Tag Archives: audition

Feeling Like Things Are Picking Up (or I’ve Missed This Productivity)

Posted on January 24, 2024 | Comments Off

When I worked at getting as ready as possible with things for my acting career, I knew that a lot of it was out of my hands. I took control of whatever I could, but there’s only so much I can do. I got a new agent, which was huge and the biggest thing I was worried about. And after that, I could start the ball rolling on a few other things that I was putting off.

I got new headshots done, which I had been putting off for a while. I would love to have my weight lower before taking photos, but I need something for now. And I was lucky that I got to work with someone I have known for a while and he was able to give me a good deal so the new photos weren’t quite as much as they could have been. It’s always fun getting to work with a new photographer because every photographer has their methods for helping you get the best shots possible. I think the photos I got in this shoot came out so good and I’ve already gotten the selects back from my new agent so I can get them posted on the different casting sites as soon as I get the retouched images back. Having new and fresh photos should be helpful, plus I feel like these have a bit more personality than the ones I’ve had up for a while. I can’t guarantee that I will get a ton of auditions because of the new photos, but I feel really good about how these represent me and the characters that I might be cast as.

But even before my new photos got onto the casting sites, I had my first audition through my new agent! It’s been a while since I’ve had an audition. Between the strike and then having my last agent close their agency, there weren’t many opportunities for me. I was still doing submissions on my own, but those are much more limited than what an agent sees. I was thrilled to get the email about the audition and was ready to get back into the swing of things.

This audition was a bit different from many that I’ve had. Before the pandemic, most of my auditions were in-person. Since the pandemic, all my auditions have been self-tapes. But this audition was on Zoom, so it was a mix of what I’m used to. I was able to audition from home so I could be comfortable, but I had casting watching me as I performed. I do prefer having casting watching me so I can make adjustments as needed, so I was excited to do a Zoom audition. But I did discover while getting everything set up that I don’t have the best set-up for a Zoom audition. I have a tripod for my phone to do self-tapes, but I didn’t have a stand for my laptop since I knew it would be better to use that for Zoom. But I was able to make things work with a big stack of books and using my desktop ring lamp.

I am looking at finding a stand for my laptop to add to my home audition equipment just so I have something ready if I need it. It also might be a good thing to have for self-tape auditions if I have a reader over Zoom instead of in person. But I wasn’t going to buy a bunch of stuff right away, so I made it work with what I had.

I felt so good after this audition. I have no idea if I will book the part or not, but it felt so good to perform. I know some people, including myself, question from time to time if this is still the career we want to pursue. I know my life would probably be a lot easier if I didn’t want to be an actor. But every audition and chance to perform proves to me that this is what makes me happy and this career is what I want to do if I’m lucky enough to have that opportunity. I also loved feeling like I was actually doing something for my career and not just waiting for things to happen. I obviously will have to wait for the next audition to come, but I know that I have been doing the work that got me ready for this audition and will have me ready when the next one comes my way.

I really hope that with all these things I’ve been doing recently, things will get busier for me. I know I might get stressed out with having to balance everything, but it will also be worth it because I know how much happier I was in general after my audition. I crave performing and I know that getting to do it feeds my soul. And I just want to have more chances to have that feeling because I know how awesome it is!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, audition, headshots

Some Friend and Acting Time (or Still Helping With Self-Tapes)

Posted on April 27, 2021 | Comments Off

It’s been a little while since I’ve had an audition. That’s ok, I know that not everything is back just yet and it might take longer for more shows to be back in production. And for a lot of shows, they are trying to limit the size of their casts, so they might not have as many co-stars as they had before. It is getting better than it was earlier this year, but it’s still not back to full capacity.

And I’m also ok with it since I don’t usually get a ton of auditions in normal times. I do want that to improve and I have some things I’m hoping to change in the near future to hopefully help, but for right now I’m more focused on making sure I’m in a good spot to take advantage of what I’d like to do. So while I’d love to have more auditions and opportunties right now, I’m not that concerned that things haven’t changed that much for me.

But I have had some friends noticing an increase in their auditions lately and that’s awesome. Some of them are going into a casting office for their auditions, but doing self-tapes is still a very popular option. And while there are some things I don’t love about self-tapes, there are a lot of benefits too. And learning how to do self-tapes when people are not together in the same place has been something everyone has been learning to do.

