Acting Audition
Excellence Is the Goal
George Leonard wrote a classic book called Mastery that talks about what the difference is between people that never get good at anything, and those rare individuals that rise to the level of Mastery in their chosen craft. One pattern he recognizes among every masterful artist was that they had a long term commitment to regular practice. The question is, how the idea of Mastery apply to the art and science of Acting auditions.
First things first; set specific auditioning goals that will allow you to maintain a regularity of practice. George Leonard had it easy because he practiced Aikido. He joined a dojo near his home that had a regular schedule of classes and then he settled into practicing three to five times a week. (Perhaps more if you count his solo practice time) When it comes to auditioning though, Ive noticed that most Actors leave it up to chance. Youll realize, if you take the time to look, that you don t have to rely entirely on your agent to book auditions. This applies to people early in their Acting career. For those of you more advanced I have other suggestions to follow. For those of you relatively early in your Acting career, there are a ton of auditions that you can attend for local community Theater, student Films, musicals, etc. If youre young, audition for some graduate or undergraduate programs even if you probably wouldnt go. Just preparing an audition that is good enough to get you into Yale school or drama or NYUs undergraduate musical Theater branch will stretch your audition preparation skills to the limit. As an individual artist you can apply to Shakespeare festivals and submit your headshots at different agencies; even if you already have one. Go read for a different agency, let them know you are just shopping around and thinking perhaps it might be time for a move and you just want to get to meet the other options around town until you could find one that is a great fit. This audition everywhere you can idea graduate school audition will work until you actually get in and have to turn it down. This principle of keep auditioning until you can easily land the part goes for everything Ive mentioned. After a certain point youll get so good at auditioning that youll get 80-90% callbacks to your auditions, youll learn to adapt to any situation and learn to do your best work in situations youd normally resist and resent. Action is the best medicine for incompetence. It always strikes me as funny that we are all Actors and the one thing that keeps many of us shackled in mediocrity is our inability to take long term committed and focused action.
Go to it! Audition everywhere you can! And remember
Consistency, before intensity, is the path to long term Mastery and eventually, a legacy!
James Wagner
PS- if they offer you the part and you dont want it, be cordial. Tell them that you have to think ab out it because there are a few other offers on the table right now for that period of time and that youll get back to them. If you tell them youre taking another project offer, not only will they respect that, but your status has just gone up because you are polite, amiable, professional and in demand.
James Wagner: BFA UC Santa Barabar, Professional Actor in Denver Colorado, has been a teacher/instructor at Naropa University, Integral Institute, Tony Robbins, and privately. Creates products that help people master the art of auditioning. http://www.auditionexcellence.com
Author:: James Wagner
Keywords:: Acting, Audtions, Tips, Success, Mastery, casting call, Actor, Actress, Theater, Film, Camera
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