Tag Archives: Audition tips for Kids

Audition Etiquette: Do’s & Don’ts

Posted on August 5, 2016 by AMP Talent Group

How to execute the perfect audition? I’m sure this question has become exhausting to a lot of you, constantly being drilled with the correct way to go about the audition process. This is because without being awesome at auditioning, you will never be able to really show people how awesome you are at acting. So […]

How to execute the perfect audition? I’m sure this question has become exhausting to a lot of you, constantly being drilled with the correct way to go about the audition process. This is because without being awesome at auditioning, you will never be able to really show people how awesome you are at acting. So while it’s tedious and frustrating incessantly having it banged into your head like a broken record, it’s something that you will want to make sure you have down to a science.

This is why we’ve broken down the do’s and don’ts loud and clear, to make sure you know exactly how to kill it the next time you step into that audition room.

DO respond to all Agency Communication immediately. In this fast paced business, Actors must be on the ball with the best communication skills by responding quickly to confirm auditions, and all communication from the Agency. Response times by the actor within the hour of an email or phone call being sent is required, not hours or days later. Casting people are waiting to confirm or replace the actors for the auditions. Know there are many people involved in getting you the audition and timely response to auditions is key with respect to all and future auditions.

DO put your cell phone on silent. Vibrate won’t cut it, particularly if your leg starts shaking in the middle of your intense and dramatic monologue and it’s just your mom wondering if you’re going to be home for dinner or not.

DO be early for your audition. Ideally you will show up 20 minutes early, so you can sign-in, prepare yourself with whatever material you’re going to go off of, as well as ground yourself, relax, and de-sweat (if you were rushing) before going in for your audition.

DO be friendly and professional when you’re meeting everyone at the audition. Even though you’re promoting yourself as an actor, they will be more inclined to want to hire you if you show you are a respectable and professional human being.

DO turn up the charm before your audition begins. This is the time when you need to showcase your personality before you showcase your acting chops. Show them that you are ready, and would be a delight to work with, and not in an overbearing, front-row-of-the-classroom kind of way.

DO keep the conversation up-tempo and brief, letting the casting directors and people running the audition drive the conversation.

DO repeat the director or casting director’s name back to him or her when you’re introduced. It shows you’re listening to what they’re saying, instead of hammering out your audition strategy in your head like a nervous wreck while going through introductions.

DON’T shake anyone’s hand in the room unless they reach out to shake your hand first. You are just one of so many actors they have seen that day, you won’t make an impact by thrusting your sweaty palm into their hand.

DON’T wear cologne or perfume. If they meet you and are instantly over-taken by your intense aroma, then your audition is going to drop downhill very quickly.

DON’T wear heavy make-up. You’re there to show off your natural self as a performer and what you can do with whatever character you’re auditioning for. Too much make-up will just distract from your performance and focus the casting director’s attention on all the wrong things.

DON’T wear self-tanner. So you just got back from a vacation in Mexico and have a bit of colour. That does not mean you can compensate your skin by applying bronzer you bought at the drug store. You’ll end up orange and won’t book the part.

DON’T bring props or wear costume unless directed to by your agent. Sure you may think you’re taking your audition to the next level by going crazy with your outfit, but actually, it’s the opposite. Never bring a costume for your audition unless it’s something that was strictly outlined in the breakdown from your agent.

DON’T apologize for messing up your audition, or apologize for nailing it, thinking that you did poorly. Just perform your audition, say your thank yous, and be gone. Do not continue to beat a dead horse by apologizing all your way out the door.

DON’T disagree or argue with any direction that you’re given. You’re there performing something for them, so make sure you do what you’re asked.

DON’T bad mouth anyone. Of course after enough auditions, you will start to see the same casting directors again and again, and build up a bit of a rapport. This does not mean that you should ever start to gossip about someone else in the business that you may have a mutual disliking for. You should always be professional and business as usual.

