| |
You are here: Experts > Movies > Actors' Exchange > Actors` Exchange > First time audition
Expert: Peter Messaline
Date: 12/31/2007
Subject: First time audition
Question
Hi Peter,
There is an audition to get into a casting agency and I would really like to have a go and see what happens.
I am new to acting though and have never done it professionally before and I am only 12 years old. I have done one audition before for a local play and I was so nervous that I forgot to show expression and almost forgot my lines.
I also feel that every other actor is more advanced than me and knows what to do. I have no idea what I will be asked to do and what will happen, I don't know if I can cut it.
I also struggle when under pressure, when I could do it really well in private, I mess it up when being watched.
Please try to advise me.
Sincerely
Charlie
Answer
A few things to think about here.
1) First of all, it's not unusual for actors to feel terrified before a performance (including auditions). Everyone deals with it in a different way, but the adrenaline rush is what gives performance its energy. Even if you have to throw up before going on stage!
2) You say "there is an audition", which worries me. Real agencies don't advertise for people to come and audition to get in. If there's enough work for a real agency to survive, actors will be beating down their doors trying to get in.
Real agencies live on the commission they take from actors' fees, so if an actor doesn't work, he's a dead weight for the agency to carry around. These agencies choose carefully from the actors who apply, hoping to find ones who will work a lot.
On the other hand, scam agencies live by the fees they charge people. They don't need to choose good actors, they're happy if you've got money.
3) You worry that you don't know enough, and you remember how you messed up the last audition. Relax. No-one ever knows enough, and everyone messes up auditions. As you go on, you'll learn from your own mess-ups. You'll learn more and mess up less.
I suggest that you put this "casting agency" in the garbage, and begin to build your acting skills, and your actor skills.
You can learn acting skills from all sorts of classes. Look around in your area -- you may find classes at a local school or college, or professional theatre. You can learn from books -- ask your librarian for books around 792 in the Dewey Decimal system, about acting as a career.
Actor skills are harder, and we all go on learning those. Actors have to get used to being rejected -- a successful actor auditions perhaps ten or twenty times for each job he gets. Actors learn to surround themselves with people who know about things -- their agent, their accountant, directors who like them, other actors to share information with.
Acting is a career choice, and you're starting early enough to stand a good chance of success. If you decide that acting is not for you, then learning about acting will be useful as you search for the career that will be good for you.
Add to this Answer
Ask a Question
|
|
