Who’s Really On Your Side?
In order to get a job, one has to first get an interview. We all know how it is: you’re escorted into an office where you sit across a table from a manager, supervisor, or whoever has the authority to decide who gets hired and they ask you a bunch of questions to figure out if you are just the person they’ve been looking for to fill this position. Sometimes, it’s two or more people on the other side of that table firing questions at you. But, there you are sitting there trying to appear calm, cool, and collected while answering these questions in such a way that you come across as a competent professional instead of a certifiable idiot. (Yes, I know a little about how this feels) It can be somewhat intimidating, especially if it’s a small office. And you can feel like they are trying to find a reason not to hire you.
For actors, this interview process is called an audition. And while it’s a bit different, the goal is the same: to get a job. Here, you could also be escorted into an office, but it’s more likely to be a theater or a large room where rehearsals are usually done. Trust me, this does not make it any less intimidating. In fact, it may make you more nervous because you will be expected to perform within a minute of walking in that space.
What happens when you arrive in that room depends a great deal on you, the actor. But the person or people on the other side of the table can affect the outcome of the audition, to a point. You see, they have the choice of interacting with you like you are a normal human by being cordial, friendly, and professional to make you feel at ease during this nerve-wracking process. Or they can be sitting there with “poker-faces” (never smiling once), making you feel as if you have no business being there, and can sometimes be downright rude, thus making it more difficult for you to relax and be at your best.
With this being stated, it may come as a surprise to you that most auditors want you to succeed. Let’s think about this for a moment. The directors, casting directors, and producers that are sitting behind that table watching you audition are secretly hoping that you are “the one” because this way, they can cast this part and be done with it and go on to focus on other production tasks. This thinking starts the moment you walk into the room: “Hey, maybe this is the guy.” “Well, she looks like the actress I had in mind.” “Oh God, I’m so tired of seeing actors, I really hope this next one reads well.” Of course, there are reasons you won’t get the part and many of these reasons will be beyond your control, but that’s the subject of another blog post.
But here’s what I want to leave you with: they’re more on your side than you think. With this in mind, you must go into every audition as if you already have the part. Act as if YOU know the part is yours and you’re just waiting on them to catch up to your thinking. In spite of whatever kind of attitude or vibes they are giving you, you must control your own audition by being your best. Yes, I know it’s difficult. But you MUST learn to tune them out and do what you came there to do, assuming you’ve prepared yourself (which is yet another forthcoming blog post). If you do this, you just might get them to see that YOU are just what they’re looking for.
Because, they’re really on your side.