Advice on Auditioning Confidently

“Hey Michael. So I have a pressing question you might be able to help me with. I’m being flown out to xxxxx for a final casting of a feature film. This will be the first for me A) coming this far for a film, B) being in the room with a casting director (because of covid, all other auditions have been self tapes/zoom). Any advice on navigating the room and just making a fun, open impression on the casting directors and the film director? Irrelevant if I get the part.” - S

Hey mate!

Thank you for clicking send 

Lets do this

Celebrate

Firstly

Fucking pat yourself on the back

I don’t mean the idea

I mean physically celebrate 

We work too damn hard and make too many damn sacrifices to not let ourselves enjoy these little wins 

Give yourself permission to celebrate 

Do a gangsta boogie in your room

Go ride a bicycle with a boom box 

Call someone ya love

Buy that damn ice cream!

Done?

Great

Moving on

Build Confidence

I want to just flag something you have mentioned

“Irrelevant if I get the part”

Beautiful work mate

I hear you loud and clear

Let go of any results here and get focussed on process

Why?

There’s a very important point to be made here…

Obviously, focussing on the results will decrease our ability to play and feel free  to follow impulses in the moment

Thus decreasing our presence 

Thus decreasing our performance 

Bla bla bla

Sure sure sure

But there is something else…

I can train someone and teach them technique until the cows come home

But at some point

The artist has to go out there onto the stage 

And pull the trigger when the time is right 

What’s going to give them the ability to go from the skills they’ve learned

To execution under pressure

Is confidence 

Building that confidence is key to elite performance 

And the single best way to build confidence 

Is to take away the innate fear that we all have of bad outcomes that makes us naturally risk averse

So how do we take away the innate fear of bad outcomes?

Lean into it

Quick story

I was working with the great Carl Ford (Susan Batson’s son)

He had just finished a session with the actor who plays Joey in the sitcom Friends (I forget his name)

I said, “damn, I would’ve thought that guy knows how to break down a scene”

Carl replied

“Mike, no one pays me to break down a scene

They pay me because they are afraid of failing

They simply want me to give them permission to go give everything when it counts most”

(PS, as he was saying this, Naomi Campbell was sticking her head through the door, annoyed that Carl was going overtime with me, as she wanted her session of “permission”)

My point?

Acknowledge & accept your fears, and let them go

How?

Options…

Book a great coach

Get curious - write down what you’re most afraid of and why

Go step out of your comfort zone 

Do wholesome shit that scares you 

Dance freely in public

Walk up to a stranger and start a conversation

Have that difficult conversation you’ve been avoiding

Write your eulogy

Accept death

Remember…

No matter how shit or amazing the audition goes… eventually you will die and no one will ever remember you even existed on this earth :) 

Seriously

I don’t even know my great grandparents’ names

That was only 100 years ago

This too shall pass

So fuck it

Do it your way

Do it with love

Desired Experience 

When most people come to me for help with an audition

And I ask them how they want it to go

They usually tell me exactly how they don’t want it to go

This is normal and great

Brain and body trying to keep us safe and avoid discomfort :)

What I want you to do is get a pen and paper

And write out how you would like the entire experience to go

Write in first person & present tense (I am, I feel, etc etc)

Remember to keep focussed on things you CAN control

Write out how you feel when you wake up 

Before you walk in to the room

How you want to feel when playing and rehearsing the scenes with your colleagues (director and CD)

What things are important to you in that room (listening, being honest, focussing on the other person, etc etc)

Keep it simple, honest and clear

Focus on whats actually important to you

Write out how you will handle any fear that pops up during the process

Just use your imagination and walk yourself through the entire experience you dream of having

How do you want the day to go????

Process

Do what you gotta do, to get where you gotta get, so you can give what you gotta give

Now…

You’ve celebrated

You’re building your confidence

You’ve walked through your dream audition experience

Now?

Do the fucking work

Build a very simple process to practice over the next week

Do LESS than you think you can handle, and do it well

Better actors do less, which allows them to do those few things better

How do you build a process?

Start at the end

Write out how you would like to feel when you put your head on the pillow at night after your audition that day

Then work backwards

What do you need to do in order for that to happen?

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID

(To help you create a dynamite process, please read https://www.michaelsheasby.com/sam-aug-9)

Example

• 3 most important technical questions to answer to make the scene work (Objective, Why, Environment, bla bla bla, whatever works for you)

• Book 1 hour with a great coach

• Do a 30 min warmup on the morning of the audition

• Run lines with someone you trust for 20 minutes an hour before

• Play music in headphones

• Etc etc

Whatever man

Just build a short and sweet process that you can go experiment with

Then afterwards, you can review it, see what worked well, and think about what you’re ready for on the next one. 

Rather than leaving it as a wishy washy “i’ll just go feel it duuuude”

Trust me

Even Shia is anal about organisation, prep, coaches

The image of artists just going with the flow is cute

But reality is different

Great artists have great processes

One last thing

It’s up to YOU to take care of yourself this week

That’s your responsibility

Great actors are fucking kind to themselves 

(There is nothing weak about kindness)

Being more generous toward yourself allows you to give more generous work to society

So rest, eat, hydrate, exercise, connect, laugh, play, get groceries, do laundry, call someone you love 

Take care of you

& let me know how ya go ;)

Sheasby

x

(If you have a question you’d like me to answer, just email me at info@actorsblueprint.com)