ï»żHello and welcome to episode 4 of the TheatreKid Podcast, Iâm your host Karl Davies and today I have a few tips thatâll help you look and sound more professional in front of a Casting Director.
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If youâre here for the first time, thanks for checking us out. If at any point during this episode you go âHmm, thatâs interestingâ then hit the subscribe or follow button. If youâre a regular listener, thanks for coming back, I appreciate you, hopefully these tips will help you in the future.
So letâs dive into it, how can you look and sound more professional when speaking to casting directors. These tips will work for TV, Film auditions, Musicals, Plays and even college auditions, but itâs important to know that youâre not just talking to one person, there will be a team of people responsible for handling your application, and itâs that âteamâ of casting professionals you need to impress because itâs them who will decide whether you even get seen never mind get the job.
Your talent is the key to you getting the job but these tips will help you before you even get to the audition.
Letâs start from the beginning:
1. Make sure youâre suitable for the role youâre applying for.
Forgive me for getting straight to the point but, if you donât meet the right Ethnicity, Gender, or Height requirements as set out in the casting brief then donât apply.
Letâs say the casting brief is for a white female, minimum height 5â8â with blonde hair, and youâre white, 5â6â and brunette but happy to dye your hair blonde. Youâre really close to being suitable so you should apply anywhere, right? Wrong!
These casting professionals are going through thousands of applications for many different projects every week, they will not struggle to find someone matching those very specific requirements, especially a common brief like that. If there is something a little more specialist like, they character needs to be able to ride a horse, and youâre a highly skilled horse rider, then you might want to gamble and apply because thereâs something unique about that casting and they might forgive the height difference, but if you donât fit all of the requirements then itâs probably not worth your time applying.
The reason being, they might get excited by your profile, go through everything and then see you donât meet all of the criteria, so theyâve used up valuable minutes on a profile that isnât suitable.
If they have to put you in the no pile because you donât meet the criteria theyâve asked, then theyâre going to remember you as someone who doesnât read casting briefs properly and they may not want to work with you in the future. Youâre giving them extra administrative work because you think youâre nearly suitable for the job.
If youâre not 100% suitable⊠donât apply.
But what if you are suitable? What if you match all of the casting requirements? Thatâs where tip number 2 comes in handy.
2. When applying, Keep your emails short.
As I mentioned earlier, the casting team will be dealing with hundreds, sometimes thousands of applications and quite frankly, they havenât got the time to read every detail of an epically long email. Some casting teams will love to see a bit of personality in your emails, others will not be interested. You canât guess what they prefer so make a decision on how you want to represent yoursent and commit to it.
If you can show some personality whilst getting straight to the point, then great. Just make sure you give them all of the information theyâve asked for so they can get their admin done as efficiently as possible. Once theyâve met you in the audition room and they want to see more of you, they might then be more personable with you, but their initial responsibility is to go through hundreds of applications and organise the perfect casting session, that can be stressful.
So tip number 2, make their life a little easier by being sympathetic and keeping your emails short and to the point.
3. Format your CV/Resume
Casting teams often use the casting website âSpotlightâ and they have a very specific way they set out theyâre CV/Resume so having a similar format to your CV is going to be helpful.
Let me give you an example, if a casting director wants to see how many languages you speak, or if you have a specific set of skills like horse riding or skiing, theyâll know exactly which sections to look at to find that information.
If your CV isnât the same format that theyâre used to, theyâre going to spend more time trying to find the information theyâre looking for. Itâs only a small detail but the casting team will appreciate it and, in this case I think itâs important to blend in with a good CV rather than stand out for having a poorly presented CV.
Youâll find a link in the show notes to a CV Template Iâve made for you showing you exactly what your CV / Resume could look like. Iâve also included some email templates to give you an idea what to include in your email when contacting a casting director. Iâve made you a formal email template, an informal one and a really casual one so you can choose the kind of tone you want to use.
4 Have everything prepared for the audition
I was running a casting session last week and a guy walked into the room who looked great, but he was not prepared for the audition at all. He hadnât decided what his audition pieces were, which meant his sheet music wasnât taped together properly and there were no markings on the music for the pianist to follow.
It was a shambolic audition and Instantly an opinion was made by the casting team that if he was this unorganised for an important meeting like a casting, then will he turn up to shows on time, is he reliable? That went against him and needless to say, he didnât get the job.
Casting teams are not only assessing your ability to perform, they look at the way you speak to the assistants when you register, how well prepared you are, how much you know about the project youâre auditioning for. Everything you do is important, there is so much competition and you need to do everything you can to be the perfect fit.
5 Donât expect a reply or feedback from your audition
Itâs hard not to wonder what the casting team thought of your audition. Was it alright, was it what they were looking for, when will I find out if I got the job? Thatâs a very normal thought process, but more often than not youâre not going to hear back from them.
Because theyâre going through thousands of applications every week they just donât have the time to reply to everyone. Some casting directors will do their best while others wonât even bother trying.
My advice would be, apply for the job, send in a self-tape or audition or whatever theyâve asked for, and then forget about it. Completely let it leave your mind because more often than not, theyâre not going to get back to you, and if youâre waiting for an email letting you know how well you did, you could be waiting a very long time.
I think forgetting about it and focussing on the next application is probably the best thing you can do. Then if you get an email offering you a recall, or even better they offer you the job⊠well thatâs an absolute bonus.
The last thing you want to be doing is applying for 1 job and waiting for a response, because you may never hear from them. Apply for a job and then find another opportunity that youâre suitable for and then apply for that one, and keep on going until youâre successful.
I guess the next question is, where can I find these opportunities and that is something Iâll cover in the next episode.
If youâve found any of the tips and advice helpful today please do subscribe, follow and if youâre feeling really generous, a 5 star review would be super helpful.
In the meantime, hereâs an audition song with a bit of character for the ladies. Itâs called âI Cainât Say Noâ from the Musical Oklahoma, and a great contemporary audition song for the guys would be, âLost in the Wildernessâ from Children of Eden.
If youâd like a bit of extra help and support as you work towards becoming a professional performer, then be sure to check out our The Academy
