigger budgets can offer actors more money than we do and perhaps even a gig that is closer to home (which must surely seem appealing around Christmas time).  However, I can only speak from my own experience, and even when we cast our provincial shows, we are inundated with applications.  

This Christmas, we are producing a number of shows, including two pantomimes in provincial venues (under 300 seats).  At the start of May, we put out 7 casting calls and by the deadline (6 days later) we had received 1504 submissions.

Going through so many submissions can feel overwhelming, and timescales are tight.  Even though we try to look at submissions as they come in, invariably we have a flurry of late nights watching showreels and emailing agents.

 

Even for our relatively small scale shows, the barrier to getting an audition is very high.  We publish the breakdowns on Spotlight, which means (in theory) you have to be a professional actor with an agent just to be submitted.  This is the start of the casting process - from here you're in the lap of the gods.

BAD CASTING

There are two competing approaches when it comes to casting, by far the worst of which is to try and see as many people in the room as possible.   You can immediately tell if you turn up to one of these auditions.  You sit, usually on a hard plastic chair in a corridor, cheek by jowl alongside other actors your age, your casting, who you keep bumping into outside other auditions.   Time in front of the decision makers is rushed.  If you haven’t impressed them by bar 16 of your song, the director raises a hand: “thank you”… which is only slightly less crushing than “NEXT!”  There may be a group stage at which people who sparkle less are culled and packed off home while the favourites are slowly whittled down.  Auditions for very big shows may have recalls (though this is less common for panto than other musicals).  I BLOODY HATE THOSE AUDITIONS.

"It is immoral to call too many people to an audition."

Jesus of Nazareth (or possibly Buddha?)

BECAUSE...

1)    For a start, it’s really bloody expensive being an actor.  You can’t have a well paying job, because those jobs don’t let you go to auditions.  No-one pays you for going to audition and you definitely don’t have savings, because either you live in London and you spend every penny on rent, or you live outside and bankrupt yourself on train fares getting to auditions.

2)    Preparing for an audition is hard.  You learn the sides, even if they say you don’t have to – because maybe that gives you an edge, or maybe because everyone else will and you don’t want to be disadvantaged.  You stay up late to read through the production company’s website just to check they’re not jokers, and try to think of a good question to ask at the end. 

3)    Auditioning is really high stakes.  If you’ve trained to be an actor, you want to act.  It’s difficult to get a part, and the prospect of getting cast – of people choosing you – is super exciting, and a prize worth having.  Conservatoire training does it’s best to toughen you up, but ineveitably rejection hurts.  And multiple rejections time after time have the ability to take the wind out of the sails of even the thickest-skinned thespian.  

 

The point is… if you go to an audition, you should expect there’s a reasonable chance of you actually getting the job.  So the question is, what’s reasonable?  1 in 20, 1 in a 100, 1 in 1000?

 

We call around 10-15 people for each part.  I think that’s reasonable.  If you come to audition for us, there’s a 1 in 15 chance that you’re going to end up with the part.  At least that’s a fighting chance.

 

Everyone deserves a fighting chance

DOING SOMETHING BETTER

 

There is a fundamental power imbalance in the audition room.  There is no way around this fact.  It is a natural consequence of the considerable numerical mismatch between the number of available parts and performers.  

 

The producer, with paid work in their gift, sits in a position of great power; but exacerbating this dynamic is hugely counterproductive.  If you want to find out where an actor can lead you, you must let them sit in the driving seat.  

 

A good audition puts the actor in the driving seat

A more effective audition process is good for the producers as well as the actors.  It is incumbent upon the producer to take reasonable steps so the audition can be a success.

Here are my top tips for running a better audition room:

 

·       Allocate enough time.

We give everyone a 15 minute slot (20 mins if they’re reading for Dame, or more than one role).  This gives us time to chat through the actors CV with them, hear the sides, redirect the sides, hear a song from beginning to end (with the option of hearing some part of a second), and give them an opportunity to ask about us.

