As I was watching the winter Olympics, it struck me how athletes (and their coaches) have spent a lot of time and effort figuring out how to increase the odds that those few moments on the ice (or on the snow) are the best they could possibly hope for.  The Olympians routinely bring sports psychologists with them to the games.  Athletes have performance down to a science. 

What can't actors use some of the same techniques as athletes?

I recently read an article in The New York Times ("Olympians Use Imagery as Mental Training") about how athletes use imagery as part of their preparation for competition.  They visualize their best performance. 

Actors often spend a lot of time going over their auditions AFTER they've happened.  They will endlessly repeat in their minds (or their mirrors) how the audition went, rejoicing over what felt good and crying over what felt bad.  Why can't actors go over their auditions in their minds BEFORE they happen, not after, and visualize the perfect audition?  Won't that increase the odds of having a great audition?

How can this work in practice?  You don't know who will be in the room, what they will say, how they will read the lines, what the room will look like, etc.   How can you visualize the perfect audition when there are so many variables you don't know about.

Well, you can break the audition down into different sections and imagine different possibilities.  What if the CD is super friendly?  What if she's abrupt and rude?  What if the room is warm?  What if it's cold?  What if there's nowhere to sit in the waiting room.  What if all there are are overstuffed chairs and sofas?  What if the CD asks "Do you have any questions?"  What will you say?  What will you do if they call you in as soon as you get there?  Or what if you have to wait an hour?

The more you imagine different possibilities and how you successfully handle them, the more prepared you will be for any another unforeseen option that might happen.  If you're not happy with how you visualized walking into the room, do it again.  The magic of visualization is that you have as many chances as you want!

What you shouldn't do as part of this visualization process is practice saying the lines how you think they should be said.  Visualization should be done in your head.  Of course, there is time for rehearsal where you actually say the words out loud.  But this is something different and more internal.  It about how you psychologically can handle the audition process in the best way possible so that you can do your best work.

That's Latin for "in the middle of things." 

Student screenwriters are often taught to take scenes they've written and chop off the first part and the last part.  What's left is the middle, the heart of the scene, and the only part of the scene that remains in the screenplay.

What this means to actors is that you must start every scene as if you were "in the middle of things."  Know what happens before the scene takes place that brings you physically and emotionally to the moment of starting the scene.   Most of the time it won't be laid out in the script so it's up to you to decide.  Have fun with it.  Let your imagination run wild creating the circumstances that happened before the scene.  It's your secret.  You don't have to tell the casting director, director, or writer what you've thought up.  All that matters is that you've created a "before" which is compelling for you and which you can connect with personally.  It should get you from 0 to 60, so that you can start the scene at 60. Nobody wants to watch you warm up when you start the scene.  You need to already be THERE!  And your BEFORE will help get you there.

And life doesn't end with the last line of the scene either.  Something always comes after.  What is that? What does your character expect will happen after the scene and how does that color you in the scene?  Again, it's your secret.  But make it something that you can connect with in a compelling way. 

The "before" and "after" can really bring dimension to the scene and bring it to life.

Now that we're almost a month into pilot season, I thought I'd share some thought about what happens during this very crazy time of year.

For casting directors, pilot season often means twice, if not three times, their regular work load.  They may still be casting their current shows which haven't yet gone into hiatus.  At the same time they're casting pilots which they hope will mean work for them next season, especially if their current shows are going off the air or may be one of the many shows cancelled every year.  It often means working with new producers for the first time, trying to figure out what they want and how best to please them.  It means seeing a lot of actors per role to find that needle in the haystack that producers hope to find.  It means scrambling for those stars and name actors that everyone wants to grab this time of year. 

For producers, it's a chance at putting together their first big hit (or their next big hit) that'll pay their bills and put their kids through college.  Sometimes they have a strong idea of the kind of actor they're looking for for each role.  Sometime they change their minds mid-way through the process.  Other times, they just don't know and believe they'll know it when they see it.  Producers want that magical cast that'll have just the right chemistry to make their series come to life and become a hit.  It's the casting director's job to find those actors no matter how long it takes and how many actors they have to see.

For agents and managers, it means becoming familiar with and keeping track of many new projects, reading scripts, calling and emailing pitches, and staying on top of where casting is heading.  There are many more breakdowns this time of year and casting goes on for longer.  Casting often starts with the lead characters and then works its way down to the supporting regular characters and then to the guest stars and co-stars.  The whole process can take days, weeks, or months.  Every pilot is different.  It's the rep's job to keep track of what has been cast and what's about to be cast and time their pitches for the right time. 

For actors, it means if they're cast on a pilot that gets picked up, that airs, that finds an audience, that becomes a hit...they'll become rich and famous.  At the very least, getting cast in a series regular role on a pilot can put an actor on the map or keep him/her on the map.