Normally with self-tape auditions, you’d have a friend come by to help you by having them be the camera person and saying the other lines in the scene. And even though I’m vaccinated and many of my friends are as well, we still aren’t going to someone’s place to help them record. This isn’t that bad of a plan, because it’s nice that we all know how to help friends do their self-tape auditions even if we can’t get over to them. I don’t hate having to drive across town to help a friend, but it’s nice to not have to do that.

And I got the chance to help friends do self-tapes recently and it really does make me happy. I obviously would prefer to have my own auditions, but even being a reader lets me have a little time where I get to have a bit of acting time. The most recent self-tape I helped with was for my birthday twin friend, Joanna. It was for a film project and I was able to help her over Zoom so I was being the reader while in her house.

It was an interesting audition to be a reader for because almost all the lines were ones I had to read. Joanna had some lines too, but a lot more of her audition was about reacting. So it really gave me time to feel like I had playtime with acting. I wasn’t doing anything too crazy since it wasn’t my audition, but I still tried hard to make sure I was the best reader possible for her.

After going through a few takes with different options, Joanna had a great take that I thought was amazing! We did another one after that just to be safe and she checked her camera to make sure that everything looked and sounded fine. It was perfect and we were able to get her entire audition done in only a few minutes.

But since we both had set aside a bit more time for her audition, we stayed on Zoom and had a nice chance to hangout and talk. It’s a little crazy to think that we are actually having more hangout time in a pandemic than normal times. We usually text throughout the year but only really see each other for our birthday and for our cheesecake outing. But this past year we also had the Drag Queen show and the times we’ve helped each other with our self-tapes. I love that somehow the pandemic has given us more chances to see each other and talk. And since we had just seen each other somewhat recently, there wasn’t a lot to discuss in our post-audition hangout. But it was still nice to have some time with a friend since that’s something I still am not doing that often.

I hope that either I get some self-tape auditions or I have friends who need help so I can be a reader coming up. When there aren’t a lot of things I can control in my acting career, having these moments are so much fun for me to do. And it’s even better when I get to also have a friend hangout after some acting fun!

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Tagged acting, audition, friends, self-tape

A Different Type Of Self-Tape Audition (or Recording An Audition In Bed)

Posted on January 27, 2021 | Comments Off

While I haven’t had a lot of self-tape auditions, I have had enough that I feel pretty good about my setup. There are still a few things that I want to get to make my self-tape auditions better, but nothing is desperately needed. But I have a feeling that even when auditions can be held in-person again, there will still be more self-tape auditions than there were before the pandemic. And I’m ok with this because I’m happy for any auditions I can get!

All of my self-tape auditions have been on video. Some have been for tv shows and some for commercials. I don’t think I’ve had a movie self-tape yet, but it’s the same idea as tv and commercial auditions. They are filmed and it’s on-camera. I have a place in my house that I use for recording these because the light is the best and I have a way to set up my tripod and everything else I need to look the best I can. And I know I have to look good when I do them. I might wear sweats on the bottom with a nice top or dress on top, but I look presentable and have my hair and makeup done.

But not all auditions are on video. Voiceover auditions are just sound recordings. I rarely audition for voiceovers, but I have had them in the past. But those auditions were all done at a casting office or recording studio where they had a sound booth to do the audition in. I know that recording voiceover auditions (and even some jobs) at home has been common for a long time, but it’s not something I had any experience in.

Until this past weekend.

I got an audition notice from my commercial agent about a voiceover commercial audition. It was pretty simple, only 2 lines, but it needed to be done at home. I guess I could have rented a recording studio for my audition, but that would have cost money and I knew it wasn’t necessary. My audition didn’t have to be perfect, but I needed to find a way to make things as clear sounding as possible.

I knew using my external mic on my phone was going to be the best option. I guess I could have tried my headphones, but I know that things usually sound better on the mic than when I use my headphones. And I also knew that clothing and fabric are great for soundproofing and muffling other noises so a lot of people recommend recording in your closet. But my closet is a weird shape where it’s almost like a little hallway with the handing rods in the back. I did try doing one take in there, but it was very echoey and you could hear some ambient noise.

