The 1 Question That Booked My Netflix Recurring Role

Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and first of all, welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel. Don't forget to click the subscription button and the little bell, the notification button, and that way every time I upload a new video, you'll know about it. So hey, in today's video, I want to share with you the one question I asked the casting director that I know helped me book a recurring role on a Netflix show. So as a matter of fact, it wasn't just any Netflix show. It was the very first television show that Netflix created. And before— and I'm going to share that with you closer to the end of the video. But before I get to that, I just want to share some other information about television shows, about auditioning that I know will be really helpful to you. So let me start off by letting you know that typically for network television, There are pilots that are shot. These are kind of like sample shows. And then if the networks like them, then they will purchase them and they will actually start airing them. Well, on Netflix, what they did— and they transformed the entire industry— what they did was for the TV show House of Cards, which was the very first streaming television show. There was no pilot shot. They— and this is what I've been told, so I'm assuming it's true— they fronted a bunch of money and they said, shoot 2 years' worth of episodes. And that's what they did, and it started to stream. And so House of Cards was the very first show. So if you get the opportunity to audition for a show— and I'll tell you about Also about recurring roles. If you get an audition for a television show, you won. You know, it, it is hard to get an audition. And the reason why I say that is I've taken enough classes with casting directors, I've spoken to enough casting directors, and look, the numbers certainly are, are not solid. They certainly will change from, from project to project and character to character. But from what I've been told, it's not unusual for a casting director to get anywhere from 500 submissions of headshots and resumes per role that they are casting for a TV show. Could be more, Could be a little less, but that's not an unusual number. And typically— and once again, it's not an exact number, but at least it will give you a gauge. Some of the casting directors that I've spoken with said they typically, you know, might invite 30 people, up to 30 people, to audition for the role. And look, sometimes I've heard they've only invited 10, sometimes it's been 12, but I've heard this enough times that I feel pretty comfortable saying this. So if you are fortunate enough to be one of the 30 people out of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of submissions, you won. And that is an incredible place to be. Now, if you are one of the 30 people, then when you get the sides, the very first thing that you have to do— and by the way, the sides is the short portion of the script that you'll be reading for your audition. I mean, typically they're not going to send you the entire script. You just get your audition piece, and the very first thing you need to do— forget reading it over, forget highlighting your lines, forget thinking about characters and intent and forget all that stuff— the very first thing you need to do is watch the show. You've got to be really familiar with the show. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Who are the players? You know, who are the different characters? I mean, if you walk into an audition and ask, hey, so this person I'm reading with, who is this person in the show? And, you know, it's the star of the show, you're not going to get the job because you're going to be viewed as a very lazy actor. So watch the show and make sure you have a really clear understanding of just the feel of the show. You know, is it broad? Is it big? Is it very subtle? Is You know, do the actors talk very quickly to each other? Is it more, you know, slowly paced out? Make sure you have all of that information. Then you start looking at your sides. Now, this, this isn't going to be a video about how to audition. I'll do that in, in another video. But I do want to just make sure that you are very, very familiar with the show before you read for it. And, and if you want to get some additional information, you can always go to imdb.com, Internet Movie Database, and just do a search for the show. You don't have to have a paid subscription to be able to do that, and you can learn everything about the show— producers, casting director, all the different actors in the program. So anyhow, that, that will be really very, very helpful to you. Here's, here's what I did. Oh, and by the way, one other thing, and it's really interesting. I just spoke with an agent the other day, and he told me he was— he had one of his actors, actually, who he no longer works with, contact him after he received— after the actor received an audition with a casting director. And the actor called the agent and said, I can't believe that you're asking me to audition with this casting director again. I've already auditioned for her 5 times, 5 different projects. Apparently she doesn't like what I'm doing. Why are you wasting my time here? You know, it makes no sense to me. And, you know, when the agent was telling me this, I was just kind of smiling a little bit. And then I also, I felt bad for the actor because The actor was just clueless. You know, he just didn't understand. He didn't realize that if you get asked back to read with the same casting director, whether it's the same, same show or a different project, a second time, that's wonderful. That's great news. That means the casting director really liked your read. And for whatever reason, you were not the perfect person for that role. So for an actor to be upset because he already auditioned 5 times with the same casting director and hadn't gotten booked, that's, that's just showing that the person really doesn't understand how the industry works. So for House of Cards, which is where I eventually got a recurring role As the role was Michael, and Michael was the caretaker, the butler for, for the mom of the vice president— of the president's wife, Mrs. Wright, who— she is just an unbelievable actor. And I had an opportunity to work with a number— I had a number of scenes. It was 3 episodes. Including Mrs. Wright and also Mrs. Bernstein, an Academy Award-winning actor. And so I was her caretaker, and it was just an amazing experience. But getting back, getting back to the audition process, I auditioned for House of Cards 15 times. 