How to Prepare For An Audition

So you have been invited to audition. Congratulations!

Here’s what happens next

You will be sent script pages often referred to as “called sides” that the Casting Agency expects you to learn. You will need to read the sides over several times and familiarize yourself with how your character relates to the other characters. I suggest that you look for implicit direction in the script that could suggest an action or a gesture.

 In my experience, I like to write my lines out in pencil because I find pencil slows the writing process down and forces me to concentrate. I also would recommend that you get up and walk around while reciting your line. Movement seems to help solidify the learning process. While you are learning your lines, speak them loudly “not so loud that you scare the dog” but loud enough that you become used to sound of your own voice. Many a time my actors would go over their lines in a hushed tone while at home and when the time came to speak on camera the sound of the voice would throw them off.

Be sure that you have learned your lines the day of the audition. If there are many lines required of you, you may be able to hold the script and glance at them. This is accepted but frowned upon generally. The best thing to do if you forget a line is simply to say” line please” and someone will give you the line.

 In the case of an “in person audition” you must remember to be on time, be courteous and above all dress appropriately. Do not wear a Costume!

If it’s an “on-line” audition treat it as an in person audition. “A taped audition” gives you a little more leeway. You will film at home or at a friend’s house and of course you will be less nervous. Be sure that you use a good camera. If you use an iPhone do so in the landscape mode, have proper lighting and a microphone.

 Need week, my article will focus on “How the film process works from an actor's perspective”

BIO

 Jim Calarco, a member of ACTRA has most recently appeared in A Masked Saint,Orah, The Captive and the TV series Hard Rock Medical.Formerly a Drama consultant with the Near North Board of Education he retired in 2000 and began working exclusively in film and TV. In 2008 he established North Star Talent with producer Brigitte Kingsley in order to represent Northern Ontario Actors . In the same year he started Real to Reel BG Agency. In 2010 he started Cast North , a film and television casting and audition agency .He is winner of the Quonta Best Actor Award,And a Best Actor in a Short Film  Award(Belgium) and in 2008 he was inducted into the Northern Entertainers Hall of Recognition .His two most recent shot films that he wrote and directed have won 23 awards internationally.He continues  to works as both an Actor/Director and Northern Film Consultant.