Just before your TV series or film audition, you may ask the director his or her point of view in order to confirm the choices you've carefully made for your character. And if you do, you'd better be ready for some curve balls. For instance, what you may have confidently interpreted as lively and genuine warmth on the part of your character, may turn out to be a façade for guilt. It's not uncommon for directors to give you just such an opposing view. Some chatty directors will even volunteer shockingly new information without your asking. In any event, if you don't have an alternate way of playing the scene, you could be sunk.


The reason for such unexpected particulars is that the director has by then, carefully analyzed the script from front to back while generally, you haven't even seen it. All you've had to go on were a few pages, sliced out from somewhere between page one and The End. So, just mere seconds after getting brand new information, you can be suddenly faced with the challenge of giving a performance reflecting the director's new input.

As any experienced actor will tell you, it's not a simple matter to instantly change a scene the way you've been rehearsing it over and over. You've got overcome emotions and behavior patterns you've been continually reinforcing up to now.

To avoid becoming too entrenched, it's best to rehearse your audition scene in as many different ways as time will allow. Naturally, you'll adopt certain choices as your favorite ones, but make sure you're absolutely comfortable doing your scene at least two very different ways. Thus if you're forced to "change emotional gears," you'll have a far greater chance of success. Instead of ending up trying to frantically alter or even reverse the familiar patterns you established earlier on, you'll glide into the new adjustments with a comfortable sense of déjà vu.

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The preceding was an excerpt from the best selling acting book, WINNING AUDITIONS - 101 Strategies for Actors (Limelight Editions, NY) written by Mark Brandon. Mark is a native Californian who now makes his home in Vancouver, BC. He has appeared in over 100 commercials, films and TV series.

Copyright © Mark Brandon. Used with permission of the author. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or distributed.

For more audition strategies and career building advice, visit: www.WinningAuditions.com

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