So I did some research online for other options and one that kept coming up was recording under a blanket. Covering yourself with a blanket is the same idea as being in a closet. You have fabric all around you and have a good chance to not have any echoes. I don’t own a ton of blankets, but I figured the comforter on my bed would work. And I didn’t have to sit up to do this, so I got back into bed with my phone in front of me to have the script up and my mic near my face.

I still did a few different takes to make sure I had a take that I liked. There were a few where it didn’t sound the way I wanted it to, but that was about my performance and not any outside noise coming in. It didn’t take too long, but I still took my time doing this. And after doing a little bit of editing to cut out the dead air at the beginning and end, my audition was done and ready to be submitted!

I don’t know if I want to try to pursue more voiceover work. There are a lot of things I don’t know about doing voiceovers that I should learn if I want to do it more often. But it was fun to play with it this time and it would be really cool if I booked it! I don’t expect to since I know some of the other women who auditioned for this part are very experienced in voiceover. But no matter what, it was another day to audition and have fun. And anything that makes me happy and brings joy into my life these days is amazing!

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Tagged acting, audition

Almost Getting To Act (or Being On The Other Side Of A Self-Tape Audition)

Posted on November 24, 2020 | Comments Off

I’ve had a few self-tape auditions during this pandemic. Even though there are a few more in-person auditions these days, self-tape auditions are still more common. It’s an easy way for casting directors to set up auditions and to keep themselves safe. And I think most of my actor friends have gotten a pretty decent system down for how to do the best self-tapes. I know I have. I might not have all the equipment I would like to have, but I’ve got a way to do decent work and I know that casting directors aren’t expecting something to be perfect in terms of film quality.

One of the weirdest parts of doing self-tape auditions these days is having someone to read the other lines with you. Before the pandemic, I would invite someone to come over to help me do a self-tape. They would run the camera and read the lines with me. But now, it’s not really safe to do that. And I think most people have done the same thing: we have our readers on a phone or video call.

I’ve figured out a way to have my reader on my phone while I record my audition on my iPad. And I set up my phone to be in a place where my friend can see the screen of my iPad if they are on a video call. That way, they can make sure that I’m still in frame and things look good. It’s a weird system, but it works. And I think most casting directors understand why our readers might sound tinny.

And this past week, I had the chance to be a reader for a friend’s audition. I hadn’t done that before and it was fun to do. I know it wasn’t my audition so I wasn’t really acting much saying the lines I had to say, but I also tried to make them sound a little more lively than if I was just reading them. My friend had a commercial audition with 2 scenes he had to do. So we had a couple of takes with each one until he felt like they were what he wanted. He had a camera recording him with a screen he could see, so he didn’t need me to be checking the frame. I just was seeing things off to the side to help him with an eye line.

There are so few opportunities right now to do any acting, so being a reader for someone else was a treat for me. It was a fraction of what I get to do when I book a job, but it’s much more than I normally get to do. It really made me so happy to do it. Plus, I was helping out a friend and that felt amazing too. I don’t do a ton of video calls because I think most people are a little burned out on them, so it was nice to get to have a quick catch up with a friend and actually see them and not just hear them. Honestly, it really was a highlight of my week last week. I don’t get to do much that makes me happy, so this was just much more special.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for my friend to book it (I think he did a great job with the audition). And I hope I get more opportunities to either do a self-tape myself or to help a friend record theirs. I crave any type of acting related work I can do and I hope I can do more of them. I know that eventually, things will be safe again to do in-person auditions more and more. They might still keep self-tape auditions. They’ve been a thing before, just not that common. And there are pros and cons for having them. But they are still auditions and they are still fun for me. And I’m grateful whenever I get to have any part in one, even if it’s just to help a friend with their audition.

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Tagged acting, audition, friends, self-tape

Another Self-Tape Audition (or So Grateful For Anything Related To Acting Right Now)

Posted on September 17, 2020 | Comments Off

Things are starting to slowly reopen in LA. There are a few shows that are back to filming after some safety guidelines are in place. There are a lot of things that have to be done in order to have a safe set, such as regular testing and having actors wear masks or shields except for the brief time you are filming (everyone else on set has to keep their mask or shield on). I know a few people who are series regulars on tv shows, and they have been able to start working again. I’m so happy to see things starting up again, but I also know that they aren’t fully opening. Even with the shows that are back, I wonder how many actors that aren’t the regulars will be in each episode. I know things are still being figured out and things can and will change, but each step forward is positive.