 

It's not just polite – it’s good business.  The audition room is an unhelpfully artificial construct which very poorly mirrors the working environment of the rehearsal room.  You’re hoping to find someone to develop a mutually edifying working relationship with.  How can you possibly hope to do that in 2 minutes?  It would be like proposing during a speed date.  We have met some fantastically talented people through this process, discovered some hidden talents which we have incorporated into the shows and made contacts that we’ve followed up later when the perfect part comes along.

 

·       Provide reasonable alternatives

 

Not everyone lives in London… but a lot of actors do.  We hold auditions in two locations – Manchester and London.  This hopefully means we’re not asking people to trek the length and breadth of the land just to get to us.  By making your audition process more geographically accessible, you also increase the number of people who can submit, as well as minimising the chances of them turning down the slot or failing to attend.

 

·       Communicate clearly

 

Explain the process clearly, in good time, so the actor gets a chance to prepare.  Send the sides out a week in advance – pick/write something with emotional depth and not too many lines.  (If I think that it’s helpful, I add in any useful stage directions to give the actor some hints about where I imagine the character going.)  I understand some people can be anxious about disseminating copyrighted material, but if you’re scripting is character-led and tightly constructed, it won’t be easily shoe-horned into anyone else’s show (and it’ll be pretty blinking obvious if it is).  At the end of the day, if you’re hoping to get the best out of your auditionees, you’ve got to give them the tools to succeed.

      ·       Prepare the space.

I wish I could say these are my tips, but I robbed them off someone at RADA - I wish I could remember who gave them to me, because they are great.  Employ them and live off the fruits of your labour.

 

Buy bottles of water and put them outside for the actors.  Not only will it win you brownie points both with the actors and with the wider industry, it helps you to get the best out of the audition.  If someone is coming in nervous, dry mouth, distracted - you're not going to get to see what they can do.  

 

Zoom in to see Brownie Points Thriving in their Natural Habitat

 

Signpost your location boldly and at frequent intervals (pin up some posters/print out some big A4 sheets with your logo).  You want people coming in feeling relaxed, not stressed out by getting lost and behind time.  

 

Print out any relevant information and make it available where people are waiting.  Yes, this means spare copies of the sides: inevitably one or two people will turn up amidst a disaster - their printer broke down, they left it behind on the tube.  Unless the auditions a memory test, it's best to provide as much as you can as often as you can.  It's all belt and braces, but in return for the safety net it provides, all of the print costs are negligible.  In the past we have provided some information sheets explaining core parts of our practice: how the rehearsals work, what the accommodation offer is, etc. - admittedly, this demands actual legwork, but all our feedback was very effusive.  Consider this: anyone who is prepared to travel in to audition for you,is going to be eager to learn more about you and your company.  There's also the chance that providing more clarity helps avoid bumpy roads down the line - one year we had a chap politely withdraw from audition after discovering he had a date clash by reading the waiting room literature (it's potentially worth it's weight in gold... imagine if we had ended up casting him, only to find out three months down the line he wasn't completely available!)

·       Do your homework.

 

Thorough prep means reading CVs in advance, watch the showreel on Spotlight, thinking carefully about who you’re meeting and prepare interesting questions to ask them about previous work.  You have chosen to ask this person to meet you: surely you know the reason why!

 

Remember: the only chance you get to learn all about them is when they’re in front of you.  The great thing about doing all your thinking in advance is that you can spend more time actually listening.  

 

 

 

Pray, silence please for the BIG secret...
Photo by Rochelle Hartman under CC 2.0

 

BONUS MATERIAL (for actors’ eyes only)

 

The flip side of having long auditions slots is inevitably seeing fewer people.  Over 6 days of auditions we see around 100 people, which, if you start with 1500 gives you an awful lot of whittling down to do.

 

"How do you do it?"  

Thoughtfully.  But also efficiently.  

"No really... how do you do it?"

Oh, alright.  I'll tell you!

ROLL UP, ROLL UP!  READ ALL ABAHT IT!  

 

1. Where did you train?  

Established conservatoires (Arts Ed, GSA, RADA, Mountview and the like) with excellent reputations are inundated every year with applications – which means they get to be super fussy about them.  Even very talented candidates may spend several years auditioning before securing a place. 