For everyone, it means high stakes, a lot of pressure, a potential jackpot, and a lot of hard work.

So what can the actor, especially the unknown actor, do during this time of year?

First, be aware that everyone is working very hard during pilot season, including your reps.  We are spending long hours going over and over the breakdowns and deciding who has the qualities they're looking for and who to pitch.  We're making many more phone calls and sending many more emails this time of year.  If we're lucky, we're also spending time reading over series regular contracts which can be 20 pages or longer.  This is a very stressful time of year and everyone is on edge.  If a question about your photos, reel, or strategy can wait a few months, you'll get a lot more of your rep's attention then. 

Even though your rep is doing what he or she can to give you a chance at that jackpot, the chances of an unknown actor booking a pilot are very small.  Still, hope springs eternal and reps keep trying and often succeed at getting unknown actors seen for series regular roles.  However, it's a daunting task since every rep is out there is also trying to get their clients in.

The main advice I can give is:  know what you got and know how to sell it.  Hopefully, you've already been doing that.  If not, it's never too late.  If you're hotter than hell, show us how hot you are.  If you feel you can play a bad guy that can kill someone, have that scary look that'll make people fear for their lives.  If the way you look and act is different, show off your uniqueness in your own special way.  Maybe some interesting facial hair, a wild hairstyle, or glasses would help you stand out.  If you're too cool for school, have a super hip look with hairstyle and clothes to match.  If you've got a great bod, make sure you're in tip top shape and show it off.  If your incredible acting is your selling point, have the credits, reviews, and awards to show it.  If you don't have them, get them.  At the very least, be prepared to be so great at your auditions that the fact that you're unknown doesn't matter.  If you're funny, be showcasing that and perfecting it at the comedy and improv clubs. 

Know what kinds of actors are being cast on TV and be aware of where you can best fit in.  If they're looking for it, make sure everyone knows you got it and are proud of it!

The importance of the look and type can't be overestimated.  Often if you've got that perfect something for what they're casting (and, of course, if there aren't that many other actors with better credits who also have that perfect something), they'll call you in and pray you can act.  However, I do firmly believe that it's your acting and auditioning skill that will win out in the end and provide for a long-lasting career.  The look comes first, the acting second. 

Some of the comments I've received from casting when discussing actors have been:

Not hot enough!
She just doesn't have that MTV look...
They want someone who looks really charactery.
They want a name.
They want to go ethnic.
He's not ethnic enough!
Not hot enough!
We're looking to go into the stratosphere on this one (meaning they want a big star).
Must have strong comedy credits.
She looks too much like another series regular...
We're making an offer to a big star.  Who have you got?
I love love LOVE her but she's just not right for this. 
NOT HOT ENOUGH!

And as much as you try to convince them that your client can do it, if their bosses, the producers and the network, want someone drop dead gorgeous, it's difficult for casting directors to waste their bosses' time bringing them anything but....unless, of course, it's an actor with a NAME!

When you get a pilot audition, show them what you got instead of what you think they want.  Show them that what you got can bring their show to life.  Show them that you know the character better than they do, because you ARE the character. 

Then it's out of your hands. 

IF they decide you're not what they're looking for this time but they really liked what you did, they WILL remember you and bring you in when you are spot-on-the-money right.  CDs remember the actors who, during pilot season, impressed them with their confidence, talent, and personality and they will bring them back during episodic season.

If you get called back to producers, and then test for the studio, and then for the network, and then get the job, congratulations!

Either way, enjoy the ride!

This is something my acting teacher in New York (Suzanne Shepherd) used to say often.  What does it mean?  It means that your performance isn't about the words, it's about the human experience that you're having right there in the room and in front of the camera. 

Sure, you should know the words and say them so they can be understood.  But CDs, producers, and audiences are looking for more.  If it were only about the words they'd just have Siri do the role for a lot cheaper. 

Don't act the words.  For example, don't say the line, "I'm worried," showing that you're worried.  Find what's really happening.  Discover what you want from the other character and how you're using the lines to get that.  People generally don't say exactly what they're thinking or feeling.  There's something else going on.  Sometimes even the opposite of what you're saying. 

Have an experience...and let the words ride on that experience!

So you got a callback.  Congratulations!  But for many actors, getting a callback is a mixed blessing.  Yes, it's great to know you "made the cut."  But many actors start feeling more pressure. 

At the first audition, it's easy to not want it so badly.  The carrot at the end of the stick seems very far away.  You can go in, relax, and have fun. 

But as you get closer to booking the job, the stakes seem higher, the pressure mounts.  You walk into the waiting room and you see your competition, sometimes even recognize their faces or their names on the sign-in list.  Then you walk into the audition room and instead being with one casting director (who you might have already have a great relationship with), you're in a room that may be filled with producers, writers, and god knows who else.  The tendency is to allow the callback to become a more stressful and difficult situation.  But the opposite has to be true.  The closer you get to booking the job it has to appear that it's easier and easier for you.  That way they know that when you eventually do get the job it'll be a piece of cake...or as easy as pie!

