We all have days, when we think we have nailed the audition, therefore there is no way they would not call… It is okay to tap yourself on the shoulder just a bit, when needed to: Before this particular thinking surfaced in your actor’s brain… you were contemplating whether to go to the audition or not. And finally you have decided to swallow the whole watermelon and prepare for the audition.
If you have an acting couch you would have had moments, of reworking on your chosen monologue maybe contemporary, finding different layers in your chosen piece. For a good week you cellophane yourself in your head, trying to play the different characters and searching for the voice. Now you memorised your material, you ready for this audition.
You are… that’s what you believe.
You an actor that prepares herself mentally, emotionally and physically because why, you want this badly. It’s your passion. The audition call feels like it’s yours yet your mental state of mind has been like a note book mapping out opponents ( thoughts, doubts, negative energies)
Finally, you find yourself in a taxi, the sound of your lines ring between your ears, only you can hear the repetition. You skip one word, you freak out, you mispronounce a word, you freak out. You start all over again in your head, to a person next you, you are so anti-social and unapproachable.
Well he must understand, that this is no zone for courting or wooing. You check the watch, you realise you almost there.You reach the venue, where the auditions are held, sometimes you can judge by just how organised and in order things of that particular production are, and sometimes you can easily see that this is a possible recipe for a disaster. Well, luckily this particular production is as it comes.
Now it’s your turn to face the producer, the director and the guy behind the camera. You’re caught up in, if you smile a lot, you might be desperate or too simple. If you are firm and appears to be a person who knows her story, who happens to be also articulate. That might be read as being a diva or to much of yourself.
Tough! Tough!
Anyway, It’s action time, you have prepared yourself for this moment, for this hour…it’s crunch time as they say. You deliver the most amazing, performance. The director feels like he wants to throw you in a deep end. Lucky for you, you have prepared yourself you do even more than what he expects from a general actor… You want this… and you think so far so good… Because you judging from the homework you did. You feel the energy from the director, he is excited to play with a thinking actor.
After your audition, you can’t stop smiling because you are so proud of many things. The director, he wants to know more, where you from? did you study? what is your favourite movie?
So and so and so on!
You leave that room, feeling good and wanting more. It felt like a great rehearsal. The team were welcoming and kind. They did not judge.
However,that was three months ago, you still do not know whether you are casted or not.That is a bit sad.
Isn’t? I mean all the hard work you have put in and the only you want as an actor is that call. You have been auditioning for films, series for a good 10 years surely it is not you.
Or is it?
How will you know? If the very same people, who have given you an opportunity to test whether you fit in their puzzle of story, decide to be quiet. They have your mail, your number, your twitter handle and Facebook account. They could even sent a DM (DIRECT MESSAGE)to your instagram. Where is the decency to let the actor know what was the outcome of their testing? outcome of their handwork? whether she is in or not.
It should not be a guessing game. My dear, actor this happens everyday, every minute to every big actor you can think off. Well I doubt if,when they audition Dustin Hoffman they will defiantly call him and let him know whether, is he in or not.
Here is what I think you could do, which this only made sense to me two days ago. My fellow actor, your job is not to align certain rules to any procedures. Your job is too continuously move on, look forward, try new things.
Don’t sit and wait on your phone so that they call you… these people will not call because my dear actor, the time and control is not on your side. The final decision is not yours. The way you have mastered to be disciplined in your craft, you have to also discipline yourself to enjoy the word NO and the silence from the big dogs.
Audition, Audition Audition!! but after auditions, go do something else, go watch a show, create a show, baby sit, volunteer, write something, watch a series, be a waiter somewhere.
Do not and I mean it, do not think about the outcome of your audition because it’s not there for you think about. You have no control of it. The only thing you have power in, is how you prepared for the audition and how you gave your best. And that is enough.
Just keep on moving forward. Forget about the audition you did. And believe me you would have trained a muscle of spontaneity, a muscle of understanding that it’s just a job, it come with the packs of being an actor.
I am 28 years old , I have auditioned for 23 films this includes short films and feature films and in that twenty three of them nineteen said No.
So you not alone.
Love & Sweet Things