There have even started to have auditions that are held in casting offices. I haven’t had an in-office audition yet, and I’m not sure how safe I feel going to one. Fortunately, for people who are nervous going into an office, most casting directors are still allowing actors to submit self-tapes. And more often than not, all of the auditions are being done as self-tapes. So that makes things easy.

For most self-tape auditions, you have at least a few days to get them done. Sometimes, if they are a general audition like my other pandemic audition, you get several weeks to do your audition. I appreciate having the time so I can get my lines memorized, find a friend who can help me with my self-tape (now, having help over a video call to have someone be my reader), have time to film a few takes, and then editing it and submitting it. Rarely, for self-tapes and in-person auditions do you have a same-day audition. But they do happen. And that’s almost what happened to me this past weekend.

Technically, it wasn’t a same-day self-tape audition, but it was close. The audition notice came in very late at night. I was actually asleep when I got it so I didn’t know about it until the next morning. And it was due by 8 pm that day. So I had to quickly figure out who could help me so I could get this done and submitted. I was lucky that another actor from my union slate was able to help me out. And it wasn’t a long audition so I quickly had it memorized.

I still want to improve my self-tape setup, but it’s not too bad. I have a good tripod for my iPad (which is my best camera) and I have a place in my house that has good natural light. I struggle with my current setup with doing full-body angles (which are typically needed for audition introductions), but that’s not too bad. And I think most casting directors understand that home self-tapes might not be perfect. But even with the improvements I want to make, I think my self-tape auditions look pretty good.

I’ve been doing more video editing lately since I have to do minor edits to the livestreams I help to run, so editing my self-tape was pretty easy. It was made even easier because every take that I did was actually the same video clip. I just started my camera when we started and kept it running through all my takes and adjustments. I just had to watch it to figure out which take was the best one. And while I don’t like watching or hearing myself on camera, I’m getting better at it and it’s not as difficult for me to do the editing.

I was able to get my audition edited and submitted a few hours before the deadline. I had a few issues getting it submitted, but the casting director gave us a few options of how we could do it so I was able to use a different method from what I originally planned on using.

For a self-tape audition, this was quick and easy. I’m shocked how fast I was able to get it done, but it really just fell into place. And having the chance to audition made me so happy. I don’t believe I booked the commercial I auditioned for, but that doesn’t matter. I had the best day having an audition and it really made my time being isolated a lot more fun.

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Tagged acting, audition, self-tape

An Isolation Audition (or Working On My Self-Tape Game)

Posted on April 28, 2020 | Comments Off

With pretty much the entire entertainment industry shut down right now, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to work. Everyone is experiencing the same stoppage of work and we are all trying to find ways to not feel as far away from our careers. Some people are doing acting classes over Zoom, I’ve had friends who have been doing script readings and performances on different live video platforms, and some people are creating their own solo work (or work with other people they live with). I haven’t really done a lot of those things yet, but they are ideas that I have been exploring.

But right after the social isolation started, I heard of friends who were still getting auditions because we can do self-tapes. I’ve done self-tape auditions before, but they have always included someone else working with me because I need a reader and someone to run the camera. I wasn’t too worried about how to do a self-tape in isolation until I got an audition notice from my agent.

This audition notice wasn’t for a specific project or part. It was a general. A general is when a casting office auditions actors to see who they like and want to keep in consideration for the future. When casting offices work on multiple shows that may have dozens of minor characters each episode, it’s good for them to have a shortlist of actors they like so they can get them scheduled for an audition right away. Generals aren’t as common as they used to be, so to get one was really awesome! And I’m hoping that maybe this time will lead to more.

I have a pretty decent self-tape setup at my house, but it’s not perfect. Fortunately, perfection was not required for this one. I have my tripod for my iPad (since that is the better camera), but I didn’t know how I was going to have a reader or someone to make sure I looked ok in the video frame. But I had recently gotten a ring light to use since I was doing a lot more video chats and wanted to not be backlit. The ring light had a tripod and a holder for a phone, so I realized I could have a friend on Facetime on my phone, put that on the ring light tripod, put that tripod behind my iPad on the other tripod, and then they could read the other lines and check how I looked on camera.

