Mega source of Articles

People who are just getting into the acting business have quite a few misconceptions about how the casting process works. The best way to illustrate this is with a hypothetical example giving a fictional show.

Let’s say the producers of a daytime soap called “Sullivan Street” have just gotten a script for one of next month’s episodes. In this episode there is a new character by the name of “Tara.” She is a real schemer who is going to seduce the show’s star.

The first thing the producers do is call the casting director they have used for many years and describe the character, Tara, to him. Immediately the casting director will already have several people in mind who he has worked with in the past but he will still submit a description to Breakdown Services. This is a company that serves as a link between casting directors and agents.

The next morning all the agents read the “breakdown” sheets to see what parts are being cast. The agent will then look through his files to see if he has anyone who fits the description. He’ll select several photos and send them to the casting director.

The casting director then receives all these envelopes from all these agents, and there are tons of them. A casting director will have to go through hundreds, maybe even thousands of photos looking for “Tara.” And then even if the photo looks great the casting director will look at the attached resume to see what body of work the actress has done. Finally the casting director will narrow these hundreds of photos down to about 30 or so and will call these agents up for auditions.

The agents will then call their clients up and tell them about the audition, the time and place. He may send them sample scripts or have them come to his office to pick them up.

After this the actress goes to the audition, probably nervous as heck. She’ll dress up the way she thinks Tara should dress. She wants to get the character just right. While waiting for her audition she takes the time to go over her lines.

Finally, she makes it into the casting director’s office and does her reading for the part. She does well, but is not too hopeful since she has had other readings during the week for other parts that she didn’t get.

After the audition is over the goes home and waits. In a day or so she gets a call from her agent that they liked her audition and they want her to come back for a second one. She’s all excited.

She goes back for a second audition, reads the same part again and does even better than the first time. She is positive that she is going to get the part. Then, at the last minute, the producers, who are at the second audition, decide that Tara should be a blonde instead of a brunette.

Yes, that is the way it goes. Sometimes you’ll lose a part because you are the wrong height or hair color or something really stupid. Then a month later they’ll call you back in to read for the starring role of a new series they’re putting together. That is the way careers are made and broken in this business and there is just no logical reason to the madness. All you can do is go with the flow and hope for the best.

This can be quite a frightening question. Somebody is asking about you and you’re confronted with such a broad and general opening line. How on Earth do you reply?

When you finally get that all important interview with an agent, you want to be as prepared as you possibly can be. You’ve probably brought copies of your best headshot along with your resum้. Maybe you’ve even brought a couple of monologues with you in case the agent wants to hear you read something by asking you to “show him what you can do.” But before it even gets to that, the first part of the interview is usually very awkward. The truth is, the agent at this time has probably already seen your headshot and resum้ and has probably even seen you in some production, maybe a local play. But at this time the agent wants to get to know you personally. Hw wants to know how you present yourself to people in a business setting. Since you will be working with the agent in getting you work, he wants to make sure that you handle yourself professionally in a such a setting.

So the agent asks you to tell him something about yourself. What do you say to him? Actually, you should prepare ahead of time for this question. You don’t want to be taken off guard. Just as you have prepared everything else, your headshots, resum้, and monologue, you want to prepare for this question. This is the opportunity to get some experience as a writer. Here you will create the exact monologue that you want to describe yourself. You should memorize it and practice it just as you would a movie script until you have complete confidence in reciting it.

To do this, think about what you want the agent to know about you. Don’t just spit back your resum้. The agent has already seen that. You can, however, mention a few highlights. If you have good training with a well known school, mention this. Your agent is going to want to know what you’ve been doing. Tell him about any lead roles you’ve done. If not a lead, pick a role you’ve played that you particularly enjoyed playing, even if it was a small part. Talk about what excites you about being an actor. Tell him what you love about theater or television or whatever medium you’re most interested in. Tell him about any interesting hobbies that you have. Agents want to see that you’re well rounded and not just one dimensional. Well rounded people usually make good actors. Tell the agent what you feel is unique about yourself. Keep your monologue to under a minute. Agents don’t have a lot of time and want to get right to the point.

Finally, remember one thing. If an agent has invited you to an interview he is already interested in you so don’t push it. Act natural and be yourself. You will find that by not acting you will have your best chance at getting this agent to represent you.

Many people think that acting is all about glamour and living the good life. Maybe you get some fancy limo and a ton of other perks and that’s all there is to it. Unfortunately, the real work of being an actor is not glamorous. There’s actual work involved. Here is a typical day on the set of a major motion picture.

You’re up at about 5:30 in the morning. Why? Because most likely you have a call time of 7 AM and the shoot is in Pasadena. You’re on your own as far as getting there so you have to shower and shave early and hop in your own car and drive to the shoot. Traffic in LA is awful so you better get an early start. After you arrive and park your own car, a teamster shuffles you off to the film set. At the set you check in with the second director and then get in line at the food truck for a quick breakfast. No fancy meals.

Before you even get a chance to finish your bagel, a girl from wardrobe comes over to you and says they need to measure you for a new jacket that they picked out for your scene. After you get fitted they then ship you off to makeup. After about an hour of having your face tortured you’re out of the makeup trailer with toilet paper stuck to your collar in order to keep makeup off your clothes. It’s now time to head to the set.

The director and the whole crew, lighting, cameras, etc., are already all there setting up the scene. At this point the director will have a brief chat with you to inform you of the change in your lines that you spent half the night studying and memorizing. At this time you’ll rehearse the new lines a couple of times on the set. Then they finish setting up the lights and whatever else is needed for the scene. This gives you some extra time to memorize your new lines. So you go to your trailer to do this. Yes, you actually get your own trailer. It’s also the size of a walk in closet.

After about 20 minutes or so, the production assistant knocks on your trailer door and calls you back to the set. At this time they remove the tissue paper from your collar and you go to your mark on the set to begin the scene.

The scene begins. Your co-star approaches you and begins to say her lines. You then say yours and suddenly you hear the director say “cut!” You wonder what you did wrong. Actually, nothing. One of the lights on the set went out. The gaffer runs over, replaces the bulb, and then you start again from the beginning. They do a few more takes of the same scene from different angles. In the final cutting they’ll decide which one to use.

You’ll get about 2 shots done before it’s time to change the set for the next scene. There’s no applause or fanfare. You might get a “nice job” from the director, but that’s about it. You then just sit around and wait for the next scene.

That is the truth about acting. Only about 10% of the time are you actually acting. The other 90% you spend waiting around for set changes and other things. So unless you have a major role that requires a lot of preparation, you better bring a deck of playing cards with you or you’re going to be bored out of your skin.

At around noon you break for lunch. An hour later you come back, maybe do another scene and then get your sheets for tomorrow’s shoot. You’re done for the day and go home.

Not very glamorous is it? No, but when the film is released and you get to see what they’ve done with what seemed like pretty dull stuff, it simply amazes you. And knowing that people all over the world are going to be seeing you, well, that’s what acting is all about.