How To Audition - In Pursuit of Talent

If you don’t know what the director is looking for you can’t possibly fill the shoes!

It’s true isn’t it?

Now, when I say “know what the director is looking for” I can hear you saying – “You don’t even know what show/part/audition I’m going for – how can you possibly know what my director is looking for?” Well let’s stop right there….

Directors are only looking for one thing: TALENT. Now, if that frightens you stop reading right now, grab your teddy bear and go to bed – well, maybe not bed but stop going to auditions at least because you are wasting your time.

However, “Talent” is such a vague term.

There are two definitions from dictionary.com that I think are interesting:

Talent (noun) 1. a special natural ability or aptitude: Well if you enjoy taking part in performance art then you clearly have an aptitude and if you are reading this article I assume you must have some ‘natural ability’ (I discuss the measurement of ‘ability’ in more detail in my ebook – The Ultimate Audition Guide.

2. a capacity for achievement or success; ability. Interesting! So, if talent is measured by your “capacity to achieve success” then by helping you achieve audition success I am offering to ultimately make you more talented. I should charge more for this course!

From a director’s perspective this is the key definition though. The ‘talent’ you display at an audition is what the director will use to judge whether you could make his production as successful as possible. When I am casting I want to hire the people who I think will make me look good so will cast the people who exhibit the most clear examples of certain key skills.

Some of those skills will be matched to my production such as singing, acting, dancing; or to the role being cast; but there is a long list of skills that I look for as a director that are not related to the actual production but are native to Showbusiness and essential for the production process.

These qualities, such as Confidence, Poise, Vocal Projection, Style, Individuality, Attitude etc., are the first thing that hopeful actors need to brush up on so that they even get ‘noticed’ in the audition room. They are what I like to call a performer’s “Sparkle Rating”

In TV, Theater and Movie auditions many hopeful actors forget the value of their “Sparkle Rating” because they are so absorbed in trying to deliver a ‘character’ performance to wow the casting director.

For reality TV shows, game-shows and the like a performer’s “Sparkle Rating” is probably THE most fundamental attribute being assessed.

You can find out about each of the seven “Sparkle” elements in the Ultimate Audition Guide as I break them down in detail. These are elements of your audition that you can easily improve on to give you maximum points at any audition.

In fact, these are the skills that often separate the people who get the parts from the people who don’t.

Until next time – Break a Leg!

This article is Copyright Tim Waddell 2007 – and can only be reproduced with the below author information intact. For more information visit [http://www.winthepart.com]

How To Audition - In Pursuit of Talent