What Auditioning Really Requires

Auditioning is the ultimate pretend.

You aren’t on set, in the environment, or with the other actors.
You have to be willing to go to that childlike side of yourself.

How much will you allow yourself to pretend?

An audition tells them that you can do exactly what the definition of acting is, to live truthfully within a given set of imaginary circumstances by making those circumstances real to you.

You have to create even more reality within an even more artificial circumstance, which requires a great deal of pretending.

You know when you’re self-conscious, tiptoeing through it.
You know when you’re in your head, when you don’t believe it.
You have to get over the embarrassment of pretending.

Don’t protect yourself or look for safety.
Attack the fear.
Shatter the preconceptions to free yourself for your best work.

An audition requires the actor to be even more specific.

It doesn’t have to be true to the plot, it only has to be true for you.
Who is the reader to you?
What does the writer imply you feel about them?

How you feel about something creates your relationship to it.

Knowing where you are and who you’re talking to has huge ramifications.
It gives you strength.

When you get in front of the camera, you bring your comfort with you.
Your understanding.

This is how you find your way in.
This is how you play to win.
This is how the pros work.