an actor's audition...your way in! PART 1...

yes, for those of you who remember, lana turner got discovered in her tight, white sweater at the infamous schwab's drug store...and yes, mandy moore got discovered at the age of 14 when she was singing and a FEDEX man delivered a package to her house...he knew a music exec., and the rest is history...and yes, there are many more stories like that...but considering how many people have "made it" in the business of acting and how their claim to fame is many years and a lot of hard work, i wouldn't hold my breath for another FEDEX man to come along...the way in is through auditions...

so how does a child actor or any actor for that matter, master the art of auditioning? well, if you child is young, chances are that if they are interested in show business, that they are outgoing and energetic, like people and people like them...so that being the case, they just have to be themselves...just very real...full of life and energy...and they'll be fine...
problem is, as they grow older, they become more self-conscious and that's when acting classes are now needed...

remember, by far, imho, the most important skill and actor can have is to master the art of auditioning...and believe me, it IS an art...casting director's want to hire people, not robots...not those that suck up and try to win their way into a role...it just doesn't work...and cd's are VERY perceptive...that's part of their job...they are in the business of people...so learn what works and what turns them off...

okay, back to acting classes...if you or your child actor are new at this business, then it would benefit them greatly to take a "how to audition" class...this will teach you the basic etiquette (yes, there is etiquette involved!) and how to behave at an audition, and the different auditions that you will go on and what to expect...

these classes are normally run by veteran actors who have "been there and done that"...they are there to pass their wisdom on to you and your child actor to learn from and hopefully stop you from making many of the mistakes that they themselves have made...

after this class, you may want to investigate in your area if there are any cold reading classes...some say this is not important, but let me give you one personal experience that happened within the last month...

my daughter had an audition...she got a callback...then we got a call one morning from her agent, that the producers wanted to see her again, but this time for the other character...and in about 1 hour! she got ready, i downloaded the sides (audition pages) and we took off out the door to get there in time...
she couldn't study the sides in the car b/c that makes her ill, so she figured she'd take 1 minute when we arrived to look it over...she did and it literally was one minute, she walked in the door and the casting associate said, "hurry, they're waiting for you"...so that was that...basically, a true cold reading...although when you get a script to cold read, normally they give you about 10 minutes to look it over...so honestly, this was a frigid reading! LOL

it's an area that your child actor needs to be equipped to handle...tomorrow, i'll continue with auditions and discuss other types of classes that are very beneficial to you and your actor - to help equip him to handle the rigors of the business of acting...

have a wonderfully, creative day...write a poem...sing a song...exercise your inner brillance...
hugs and out~