Hello and welcome to episode 4 of the TheatreKid Podcast, I’m your host Karl Davies and today I have a few tips that’ll help you look and sound more professional in front of a Casting Director.
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If you’re here for the first time, thanks for checking us out. If at any point during this episode you go “Hmm, that’s interesting” then hit the subscribe or follow button. If you’re a regular listener, thanks for coming back, I appreciate you, hopefully these tips will help you in the future.
So let’s 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 it’s important to know that you’re not just talking to one person, there will be a team of people responsible for handling your application, and it’s that ‘team’ of casting professionals you need to impress because it’s 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.
Let’s start from the beginning:
1. Make sure you’re suitable for the role you’re applying for.
Forgive me for getting straight to the point but, if you don’t meet the right Ethnicity, Gender, or Height requirements as set out in the casting brief then don’t apply.
Let’s say the casting brief is for a white female, minimum height 5’8” with blonde hair, and you’re white, 5’6” and brunette but happy to dye your hair blonde. You’re 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 you’re a highly skilled horse rider, then you might want to gamble and apply because there’s something unique about that casting and they might forgive the height difference, but if you don’t fit all of the requirements then it’s probably not worth your time applying.
The reason being, they might get excited by your profile, go through everything and then see you don’t meet all of the criteria, so they’ve used up valuable minutes on a profile that isn’t suitable.
If they have to put you in the no pile because you don’t meet the criteria they’ve asked, then they’re going to remember you as someone who doesn’t read casting briefs properly and they may not want to work with you in the future. You’re giving them extra administrative work because you think you’re nearly suitable for the job.
If you’re not 100% suitable… don’t apply.
But what if you are suitable? What if you match all of the casting requirements? That’s 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 haven’t 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 can’t 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 they’ve asked for so they can get their admin done as efficiently as possible. Once they’ve 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 ‘Spotlight’ and they have a very specific way they set out they’re 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, they’ll know exactly which sections to look at to find that information.
If your CV isn’t the same format that they’re used to, they’re going to spend more time trying to find the information they’re looking for. It’s only a small detail but the casting team will appreciate it and, in this case I think it’s important to blend in with a good CV rather than stand out for having a poorly presented CV.
You’ll find a link in the show notes to a CV Template I’ve made for you showing you exactly what your CV / Resume could look like. I’ve also included some email templates to give you an idea what to include in your email when contacting a casting director. I’ve 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 hadn’t decided what his audition pieces were, which meant his sheet music wasn’t 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 didn’t 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 you’re 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 Don’t expect a reply or feedback from your audition
It’s 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? That’s a very normal thought process, but more often than not you’re not going to hear back from them.
Because they’re going through thousands of applications every week they just don’t have the time to reply to everyone. Some casting directors will do their best while others won’t even bother trying.
My advice would be, apply for the job, send in a self-tape or audition or whatever they’ve asked for, and then forget about it. Completely let it leave your mind because more often than not, they’re not going to get back to you, and if you’re 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 that’s 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 you’re suitable for and then apply for that one, and keep on going until you’re successful.
I guess the next question is, where can I find these opportunities and that is something I’ll cover in the next episode.
If you’ve found any of the tips and advice helpful today please do subscribe, follow and if you’re feeling really generous, a 5 star review would be super helpful.
In the meantime, here’s an audition song with a bit of character for the ladies. It’s called “I Cain’t Say No” from the Musical Oklahoma, and a great contemporary audition song for the guys would be, “Lost in the Wilderness” from Children of Eden.
If you’d 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
