Aaron Marcus argues actors should dress the part at auditions, not just wear whatever. He wore fleece and jeans to an improv audition in Washington State to match the region's outdoor culture, then used that mindset to discuss Glacier National Park when asked improvisational questions. The goal is helping casting directors instantly recognize your intended role.
Hi, it's Aaron Marcus, and here is your weekly vlog. I mentioned in last week's video that, you know, sometimes you've got to really think very carefully about what to wear for an audition. And there are a couple different philosophies. Some philosophies kind of go like this: look, it doesn't make any difference what you wear. They're looking at the actor. People People know what doctors look like. People know what businessmen look like. People will know what teachers look like. Just wear anything you want and just read the role well. And that is an option. And that is what some people do. I happen to go with a different philosophy. And mine is I want to dress the part. Certainly you don't want to insult a casting director. You know, if you are a fireman, I mean, you don't have to come in with fire gear. If you're, you know, jumping out of an airplane, you don't have to come in with a parachute. You know, People will get the idea of what will be needed if you get cast. But there was something that I did last week, and it will be interesting to see if it really made any difference. I mean, there are always, as you know, so many factors that go into booking and not booking the job. But this was for a television spot, and it was being aired in the state of Washington. And so I was keeping that in mind because it was a very unusual audition. There were no lines at all. I knew it was going to be improv. I had no idea what to expect. But what I decided to do with my wardrobe was this. I am thinking— they said, just wear whatever you feel like wearing, whatever is you, you know, whatever you feel comfortable in. Well, that's probably, you know, wearing an old t-shirt and ripped up jeans and tennis shoes is probably not what they were looking for. Although, who knows? That is more of me. But— and by the way, the reason why I'm dressed up today, I just did an online audition for film and I had to wear a sports coat and tie, and I thought this would be a good time to create this. But what I was thinking of— look, this is Washington State. It's a beautiful place. A lot of people spend time outdoors. And I'm thinking really more outdoorsy. So that's why I wore a fleece. I wore a fleece. I wore jeans. I wore tennis shoes. It just felt right for that particular market. And then when I went in to read, or what I thought was going to be some kind of read, the casting director looks at me and says, if you could go to any place in history, where would you go? Either history or in the future. Tell me. The woman who also came in to read, or audition I should say, she was asked a question something like, if you had superpowers, What would they be? You know, that's pretty tough. Those are difficult. You know, a lot of times having lines are much, much easier. So once again, because I was clearly thinking Washington State outdoors, what I decided to do was I talked about a recent trip that I had to Glacier National Park and I talked about outdoors things. That's all I talked about. And, you know, look, who knows whether that's going to make the difference or not, but at least I felt like I had a strategy. I felt like I had some kind of game plan and I was ready for anything. So probably the most important thing that I could say to you as far as wardrobe, because it depends on your philosophy of, you know, really dressing the part or really not caring at all, don't dress inappropriately. That's probably the best thing that I can say. And then it's up to you to make the decision. But personally, like I said, I like to bang people over the head with the look. I want them to think as soon as I walk in that room, yeah, that guy's a business guy. Yeah, that guy's a teacher. Yeah, that guy's a doctor. That guy's a lawyer. And I will dress the part. And certainly I don't want to overdo things and insult a casting director. But personally, I found that to be very helpful to me, and I wanted to share it with you. One other really quick thing that I just wanted to mention. There have been a lot of people that have asked if I'm going to be doing workshops in their area. A couple of things I just wanted to let you know. I do a lot of online workshops. I mean, I do travel, but you can always go to howtomodel.com and see where my next workshop is going to be, and if it is an online workshop, there'll be information there. For those of you who are interested in having one-on-one private coaching sessions with me, which are really incredible sessions, once again, just go to howtomodel.com/coaching. And you can read all about it in case you're interested. I can tell you that those sessions will just save you years and years of guesswork. It will save you a tremendous amount of time and money as well. And it will be fun. I'd love to be able to work with you. So anyhow, I just wanted to mention that to you, and I look forward to talking with you again next week. I'm Aaron Marcus.
