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These 3 Mistakes Might Be Ruining Your Chances of Getting Cast

By Marci Liroff

Photo Source: Margaux Quayle Cannon

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There are countless career land mines begging to be stepped on by an acting newbie—but that’s where people like me come in. If I can stop you from making these three mistakes below, my job here is done.

You’ve got an audition. How do you prepare? You should read through the script a couple of times or, if you just have the sides, read them through several times. Learn your lines, make distinct choices, and be ready to read for the casting director.

I can immediately tell in an audition when you’ve never rehearsed the scene with another human. I understand that everyone has a different process for preparing, and no one practice is right for everyone. That said, you cannot have a natural conversational rhythm unless you have practiced with another person. That can be done by phone or in person—however your go-to scene partner is ready. Email your sides to your father, girlfriend, whoever; just make sure you’re not reading your lines for the first time in front of the casting director at your audition. And, no, reading to yourself in the mirror doesn’t count.

Another thing I strongly suggest is to learn a scene every day, even if you don’t have an audition coming up. When an actor comes in to audition for me and says, “Hey, I just got this last night, so I’m not quite off-book yet,” I immediately tell them, “So did everyone else.” I’m not saying this to call them out or to be nasty, but to give some perspective to rejigger their thought process. Casting directors love to give you as much time as possible with the material, but sometimes we don’t get the material from the writers until the day before it shoots, leading to a rushed session. Learning a scene every day will keep your memory muscles fresh and get you in the habit of learning something on a quick turnaround.

And you won’t just need this skill for auditioning; it’ll save your ass on set, too. You’ve probably noticed on previous projects that scripts are constantly shifting and changing. Sometimes, you can spend the entire night learning your lines before a shoot, only to arrive on set the next morning and have the first assistant director hand you a set of sides with full rewrites.

If your brain isn’t already in the habit of learning lines quickly, your head will explode.

And, finally, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an amazing audition, at the end of which the actor says, “Ugh! That was terrible. I’m so sorry! Can I please do it again?” Stop talking us out of liking your performance. Admittedly, we all have bad days, and actors can turn in bad performances; if you feel you’re not in the zone at the top of the scene, by all means, stop and tell us you’re going to start over. No excuses, no apologies. Just say, “I’m going to start over,” and do it. Learn to trust yourself and have confidence in your performance. So often, I see actors make great choices and bring authenticity to an audition, just to then show us that they don’t believe in themselves by expressing how much they think they sucked. Sometimes, being vulnerable and showing us your interpretation of a flawed and complex character can leave you feeling uncomfortable. I suggest you try to work through that uncomfortable feeling by embracing it as a natural human reaction to showing us your true heart; don’t apologize for it.

Make sure to check out my online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

Warning: I grant permission to share my blog as written with no additions or deletions. Posting my blog is in no way an endorsement of another site unless you obtain my written consent.

7 Things Actors Can Do Every Day to Succeed

Photo by: Carl Heyerdahl

By Marci Liroff

One of my Twitter followers is doing a 30-day acting challenge and asked me if I had any advice. Of course, it got me thinking about what actors can do on a daily basis to help themselves. Acting is like learning a musical instrument: You’ve got to practice every day.

Here’s a short list of what you can do Monday through Sunday to stay plugged in.

1. Check online sites for casting notices. Even if you have representation, you’ve got to remember that you are a team, and if you happen to notice that a project is casting and you know the showrunner or producer well, you should alert your agent or manager so they can follow up.

2. Go to the gym. Yes, you must keep your body in shape. Although it may seem like there’s a lot of waiting around on the set, you’ve got to have stamina and flexibility so you don’t hurt yourself. Exercise helps your mental health as well.

3. Learn a new scene or monologue every day.

Think of your brain as a muscle; you need to work it out and teach it new tricks every day so that it can grow.

Learning how to memorize lines on the fly is a must that everyone should have in their toolkit. I have a nice list of free screenplays on my site.

4. Check in with what’s going on in the business around you. Also on the resources page of my website is a list of sites and blogs you should read daily. If you’re going to work in this business, you have to know what’s going on outside of you, what shows have been picked up, and what the trends are.

5. Watch a few episodes of all the shows on TV. You might have noticed that you generally get an audition the night before you’re meant to be auditioning. You’re then tasked with learning all the dialogue and making specific and colorful character choices. Think of what a timesaver it would be if you’ve already seen the show and don’t have to do that research when you have only a few hours to prepare your scenes.

6. Watch old movies. Check out my list of iconic and important films. Many directors today don’t know how to help you on your scene. They know exactly where to put the camera but don’t speak “actor.” But they’re all film addicts, and they may give you a scene from a movie as a reference for what they’re looking for. You’ll benefit from being a walking, talking film library.

7. Get in an acting class. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I see many actors who aren’t in a weekly class. Think about it: How often do you actually get to get up there and act? If it’s just a few auditions a month, then you’re not keeping your instrument in tune.

What other things do you do daily that help you as an actor?

Make sure to check out my new online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

Warning: I grant permission to share my blog as written with no additions or deletions. Posting my blog is in no way an endorsement of another site unless you obtain my written consent.)

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