Get Prepared for your Audition

You have a casting! Bravo!! Our main goals as on-camera talent is to get ourselves into the casting room...and to be asked back again and again.

If we're casting, we're working, plain and simple. The more auditions that we go on, the better we get at them and our booking rates go up.

So what can you do to prepare for (maybe your first-ever!) audition?

Here are 5 things to give you a good start. There are more but you'd be reading for days so let's just start with these, ok?

1. Be off book

If you have sides (a script) to perform in the casting room then memorize it (be off book). Practice it out loud, sing it, record it, whatever you need to do to memorize it. Don't memorize HOW you are going to perform it, memorize the script itself, so that the lines become part of what is a conversation between you and your scene partner or reader. This takes work, but you'll definitely be seen as a professional if you have your lines in your head.

2. Wear the Right Wardrobe

Casting for a role as a nurse? Wear scrubs. Casting for a day in the park? Wear sneakers. Try to gear your wardrobe toward your role without making a costume out of it. So, no nurses uniform from the Halloween store, but some scrubs or even just a scrub top and neutral pants would work.

3. Research the product

If you're casting for an informercial or maybe even the host of a product segment, do your research about the product. You may even find old commercials for the product online that will help you with your speed, tone and inflection for the casting. Don't copy what you find online, just use it as a framework for your time in the casting room.

4. Tell me about yourself

Right out of the gate, you may be asked to give a little bit of personal history or information about yourself. Know your answer and make it good. Don't just spout out a list of things you like to do in your spare time. Make it personal. Maybe you can even share a short anecdote about yourself or your family.

5. Smile and make eye contact

You're in a room with other people. Smile at them when you walk in, make eye contact and say hello. Then, get on your mark. Don't chit chat. Don't shake hands. Smile, hello, get on your mark. Easy breezy!

There you have it. Five great ways to get prepared for your casting and look like you've been doing this for years already. Good luck!