It's Your Audition, Own It!

I was out of town this week and as is often the case when I leave Los Angeles – I got an audition.

I swear there should be Travel Agency for Actors that plans wonderful vacations for us, virtually guaranteeing amazing auditions on the day after we are supposed to leave town. 

Luckily for me this casting office was willing to accept a self-tape audition.   My dad and I found an empty wall in the house, brought every light into the room that we could gather and shot the sides on my 7D.  Dad made an excellent reader.

After approximately 50 takes (I'm very critical of myself), I edited the best ones on iMovie and emailed it off to the casting office.

I know I always say after an audition you should forget about it, but apparently I am not good at practicing what I preach.  The next morning in the shower, it hit me: I’D COMPLETELY MISINTERPRETTED THE SCENE!   

I immediately did the actor-thing of beating myself up.  How could I have screwed up a self-taped audition?  How could I have ruined my one opportunity to impress this casting office?  All the usual self-flagellating things that actors do.

In the midst of my inner monologue filled with self-hate, my mother points out I could always just film it again the other way and send it to them.  My first response was: No, I don’t want to bother them.  But, after a little pushing from my mom, I reconsidered and decided: what do I have to lose?  So, we set up the wall again and I did the scenes with my new take.  Mom also made an excellent reader. 

I edited it and emailed it off, with a nice note to the casting office.  And to my surprise they weren’t annoyed or put out; they actually sent a note of thanks back.

Don’t be afraid of casting, they want you to do the best you can, and if you truly hated your audition and know you can do it differently ask them if you can do it again.  The time you have with casting is your time, don’t leave feeling like you didn’t do everything you wanted to do.