It was a really weird setup and I regret not taking a photo of it, but it did the job. My friend Andie was the one who was on Facetime as my reader and she did a great job making sure that I was word perfect with the script and that I looked ok on camera. I did struggle a bit with acting against a phone screen instead of a person (and I had to put a post-it on my phone to cover up where I was on the screen), but after a few takes I got used to it and it was fine.

Once that was done, I immediately sat down to edit it. The editing was pretty simple since there were just 2 parts that I had to combine. I just had to find the best take of each part and put them into one clip. I’m glad it was an easy editing job because it’s been a while since I’ve edited using iMovie.

And as soon as the editing was done, I uploaded it to the casting site to send it off to the casting director. I didn’t want to procrastinate on that because I might start thinking I didn’t do a good job with my audition and want to do it again. I try not to have those regrets after an audition and you really don’t get do-overs when you go to an audition in person. So I try not to let myself get into that headspace for a self-tape.

I actually would love to have another self-tape audition during isolation so I could feel even more confident in my self-tape skills. But I also hope that things can open up again soon so we can get back to a more normal life. So if this is the only isolation audition that I have, I’m so grateful that I had it. It really made me happy and allowed me to focus on my career for a day instead of everything going on in the world.

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Tagged acting, audition, isolation, self-tape

Auditioning For Class (or When Rejection Is Really A Win)

Posted on November 13, 2018 | Comments Off

It has been a while since I’ve been in an acting class. And it’s been even longer since I’ve been in an ongoing regular acting class. I’ve struggled to find a new acting class that I wanted to be in for a long time. Part of it is financial and part of it is finding someone I connect with as much as my acting coach who passed away. But I know that I should be in class because it’s always a good thing to work on your skills. So I have looked into a few different classes to see if there are any that seem to be a good match for me.

A friend of mine told me about an acting class that she is in (I’m not saying the name just to keep things a bit discrete). It’s an ongoing class that meets once a week to work on scripts. You can bring in a script you need to prepare for an audition or work on random material in class. But what is so special about the class is that there is no teacher or coach. It is a group of 12 actors that work together supporting each other. Everyone is a teacher and a student at the same time.

When she told me about this class originally, it sounded really amazing to me. I love the idea of a collaborative class where everyone is an equal. And not only did the class sound great, it was one of the cheaper classes out there because they only had to pay for the rental of the space they used. They hold auditions to join the group once or twice a year, whenever one of the 12 members is leaving the class. Sometimes they have 1 space, sometimes they have more than one. But it’s always a very limited number of spaces open when they have auditions.

My friend told me about the auditions about a month ago so I could check my schedule, and the actual audition was last week. We were given a script to work on and present to the group. Then after we did our scene there was an interview portion where the current members of the group could ask me questions. It’s so important with a small collaborative group like this that everyone gets along, so I understood why they had to do an interview along with the audition.

I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but I did not have my best audition. I was dealing with some nausea and cramps that evening. I’ve been lucky over the past 2 years because I haven’t really had any auditions on my bad days. But this time, I did have that. And because I wasn’t feeling myself, I was struggling with keeping the lines memorized. Again, I don’t want to make excuses for myself because I now know I need to work harder at being extra memorized to be prepared in case I have to audition on a bad day. But it still was unfortunate that I felt pretty bad after I finished my audition.

I felt much more confident during the interview. The questions were things that I was expecting like if I could commit to the time the class was held, if I was ok with how much the class cost, and what I would bring to a group like this. I tried to answer as openly and honestly as I could without rambling too much. I was very conscious about making my answers solid and quick so I didn’t seem unsure of my answers. I was actually much more prepared for the interview part and was expecting much harder questions, so when it was done I was almost shocked that it was over.

When I left, I told my friend I was sorry that my audition was bad. I knew it wasn’t great, but she let me know that it was good and that I did a great job. But she also let me know the next day that I didn’t get accepted into the group. It wasn’t a surprise to me (I would have been surprised if I did get into the group) and she gave me some notes about what the others thought. The main thing was that because I wasn’t as memorized as other people, I didn’t appear to be as prepared. It was actually good to hear that because I knew that was an issue. I was happy it wasn’t an issue I wasn’t already aware of.