It's worth emphasising: not every great actor goes to a conservatoire, but lots of them do, and having the name on your CV is a bit like pre-vetting, which, if you’re looking at lots of submissions gives you a good place to start.  In economics they call it a sorting function (and if you still haven’t read Freakonomics, order it immediately)

 

Additionally we do keep an eye out for a few less well known schools that apparently have some excellent teachers, because the kids they’re turning out are bright, connected and very well skilled.  I could tell you the names, but then I’m afraid I would have to kill you.  Let’s just say: none of them start with an X.

 

TOP TIP – If you are at the start of your career, apply for the best places you can get into.  Don’t be afraid to take a year out and reapply.  Acting can be an incredibly tough career path: you can maximise your chances of success by getting the best possible start.

 

2. What are your credits?  

Have you done any panto before?  With whom?  Was it one of the good ones?  Have you worked with someone we know?  Have you done any long runs?  How would you do  working with text? 

 

Panto rehearsals are typically quick and intense: producers are hunting for people who can pick up harmonies, dance steps and physical routines quickly.  Can you show evidence of these skills?  Get your agent to highlight any relevant previous experience in the comment box. 

 

TOP TIP – Declutter your CV.  Training credits are great for a new grad, but are they really that relevant if you trained a decade ago?  Worst of all are credits dressed-up to seem more important than they really are.  You may well have played Sandra D in a 2013 production of Grease, but you’ll only be embarrassed if have to explain that “SAGS Productions” stands for St Alban’s Girls School.  Remember, you don’t need a hundred credits, you only need a good one. 

 

St Alban's Girls School (*and not a production company)
photo by Ian Capper used under CC 2.0

3. Do you suit the role?

 

It sounds pretty obvious, but if you don’t look anything like the character, you’re a pretty easy whittle.  

 

Read the breakdown.  It’s designed to help you work out if you’re what the producer is looking for.  You may have always dreamed of playing the Little Mermaid, but if you’re 6’5” with a long beard and a barrel-chest you’re not going to fit the costume. 

On second thoughts.  Maybe this would be awesome?!

Make sure your CV is an honest appraisal of your skill set.  If a director is looking for someone with a Mancunian accent and you claim to be “highly skilled”, you better be able to pass as a native or you’ll be immediately rumbled.  I remember how mortified one poor boy was, having claimed “fluent German,” confessing he got a B at GCSE when I tried to converse auf Deutsch.  

Oh, and a personal bugbear of mine - if you don’t look like your headshot any more, that’s OK, but you should definitely get a new one.  It is a fact of life: time marches on and nobody looks the same forever.  You probably do get more auditions by using that smouldering headshot from 2016; and 2016-you may well be exactly the person the producer is looking for, but that’s not going to do you a ha’peth of good when present-day-you turns up to audition. It’s simply a waste of everyone’s time.

 

TOP TIP – Have a variety of headshots that suit different castings.  If you want to play comic, have one that looks funny.  On Spotlight, you can choose which one comes up first when you submit.  If you do nothing else, add at least one photo in which you are smiling!  

 

 

4. What is your showreel like?

You remember your showreel.  The one that you afforded by splitting the cost with a friend.  The friend that does the long monologue at the start, while you do reaction shots. You remember how artistic it is: those long, slow pans; the edgy brooding silences; the atmosphere.  You remember how perfect it is for a film director?  

 

Well, it isn’t a film director watching it, it’s me.

 

I’m sorry if this comes as a shock to everyone, but if you’re going to act professionally, you’re probably going to do panto.  

 

Have some variety!  

 

Too often, showreels are back to back gritty scenes about drug use and bad break-ups. I’m sure that it’s great if you’re the casting director for Doctors, but it can make it tricky to gauge how good the actor would be in a family friendly musical.  

 

With the best will in the world, a producer dealing with 1500 submissions won’t have the time to watch everyone’s 6 minute showreel.  They’re watching exactly enough to go “yep, they’re worth seeing,” or else “I can’t tell.  I’ll put them in the maybe pile.”

 

TOP TIP – Have different showreels for different jobs, and label them clearly.  We love it when we see a showreel titled: “comedy” or “panto” because it tells us exactly what to look at.  If your reel is entirely slow, moody scenes, give the creative team a heads up: label it “TV and film reel”.