Boo’s Audition Tips
By Peter John Ross
www.sonnyboo.com
As aspiring moviemakers, we are always burdened with funding actors to appear in our movies. Where do these elusive beings live? How do we get them to be in our movies? How will we know if they are right for a role? The answer is simply auditions. This is very basic info, but also handy.
First things first. Set a date(s). What will also work best is if you don’t have audition until you already have a camera, and a way to edit the movie FIRST. What good is an audition or even footage for a movie if you can’t finish it? And setting the shoot dates can let you know if certain actors are even available for those dates to begin with.
We have to let people know about the auditions. Many newspapers, especially the alternative, more arts-friendly papers, will post your audition notices for free. There are also message boards, posting boards, and Yahoo Groups on the Internet that provide one of the best new outlets for letting people know about auditions. Also a flyer or an email to acting teachers or even the local talent agencies give an outlet for this. As long as you are upfront about the amount being paid, even if it’s $0.00, will make everything work better.
Give plenty of notice, and remind people a few days before too. You may want to have more than one audition time to allow people with varying schedules the chance to audition.
Where? Public libraries have conference rooms anyone can use for free. Or you can do this at home, but for some people, that can be a turn off, but if it’s all you’ve got, then use your house. Just make sure you have two rooms. One for the auditions, and one for people to wait. It’s not fair if some people get to see how everyone else auditions and gets to talk to the director/producers and it’s not indicative of their raw ability.
Use a Sign-In Sheet – include their name, phone number, email, and the time they arrived. It’s always good to have everyone’s contact info. Also find out if they are SAG, AFTRA, or any other union. Have a column on the sign in sheet for “union or non-unionâ€
Auditions
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RE: Auditions
Wow. Really good stuff there. I've been worried about actors for a while as well, and your post helped clear up a bunch of stuff. I recommend everyone read this.
The question I have for you, is how to get the people to know about the casting in the first place?
The question I have for you, is how to get the people to know about the casting in the first place?
Sigs suck a**.
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Carnage7p
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another question i have is, do you call the rest of the people that auditioned to let them know you don't want them for the part? or do you e-mail them. i would kinda think it is most respectful to call them since they spent their time on you, and they deserve at least a phone call with a real person. what do you think? but definitely great stuff. i want to have auditions at my college which has an amazing theater program.
Well, caranage even though i've never experianced casting properly like above, I have talked to someone who did. ( The guy doing catwoman vs batman fanfilm if you remember him ). I know his method , he posts on these british casting websites.. anyway... afterwords, you tell them kindly they didn't get the part, but you give them a lot of positives. Phone is better, becuase it's showing more respect for them. You also should give them a reel of their castings as it's called, and some other demo stuff that they did for the part to at least show to people.
Sigs suck a**.
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sonnyboo
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The question I have for you, is how to get the people to know about the casting in the first place?
the 3rd paragraph of the article covers this...
We have to let people know about the auditions. Many newspapers, especially the alternative, more arts-friendly papers, will post your audition notices for free. There are also message boards, posting boards, and Yahoo Groups on the Internet that provide one of the best new outlets for letting people know about auditions. Also a flyer or an email to acting teachers or even the local talent agencies give an outlet for this. As long as you are upfront about the amount being paid, even if it’s $0.00, will make everything work better.
another question i have is, do you call the rest of the people that auditioned to let them know you don't want them for the part? or do you e-mail them?
I'm sorry to say that the standard is to NOT let them know. Here's why - what if you get into rehearsals or even shooting & an actor bails on you... Go back to the tapes & find out who's next in line. If you already called or emailed them to say "you didn't get the part", then they KNOW they were the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th choice for a part & will turn you down. IF they don't ask, don't tell and it's very common.
Quite frankly, actors know this and accept it as long as it's not directly effecting their ego, they will make the best choice, as will you. It's one of those unspoken things that is better left unsaid, yet everyone knows. Actors are very valuable, but they can be screw ups just as much as several first time filmmakers.
the 3rd paragraph of the article covers this...
We have to let people know about the auditions. Many newspapers, especially the alternative, more arts-friendly papers, will post your audition notices for free. There are also message boards, posting boards, and Yahoo Groups on the Internet that provide one of the best new outlets for letting people know about auditions. Also a flyer or an email to acting teachers or even the local talent agencies give an outlet for this. As long as you are upfront about the amount being paid, even if it’s $0.00, will make everything work better.
another question i have is, do you call the rest of the people that auditioned to let them know you don't want them for the part? or do you e-mail them?
I'm sorry to say that the standard is to NOT let them know. Here's why - what if you get into rehearsals or even shooting & an actor bails on you... Go back to the tapes & find out who's next in line. If you already called or emailed them to say "you didn't get the part", then they KNOW they were the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th choice for a part & will turn you down. IF they don't ask, don't tell and it's very common.
Quite frankly, actors know this and accept it as long as it's not directly effecting their ego, they will make the best choice, as will you. It's one of those unspoken things that is better left unsaid, yet everyone knows. Actors are very valuable, but they can be screw ups just as much as several first time filmmakers.