How do you achieve this enlightened state of mind?

Know that a callback means they like you, they really really like you.  Don't think the casting director made a mistake or is calling you back in the hopes that you can pull it together with a bit more time.  He thinks you have a great chance of booking the job and wants to show you off to his bosses (the producers and director).  If that isn't a great vote of confidence, I don't know what is! 

You've had a bit more time with the material, so you know it better and perhaps even got a bit of helpful direction from the CD.  However, resist the temptation to drastically change your performance at the callback.  The casting director will be very miffed if she has to explain to the producers (after you've left the room) that what they saw was nothing like what she saw at the pre-read.  Wear what you wore to the first audition, or something very much like it, unless you got a note to wear something different.

You have much less competition once you've reached the callback.  Maybe you've now got a 1 in 6 chance of getting the job rather than a 1 in 30!  Look at your competition and, instead of feeling intimidated, decide who's going to be second choice to your first choice.  Nobody has what you have.  Nobody can play the role the way that you're going to play it.  Play the audition as if the role is already yours.

And don't forget that even though you've now had more time with the material it has to seem like it's the very first time you're saying those words.  Don't let it get stale.  Use the excitement of the callback situation to keep it fresh.  

I talk about ways to approach audition scenes and suggest work you can do when preparing.  But the most important thing to remember is that you have to throw away all that work when you walk into the audition room.  You aren't there to work; you are there to play.

This isn't as easy as it seems.  After doing all that work, you want to be acknowledged for all the work you have done.  You want the casting director to see all your beats and transitions and choices.  As crazy as it sounds, the best way to show off your work is by not showing it!  You want to fool them into thinking you are so much like the character that you just have it naturally without having to work it.  Just like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers made their dances look easy as if they didn't even have to rehearse them, you need to make your audition look just as easy. 

How do you do that?  Have confidence and trust that after you've done the work you can throw it away and it'll stay with you.  Whatever was good work will stay with you.  Whatever wasn't good, well, good riddance. Strive for simplicity.  Listen and react.  Don't push.  Relax, have fun and enjoy not knowing what comes next. 

Do the work, then throw it away.

In real life, things are always changing.  The earth is always revolving, we are getting older by the minute...things never stay the same.  Yet many actors like to stay in the same place for an entire audition scene.  This is understandable.  You find a place that feels comfortable and you want to stay there.  But this makes for boring, predictable auditions.  Instead, get out of that comfort zone.  Don't keep going back to the same place.  Keep going somewhere new!

Whenever I hear an actor say a line the same way he said a previous line, I know he's holding on to a previous moment and not truly in the present moment.  True, it's more difficult at an audition when you really don't have another actor helping you.  You have a casting director who may or many not give you much.  And they may themselves be stuck in a moment, the moment of "Where's my lunch???"  That's why you have to push yourself to go to different places. 

React spontenously to what you hear, what you see, or even what you yourself are saying, in order to push yourself to a different place.  And it doesn't even have to be what's happening in the scene.  You could react to something in the environment of the office you're in, the way the clothes feel, a taste in your mouth.  Any stimulus that comes to you is a gift -- react to it, see where it takes you, rather than shutting it out in favor of where you THINK you should be.

Keep taking the risk of being in the moment and not knowing what's coming next. Don't tread water throught the entire scene.  Keep getting back on the diving board and diving in, not knowing what's below you.

I say this often to actors who play a whole scene with one color.  For example, the actor is angry throughout the scene.  The problem with this is that if you play the entire scene angry and the producers who watch the tape actually have decided the character should be kind, you've probably lost your chance at booking the job. 

By putting all your money on one color, you just lost it all. 

Instead, if you identify a major turning point in the scene where your character reacts to something just said or has a realization, and this causes a major shift in your character, perhaps he goes from angry to kind, you've just increased your chances of hitting the color they want. 

You've doubled your chances.

If the director is in the room, she might direct you to that color.  Or if the casting director knows exactly what the director wants, he might direct you to the right color.  But the casting director isn't always sure what they want.  Or the producers may change their mind after they've told the casting director what they want. 

But when you go on tape, you often get just one chance.  Why not increase your odds by showing them you can do more than one emotion, color, or level?

How do you do this realistically, organically, and naturally?  Find at least one moment of transition where you shift to another color or level because of what the other character says or because you've just realized something.  Even if they hate the way you do the first half of the scene, if they see what they need in the second half of the scene, at least they know you can do it and they can easily get that out of you on the set.  I encourage actors to find such a moment about halfway through the scene.  It usually occurs after the other character has said a line.  And it often occurs where the writer has indicated some kind of action in the script.  (For example, "STAN stares at BLANCHE, then turns away.")  And you can take your time with the transition moment where your only job is going from color 1 to color 2.

