The spark of creation...

I recently had the amazing opportunity to act as Casting Director for a theatre here in the city. What an eye opening experience it was! How it measures up to the experiences of actual Casting Directors remains to be seen. I’m going to take a leap of faith that it’s quite similar though.

As a Casting Director, my focus was on trying to get the best possible candidates in the room to showcase their product, in the hope that that product would be used for the show…oh yeah and make me look good in the eyes of the creative team as well. (For a little background on “product” check out my blog entitled Baby you can drive my car) This in itself was a task.

The audition was by invitation only, meaning an actor could either submit from an online site that lists auditions or be invited by someone associated with the project.  The show has some extremely specific needs in terms of casting, more so than most. I was very selective about who I personally invited to the audition. I went through all of my colleagues to see who would fit the needs of the show, who would flourish in the situations present in the show and who had the talent, experience and or drive to work well in a collaborative environment. A handful of personal invitations were extended by me.

There were of course the “professional courtesy” invitations. A “courtesy invite” simply means an actor has worked well with a company or someone connected to a show, in a prior audition or production. The actor is considered to be talented and personable and the connection extending the invitation is hoping to work with this actor. The invitation can also be completely politically motivated, trying to appease someone connected to the show, like the producers for instance. If the casting choice is between an unknown actor (“unknown” as in new to the company or production team) or someone invited by the production team whether political or not, the job will most likely go to the invited person.

After the personal and courtesy invitations are taken care of, the next process is one of the most daunting jobs of a Casting Director: wading through the myriad of submissions. Luckily this was only online and we didn’t have to deal with snail mail, chorus calls or EPAs. It’s here were the real work of a casting director begins. Coincidentally, it’s here were actors begin sabotaging themselves.

The internet has been the single biggest game changer in professional theatre. As a professional actor it’s necessary to have an online presence. And maintaining your online presence takes work. (Check out my blog called Look out for yourself). I was amazed and stunned at how many actors, who submitted for this project, who had no more than a name and a picture online. There was nothing to asses if the actor would be able to handle the demands of the production.

Those actors who listed no credits or schooling or training were immediately rejected. If an actor takes the time to submit online for a project, he or she should first take the time to list appropriate and accurate information about the product they would like to showcase at said audition.

When filling out online resumes many sites will do most of the work for you. They’ll provide a preset layout. In some cases the online site will give you options where, instead of having to write out the information, you can just check a box and it automatically adds it to the resume. This is generally the case for the “special skills” section of a resume.

There seems to be a prevailing train of thought that an actor, when filing out the online resume, should check every box that is listed under the special skills section.

I have no idea who gives this advice but it’s wrong. One has to question the integrity and professionalism of an actor whose list of special skills include “water polo, gymnastics, scuba diving, harness race jockey, ice skating, licensed CPA, Bachelor of Fine Arts, basketball, accomplished Chef, dancer (hip hop, tap, jazz, ballet, theatre, East Indian wedding) and voice (coloratura soprano, mezzo-alto with a high C belt and tenor)”, to name a few. Did I mention the actor in question appears to be in her mid-twenties?

The production I was the Casting Director for required a specific set of skills. It was my job to find candidates with those skills. At a certain point my frustration level with reading the laundry list of special skills, most of them irrelevant, grew too high to continue. I can only image how an actual Casting Director feels having to do this every day for hours on end. When I could bear it no longer I switched to reading actual resumes if they were available online. If the actual resume wasn’t available and the online special skills section was ostentatiously large, the actor was put into a “maybe pile” for later consideration. Once the appointment times were filled with potential candidates with easy to read resumes that had the skill set the production demanded, the “maybe pile” was no longer consulted.

Check out my blog  Who am I anyway for some information on resumes.

Also not considered were actors whose headshots were in black and white. Black and white photos haven’t been used for over a decade. If an actor has a black and white head shot, the logical assumption is that the picture was taken ten years ago and is not an adequate representation of what the actor looks like now. In this, the digital age, getting a current pictorial representation is quite easy and can be as expensive as you can afford and as cheap as a self portrait on your cell phone. A cell phone photo is not the best choice but at least the people casting can be confident of what you actually look like.

I have a friend, Peter, who hasn’t had actual headshots for years. He does mostly film and TV work. He simply sends out a current picture taken by himself or a friend. He walks into the audition room and looks exactly like his picture. Peter works a lot.

As a side note for the newer people to the Business of Show, it's rarely appropriate to use body shots of yourself taken on the beach in a bathing suit…especially if you are not the current societal proportions of “beautiful”.

My best friend Thurston is coming to visit soon. Look out New York City! On top of everything else, he’s now a photographer. You can bet a blog about headshots is coming after summer!

When you submit for a project, submit for only one role. The role you believe your talent and look best fit is the only role you should target. If the people behind the table see something in your picture or resume that makes you an ideal candidate for different role they’ll make that known to you, hopefully. The higher you go on the Theatrical food chain, the less likely it is that the people behind the table will take the time to find a role for you. At a certain career level it’s assumed the actor is well aware of what product he or she is selling.

Playing to your strengths is always the best advice. If the role description lists specifics that are physically outside of your product parameters but all else lines up, take a chance.

