Playing Small: The Actor's Guide To Becoming A Booking Magnet

by Christine Horn

“Speak what you seek until you see what you said.” — Anonymous

Never forget these instructions: Book the Audition. Book the Room. Book the Role.

14. Enter the room in character. - The moment you step foot in the audition room, you should be in character. Even during small talk, refrain from popping out of yourself too much. Keep the energy you had in the waiting room.

19. Work the camera, not the room. - Remember, at the end of the day, all casting will do is send your video to producers for review. Focus less on impressing casting in person with your personality, and focus more on your on-camera performance.

21. Slate in character. - Don’t lose character when asked to slate. Stay in the zone and say your name and height as the character you just portrayed. Don’t ruin the fantasy!

If you are on the television and film circuit, waiting room warfare shows up a bit differently. You may be sitting in your chair trying to focus, and all of a sudden a “Chatty Cathy” will show up and start talking your head off about nonsense. This person doesn’t even need you to respond. They just want you to stop studying your lines and get distracted. That way, when your name is called, you are kind of frazzled. Score! To be fair, some Chatty Cathy’s are just extremely nervous about their own audition, so this is how they cope.

The next character that may show up to throw you off your game is the “DIVA.” This can be someone of any gender by the way. This actor makes it a point to talk loudly while they rattle off their most recent credits to the entire waiting room. “I just flew in from London…” “This casting office loves me….” “OMG, I’ve had so many auditions this week. I just tested for nine pilots last week!” You get the point right? Their goal is to make you feel inferior... like maybe you should just pack up your things and go because this other actor is clearly the chosen one. The tactics of the Diva can be convincing, especially if they are a celebrity or someone you’ve seen on television for years.

The last character I want to make you aware of is the “Bitch.” Yup. That is not a typo, and again, does not relate to any one gender. This actor will stare you down as soon as you walk in the room. They will size you up without blinking an eye as if you stole their money. It will confuse you. Just remember, the look of disgust on their face or their rolling eyes have nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.

Turn your nerves into excitement. Instead of saying, “I’m so nervous!” Replace that sentence with, “I am so excited!!!”

I will leave you with a mantra that has helped me book tons of roles throughout my acting career: I AM powerful and talented, and I have a story to tell. Try saying this to yourself right after they call your name. It will change your swagger and the way you walk into the audition room.

Here’s how you can use the V.A.K. technique to have a killer audition;

Step One: Sit in a quiet place (this may even be used in the actual audition waiting room) and Visualize yourself in the audition room. You walk in, you are greeted with welcoming smiles. You see yourself in the room standing on your mark. You seem to be at ease... confident even. You hit every beat, and you are in tune with the reader. You nail the audition and see yourself leaving the room and walking to your car. You did that! Another way I like to use visualization is to see myself not only in the audition room or at a producer’s session, but actually on set. Many actors do not do this work. They limit their imagination to the casting office — not me, and not you. Visualize yourself pulling into crew parking and stepping into your trailer. Your contract is on the table waiting for your signature. Your costume is hanging up. You then get escorted to hair and makeup, and then you’re invited to rehearsal with the cast and director. You have an amazing read through. You and the director have a good vibe going. When it’s time to shoot, it feels effortless. You are confident and prepared. Once you wrap, the director tells you what a great job you did. You sign out and head back home. You take a hot shower and have a snack while relaxing on the couch. You head to bed soon after knowing that you had an amazing day.

Step Two: Using everything you created in your mind’s eye with the visualization technique in step one, use the Auditory technique to create the sound around you. As you walk in the audition room, what do you hear? You hear the casting director say, “Hi. Thanks for coming in. How are you?” Once your read through is done, you hear someone in the room whisper, “Wow. That was amazing. Really. Thank you.” You leave feeling confident. As you walk back to your car, you hear the birds chirping and the wind blowing. The next morning, your heart flutters with excitement when your agent calls to tell you that you have a callback with the producers! Your agent sounded more excited than usual because this role might recur and will look amazing on your new demo reel. You find out a few days later that you actually booked the role. While you are on set, the director yells, “Action!” and you almost shed a tear. You’ve arrived, and it feels amazing. Do you see how we’re going to another level by hearing positive sounds?

Step Three: Alright. We’re still building upon steps one and two. Okay? Let’s go back to the same visualization of walking into the audition room. Begin to think about how your body will feel. The use of the Kinesthetic method will allow you to be in tune to yourself so that your nerves won’t take over. When you get out of your car, your pulse is racing a bit, but that’s just excitement. You know you are right for this role, and it feels good. When you get to the waiting room, you are calm. You are taking long, deep breaths. You are the epitome of zen. As you walk into the audition room, you feel like you are floating (in a good way.) You’re chill and confident. You are definitely someone these casting directors want to work with. When you see your agent’s phone number appear on your phone the next morning, your heart races with excitement. You feel pride and joy after you hang up from the good news. When you arrive on set (because of course, you booked the role), you feel a sense of overwhelming gratitude flowing through your veins. By the time you get home from a long day of fun shooting, you’re tired... in a good way. This, my dear actor, is how I prep for roles. Sure, just like you, I don’t book every role I audition for. No one does. However, this preparation makes me feel good, and that’s all that matters. You don’t have to perform each of these steps separately. I’ve used this technique so many times, and I am used to combining all the senses during one visualizatio...

Remember, our imagination is our most powerful tool as actors. Use it for good.