If you are a singer/voice over artist you must also have:Ī Source Connect membership (which is required by producers and charges a monthly fee.) Up to date iPhone (or pro-quality camera) If you want to be taken seriously as an artist, if you want to be legitimately competing for roles, you must own and know how to single-handedly operate the following equipment: Here’s what that means in practical terms. And artists were told in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t enough to give a good performance in a self-tape, they needed to compete with other artists who were sending in top quality recordings. Equipment got better and more accessible. Perhaps the turnaround for casting the project is too fast to actually call artists in person…perhaps an artist is out of town but still wants to be considered…īut then the stakes got higher. It doesn’t have to be perfect, casting just needs to see you. Have someone hold your phone and just press record. In the early days of self-taping, it was mainly a “just get it done the best you can” world. ![]() But it has also created a tremendous hardship on artists – a hardship that often goes unspoken. Some of this was a saving grace during Covid – it offered a way for auditions to continue in anticipation of projects starting up when quarantines were lifted. The voice-over industry is 99.99% online, and it is possible for an artist to have an entire voice-over career without ever leaving their house. Film, theater, singing, even dance auditions. Self-taped auditions (meaning auditions where an artist is filming themself doing a scene or monologue) became just as common for T.V./Film auditions as being called in to read in person with a casting director.Īnd now almost everything has gone online and self-tape. replaced Backstage Magazine, and an Actors Access profile became just as vital as a headshot and resume. or film, the casting director would have a camera set up to film you, and a reader to read the scene with you. ![]() If you were auditioning for a voice-over your reel would be sent out, and you would do your callback, and ultimately your booking, at a recording studio secured by the producer. You might be asked to prepare material from the show if you were called back. For your initial audition (for a singing or acting role) you would bring your “book” and perform a selection of your own choosing. Callbacks might be the same day as your original audition or months apart. Artists might be called back multiple times (so much so that AEA had to put a limit on how many times an artist could be called back for a role without being financially compensated.) Long gone (for the most part) were the days of finding out if you booked a part the same day you auditioned for it. Open calls and agent calls became two, very distinct things, often with an agent call equating with the callback from an open call. Verbal sharing of audition information morphed into trade papers, such as Backstage, which would list open calls and, occasionally, submission information – meaning that a casting director was accepting headshots and resumes from artists, on the basis of which some would be called in to audition in person. Casting directors became more prominent, often screening performers days, or weeks before bringing in their top choices to be seen by the creative team. Though agents existed, these were the days of artists crowding around popular Times Square areas where they could share audition info, producers could go to announce roles they were casting, and everyone could be kept up to date on who was hiring and where and when auditions were being held.Īs time went on auditioning in Broadway theaters stopped being the norm, giving way to scheduled auditions in rehearsal studios. This was true for dancers, singers, and actors. Those who made it through would have instantaneous “callbacks,” and the lucky final few left standing would be offered a job on the spot. Crowds of hopefuls would slowly be cut down as the afternoon wore on. ![]() Once upon a time, as glorified in “42nd Street,” “A Chorus Line,” and “All That Jazz,” auditioning took place in person, often on the stage of the Broadway theater where the show you were auditioning for would ultimately be held, and most likely you would learn your “fate” by the end of the day. These changes have benefits and drawbacks, but instead of continuing to blindly charge ahead, I think we need to pause and talk about where we stand with the current process of auditioning, taking into account the perspectives of both sides of the table.īecause, the truth is, performers are really struggling. In a post-Covid world, it’s likely this new way of operating will permanently define our “new normal” when it comes to the casting process. It began well before Covid, but during the pandemic, the necessity of functioning via a primarily virtual existence has only solidified and sped up these changes. Auditioning has gone through a revolution.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |