The Audition Mindset: From Self-Worth to Problem-Solving

In acting, as in life, you are going to hit a slump. A period where no audition seems to go right and you are endlessly stumbling along with no bookings in sight. This happens. And the reason this happens is simple, actors make the fundamental mistake of thinking that an audition is somehow a “litmus test” of their self worth. It is not.

If you go into an audition feeling this way one thing is for certain - you will not be booking that role. Feeling this way is in complete opposition to the function and purpose of an audition. You are there to solve a problem for casting. To offer your interpretation and hope that it fixes their problem.

If you are feeling self-conscious, or that the outcome of this event is directly tied to your ability or self-worth, you are unwittingly revealing to the casting agent - and to yourself - that this isn’t an interpretation, this isn’t a potential solution to your problem, this is me desperately seeking validation for my work. It’s self serving and it helps neither you, the casting agent, or the project at large.

One way to combat this is to realize a simple truth, the job has already started, you already booked it! There are thousands of actors who would give anything just to have the chance to audition for this role and you’ve already been selected. It is part of your job as an actor to audition, take pride in that process, be prepared, be diligent, be useful.

When you focus on the work and honor the true purpose of the audition process, you let go of the outcome and become an actor who is serving both the industry and themselves. Casting agents know this, they will pick up on it, and they will continue to call you back again and again and again until something aligns. Casting agents are not your enemies, they want you to succeed, they want their problem to be solved. As long as you’re consistently being called back, you are doing something right.

It is for this exact reason that you should never waste an audition. There will be times when you'll be given a self-tape with hardly any notice, or an audition slot with no room to prepare - if you can rearrange it to give yourself the adequate time to get yourself together - do it. If not, use the difficulty of the situation and get creative. Casting agents remember talent that stand out and they do call them back. Likewise, they remember a self-tape that was truly sub-standard and they may not ask to see you again as a result. That one lazy self tape you submitted that was far from your best work because you "Weren't really feeling it" might not only have cost you that role, but multiple others. Auditioning is your job. Treat it and yourself with respect and the results will follow.

Believability, believability, believability!

That is all. Emotion is secondary. You can be emotional and not believable - we see it every day. The person who cries but we know it’s fake or a total overreaction. The person who uses theatrics to recount a story in their favour. The person who is so over-the-top sugar sweet that it makes you want to gag. The person who acts all moody and sullen just for the attention. Forget emotion, never make yourself cry or force yourself to be angry - if you thought people are perceptive, then you’re going to have a rude shock when you meet the camera. You cannot fool that thing.

It is unblinking, all knowing and cannot be bribed, tricked, coerced or distracted. It has been designed for one simple purpose - to capture whatever it is pointed at in all of its essence without missing a beat - and it’s very good at its job. Falter for a moment and that bastard will know about it.

Often, when we’re emotional, we try our best to not cry. When we’re drunk, we try our best to not appear drunk. When we’re truly angry, we are direct and specific with our aggression. No need to prove further that we are feeling these things if we’re actually feeling them.

Case in point, many people don’t realize that all you have to do in life is simply verbalize how you’re feeling and people will believe you at face value. If you get home from work and your partner asks how your day was and you turn to them and say “I am so angry right now.” Your message has been sent and it will most likely be received and believed. You don’t need to slam the door, throw your bag against the wall, scream into a pillow for people to know you’re upset. Simply tell them, and then get ready to explain why.

People are perfectly happy to buy into a premise, it’s the reasoning behind it that will deter or engage them. That’s where believability comes in - the acting! This is particularly true in an audition as the casting agent knows full well that (should you book the role) you’ll have the time and resources on the day to figure out the blocking and the specific performance notes the director will want, such as screaming on a specific spot or throwing something in another etc. casting agents are less concerned about those specifics in the audition room, even if you’re slightly understated on the performative angles of the scene I.e., don’t manage to cry when the script mentions it, don’t yell or hit the table when it specifies, if you can make the scene believable that is what will get you the role - they have easy ways to deal with the soap opera elements later. Those are the muscles and the skin of the performance, in the audition room they need the skeleton and can go from there.

Trust the Material

Always trust the material that you’re given for an audition. Only ever scale your performance to that material. If you’re asked to sing happy birthday so that someone can get a gauge of your voice - do you try and sing it like Ave Maria? No. You sing as best as you can within the confines of the task given. Hit the usual beats, the usual length notes, but simply hit them as precisely and professionally as you can. That’s the idea. Do your best within the confines you’re given - never take it upon yourself to draw outside the lines to prove yourself - that is where we fall back into the self conscious, amateurish behavior of feeling the need to be validated. It’s a trap and you shouldn’t fall for it.

A Note on "Natural" Acting

Believability is not necessarily casual or natural, don’t get caught up in not acting at all thinking doing nothing will appear as this perfectly natural performance. You must still give something of yourself, show something of the character, but whatever you do, base it in the reality of life as you know it and as you’ve seen it. This is the biggest misconception of acting, that you are supposed to entirely abandon yourself and become a different person entirely. This isn't possible. You can't simply conjure a different world view. You can't trick your mind into seeing the world any other way than the way you see it, no more than you can tell someone "don't think about elephants". You pretend to be someone who sees the world differently, and the only way you can achieve this is to measure what that might be like in direct opposition to your own beliefs. If you're auditioning to be a paramedic and you aren't one, don't attempt to conjure up some arbitrary caricature of what a paramedic is. Act how you believe you would act if you were a paramedic. The word natural means something that exists of it's own accord, it isn't manufactured. You exist. You are natural. That completely made up hollow shell of a performance may as well have come straight off of a factory conveyor belt, it has a shelf life - and it's destined for the garbage dump.

Withhold Judgement (Until After)

A good measure of a well done audition - or scene at all for that matter - is to not have been judging yourself or questioning your choices while you’re doing it. Judge yourself after, sure, everybody does! It’s healthy to critique your performance and always feel like you could have done better after the fact, but withholding judgement and self criticism during your audition or scene means that you are focusing on the craft and the character and not yourself and that’s what we want.

And Finally... Have Fun

Get excited about being able to be other things, other people, to live in the skin of somebody you’ll never be otherwise! This is the play! This is the fun! Get inspired and remember to- above all else - enjoy yourself.

‍