Aaron Marcus, an actor with 40+ years experience, explains why getting an audition is a win: casting directors receive hundreds or thousands of submissions per role but invite only about 30 people. He auditioned 15 times for House of Cards before landing a recurring role, showing how much is beyond your control.
Hey, do you get really frustrated because you're getting auditions but you're just not booking the job? Look, I get it. Hi, my name is Aaron Marcus. I've been an actor for over 40 years, and I completely understand that feeling. I used to feel that way until I started to get more information, learn new things And it really changed my way of viewing the entire audition process, and that's what I want to share with you. Look, what a lot of people don't understand is that when you get the audition, you've won. Let me tell you, it is really, really hard To get an audition. And I've sat in on casting directors' workshops, I've talked with them privately, and here's the breakdown. And of course, these numbers are not exact. They will change quite a bit depending on the project, depending on the roles and things like that. But it is not unusual for a casting director to receive Anywhere from 100 to over 1,000 submissions per role. And look, they can only see a limited amount of people. Now I can tell you, because most of the auditions are done virtually now, they can actually see a lot more people, and as opposed to when people used to have to go into their, their office. But they are looking at so many headshots and resumes, and out of maybe 500, 700 submissions— or like I've said, I've heard some casting directors say for really big roles they might get 1,000, over 1,000 submissions— they might narrow it down and only invite, you know, maybe 30 people to actually audition. Once again, those are not, you know, universal numbers, but I've heard that from a number of casting directors. So when you think about it, it is so hard to get the audition. The numbers are against you, and that's why, number one, your headshot has to be really effective, really show the casting director how you should be cast, and your resume needs to be in the right format. Those are basic things, but then it comes down to things that you have no idea about. Maybe you look too much like, you know, some of the other people who've already been cast. Maybe you don't look enough like, you know, the parents in this project if you are younger. And you're not going to be invited to audition. So the point is, if you have actually gotten an audition, you've won. You are one of the chosen, and it's an incredible accomplishment. So look, I'm not saying don't get frustrated if you don't actually get the job itself. I understand. It's— look, it's harder to get the audition sometimes than booking the role. And the fact of the matter is you might have given the greatest audition of your life, and there are a million and one reasons why a casting director might or might not really push for you to get cast. And a lot of times it's even out of the casting director's hands. Anyway, you know, they can say, you know, here are my top 5 choices, but then ultimately it's— most of the time it's going to be up to other people. So, you know, you have full control over your audition, no control over who gets cast. So what I wanted to share, if you're getting auditions, that is saying something. And especially if you are getting auditions with the same casting director, even if it's over and over and over again, you're not getting booked. That is a tremendous accomplishment, and that's also saying something great about your acting skills. I can tell you, and this is a great example, there is a show on Netflix called House of Cards. Over a 2-year period, I auditioned for that show 14 times, never got cast. Sometimes I was put on hold, sometimes I would have callbacks, sometimes nothing. But they kept calling me back, and what that told me was apparently I was doing something right because they liked what I did. And for whatever reason, I was not the perfect person for any of those roles. However, on my 15th audition, I booked a recurring role. So you just never know what can happen. Anyhow, I wanted to share that with you. And by the way, if you have ever had experiences with getting, you know, lots of auditions, not booking the jobs, please share it here on the Acting Modeling Quick Tips channel so we can learn from you as well. If you haven't done this yet, please subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded. If you like it, give it a thumbs up. That's actually very helpful. And share this video with your fellow actors. Once again, I'm Aaron Marcus and can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
