Writing about the working craft
Long-form reference pieces on auditioning, representation, technique, and the working life.
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The pre-audition routine: the twenty minutes before you walk in
The twenty minutes before you walk into an audition room decide more than most actors realise. The routine inside those twenty minutes is th…
What casting directors actually watch in the first 15 seconds
Casting directors typically make a first-impression judgement within the first 15 seconds of a self-tape or in-person audition. They are not…
Why 'just be yourself' is bad advice for nervous actors
“Just be yourself” is the most common audition advice and one of the least useful for a nervous actor. Under stress, “yourself” is a moving …
Self-submission when you do not have an agent
Self-submission is the process of applying to acting roles directly through casting platforms, without agent representation. It is standard …
Audition mindset: reframing the room from test to work
The single most useful mindset shift an auditioning actor can make is to stop treating the room as a test and start treating it as a small p…
Learning an accent that holds under pressure
Learning an accent for performance is different from learning one for casual use. A performance accent has to hold under pressure, through e…
Keeping your child safe on set and in auditions
Child safety on set and at auditions is a combination of legal protections (which vary by country), industry standards (which are patchy), a…
Cold reading: how to train the skill
Cold reading is the skill of performing a scene you have never seen with only a few minutes of preparation. It is trainable through drills t…
What to do when your agent goes quiet
Every represented actor goes through quiet periods. Some are the agent's fault. Most are not. Before assuming the relationship is broken, an…
Headshots, reels, and what casting actually wants to see
Headshots and showreels are the two visual assets every working actor needs, and both are misunderstood. A headshot is not a portrait. It is…
Balancing school and an acting career
Balancing school and an acting career is mostly a problem of time and negotiation. On paper it is tractable: acting work is episodic, school…
The callback is the first audition, repeated
The most common callback mistake is treating it as a new audition. Casting has already seen a version of your read they liked enough to brin…