The Audition Willies

[cooterpunch]

Hey There. Cooter Punch here with a report from the front lines.

I had a feature film audition the other day. I did my homework, built a character, researched the director, watched his films and the films referenced in the script, and even prepped by shooting myself reading.

I got laughs in the audition. But then was told I had played it a bit too big. Okay, no problem, I get a mulligan. They always give additional direction and give a mulligan, right?

Nope. I only get a mulligan if I get a callback. No clue when the callback is.

Now I've got the Audition Willies. I can't sleep. My stomach's in knots and my taint is like taffy. Dear, sweet lord, please let the Audition Willies fade away.

Yours Faithfully,
Cooter Punch

PS: Hey CIN, whaddaya do to rid yourself of the Audition Willies? I thought a cookie might make things better, but macadamia nuts sat in baked dough doesn't stand up to the Audition Willies.

[Janes]

The best way is to avoid getting the willies in the first place. Or, at least, diminish them. The way to do that is volume, volume, volume. Audition a lot.

It's like dating. If you don't date much, you put a lot of pressure on that first date. If you meet a lot of people, much less pressure and more likely something will work out.

So, go audition for something else.

- Joe

[Biddle]

I came here for the audition advice, but I'm staying for the dating advice.

Thanks, J.Janes!

COB

[carebear]

Here's a little hint that's worked for me: My audition coach says if they tell you you're playing too big, it often means you just need to lower your volume. Surprisingly, from my personal experiences and watching others in class, she's right. As long as you're connected to the material, playing to the top of your intelligence and using yourself, there really is no such thing as too big. I'm pretty animated and all-sorts-of "too big" in real life. I've always feared being too big on camera--before at the expense of delivering flat performances. The lower volume trick has totally worked for me.
(There is such thing as being overstylized though. I saw it last night in the Goodman show (tickets via CIN courtesy of Urlakis, thank you.) The dude who played Teirisias was not my favorite. It was almost like he was spoofing the role.)
Anyway, I can't think about auditions after they're done. The rejection will ruin me and I will always come out of it second guessing myself--even if I felt good in the moment. So I have made a pact with myself to forget about auditions the moment I leave them. And I'm never right about the ones I get called back for. Every time I've gotten a callback or booked something, I felt good about the audition. But there have been plenty of times I've felt just as good and haven't gotten called back. (And plenty more times that I've felt awful and didn't get a call back) I try my best to treat it like a job, I go in, I do it and I leave and move on to the next thing for the day. That's absolutely necessary for me staying sane in this business. And I no longer tell people when I have auditions, unless its for something really weird or cool. Them asking me, "how'd it go? did you get it?" makes it hard for me to forget about it. Auditions are surprisingly easy to forget about. Usually my brain wants to forget. Forgetting about callbacks are more difficult. At that point, it feels so attainable.
Carrie
=)

[Scol]

Auditions are like lottery tickets. You can't invest too much in any single one of them. As it's been stated, if you do enough of 'em, something will pop. You can't ever know where, when, how or why. You can be brilliant and get nowhere. You can be at your worst and get the gig because you're the right height and age.

And that's why you can't take them personally. Never. EVER. That should be a commandment.

Here's a combo that WILL work if you can pull it off (I almost never can):
Respect + indifference. Meaning: Respect the work. Do your best to take it seriously and put forth an honest, genuine effort. But be indifferent to the results. Don't care. Con yourself into believing that the outcome doesn't matter at all, that you're okay with whatever.

Much easier said than done. But if you can pull that off, you'll be successful.