Although I would have loved to have gotten into the class, I know that I can audition again the next time there is an opening. And I plan on doing just that and making sure I work even harder on my audition. I now know what to expect when I go into the room so I will be more prepared than I was last week. And hopefully I won’t have the audition on a bad day.

But even with being rejected from the class, I had the best time at this audition! Any time I get to act is an amazing day and brings me so much joy! This is how I know I’m on the right career path right now. Being rejected from an acting class is still better than my best day at my day job. And I have gotten good at rejection from auditions and other acting related experiences. It’s a part of this career and I am glad that I don’t let rejection affect me or make me question if I’m not supposed to do this.

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Tagged acting, audition, class

Self-Tape Saturday (or Turning A Video Shoot Into A Photo Shoot)

Posted on October 17, 2018 | Comments Off

I’ve written about self-taping auditions in the past. While I love going into an office for an audition and getting to work with a casting director or assistant directly, self-tape auditions are becoming more and more common. And they are even more common with auditioning for the smaller parts. Because they are more common, I’ve slowly been upgrading my self-tape set-up at home. I now have a tripod that I can use my iPad with (it’s not my best camera, but it’s close to the best one) and I have a backdrop that I can use on a wall in my house so that it looks more professional. So when I have an audition that calls for a self-tape, I feel pretty comfortable that I can do it.

The only thing I need to find is someone to help me tape the audition. It’s not too hard since most of my actors friends are willing to help out (because I would do the same for them), but I still usually have to ask around to find someone who is available when I am to be my reader. So when I found out about a self-tape audition I needed to do this weekend, I immediately started to text my friends to see who was free. And my birthday twin, Joanna, was not only free but she also had a self-tape audition that needed to be done!

She mentioned that she had a self-tape set-up at her house, so I was happy to go over there to work on our auditions. I had my tripod and iPad with me to use as a camera and I wasn’t totally sure what her set-up would be. I knew it would be fine, but I was so impressed when I walked into her house!

It was so professional looking! She not only had the backdrop and tripod, but she also had lights and a microphone! I knew this was going to be one of my best self-tape auditions as far as looks go. And I was really excited to get to spend an evening working on auditions with a friend.

Joanna was going to use her phone to record her auditions (it was just easiest for us each to record on our own devices) and since that was already set up she went first. We rehearsed her scene a few times so she was comfortable and I was familiar with the lines that I would be reading for her and then we started recording. We did a bunch of takes because I wanted Joanna to feel completely certain that she got the best take that she could do. And I was having fun being her reader and getting to have a little bit of silly acting before doing my audition.

Then we switched things up and it was my turn to do my audition. My audition had some unique rules about how they wanted everything to be done so even though my scene was significantly shorter than Joanna’s my audition was taking longer. But she had the same patience for me that I did for her and we did a bunch of takes until I felt like I had the audition that I wanted to submit.

After we were done doing our videos, we decided to take some silly photos. We both were going to post about spending our night self-taping auditions and we might as well have pictures to go along with it! We were doing pretty normal photos until Joanna discovered how cool it looks to have the iPad screen covering my face so you see my face on the screen.

And of course after she took that photo of me I made her get in front of the iPad so I could do the same for her. We were just having fun and being so silly after working on auditions and it made the night so much more fun. I love getting to hang out with a friend and getting to do any form of acting, but turning this into a photo shoot was an added bonus that made my night.

I started to edit my audition to cut out my best take the next day. Since my scenes were so short I told Joanna just to keep the camera running between takes. We had to pause sometimes because her neighbors slammed a door or there was a plane above us so the noise was distracting, but that’s just how things go. When we were pausing for noise she and I usually were talking about random things. And while watching my videos to find my best takes I was laughing at all the crazy faces I made while talking to Joanna just as me.

I don’t love to watch myself on camera, but the more often I do it the easier it gets. I found my best takes and got everything edited the way the casting director instructed us to do. I did have some problems submitting my audition on the website we needed to do it through, but fortunately my agent was able to do the submission for me so I didn’t miss the deadline. I did get things straightened out with the submission site the day after the deadline so hopefully I won’t have this problem again. But I was just grateful my agent could do it for me and wasn’t upset that I ran into trouble.

