Commercial casting director Stuart Stone spoke at our May seminar, bringing his years of experience and some great insights for actors with him. Without further ado, here are the day’s five biggest takeaways.
1. YOU’RE A MARKET
Remember that there’s an entire industry based on making money off of actors. There is no end to what you will be coerced to buy, all in the name of making your career, so make sure you’re being smart about it. And never pay more than $500 for headshots.
2. LET IT GO
If you’re playing the “here’s what I should have done in that audition” scenario over and over in your head on your drive home, stop. You did what you did and obsessing over it is just going to make you crazy. Make peace with the moment and let it go.
3. BIG CHOICES ARE NOT THE SAME AS SMART CHOICES
When people say to make a big choice in the room, what they should be saying is make a clear, smart choice based in the text. Don’t make a move that isn’t grounded in the reality of the scene because you think it will make you memorable. You want to be remembered because you’re right for the part, not because you did something bananas.
4. DESPERATION IS TANGIBLE
This one’s hard to both define and correct, but do what you can to mitigate projecting your desperation to book something. Stuart’s advice was to treat auditioning as a hobby instead of a career.
5. HEADSHOTS ARE ABOUT THE EYES
If it doesn’t seem like there’s something going on behind them, a casting director isn’t going to be compelled to bring you in. The house might be real pretty on the outside, but if it doesn’t look like the lights are on inside, people aren’t as likely to knock on your door.
And look out for the recap of our June seminar with commercial casting director Chadrian McKnight of House Casting! One of his pieces of advice got me into a minor Twitter scrape, so that’s fun.
Seminar Recap