DON’T ask the casting director for feedback. Feedback comes from acting classes, not auditions. Work with a coach prior to your audition and ask them for feedback. Come prepared with the material ready to give your best performance and don’t expect to get anything but a “Thank you for coming in” at the end. If you get more your lucky, but do not expect it. The casting director is looking to hire the best actor for the parts she or he is casting. It is not the casting directors job to give feedback to all the actors at auditions. It is the job of the actor to come in prepared with all the emotion ready to give the best performance.

DON’T overstay your welcome. So you killed your audition, the endorphins and energy is running full-throttle and you instantly want to be chatty, try not to. Just finish with your performance, share a final word or two, and then thank them for taking the time to see you, and off you go. No casting director is going to want to deal with a over-chatty actor at the end of a seriously long day of auditions.

Auditioning can become a very simple, and smooth running machine once you do enough of them and nail down the right way to go about it. There are just some important rules that you have to follow to make sure that you don’t stand out in a bad way. These do’s and don’t are simple guidelines for you to keep in mind the next time you step into the room in hopes of booking your next job!

Remember your auditioning for your career, not the job. Meaning that you do your best with each audition, come prepared, are on time, are well rehearsed, memorized, in character and ready to perform a killer performance!

Break a leg!

Top 10 Secrets To Success

Posted on July 15, 2014 by AMP Talent Group

So you want to succeed in the entertainment business? Here are 10 of the most important tips you’ll need to live by in order to find the success you’re looking for: 1. Love What You Do. The most important thing with any artistic pursuit is that you absolutely love it. It’s a hard road being […]

So you want to succeed in the entertainment business? Here are 10 of the most important tips you’ll need to live by in order to find the success you’re looking for:

1. Love What You Do.

The most important thing with any artistic pursuit is that you absolutely love it. It’s a hard road being an artist or a creator, but it’s also a very rewarding one if you’re in it for the right reasons. It’s important to ask yourself the question, “Is this something that I can live without?” If your answer is “no” then you know that you have to do it.

2. Be All In (Complete Commitment).

The people that choose to be actors, models or artists, have to be completely and utterly committed to it. The people that call themselves “part-time actors” are never going to be successful because they aren’t completely committed to it. Whether it’s fear of failure, or even a fear of admitting that they want to do this, holding yourself back and not putting it as the most important goal in your life is setting yourself up for failure. When you make the decision that you want to be an actor, that goal has to be the driving force in your life. If it isn’t, and it’s just slotted in as a “hobby”, then you don’t stand a chance of succeeding.

3. Always Be Working And Studying.

The simple truth is that those who are practicing are those who are working. The only time that you shouldn’t be studying and practicing is when you don’t have enough time because you’re working so much. No matter how talented, or experienced you are, there is always something for you to learn. The most successful actors understand the value of always staying a student. They understand that there will always be someone smarter than them, or more talented than them that they can learn from. A List, award winning actors such as Meryl Streep, Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, and Anne Hathaway and countless others continue to study with coaches and master the craft of acting, even to this day. Remaining humble and working hard at learning the craft and studying is a key force in driving home your success.

4. Patience And Persistence

Being an actor requires an enormous amount of patience. Whether it’s waiting for the next audition, or waiting for the cameras to start rolling, actors are always waiting. It’s the name of the game and has to be something that they can handle. At the opposite end is persistence. So many careers are sprouted from stories of perseverance and sticking it out when the rough times came. It’s essential that you’re in for your career for the long haul and won’t jump ship when you can’t afford to pay your hydro bill or your sleeping on a friends couch, as well as have the endurance to continue to pound away on your craft even when the breaks aren’t coming your way.

