 |
How to Prepare for an Audition
What's the best thing you can do for your audition?
Live your life.
That's right.
Live your life.
If your audition is on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 PM, you make sure that you have four other appointments before or after.
These appointments don't have to be other auditions (which, of course, is nice, if they are). They can be meetings with
friends, phone calls to your agent, gift-shopping for Mom's birthday, or your dance class. Either way, the point is, you
must fill up your life every day, but especially on the days when you have an audition. If the audition is 9:00 AM, then
make sure you have just met with your best encouraging friend (and we all need those) at Starbucks at 7:30.
The worse thing you can do on the day you have your audition is to show your sweat to those for whom you are auditioning - or
to be overly-attached to the audition. You have to walk in there confident (but not cocky), carefree (but not careless), and
more than anything, being as pleasant as possible (but not sickeningly so).
Everything else is secondary. Uh, huh: secondary.
Knowing more about the character for whom you're auditioning is secondary. Who's directing the movie, TV-show, play is
secondary. How much the role pays is secondary. Secondary, defined here as too many details.
Stop worrying about the details, be professional, and know your stuff, as you do for every audition. The latter is a given,
not even an option. One audition - and this audition in particular - may be more important than another. But you cannot and
you should never let anyone know that.
Just go to the audition prepared. Prepared with a full life, with something to talk about beyond your career.
In fact, nothing prepares you more for an audition or for any character you are to play than your life - for it is from
actual living your life (and not waiting for it to begin after your career) that you gain the emotional and psychological
experience that you can then apply to not only the creative end of acting, but also to the professional end.
Now, go knock 'em dead.
Herbie J Pilato is an Actor, Writer, Producer, and Singer. The author of several books on pop-culture
(including Bewitched Forever and The Kung Fu Book of Caine), Herbie J has appeared on or helped to produce
hundreds of radio and TV shows, including E! True Hollywood Stories on Bewitched and David Carradine,
A&E Biographies of Elizabeth Montgomery and Lee Majors, The Learning Channel's Behind the Fame specials
on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, LA Law and Hill Street Blues, the
Sci-Fi Channel's short-lived but critically-acclaimed Sciography series, as well as several segments of
Entertainment Tonight and the special DVD release of Kung Fu: The Complete First Season. As an actor,
Herbie J has appeared on everything from Highway to Heaven to The Golden Girls to The Bold and the Beautiful.
And he's directed mainstage productions of A Phoenix Too Frequent, Leonard Malfi's Birdbath, and
Little Shop of Horrors. Herbie J will soon be seen as a Cultural Commentator for Bravo's upcoming
five-part mini-series, The 100 Greatest TV Characters of All-Time (on which he also served as Producer).
Herbie J is presently working as a Consultant on Nora Ephron's Bewitched feature film
(starring the Oscar-winning Nicole Kidman, and Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, and Michael Caine),
while a special ANNIVERSARY EDITION of his book, BEWITCHED FOREVER, is
available now. To place your order for this book, or any other of Herbie J's books, please email
hjpilato@aol.com or visit
Herbie J's Blog.
<Prev | Next>
Home | Guides Menu
|
|
In Association with
Actingbiz.com
Want to be in a movie or on TV? Become a movie extra.
It's the easiest way to break into show business.
Moviex.com
|
|