I’m so glad that things worked out so well for Joanna to help me with my audition. And I was so inspired by how awesome her self-tape set-up was as well! I’m now looking into some things that I can hopefully get in the future to make my self-tape set-up at my house as close to what she has. I know that when casting directors ask for self-tape auditions they don’t expect them to be super professional, but they shouldn’t look like they are completely amateur either. I want to find the perfect balance and I think adding a few more things to what I have will take things much closer to looking like they were done at a casting office.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, audition, friends, self-tape

Working On Rejection (or Why Can’t Dating Be Like Acting)

Posted on September 21, 2018 | Comments Off

As an actor, you deal with rejection all the time. Actors get rejected for more jobs than they are offered. Every single day, I submit myself to various projects and my agents submit me as well. A majority of the time, I never hear back from those submissions so I was rejected for even an audition. And when I do get an audition, I don’t usually book the job. I don’t see that rejection as anything bad since everyone deals with it. And I know that not every part is right for me. My job when I audition is to do the best job I can in the room so the casting director wants to bring me back when there is another part I might be right for.

But even though I am very comfortable with rejection in my acting career and it doesn’t bother me one bit, I can’t say the same about dating. There are some times that I think everyone would agree that I am right to be upset over rejection or someone lying to me. I don’t think anyone expects someone to be ok with being hurt that way, especially when it’s someone who you cared about and you thought cared about you. I also know that those situations are sometimes inevitable and are a part of life. Dating has always had some rejection or heartache, that’s not just something that started with online dating.

And I guess ghosting could have been a thing before as well, but it seems like it really picked up with dating apps. I’ve had a couple of guys ghost me, but more recently there have been 2 that really got to me. One guy I had 2 dates with and then they were out-of-town (this was something we had discussed on our first date). From before our first date through their time out-of-town, we were texting at least once a day. We were making tentative plans for when they were back in LA. And once they were back, they stopped texting. They never unmatched with me on the app we matched on, but all communication stopped. I reached out one more time, they responded, but then ghosted me again. That really bugged me because there was nothing that made me feel like things weren’t going to move forward with another date. But I guess he didn’t care to see me again and he didn’t feel like he should say something to me.

And more recently, there was someone who seemed like a real great guy. We got along, could talk about a ton of different subjects without awkward silences, and he was planning creative dates for us. On our last date, something just didn’t seem right to me. I mentioned it hoping that would make things better (sometimes it’s better to bring up a weird feeling than ignore it and hope it goes away) and he said everything was fine but he was just tired from working long hours. That could have been it, but I still had a gut feeling that something was off and he wasn’t telling me. We made plans for the next day, and I haven’t heard from him since. I honestly have no clue what happened, but again I was ghosted by a guy who didn’t have the manners to end things like an adult.

Those ghosting situations are the standard ones because I had met these guys in person and we had been talking and dating. I don’t know what to call the guys who disappear before I even meet them since I don’t know if it’s really the same thing as ghosting. But a new trend I’ve been seeing is a guy who is messaging with me on whatever app we connect with (I don’t give out my number until I meet a guy in person to protect myself from scammers and catfish) and we make plans for a date. Sometimes everything is planned, sometimes it’s just the date and time and we are going to figure out a location later. And then the day of the date I go to the app to message them to either finalize plans or say that I’m excited to meet them, and they are no longer listed in my matches. They could have been scammers or had their accounts blocked, but more often than not they just unmatched with me.

I know that there are some guys on the apps who are in relationships that use dating apps to get an ego boost. They don’t consider it cheating if they never meet someone in person, but they message as if they wanted to meet up just to get the validation that a woman likes them. I think it’s stupid and if I ever figured out in advance that a guy was doing that with me I’d unmatch with them first. But of course, most of these guys give no clue that they are doing that so I just feel rejected because I had been excited about the date that won’t be happening.

I’ve gotten much better with dealing with dating rejection in the past year, but it’s still not easy for me. I think a lot of the rejection I struggle with comes from when I meet a guy (or am messaging with a guy) who seems genuine and kind. I don’t try to imagine what a future could be with them, but I think everyone thinks about stuff like that when they meet someone they are interested in. The rejection is almost more of feeling hurt that a potential future isn’t going to happen anymore. And while I have the same feeling with auditions (whenever I go out for a big role I have to stop myself from imagining how it could change my life), but I have had so much more practice with acting.

