Stop apologizing and start acting.
Apologizing is the number one complaint about you in
auditions. It’s not the number one
complaint about your performance, but it is about you personally and has
remained the number one complaint year after year. Having said that, if you spill coffee on
someone in the audition room, then by all means apologize! I’m talking about apologizing for your
performance or anything related to it.
Let’s discuss some of the many ways
actors apologize. I can tell you what
you’re going to do the minute you walk in the door – apologize. The apology: “Well, ah, the reason I was
late is because my car broke down, then I had to call AAA, and then AAA had a
flat tire….”
Number one: We don’t care.
Number two: We don’t care. Number three: We don’t care. Once you actually come into the audition room,
I doubt the director even knows that you’re late.
Having said
this does not give you permission to be
late! Absolutely not. If you’re late, you’ll have to answer to the
casting director, who won’t look favorably on you for the next audition.
Another
apology actors make: “You know, I’m
kind of nervous…I haven’t done this very much.”
I’ve even had actors who are well-known with starring credits start
apologizing in this way.
Or: “Well,
I just got here a few minutes ago and haven’t had a lot of time to look over
the script and I’m kind of unprepared.”
Here you are walking into a room full of people with no idea what you’re
about to do and you’re telling them how poorly you’re about to do it!
How would
you like it if a painter who shows up at your house says, “You know, I just got
here minutes ago and haven’t had time to mix the paints, so I’m a little
unprepared to paint your house right now”?
Would this give you a good feeling about the work he’s about to do?
There is
almost no excuse for being unprepared in an audition. And if you are unprepared (shame on you!),
don’t try to make it look as though it’s the casting director’s fault.
Actors also
don’t realize that even little comments they make are heard by us. At the end of an actor’s performance, the
camera operator in the audition room will say, “Cut.” The actor will swear, roll his eyes, shake
his head, etc., without realizing that, from the word “cut” to the time the operator
pushes the “stop” button, about three seconds have passed. Those quick comments at the end of a
performance are seen and heard by us!
You
wouldn’t have much confidence in an airline pilot who starts up apologizing
about his flying skills right before the flight – and you wouldn’t feel too confident with a doctor
who keeps apologizing while working on you.
In what other profession do people want to tell you how
incompetent they are when they’re trying to get a job from you?
- Tom Logan, contributed excerpt from
How to Act & Eat
at the Same Time: The Sequel: The Do’s
and Don’ts of Landing a Professional Acting Job
Tom is thrilled to be returning to San Francisco this February (2/24-2/26) for another series of workshops. For more information about Tom and his workshops, visit his facebook page or contact Sarah Kliban at International Talent Casting.
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| www.tomlogan.com |
Tom Logan is a best-selling author and an award-winning screen writer/director who has directed numerous feature films, episodic TV shows and pilots, movies for television and television commercials. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and all performing unions. Tom headed the TV/Film & Commercial acting departments in Los Angeles at two of the most prestigious acting schools worldwide - the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the American Film Institute - in addition to performing acting seminars in 5 countries and 47 states with over 30-plus years of experience.