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AUDITIONS Audition Waiting Room: Remember Why You're There - To Get The Job October 22, 2013  By Hugh KlitzkeCasting Director and Coach I've seen waiting rooms as lively as cocktail hours and others as silent as libraries. Some welcoming and warm as pre-school. Others loud and uncomfortable as abattoirs. And sometimes as aromatic. Intensely social and positive. Or with incredibly competitive under and overtones. It's engaging and distancing all at once. A pretty amazing place, actually. I think someone could easily write a dissertation on the dynamic that constantly ripples through the environment. But despite all that - It's really important to remember why you are there. This is the job. The job is the audition. Getting the part is almost incidental. WHILE YOU WAIT ... Auditioning is the job, and one of the hardest parts of the job is to wait and do the right things for yourself as you get ready to record. If that's to sit alone and read - do. If that's to make small talk with your neighbor - okay. Just don't get in their way. Be mindful that everyone waiting isn't necessarily competition. They may be there for other things as well. No need to stare and wonder what they are doing or thinking or what have you. But do not allow the unusual energy of such a space take you away from the important work you need to do. And remember there's never anything wrong with saying: "Hey! Great to see you! I really need to take a few minutes alone with this. I'll text you when I'm done and we'll grab a coffee on our way out!" EITQUETTE MATTERS It is astoundingly déclassé to speak poorly or too effusively about the work you get where anyone can overhear. In other words: Don't bitch about the job you just came from that ran overtime and that the director was an idiot and the air conditioning was broken and they started late when you just got paid to do the kind of work that everyone in the room would kill to be a part of. On the other hand: don't speak so loudly about how wonderful the work is and how well it's going for you and how blessed you feel to be a part of the business, when the guy next to you is scratching to get the minimum earnings together to cover his kid's insurance that month. Speak well and badly about the work in the right way, at the right times. Unless you really don't care. But I've never known anybody who "didn't care" and didn't have it come back to hurt them. ---------------------- ABOUT HUGH Hugh P. Klitzke is studio manager and voice casting director for a leading bi-coastal talent agency, who has directed more than 85,000 auditions for all voice over genres. Based in New York City, he is also a coach specializing in teaching voice over for actors, and writes VO4TA, a twice-weekly blog with helpful voice acting tips. He is also teaching commercial copy classes on four Saturdays - Oct. 26 and Nov 2, 9 and 16, 2013 at the Actors Connection in NYC (please email Hugh for details). Email: VO4TA@voiceoverfortheactor.com Web: www.VoiceOverForTheActor.com Blog: http://voiceoverfortheactor.com/hpks_blog Subscribe to blog: http://voiceoverfortheactor.com/subscribe_for_free |
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