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Posted in Acting, Dating, Tough Stuff

Tagged acting, audition, confidence, dating, love, online dating, rejection

Audition Prep (or Taking My Career Seriously)

Posted on September 14, 2017 | Comments Off

I’ve felt a bit out of the acting game lately. Doing all the work with SAG–AFTRA does help, but it’s not the same as auditioning and working. Unfortunately, I don’t control when I get auditions or work so I have to just be grateful for when I get those opportunities.

Last week, I got an email from a casting director that I know socially but have never had the chance to audition for. They had a script with a character that they thought I’d be right for and they wanted to know if I was interested in auditioning. This was the first time this happened to me and it was really exciting! I wanted to say yes right away, but I also wanted to make sure I read the script. I did, I loved it, and I told them that I would love to audition! So it was set up through my agents and I got my scene to prepare for the audition.

I’m lucky with the auditions I normally get. They rarely are 1 or 2 line parts that are actually tougher to audition for because you can’t do too much. I get bigger auditions that have pages of dialogue to work with. When I have those bigger auditions, I have started to use an audition coach. As much as I know I can work on the audition on my own, it’s so much better to have some feedback.

But I’ve never used a coach for the smaller auditions. But for this audition, I really wanted to be as prepared as possible and to take things seriously. I need to make sure I maximize each audition chance I get, and this time I felt a little extra pressure because I know this casting director as a friend but he doesn’t really know me as an actor. Plus, since I was asked if I wanted an audition versus just getting an audition made it feel extra special and like I needed to be the best I could be.

I’ve got a few audition coaches that I know and that I’ve worked with before. So I sent out some emails to see who was available and could help me out. And I’m so lucky that Marci Liroff was able to help me! I’ve auditioned for Marci a couple of times in the past and I also took her audition bootcamp class a few years ago. So she knows my abilities as an actor and I know that I work well with her when she’s coaching me and guiding me into working a script.

I went to meet with her this Monday and it was exactly what I needed to do to get ready for my audition. I was apologizing for asking for coaching on such a small part (the audition scene is only about 6 lines), but she reassured me that it is totally fine and actually it is good to get coaching on auditions of any size. That made me feel so much better. I didn’t want to feel like I needed the help, but that I was using the help to improve what I can already do. And that was the sense that I was getting from Marci when I was meeting with her.

We started out with doing the scene simply and built it up from there. I had made a strong character choice but as we worked on it we realized that it wasn’t the right choice. Those are the sort of things you can only find out if you are working with a coach or someone else. You don’t get the same reactions if you are working on your own because you need someone to bounce things off of. We also practiced in what is closer to an audition setting with me walking in so I could get the flow of things down.

I had walked into the coaching session feeling like I had made a strong character choice but wasn’t feeling too certain about things. After working on the script with Marci for less than an hour, I felt super confident about how I was interpreting things and that I could feel that way in the audition room too. It’s amazing how powerful audition coaching can be and how it really does change how I felt before going into the audition.

I really think that I need to do coaching for my auditions from now on no matter how big or small the part is. Getting to work on the script is good, but just spending some time working is even better. The time I was working with Marci felt like being in class (it pretty much is like a private acting class) and it did make me happy getting to do that. It’s not free to get coaching, but it’s not outrageously expensive either. And if this is what I do as an acting class type thing, it’s cheaper for audition coaching than an ongoing class. I would like to be in class again one day, but right now the timing isn’t right.

But besides how getting audition coaching makes me feel, it’s also a sign of looking at my auditions more seriously. I take my career seriously, but if I’m being honest with myself I probably could have been taking it more seriously before. I don’t think that getting coaching before auditions I’ve had in the past would have necessarily changed anything, but I’ll never know. But from now on, I’m going to take each audition as seriously as I would for a series regular during pilot season and hopefully I can do coaching before as many of them as possible.

Comments Off on Audition Prep (or Taking My Career Seriously)

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, acting coach, audition, class

Tag Archives: audition

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Working On Rejection (or Why Can’t Dating Be Like Acting)

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Audition Prep (or Taking My Career Seriously)

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