Commercial Auditions are weird. SO weird.
I've only been to a few, so I'm no expert, (and trust me there are experts) but I thought I would dedicate a post to them because they really are in a class completely of their own!
Let's start with the Slate; (audition speak for saying your name to the camera.) Oh but wait, most people say their name super fast, and with no energy, because we're used to saying it all the bloody time. So make sure you say it slowly enough to understand and like its the most frickin exciting thing in the world! So natural right?
The dancing; I seem to have to dance in a shocking amount of Commercial Auditions, probably like 90% of the ones I've been too. And it's not just me, I hear others have to do this too. The dancing is often preceded or followed by: making faces to the camera, punching the air, showing your armpits, fake-eating something, or hair tossing. Just kidding I've never actually had to hair toss in an audition. (truth: it's a secret dream of mine!)
Sometimes they ask you seemingly normal questions like, "what do you do for fun?" or "Tell us about yourself!" But somehow, after dancing or whatever, it's easy to forget how to speak or think of anything interesting to say. I believe this is a skill that comes with practise, or prepared topics which are guaranteed be awesome. I'm pretty sure thats what most of my teachers told me to do. (note to self, think of some of these things...)
The Selling of Things: It's probably non-union, therefore 'Project X', so you usually have absolutely no idea what you're selling. Take an educated guess.
I know actors who LOVE Commercial auctions, and one's that HATE them. Here is my opinion:
They can be fun, if you make them fun. Yes we might look stupid passing a fake laptop around or smiling while we eat soup all sexy, but really it could probably be so much worse.
If you book one, awesome, the money is usually pretty good and building an acting career is slow and expensive. And if you don't, hey you got to be a little silly for 15 minutes out of your day!
Theres lots to be argued about, regarding how you feel about selling things, and doing it non-union and why etc. and those are questions you can ask yourself. But trust me, the whole audition process is so much easier if you don't judge it.
I also think life is easier if you don't judge it.
If you're looking for tips and skills on Commercial Auditions there are a couple great workshops here in Vancouver. One taught by Henry Mah and Linda Darlow, which I did about a year ago and was really helpful. You can find out more info about their workshops here. And there's also one at The Actors Foundry taught by Jeb Beach, which I've heard great things about, more info here. If you're going out a lot and not booking or not getting called back, try one. It couldn't hurt to know a little bit more about how the process works, could it?
In the mean time, think happy thoughts before you slate your name!
You can choose to have an awesome day and an awesome audition, if you want that.
Have a great Monday!
PS: Any blog ideas or topics you'd like me to cover? Send them my way! jane@janehancock.ca
xoxo
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