Aaron Marcus shares four audition techniques: understand whose scene it is, know your character's relationship to the other actor, pause and center yourself before starting, and move your eye farthest from the camera to maintain eye contact while staying visible. He illustrates with a story from his 15th audition for House of Cards.
In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you 4 amazing audition tips that will make your audition stronger, and these are tips that really work. Also, if you watch to the end, I've got a great bonus for you. The number 4 is popping up again— 4 essential words to always say if you need to turn down an audition or a job. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Actor and Model Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Where I share information with people based on my 37-plus years working as a full-time actor. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button, the notification bell. That way you always know when I upload a new video. I try to do it every Tuesday depending on my schedule. And if you like the video, give it a thumbs up. That's really helpful. And also, if you have any audition tips, please Share it in the comments section. Okay, tip number 1. The very first thing you need to decide on after you've gotten the sides is whose scene is it? And the reason why this is so important, especially for people who, you know, if you're just getting started and you're auditioning primarily for, you know, day player roles Most of the time, this scene is not about you. And, and look, I'm not saying that it's not crucial. Look, a writer is not going to write a single word, pay you almost— well, almost $1,100 for an 8-hour day if you're a member of SAG-AFTRA, and give you a trailer and, and get residuals and things like that unless it's really important. So even though it might be really important, this scene still might not be about you. And if you try to make the scene about you, you're not going to get the job. Let me give you a great example. This is a number of years ago. I was helping a friend of mine who was casting a project. He asked me if I would come in as a reader. There was a guy who, who was reading for the role of a bartender. The one line that the bartender says to the star of this project is, what would you like to drink? Well, this guy came in and he did not understand the concept that the scene was not about him. He was setting up the scene for something to happen with the star, but he wanted to show the casting director and hopefully the director that he's powerful, he's talented, you know, he's going to really dig deep into his role. And he's looking at me and he says, what would you like to drink? Now I'm being very kind to the guy because he just didn't have the information. I was just— my head was kind of shaking, although he didn't see it, but my brain was going, oh my God, you got to be kidding me. That's the way he read the line as opposed to, hey, what would you like to drink? I mean, it's not about him. So number 1, make sure you know who the scene is about, and if it's not about you, don't try to make it about you. Number 2, it's crucial that you know what your relationship is with the other actor. Now sometimes it's really clear, you know, you maybe you are The teacher, this is a student, maybe it's a parent, and all that information is given to you. Sometimes it's not. Once again, like to give real examples. This was my 15th audition for the Netflix show House of Cards. By the way, if you're not familiar with House of Cards, a number of years ago, it was the very first streaming show, and Netflix put it together. They gave the producers A certain amount of money for 2 years of shows. There was, there was nothing shot ahead of time, no pilot. Here's a bunch of money because they had some very well-known people involved with it. I auditioned 15 times over 2 years. It was the 15th audition where I landed a recurring role. But I remember going in to read, and the character who I was reading with— I mean, she wasn't there, but But the character who I was reading with had never been in a prior episode, so I didn't know because I always watch the shows that I'm auditioning for so I have a better sense of the show. So I asked the casting director, what is my relationship with this other actor? And she told me that I work for her, she is my boss. That information was crucial to me. Without that information, there, there's absolutely no way I would have read it that way. And who knows, look, maybe I would have booked it anyway, but my audition was much stronger, my choices were much better. So always make sure you know what the relationship is with the person that you're reading with. Number 3, I know that we can be really excited. We go in the casting— if you're going in to see a casting director, and if you are, and the casting director says, okay, action, or get started whenever you're ready, whatever it is the casting director is indicating, it's time to start. Look, just remember This is your time. You have no control over who gets booked. You have no control over what they think. You have complete control over your audition. So what I always like to do is take a moment right before I start, and even if they— if the casting director says, okay, action, I'm going to take a beat. My body's in the right position. I always have one shoulder slightly closer to the camera, one shoulder is a little bit farther back. My head is slightly tilted to my back shoulder, so I'm not like spinning my body around, but I will slightly turn my head, make sure I'm prepared, center myself, then get started. Don't Don't feel rushed. Don't feel like you have to start whenever they tell you that it's time or you can start. This is your call. That was number 3. Number 4, this is really cool. Once again, if you're auditioning with somebody else, or this could also be a home audition, but let's just say you've got Somebody else that you're actually reading with. It's not a reader on the opposite side of the room who's standing, you know, by the camera, but there's another actor there. You know, our tendency is we want to look at the other actor. So for me to look at the other actor, I'm probably turning like this. Well, that's not a good look because you can't see my face. You're seeing a profile. But I do want to have some contact with that other actor. I do need to get a sense of what that person is showing me, not, not just hearing it verbally. So here's a little trick which is great. What I do is I take my eye— I don't take my eye, but I move my eye that's farthest from the camera. That's this eye for me. And I will turn it so I can see the eye of the other actor that's closest to the camera. So I might turn like this, and this way my left eye, which is closest to the camera, can be seen. My right eye is looking at the other actor's eye that's closest to the camera, and that way I'm only seeing one eye, but I can see the person's expressions. I can see their emotions, and it allows me to be seen in the scene as well. So anyhow, that is a really, really helpful tip. That is number 4. So before I forget, just want to remind you, if you haven't done this yet, subscribe, click the notification bell. If you like it, give it a thumbs up. Also, before I finish here, please share this link. The whole point here is to create a community of actors helping each other. If you have any audition tips, please share it in the comments section. If you've tried any of these ideas, if they've worked for you, let us know. If they haven't worked for you, let us know. Look, there are millions of ways of having success auditioning, so just share what you have found to be helpful or, or not helpful, just so we can learn from you as well. I did promise I was going to share a, a great video with you. It's the 4 words you absolutely want to say when turning down a job or an audition. Just look right up here, uh, you'll see it, um, click on it, and I hope you really enjoy it. My name is Aaron Marcus. I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
