To Go or Not to Go?

February 13, 2019 | Laurie Records
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To go or not to go? That should never be the question. 

Three different situations have inspired me to address the topic of actors deciding to attend or not attend their commercial auditions. If you’ve been reading my words for a while, you know how passionate I am about this subject. I’m a commercial casting director, after all. My job, very simply put, is to bring in a full day’s worth of talented actors appropriate for a given job. When an actor does not attend their commercial audition, it hurts the most basic objective of the job. When too many actors cancel, it requires problem solving. When actors don’t respond at all, or confirm and then don’t show up, it’s terrifying. This is no exaggeration. It’s bad for me, and let’s be honest, it’s bad for you. You can’t book a job you don’t show up for. Can we all just agree that you should go to your commercial audition?

Inspiration #1 comes straight to your phone in the form of a commercial agent tweet, who happens to be a friend of mine. The gist of the tweet is that there are two types of commercial actors out there—ones who will come up with any excuse not to attend their commercial audition and ones who will move mountains to get there. Actors with excuses is a well-covered topic amongst commercial agents and casting directors, and a great source of frustration. We collectively lament actors who can’t seem to get to their auditions and adore the ones who do. 

Inspiration #2 comes from the commercial actor with a callback problem. She had a commercial audition before the holidays. I’m not sure if the callback date had changed or she forgot about it or if her travel plans changed or if she just planned to blow it off. Whichever one it was, she was a thousand miles from Los Angeles just after New Year’s when her callback appointment came in. Her initial thought was to decline, then a divine voice (I’d like to think it was mine) whispered in her ear—or possibly shouted—that she needed to make this happen. She implemented a “planes, trains and automobiles” action plan to get to her callback. She was seen, put on avail, and wait for it … didn’t get the job. You thought it would end differently, didn’t you? Well, the good news is, she was a hero in the eyes of her agent and the casting director and had a lasting ah-hah moment. You really do have to show up to book the job. It’s your job to get there. 

Inspiration #3 is the actor scheduled for a commercial audition for one of my jobs. I knew when I called him in that he would likely cancel or not show; I’d observed his pattern of self-sabotage in the past. I also knew he would book the job if he could just get through the door. True to form, he emailed me saying that he was unable to attend the audition and asked if he could self-tape. For whatever reason, I agreed, even though it was NOT a self-tape job. I passed the studio casting on to production. The next day I sent them the self-tape with a note saying that he was fantastic but had an ongoing struggle with showing up to auditions. Long story short, he booked the job. It occurred to me that, in the course of his avoiding the audition and landing the job, a light bulb went off in his mind. And the necessity of getting your body into the room potentially leading to even more bookings became suddenly clear to him. 

I think it’s fair to say that if you aren’t doing everything you can to make each and every commercial audition you’re called in for, you’re doing it wrong. If you’re giving your commercial career a half-baked effort, then it’ll be mediocre at best—just like anything else in life. 

When you find yourself reaching for excuses not to make your audition, ask yourself honestly why that is. Is it because you feel you aren’t good at them or you feel uncomfortable in the room? There are solutions for that. Is it because you feel like you never book commercials, and it’s affecting your gumption to get in the game? There are solutions for that too! Could it be because you feel like commercials are beneath you or even soul-sucking? Have a chat with your commercial agent, your actor friends who’re thriving in commercials or your mentors as to whether you should continue the pursuit. Reflect honestly, then get reenergized and be prepared to give 100%–or turn your focus and your energy to what you truly love about the acting profession.