After the Audition is Over

So… you’ve seen the casting notice, you’ve sent your application, you’ve gone in for the casting audition… What now?

Our advice is simple. And it can save a lot of pointless stress.

Come out of the audition and give yourself just a few hours thought on the matter. On your way home, run through the audition in your head and ask yourself:

  • Was there anything I did well? What was it? Why did it work?
  • Was there anything I did badly? What was it? Why didn’t it work?

Importantly, try to figure out if there’s anything you would do differently next time. If so, remember it – write it down even – so that the next time you’re faced with a situation like that you’ll be prepared and act differently.

  • I should have shaken hands with the director; I’ll do that next time.
  • I shouldn’t have interrupted the director when he was speaking; I’ll keep my mouth shut next time.
  • But… I knew my lines inside out – great!
  • Oh, and maybe next time I won’t have 3 espressos before I audition; I felt totally wired!
  • I got the clothes totally right – I looked awesome!

Was it really that bad?

Often actors will come out of auditions figuring they’ve done badly. But trust us, no matter what you think, you really have no idea. This is a true story from one of our actors:

“I once did an audition for a film where just two minutes into the meeting with the director I knew I’d blown it. Nothing worked. He sat there with a miserable face and I forgot my lines; he shook his head when I stumbled over the script and whatever I said or did seemed wrong. I couldn’t wait to leave. I could tell that he wasn’t interested in me and he must have known that all I wanted to do was get out of there. When the meeting finally wound up I was gone with the director’s annoyed face imprinted on my mind.

“Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get the job. But strangely enough my agent phoned me a few days later and told me that the director had phoned her personally to talk about me: he had really liked me and thought I’d done a brilliant audition but wanted to tell her personally that he was sorry I couldn’t be offered the part because I was just a little too old for the role.”

Remember this story. What you think of your audition is not necessarily what the casting director thought of the audition.

And then?

And then… forget about it. Just a few hours after the audition when you’ve had a chance to go through it in your head, forget about it. Whenever the audition pops back into your mind, think about something else as quickly as you can because dwelling on what happened is utterly pointless and won’t get you anywhere.

Because, after all, once that audition has come and gone you should be working flat out preparing yourself for the next audition!

But is there still hope?

After the audition don’t expect to hear back from anyone for at least a week. And even longer. There could be a dozen reasons why you don’t hear back:

  • They still haven’t decided who gets the role
  • The project fell through and had to be abandoned
  • The lead actor broke their leg paragliding and everything’s been put on hold for 12 months
  • You didn’t get the role

So regardless of what happens after the audition, if you’re not thinking about it then you’re not wasting your time worrying about it.

And that makes the email out of the blue offering you the role so much better!

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