5. Create Your Own Opportunities.

In order to get lucky, you have to work extremely hard and show initiative by creating your own opportunities. So in other words, don’t be lazy. Be proactive and create your own projects. This keeps your skills in top shape, as well as creates products that could be launching platforms for your talents. This also helps your Talent Agent to better market you for even bigger opportunities. Whether it’s to market yourself as an actor, writer, or filmmaker, creating your own projects sows initiative, and is how a lot of people get discovered. Remember Goodwill Hunting? Matt Damon started writing that script in a playwriting class at Harvard in his fifth year. Then with the blessing of his teacher, Damon dropped out of school and moved to LA to finish the script with his good buddy Ben Affleck. That movie launched both those actor’s careers into the stratosphere. If it wasn’t for them taking it upon themselves to create their own movie (vehicle) to market their acting talents, then the names Matt Damon and Ben Affleck might mean absolutely nothing to us now. Or how about Garden State? Zach Braff wrote and directed that little movie, which turned him into a household name overnight. The best example is probably HBO “Girls” creator, Lena Dunham, who quickly became the “talent of the moment” by continuously creating her own projects that showcased her writing, directing, and acting talents. She even created the show Girls, based loosely off her own life in New York. This just shows how important it is to create your own things. You can’t catch your breaks and get lucky without working hard and going after what you want with passion, initiative and good work ethic.

6. Find A Mentor.

A lot of very successful people (in and out of the entertainment industry) will tell you that it’s impossible to be successful without a mentor. That’s because a mentor helps you to steer the ship. They help to cut years off your road to success by making sure you’re doing the necessary things in the present to help you get to your end goal. Talent Agent, Anne Marie Perrault says “Finding a mentor is absolutely essential and can be a major a factor in ones career success. It is important to seek out professionals in the field as they are a wonderful source of career advice. The best ways to find one would be to find someone in the industry that you admire, whether it’s someone you meet on set, or a teacher who you really respect, in some cases it can even be your Agent or Manager”. Don’t be shy to ask someone if they’d be interested in mentoring you as well. They will take it as a compliment. You can meet regularly to talk about your career, or you can even just keep in touch through email or on Skype to ask questions, and check-in every now and again. Your mentor will be essential in helping you to answer those difficult questions, help lift you up when times are tough, and ultimately, help you strive to becoming a better performer and person.

7. Take Full Responsibility For Everything That Happens To Tou.

The first step to happiness and success is taking full responsibility for where you are in your life. The moment you stop pointing the blame on other people, or things, is the moment that you finally point yourself in the direction of success. So you didn’t get that audition? The director did not think you where right for it or had someone else in mind. You didn’t book the role? It’s nobody’s fault but your own for not delivering the way you needed to or maybe you just are not ready, or are having a bad day. Leave it at the door. Don’t beat yourself up for it. Use any shortcomings and failures as an opportunity to look at yourself in the mirror and figure out how you can be better. Learn from each experience. Your career and your life is completely up to you, you’re the one in control of your fate, so make sure you step up to the plate. The happiest and most successful people in life are those who feel they have complete control over their lives. This starts with accepting complete responsibility for where you are and understanding that you’re the one in control of your success or failure.

8. Set Goals

So you want to be the next big leading man or woman, do you? Yes that’s a lofty goal, but can you do it? You better believe you can! It’s definitely a big dream, so how do you make it seem more manageable, or achievable? You break your dream down into something smaller; you break it down into parts called goals. Then you break down the steps that you will need to complete (accomplish) in order to reach those specific individual goals. Once you do this, your wildest dreams will seem a little more in reach. You have to have a plan; you have to create a vision for your career. You do this by creating goals on paper, then continuously visualizing yourself successfully moving towards those goals. When Jim Carrey was a broke, struggling comic, he would drive up to Mulholland Drive a few nights a week and visualize himself making it big in Hollywood. He even wrote a check to himself for 10 million dollars and filled it out as “acting services rendered”. It was only a number of years later when he became one of the biggest stars on the planet; booking roles for the exact amount of money he said he would, 10 million dollars. Believe you can, believe you will, create a vision, put it down on paper!

9. Take Risks

Those that take risks get noticed. Most people will say that choosing to become an actor is a big risk in the first place. They may be right. Actors have to take risks on a regular basis. It’s part of what being an artist and a performer is all about! When you choose to pursue your passion as a profession, you have to face fear and walk down a road that offers very little security. This is the all-important first risk that you’re going to have to take. You then have to continue walking down that road fearlessly. You have to believe in the process, believe that the journey you are on will take you to where you want to go. You will also have to task risks regularly with new roles and parts that come your way. You’re going to need to venture out of your comfort zone and try new things, do roles that scare you and really go for it with complete disregard for failure. They say that success is a sum of thousands of failures, and they’re right. Failure is success’ most important pre-requisite, which is even truer when it comes to the performing arts. Take risks, overcome fear, and you will grow closer to success!