Most audition scenes need only one major transition point.  Even the shortest scenes could use one.  The exception would be a scene with only one line, but even there you can start the scene with one intention and as a result of the cue line, shift to another intention.  Don't go crazy and try putting transitions everywhere.  More isn't always better!

If you find transitions in your audition scenes, your work will be more interesting.  It'll be more surprising and unpredictable, which is what good acting is.

Here's something I see often.  An actor has an audition scene where he's talking to 2 different characters.  He uses the reader (or casting director) as one of the characters and puts the other character out in space.  I don't think it's a great idea to put characters out in space.  I'll explain.

It's not your job to try to get the casting director to see all the other characters.  They know the scene, they've probably read it many times already.  Your job is to show the casting director that you are the character and the best way to do that is by looking at them and establishing a connection with them.  So put all the characters in the eyes of the casting director. 

Now you can definitely suggest different relationships with the different characters through your body language, intentions, thoughts, etc.  But you don't need to look away to do that. 

Even if you think it helps you be in the scene by putting characters all over the room, what little you gain by doing that, you more than lose because you've lost the connection with the casting director.

If you absolutely must look away for some reason, make it 10 or 20 percent of the scene, not 80 or 90 percent! 

You may feel the casting director isn't giving you much.  But they are giving you something, sometimes they're giving you a lot.  So take the gift of their presence and use it.  Play with the casting director instead of the imaginary characters that exist only in your mind!

That is the question, isn't it?  Here are my thoughts on memorizing for an audition. 

You may think you have the material memorized and can do it without holding the sides in your hand.  But here's why I don't think that's a great idea. 

1. Casting directors have had too many bad experiences with actors who thought they knew their lines and then forgot them.  It makes casting directors uncomfortable seeing an actor in panic mode.  And it wastes their time when the actor has to scramble to find the sides in his briefcase and start the scene over again.  So when an actor starts the scene without the sides, the casting director already is worried.  A worried audience is not a great audience.
2. Even though you think you know the lines cold, the stress of an audition is often enough to throw you.
3. If you're given an adjustment or direction, you want to be able to fully commit to it.  Throwing something new at an actor can cause them to either forget their lines or not fully commit to the new direction for fear of forgetting their lines.
4. You don't want to seem like a desperate actor who has nothing better to do than spend the evening before memorizing lines.  You want to seem like a busy actor who was doing a staged reading the night before, has three auditions today, and couldn't POSSIBLY memorize them all!  You still want to impress them with your preparation.  Holding the script allows you to give them the illusion that you are perfect for the role and it just comes naturally to you without much effort.  If it's memorized, they know you've worked hard to get there.
   

Instead of feeling like the script is the enemy, learn to love your script and use it.  I'll write up some tips for doing that some other time.  Ideally, you want to be so well-prepared that you probably are memorized, but still have the sides in your hand and are able to use the page, if necessary, to find your next line.

Yes, I agree that being off book can often free some actors to do their best work.  And, if you're at a 2nd callback or testing for a pilot, yes, you should be memorized.  If this is the case, here are some tips for fool-proof memorization.

1. Learn your lines by hearing rather than reading off your script.  Record all the lines of the scene in a monotone on an ipod or other device and then play it back over and over saying your lines over your own voice.  Eventually, you can stop the recording right before your line and say the line.  Then you can continue playing back to make sure you got the line right and continue on.  The advantage of this is that you can go over your lines in the car on your way to the audition.  This is much safer than looking down at the sides as you're driving!
2. If you'd still rather memorize by reading, trying memorizing from the end of the scene back to the beginning.  First memorize your final speech.  Then when you have that down, back up to the speech before that and continue to the end of the scene.  When you have those speeches down, back it up one speech earlier.  Keep working your way back to the beginning of the scene.  The reason this works is that when you start memorizing at the beginning of the scene you usually know the beginning best and your confidence gets worse and worse as you get to the end.  Psychologically, it does not put you in a great frame of mind to worry more and more as your audition progresses.  By memorizing from the end first, you know the end the best.  Therefore, you will gain confidence as the audition progresses.  This is a much better state to be in!
3. Finally, do the scene in 10 different locations.  If you've only been doing it in your bedroom, you'll end up leaving the audition room wondering why it wasn't as good as it was in your bedroom.  Do it in the post office, the grocery store, washing the dishes, standing on the corner, etc.  If you can get through your lines in 10 places, taking in the environment and activity around you (and the strange looks you're getting from people), then the 11th place (the audition room) will just be the 11th place you've done it.  Being in the audition room won't seem so strange and won't have the power to throw you off your game.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments!