About Arlene Schulman Expertise As a professional director, dramaturg, acting coach and actor for over 25 years in the NYC/NJ area, I can help with questions on acting technique, character development, audition and rehearsal techniques, dealing with directors and stage managers, what directors are looking for, and other aspects of the acting and directing professions.
Experience A professional director, dramaturg, acting coach and actor for over 25 years in the NYC/NJ area, I have directed in professional, university and amateur theatre and have directed and acted in dramas, comedies, musicals, Shakespeare as well as collaborating closely with playwrights in the development of original plays and musicals.
Organizations SSDC associate member Advisory Board - Isle of Shoals Productions Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America associate member Shakespeare Association of America The Shakespesare Institute -
MA "Shakespeare & Theatre" candidate, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Question I really want to audition for this TV show that I love. I sent them an email asking about the information. I haven't gotten an email back. So I was thinking that maybe they don't want me to audition, because the email didn't come from an agency. Do I need an agent to audition for a TV show? Will they just think I'm some kid who wants to try out, and doesn't take it seriously. I really want this part on the show. But it's been about 4 days. And I haven't heard anything!
Answer Hi Kim,
Professional tv productions generally do not accept unsolicited email requests about auditioning. If they did, they would be innundated by hundreds of thousands of emails.
There are proper channels by which a professional actor submits to audition. A show will post a casting notice, usually through their casting agencies. Actor's agents then submit their clients and auditions are scheduled. Very occasionally they may hold open auditions that don't require agent submissions, but even then, an actor submits her headshot and resume and waits to be contacted.
Even professional actors are not invited to audition for every show they submit for. I recently held auditions for a concert reading I was doing. We posted a casting notice and recieved over a hundred submissions. We could only see about 40 in the time we had, so we went through the submissions and contacted those we thought were the closest to what we were looking for. That's the way it's done in theatre. It's similar in tv and other media.
Very honestly, if you simply ask to audition for a show that has not even posted an audition notice, you stand no chance of being contacted. Shows don't just audition people randomly. They have specific roles they want to fill and hold auditions to fill them. Period. It's not that they would think you don't take it seriously. It's that they can tell by the way you contacted them (through an unsolicited email, not submitting to a posted audition or through an agent) that you are not a professional, and that's not what they are looking for.
