How to Book the Role When Director Notes Make No Sense

I will never forget asking the director of a TV commercial at the audition a really important question about my character. To be perfectly honest, the copy, the words to the TV commercial were horrible. They made absolutely no sense. And the response that I got back from the director Was even more confusing. If you ever felt like after asking a question to a director or casting director that you were speaking 2 different languages, then this video is for you. Or if you just want to learn how to best deal with this situation, you've got to watch this to the end. I'll explain exactly how I handled this really uncomfortable moment And actually even booked the job. Okay, let's get started. Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I've got my pup Jamie over here. He's just making sure I say all the correct words. So I was at this audition, this is a number of years ago, and I didn't understand the copy. I'm reading it, it made absolutely no sense to me. And the director is there. So walked over to the director before we got started, and I asked him a couple of basic questions just so I can get a better sense of what I'm supposed to do here, because I was so confused. And I don't know if you've ever been in this situation where you're talking to another human and you're both speaking English, but you don't have a clue as to what this person is saying to you. He was talking about Aristotle as I'm— he's trying to give me more information about my character. And I know he's saying something about the War of the Roses. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He was just talking on a very different level. So I said, oh, oh, okay. And then I said, well, how about this? Because I was clueless still. And then he went on some other crazy tangent, and honestly, I had zero idea of what he was saying. So at that point, I knew I could not ask him any other questions because it would seem like either I'm dumb— maybe I am because I didn't understand what he was saying— or I wasn't paying attention to him. So I just— oh, okay, great, thank you. And then what I wound up doing was just— and I wasn't just like throwing it out there, but I didn't have anything really to go on. And look, I've done auditions where I really wasn't 100% sure, so I just kind of decided to make my own decision because it just wasn't clear. This one, it was really tough, and basically I just went on instinct. Honestly, I just, I said the words. I had no idea where to go with this thing. And here's the crazy thing, I book the job. And, and, and by the way, if you have ever experienced anything like this where maybe it's another actor, you're talking to a director, you're talking to a casting director at an audition, whatever it is, and you're just not getting it, please share it here so we can learn from your story as well. And, and by the way, in just a couple minutes you're going to see I've got a great bonus video for you. It's 3 words. You that actors absolutely never want to hear from casting. I think you're going to really enjoy it. The crazy thing was I show up on set and the guy walks over, the director walks over, and he goes, Aaron, I got to tell you something. I'm thinking, uh-oh. He goes, you know, a lot of people audition for this spot. And I said, yeah, yeah, I know, because it was a big— it was a big TV spot, some oil changing company. I think it was a regional TV spot. And he said, I've got to say, you were the only one who got it. And meanwhile, internally, I'm thinking, oh, this is, this is insane. And I looked him right in the eyes and I said, well, I tell you, you gave me such great information. It was really helpful. Thank you. And I just, I just want to make sure that, you know, if you guys are in a situation like that, You got to know when to stop asking. You have to get to a point where you just make your own decision regardless of what somebody is saying to you if you don't get it. And you hope for the best because it's really hard in those situations. I really honestly haven't had that many of them like that, but every once in a while I have experienced that. Hey, and I also just wanted to mention a couple really quick things. If you haven't subscribed yet, Um, if you found this helpful, uh, subscribe, click the notification bell, give it a thumbs up, and share it, you know, fellow actors. That's how we build a bigger community of actors helping each other. And the very last thing I just wanted to mention, um, if you go to my website, howtoactamodel.com, you can get onto my email list. Every week I send out really helpful industry information. Just scroll to the bottom of the page, Put in your email address, and I will send you some really great industry info. I am Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to share another video with you next week. See ya.