10. Be Confident And Believe In Yourself.

On your “Road to Success” you’re going to have to make a lot of big decisions. In order to do this, you’re going to have to be strong and be true to yourself. If you continue to do that, you will make decisions that are the most agreeable to who you are as a person and you will stay on the right path. You have to be confident in yourself and make sure you treat yourself the right way. On your path to success, a lot of people will tell you that you’re crazy and you won’t ever reach the big dreams you’ve set for yourself. You have to silence those voices, look inside and believe in that vision you have for yourself. Not everybody is going to see what you see, so you have to understand that and not dwell on the opinions and perceptions of others. Confidence and success is made by marching toward your goals and dreams with massive action, even in the face of adversity and fear of failure. This is an absolute must in achieving big success!

It’s a comforting feeling knowing that your success is completely up to you. You’re the one in control of the universe you create for yourself. Understanding and believing in this is definitely the starting point for every big dream or goal. Start living by this philosophy and your success will start to grow exponentially.

Now go out there and build the life you’ve always dreamed of!

5 Key Tips for Actors To Always Remember When Auditioning

Posted on May 27, 2014 by AMP Talent Group

So now the day has arrived. It’s the day of your audition. Like is the case with most actors, you’ll wake up with that butterfly feeling fluttering in your stomach. You’ll go through the motions of your day with that tingling anticipation and excitement. Today it’s your time to shine! Today could be the day […]

Off to the audition you go, making the walk, or the drive, with that old familiar theme running through your head: “Is this going to be my moment?” Everything seems to be moving in slow motion and the world grows quiet, as if it senses that today is extra important to you. Hopefully you’ve done everything in your power to prepare, and it’s now up to the acting gods to guide you, to lead you through a brilliant audition, and hopefully onto that role you’ve been waiting for.

So what are some of the most important things to have in mind when you’re in the audition room? It can be a scary place, so to make sure everything goes well, we’ve outlined five things for you to always remember when auditioning!

You’re the one driving the story: One of the basic differences between a performance in an audition and a performance on an actual set is you’re the number one story driver during an audition. All the focus is on you. The casting directors are less focused on the complete story, and are more so focused on how you can drive their story. On a set you’re a small piece in a greater story, but when it’s your time to audition, you’re up there showing them why they should cast you. So during auditions the performances are a little bigger than on a set, because you really want to make an impact. Show them that they can base a story around you, and that they should base a story around you.

Who/What/When/Where/Why: Always remember your five W’s. Even if you get your sides ten minutes before you’re due to audition. Always know who you are in the scene with, what you’re doing in the scene, when the scene is happening, where the scene is happening, and why this circumstance or situation is happening. It’s essential so that even if you don’t have the lines completely memorized, you’ll at least be able to ground yourself in the scene.

The Golden Frame: During an audition, you have your mark and you have very little leeway to move from that mark. This makes it essential that you’re as still as possible when you’re doing your audition. If you plan on performing an action or stepping out of frame at all, make sure you tell them beforehand so they’re prepared for it. If you tell them a particular action you’re going to perform at a certain moment in the scene, it shows that you’re confident, have done your homework, and know what you want to do with the scene. Just always be weary of that frame in which your audition is being captured.

If you screw up, just keep going: The absolute worst thing you can do during your audition is mess up a line and start to lose your cool and drop out of the scene. If you mess a line up, just forget about it and keep going. Even better, you can use your own mistake and use it to add something to the scene. By doing that, you’ll impress them on your ability to improvise and redeem yourself. It could be a simple moment like that, which helps you book the role. Messing up is a scary thought, but what’s worse than screwing up is acknowledging yourself that you screwed up. Just move on and pretend like that was what you intended to do all along.

