Acting audition tips can broken down into roughly three sections, The Preparation, The Performance and The Result. We will look at all three and hopefully by the end of the article you will be a little more relaxed about the whole process.

The Preparation

Preparation, as all good job interview books will tell you, is essential.

Firstly, any research that you can do into project will help, be it the character you going to play, director, the company or even the writer. It will show a degree of thoroughness and dedication that could be the deciding factor in your favor.
Secondly, make sure you know your monologues, you should have practiced them out loud in front of a variety of people to get a diversity of opinions, if this is not possible you may find it useful to record yourself, this gives you the chance to evaluate your own performance from a slightly different perspective.
Thirdly, know exactly where the interview is, how long it takes to get there and arrive early. This allows you to relax and find some where to warm up

Take water, a snack and a book with you, you could be there some time.

When in the audition environment it is good practice to be nice to everyone, it sounds cheesy, but today’s’ rival actor could be tomorrows hot new director. This leads us nicely onto the topic of the other actors auditioning with you, they will be just as nervous as you, if not more so, and if some appear to be over confident try not to let that intimidate you. A cocky actor does not make a good actor.

The Performance

When you enter the acting audition room be confident, positive and friendly. First impressions count, it may be helpful to remind yourself that these people in front of you are on your side, they actually want you to be great! Its good to be as open and personable as possible because you want the director/casting director to want to work with you personally as well as professionally and any advantage is an advantage.

Try to keep any questions you may have to a minimum, time is precious and too many questions can seem overly ingratiating.

Your initial monologue should not really be more than two minutes long, have others of a similar length prepared, these should show the range and diversity of your talent, and also have a longer monologue prepared, just in case the Director requests it.

The director might ask you to reread after direction, so showing good listening skills is important, its better to ask questions than to assume that you know what the director wants accepting direction also requires flexibility, so avoid sticking too tightly to the same old way you’ve done the reading in the past, be prepared for a degree of unpredictability.

The Result

No article on free casting call tips would be complete without a word or two about rejection.

As you have just read there are many ways that you can improve your chances of getting a role, but most actors will get turned down for most jobs most of the time. You could do all of the above and more and still be overlooked, but you should not take this as a comment on your ability. It just indicates that the casting panel thought that someone else was more suitable to that particular role at that particular time.

If you do get called back for a second free casting call then well done. The same basic rules apply with a few subtle tweaks that will have to wait for another article.

Thanks for taking the time to read my acting audtions tips and I hope it gave you a few things to think about.

Good luck.