Speaker 1: Auditions can be tough to come by. You want to do well to have a better chance at booking the job as well as leave a favorable impression so that you will get more auditions with the casting director. Unlike theatrical auditions where you know you will normally be reading a script with a reader or sometimes another actor, there are many types of commercial auditions. Hi my name is Carolyn Barry and I am your commercial master teacher. Today we will address commercial audition preparation. Who better to give you insights and tips on doing your best auditions than our top Los Angeles casting directors. Meet Terry Burland, Danielle Eskenazi, Jeff Gerard and

Speaker 2: Francine Selkirk. There are activity spots, people loading things, walking, climbing, jumping, singing spots, dialogue spots, sometimes it's a dialogue scene, sometimes you're a host or a spokesperson, improvisational scenes, sometimes four people going on a car trip. MOS spots, without any sound, you

Speaker 3: know, that's basically the husband and the wife walking on the beach hand in hand having fun, the volleyball players, you know, all that stuff that everyone says I could do that, you know. Dialogue driven spots, very strong. PSA spots which are different than monologue dialogue driven spots. Comedy, drama and

Speaker 4: non-scripted. Lots of dialogue, there's the hosting, there's the beer auditions when there's a bunch of wacky guys in a room and, you know, trying to be funny. There's the driving auditions, there's mothers and children auditions, there's so many different types of auditions.

Speaker 5: When you're preparing to come in for an audition, definitely look at what the wardrobe is and follow, dress towards that wardrobe. It is very important. Most

Speaker 2: of the time you are casual, you are in your own style, but sometimes, you know, you come in as a genie or you come in as a clown or you come in as a nurse, you know, a hint of that would be sweet. I think the advertising agencies, you know, can't always imagine they need your help. I always say try to stick as close to

Speaker 4: what the character is as possible because the clients sometimes don't have that vision. So if it's, we're looking for a nurse, don't wear black. Wear, if you don't have a nurse's outfit, just wear white and at least they could envision it a little bit. And same thing goes to, you know, every other kind of, a doctor, a lawyer, wear a suit, you know, just try to come as close to it as possible. We usually tell you what wardrobe to wear. We tell your agents and your agents, you know, will tell you, but you should just come as close to the character as

Speaker 3: possible. I always say keep an audition outfit in your car because everyone has a job, right? So have that great shirt or blouse in the car and a nice pair of

Speaker 2: jeans. Boom. So there's casual, there's nice casual, there's upscale casual, there's business casual, there's CEO business attire, there's soccer mom attire.

Speaker 3: When you're saying upscale casual, that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So ask the question to your agent, where's the scene take place? Am I at a wedding? Am I at a funeral? You know, where am I? And that

Speaker 4: helps you quite a bit. There's urban, there's Silver Lake, there's Echo Park, there is straight, there's nerdy, there's schleppy, that's one of my favorites, not press clothes, t-shirts, old t-shirts, no press jeans, khakis, I can go on and on

Speaker 2: and on. You know, you should know your colors, what looks good on camera for you, white and black traditionally are not that good for you to wear.

Speaker 3: Dressing the role for me and my sessions comes down to what client is seeing the tape. It's really important because some of my directors have no vision and others have such creativity. And so some of them say, please don't have them dress in costume, as they like to call it, but others will say, they have to give me some flavor to it, you know. So if you're doing a doctor and a guy has scrubs, you might say, wear a pair of scrubs or whatever, something like that. Obviously, you're coming in for a lawyer, I wouldn't want you to come in in blue jeans and a tank top, right? You know, you'd have to have a business suit on and dress accordingly. I think you have to do your research once again. I mean, even if you say, well, I don't know what an Indian chief really dresses like, go on the internet and punch up Indian chief.

Speaker 2: An actor comes in the front door, they stop, they look, they figure out where they're supposed to sign in. There's a Screen Actors Guild sign-in, whether it's union or not, some sort of paper just to know who you are and what position you are to come into the audition. So then you look up and you see, oh, there's a sign, here's where I'm supposed to sign, here are the papers I'm supposed to fill out, if there are any papers, and here is some dialogue.

Speaker 4: Usually, what I like to do is post dialogue, so they should always ask their agent before they even come in to me, just so they are familiar with the dialogue and they don't make the other actors wait. We usually have it posted when they get into the room, but it's always really good to learn it before you come in, so you can be comfortable and you could act instead of trying to remember the dialogue.

Speaker 3: You'll have a script or scenario, and if there's neither of that, we'll have something put up on the board that'll give you some feeling for the spot that we're doing, some direction. Also, one of my associates or assistants will always be out there answering questions, so it's just not like, all right, next in, and then you get in the room and you get told what to do. You have that little time to think about it and stuff like that.

Speaker 5: You look at any directions that are posted up on the wall. You read the direction. You have a picture and resume with you in case it's needed. ...is when the actor has a 10 o'clock appointment and does not come until 1030, then I had no one to start my audition at 10 o'clock.

Speaker 2: Fifteen minutes is late to me. Many times there are combinations of scenes that I've matched up an entire family, and when there's no wife for the husband to read with or the children, the parents are late, if we've put a unit together, it messes up an entire schedule.

Speaker 4: Five minutes is late for me because sometimes what happens is we have groups of people and they're all different characters, and if they're late, it just holds up everybody, so they have to be on time, and if they're not on time, they should call their agent, their agent should call us and just let us know.

Speaker 3: Thirty seconds after their audition time is late.

Speaker 2: I try to not only give the dialogue, if there is any dialogue, but tell the actors everything that I know. If the director told me they want it subtle or they want it broad, I tell that to the actors, and if I can't be in the room every minute, I tell the assistant who's running the lobby, and I want the actors to be prepared. I want them to be not afraid to take chances.

Speaker 4: We basically tell them before they go in what to expect, so they can think about it, they can have five minutes to think about it and sort of get into their character and be comfortable once they get into the room so they don't come in and we don't say action and they don't know what they're doing.

Speaker 5: The information that's given is usually specifically the energy we're looking for, how subtle we want it, or how big we want it. It could also be what we want to emotionally feel from them.

Speaker 3: Once you come in the room, we try to then be specific to you after you do a rehearsal. We love to rehearse you, especially if there's dialogue in it. We don't rehearse if it's an improv, if it's a one-liner, if it's a singing commercial, because you've done that all outside. And then when you come in the room, then we'll take some time and adjust after you give me a complete reading of your choices.

Speaker 1: The tips and insights that these top casting directors have given you should help you better prepare for your commercial auditions. I believe having this insider knowledge will give you an edge in getting more callbacks and bookings. If you have missed any of my previous MTT videos, do check the archives on my MTT commercial page. Also, for more on the craft and business of being a successful commercial actor, check out my CD program, Getting the Job, and my book, Hit the Ground Running. Be sure to watch the other videos of my MTT partners. I promise you that what you will learn from the training videos on our site could make a big difference in your career. See you next time.