Be polite, be yourself and show off your personality: Those first few minutes when you walk into the room, before you begin your audition as you’re running through your slate, is your time. By this we mean, it is your time to show off who you are as a person. So make sure you’re enthusiastic, friendly, polite, confident, and the type of person they would want to work with. You can be funny, charming and endearing, which is only going to bode well for you when it comes time to choosing callbacks, and eventually casting. Also be sure to thank them for seeing you when your audition is finished, and then exit the room promptly and be on your way.

It goes without saying, but it’s important to be off book whenever possible. Of course there are situations where you get your sides minutes beforehand or the sides are very lengthy and it can’t be expected. But if you’ve been given adequate time to prepare the material, make sure you’re off book and ready to rock. Actors can bring the sides into the audition but it is important that the actors stay focused on the person opposite them in the scene not buried with their head in the script. Most importantly always listen to your instincts. If you have an idea in audition, let yourself be free to go with it.

The audition room can be a scary place to many actors who aren’t used to it. But that antagonizing fear of auditioning can be overcome with practice, practice, and more practice. The only way you’re going to overcome the nerves and the fear of failing in a miserable fashion is by doing it a lot. Going out there, making mistakes, learning from them and overcoming it and redeeming yourself. So start right now and improve your auditions. This list we put together is a pretty good guideline to start with. Eventually, you’ll get so comfortable with auditioning that you’ll start booking things regularly with a completely carefree Sunday walk-in-the-park attitude.

Now go off, step into that audition room, hit your mark and book it!

10 Audition Tips for Actors

Posted on June 25, 2013 by AMP Talent Group

10 Audition Tips for Actors Here are 10 audition tips to ace your audition and help you get the acting roles you want: Always bring a picture and resume. Don’t expect your agent to send it over. You’re the one that won’t be remembered if you don’t have one to give to casting at the audition. Staple your […]

10 Audition Tips for Actors

Here are 10 audition tips to ace your audition and help you get the acting roles you want:

Always bring a picture and resume. Don’t expect your agent to send it over. You’re the one that won’t be remembered if you don’t have one to give to casting at the audition. Staple your headshot and resume together with the photo and resume facing out. It is a good idea to bring 2-3 copies to audition callbacks as there are may be many decision makers in the room who request a photo and resume from you. Best to be prepared.
Make your first 20 seconds count. When you meet someone for the first time, do you make a lot of suppositions? So do producers, directors and casting directors. Be on time, smile and greet the people in the room by name (when you know them), say your name, introduce yourself. Look your best by dressing appropriately in clothes that flatter you. Women should be fresh light make up, hair styled, men clean shaven and neat. Talent should never be late for an audition appointment. Being punctual is important for casting directors who are considering you for the job as it is an indication to how your behavior will be on set.
Do your best and don’t make excuses. Casting directors don’t want to hear about your cold or the reasons why you are running late, or that your printer is broken. Always be professional.
When you are given sides always memorize them. If you have not, it is OK to hold the script and read from it. Better to read from the sides then to make it up as you go (and the writer may be present in the room). Stick to the script.
If you are given direction at an audition and are asked to make a choice, make one. When actors are asked at auditions to make a choice don’t reply, “What do YOU want?” Actors need to make clear strong choices when developing characters. Show confidence in the choices you make.
Don’t ask to start over. When you make a mistake in your read, fight through it. You may be asked to do another take, but fight through the first one and don’t apologize. Stay in character.
Be comfortable, charismatic and confident. Successful people are self assured and confident. Actors and actresses who make it in this industry work hard to be noticed. You have to be the most interesting person to capture and keep our attentions. Be that someone that producers, directors and casting directors want to get to know. If you are naturally this way as yourself, you’ll also be able to do that in a character.
Make sure your Agents contact information is on your resume. And keep your resume up to date and to one page.
Don’t take the last audition times of the day. After a long day of casting, the casting people are tired and ready to go home. Often times, the early actor gets the part. And, you don’t have the rest of the day of actors to be compared to.
Audition as much and as often as you can. The best way to master auditioning is like anything else. Repetition. Again and again. Don’t let nerves hold you back. You will overcome anxiety by doing it over and over, and deliver a stronger audition each time. Let your personality shine through and remember!