A actor submitted himself for a role in my show that he believed he was right for even though the listed physicality of the role was different than his actual physicality. What was listed in the breakdown was the writers vision of the physicality of the actor who would play the role. In his submission the actor attached a note that said “while I may not be this, or I may not be that, I am perfect for this role because…”

He was given an audition. And he was right. He knew what his product was and despite the difference in physicality, the role was well suited to him. He played to his strengths and took a chance.

He got callbacks because the writers were open to the fact that the physicality of the show was something that had no real bearing on the production. It was just how they had imagined the role being cast. This isn’t always the case, but what does it cost you to virtually submit? As long as you know your product and can play to its strengths you just might open someone’s eyes to other possibilities. (Take a look at the blog  Colour my world about Creative Casting)

Once all the submissions were read, appointment times were assigned and invitations sent. This next point maybe a personal pet peeve of mine, but I’m sure there are some people behind tables who concur so I’m going to share it.

There are actors who never acknowledged their audition invitations. Some of them I know personally. When questioned about why they didn't show up to their appointment, all of them said the same thing: “I never confirmed”.

A time was sent aside for a particular actor at the expense of not giving that time to another actor. Choosing which actors to give appointments to is quite subjective, as is most of the performance side of the Business of Show. If not interested in pursuing a project, or there is a time constraint or unavailability, the actor awarded the appointment time needs to inform the people behind the table. This allows the opportunity to be given to another actor.

Not responding is not a response.

If you are professionally invited to attend something, be it an audition or even a party, and a confirmation is requested, ignoring it is not the same as turning down the invitation. In this age of accessibility and communication it literally takes 30 seconds to hit reply and type “I’m no longer available for the project. Best of luck on this endeavor. I hope to work with you soon”.

Ignoring an invitation is unprofessional. Ignoring it is selfish. Ignoring it tells the people connected to the production that you don’t care about your craft, your reputation, or the time and effort already put into the project.

Though I knew some of these actors personally and professionally, they were on someone else’s invitation list or a self-submission. Had they been on my personal invitation list, my reputation and professionalism could be questioned. After all why would I personally invite someone who was unreliable, unprofessional, inconsiderate and just plain rude, to potentially join a production?

Be very careful who you associate your “name” with, who you recommend for projects, even outside of Theatre. Their work ethic and professionalism will be intertwined with your own.

On the audition days I watched actor after actor come in and do their thing. I watched actor after actor be brilliant or fall flat. I watched actor after actor come in with style and grace or attempt to overcompensate for their nervousness or lack of preparation. I watched actor after actor come through the door, but what I really saw was every misstep that I had ever taken during my own auditions. What I saw was how those things can actually contribute to an actor not booking a job.

Some of the most common missteps:

·         resumes clogged with useless information (see Who am I anyway for resume help)

·         no resume or improperly sized resume

·         no picture or improperly sized picture

·         pictures that looked nothing like the person in front of the table

·         wearing inappropriate clothing (check out Just a little touch of star quality for info on outfits)

·         inability to communicate to the accompanist (who in this case is the musical director and composer of the show)

·         lack of preparation, either not having the requested style or not knowing the material presented (Read my blogs You begin with Do Re Mi and La! A note to follow So)

·         unfocused presentation of material

·         starting and stopping the presentation repeatedly 

·         contorting the face to produce sound

·         having a less than positive attitude

The majority of the things that can make or break your audition start well before you walk into the room (take a look at my blog The winner takes it all)

In New York City everyone is talented. So what is going to set you apart from the massive hordes? The people who stood out for us who were behind this table were the ones who:

·         carried themselves like seasoned professionals, even when lacking the actual credits to be “considered” as such (Check out To pee or not to pee)

·         had an online picture that looked like the person who walked into the room

·         had resumes that were simple and easy to read

·         were dressed appropriately for their product and body type

·         were well prepared and executed the material as flawlessly as a live art form permits

·         were pleasant

·         made adjustments easily

·         had something they wanted to communicate through their song, dance or reading

·         were real people

and most importantly:

·         had a positive can do attitude, regardless of whether the task at hand was outside their individual skill set

The positive attitude should be extended to everyone an actor comes in contact with. The security man at the studio’s front desk deserves a positive attitude; the people in the elevator deserve a positive attitude; certainly the monitor handling outlandish requests and questions at the audition deserves a positive attitude. Your colleagues waiting to audition not only deserve a positive attitude, they deserve quiet as they prepare for their moment in front of the table. The accompanist deserves a positive attitude. After all the accompanist is your best friend and can help or hinder your product demo.

A positive attitude must be extended to the most important person in the room: You.

You’re human. In the definition of being human there is no mention of the word “perfection”. Learn and understand that what happens after walking into an audition room is your best…for that day…at that moment. It doesn’t represent the sum totally of your professional existence or viability. And it certainly doesn’t deem whether you are worthy enough to walk the earth.

We act. We sing. We dance.  Relish the fact that every time you step onto a stage or into an audition room, you breathe life into something that wasn’t there before. Bring that joy into the room with you and you cannot fail. Live in the knowledge and happiness that you achieve something that few people have the passion, the drive and the fortitude to do: You create.