15 times over 2 years. And sometimes I was put on hold, meaning that they were very serious about casting me. I was sent up to producers a few times. You know, there were plenty of times I didn't get a callback or anything like that. And, you know, yeah, was I frustrated sometimes? Yeah, of course. You know, I wanted to book something. But the thing to keep in mind is I knew that they were really liking what I did, and for a whole variety of reasons that are out of my control, I just wasn't the perfect person for that particular job. And the interesting thing was it was on the 15th audition where I actually booked the recurring And it's funny how things can work out because pretty much all of the other roles that I read for were either 1 day, maybe 2 days worth of work. This is the only one that was recurring, and that's the one I got. So to get to the question, so what did I ask the casting director that completely changed my audition that I know Helped me book this job. Here's what it was. So I went in to read and they had a name of a character. Now, I'd watched the show a lot. I was very familiar with everybody in it, and I asked the casting director because I wasn't familiar with the name of this character who I was reading with. So I asked, you know, I wasn't sure who was this character, and she had mentioned that she is playing Robin Wright's mother, and this was Ellen Burstyn. And I said, oh, okay. And the follow-up question, because I wanted to know who she was, and like I said, she hadn't been in any other episodes before, she just started In season 4, which is when I started working. The second question, which was also absolutely crucial, and this is something you always need to know, and if you don't know, you've got to ask. I asked, what is my relationship with this character? I didn't know, and, and the dialogue didn't explain it to me. And so the casting director told me, you work for her. That completely, completely changed the way that I read my lines. She was my boss. And that is a question that you always need to know the answer to for any audition. What is your relationship with the other character that you are reading with? Is this somebody who you're in love with? Is this somebody you're married to? Is this an ex-spouse? Is this somebody you're jealous of? Is this somebody you just met and you don't know anything about the person but you're intrigued? Whatever it is, you need to know what your relationship is with the other actor. And that will help you frame your read. So once I got that information, uh, I worked for her. As it turns out, I worked for her for many, many, many years. I was a close family, you know, friend member, uh, because I'd been with them for so long. Um, it was really very helpful to me. And I can also tell you That when I had scenes with Robin Wright, who also is just a phenomenal actor, very nice person, very giving, one of the things that was difficult for me, to be perfectly honest with you, was, you know, here I am, I am taking care of her mother. I have taken care of her for many, many, many years. I'm a trusted person, and I didn't like the way that her daughter, Robin Wright, was treating the mother. Now, it's also tricky because she, at that time, she was the wife of the President of the United States. She was the First Lady. So You know, I couldn't just lash out at her. I couldn't say things in a certain way that would be disrespectful. On the other hand, I wanted to take care of my boss, this person who I really cared about. So it was really— it was a fascinating role. And so without a doubt, if I didn't know what the relationship was, I don't think it ever would have happened. So anyhow, I just wanted to share that information with you. And just on one little bit of a side note too, um, you know, typically along with everything else, all the stars aligning, you also have to look right for the part, you know. And, and, and if you don't, it makes it really difficult to book the job no matter how great your read is. So when you don't book the job. I'm not saying don't feel bad. It's okay to feel bad, but understand it's not a personal thing. And in many cases, it's not a statement about your acting abilities or your acting skills. For whatever reason, you were too tall, you were too short, you're too beautiful, you weren't beautiful enough, your body was in too good a shape, it wasn't in good enough shape, you look too much like one of the other characters in this particular Who knows? You know, it could be a million and one reasons. So you don't book it, do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better, whether it's going out and getting, you know, Ben and Jerry ice cream or, you know, watching some, some of your favorite TV shows or punching a bag, a punching bag, you know, whatever it is that's going to make you feel better. But please do not take it personally because these are not personal decisions. as to who gets cast. These are business decisions, that's all. And, and look, I'm not saying, hey, maybe you need more training, maybe your audition could have been better. Yeah, of course, you know, that's, that's very possible too. But, you know, in, in, in most cases, you just weren't the perfect person for the role. So anyhow, um, I just wanted to share that with you. If you have any experiences of doing something at your audition that you felt really helped you book the job, please share it below. That, that's why I have the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel, for, you know, a lot of people to help each other, to share information with each other. So please leave a comment below, love to see it. At the very bottom of the page, I do have a donation link. If you are comfortable, if you can, please click it. It goes straight to PayPal. Uh, you know, once again, if you can't, that I completely understand too, but I'd love to have you, uh, support the channel and be a part of it as well. Um, I'm Aaron Marcus, and, uh, I hope you found this helpful and can't wait to talk with you again soon. Oh, and by the way, feel free, share this with other people. That's why I'm doing it, just so we can continue to build a larger community of people helping each other. Okay, see ya.