Aaron Marcus, an actor with 40 years experience, warns that every audition is an introduction to casting directors. He shares two choices when you're not excited about a project: decline politely or commit completely. He auditioned many times for House of Cards before landing a recurring role.
Years ago, I made a huge audition mistake where I not only didn't book the job, but I think I poisoned a relationship with a really good casting director. And the worst part was, at the time, I didn't care because I didn't realize that I had made this mistake until it was way too late. So if you were ever offered an opportunity to audition for a project that, for whatever reason, you're just not so crazy about, in this video I'm going to share with you 2 options and choices that you absolutely want to make. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I've been a full-time actor for a little over 40 years. And a few years ago, I got an audition For— it was a low-budget project. I read it, the dialogue really didn't do all that much for me, it didn't seem all that interesting. And so, I mean, I accepted the audition and I went over things kind of quickly and just decided, you know what, let me just get this done with. So I can get it off of my plate and then move on to some other things, which is exactly what I did. So I submitted it, and yeah, of course didn't get a callback, didn't get a booking. I'm sure the audition wasn't great. I mean, I did like the bare minimums as far as preparation goes. And that was about a month later, and I don't know why I just decided to look up the casting director. And this casting director had done some really great projects. And I started thinking, I just wasted this great opportunity to introduce myself to a really good casting director. Not only that, but I'm sure I left a bad impression with the casting director. And, you know, I started thinking about it, and now it's too late. I, I've already messed this up. It was my first introduction to And I'm sure it wasn't phenomenal. And, you know, one of the things that I thought about afterwards— number one, I would never, ever, ever do that again. But I also just started thinking that, you know, when, when we are doing an audition, it's not even sometimes about that particular job. It's really about making that connection because there have been a number of times where I've auditioned for a role and didn't get it, but the casting director liked what I did and I booked something else with the casting director. As a matter of fact, a great example of that is the TV show House of Cards, which was the very first Netflix show ever to stream. Actually, it's the very first show ever to stream and it was produced by Netflix. I auditioned for that show 14 times over 2 years, never booked anything. And they brought me back for the 15th audition for a different role, and I booked a recurring role. And so, you know, what I, what I've learned is that what you're doing with an audition, it's really a way— it is the best way for you to introduce yourself to the casting director. And whether you get the job or not, in some ways it doesn't even matter. The casting director likes what you did. Why wouldn't the casting director bring you back to read for something else, whether it's that same project or something completely different? It's like going out on a blind date and things go really well. Well, hopefully, at least for both of you, you're going to go out again. So it's just really, really important That, and not only just for a business decision, but just for you as a human being. I mean, what I learned is, and I take real pride in what I do, and to just kind of go through the motions, I'm sure it was okay, but I felt embarrassed by it. And it was something that I said to myself, I I would never do this again. So if you are getting a project that maybe you're just not feeling, maybe you don't want to spend the time with, maybe financially it doesn't pay enough, whatever it is, you've got 2 choices. Either you turn it down and you can thank the agent and say, thank you very much, I'm just not available. And I love those words instead of getting into a whole long discussion, unless you have a good relationship with your agent. Or the other thing is give it your best shot if you want to work on— potentially work on the project. You don't want to do things halfway, and either do— don't do it or do it 100%. And that's something that I found really valuable. And I wanted to ask you if you have ever kind of gone through the motions, submitted an audition that you weren't crazy about but you just wanted to get it done, or Whatever the reason is, please share it here with us so we can learn from you. If you haven't done this yet, please subscribe, click the notification bell if you found this helpful, and share the link with fellow actors. And the very last thing I wanted to mention is I send out great acting information to everybody on my email list, so just use this website. It will be in the description, howtoactandmodel.com. Sign up there. I will send you a free bonus, uh, 6 Secrets to Mastering Home Auditions. It's a great video for you to watch, and that way you can continue to get free information from me. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
