OK, I know iPOD & Peter probably don't want to hear from me, but here I am!!!!!!!!!!

I know what you are saying, Peter. I'm not an expert on this, and don't claim to be, but I have been on quite a few commercial auditions lately, and I've studied with commercial casting directors. Joan See's book, "Acting in Commercials," (she's one of THE best commercial teachers out there) is an excellent book on this topic as well, so, here I go.....

These days, commercial CDs mainly want natural, conversational, spokesperson types. The 'announcer' format you are talking about is when an individual is talking straight to the camera about a service/product. The copy is sometimes referred to as 'spokesperson copy.'

What helps to make it 'conversational' and 'natural' is really figuring out WHY you are saying, what you are saying, and to WHOM! Just like in acting class, it's answering the basic who, what, when, where, and why questions. But for commercials, there isn't too much back story.....the answers are pretty straightforward. When you are speaking to the camera, who exactly are you talkin to? Are you telling a friend a secret? Are you telling your lover life is unpredictable, so that's why you need to purchase life insurance? In other words, a really brief little story. Are you telling your brother he shouldn't feel self-conscious, because everyone is, and that the deoderant you are marketing will help that? See where I am getting at? There may not be an actual other person in the audition, or in the copy......but you're telling SOMEONE this story, so who and why? Personalize it! It's never about the product, it's the message that you are sending! For example, "Life is too short." Or, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

The moment before you speak is especially important! What compelled you to say the first line? Why are you saying those words?

Finally, there are some CDs out there who are what I call, "old school." They are the ones who still are stuck in the 'announcer' way of doing things. That went out with the 80s and 90s. You'll know when you encounter these folks.

So, iPOD is right in that you should forget how the script/copy is written........you need to personalize it. And I would bet that for commercials, 9 times out of 10 that's what they want.

You are referring to commercials, right? Boy, would I feel like a dope if you meant something else and I wrote all this stuff!!!!! But that's what I gathered from your posting.

OK, I'll shut up now. I hope I helped, even just a wee little bit. I'm sure you know all this stuff anyway, just trying to add something.

quote:

Originally posted by redheadlady:
OK, I know iPOD & Peter probably don't want to hear from me, but here I am!!!!!!!!!!

Speak your mind. I may disagree with you, but by all means, speak your mind.

Yes, speak! I love what you've written.

Don't ever think I don't want to hear. I don't ever have to be right. I like hearing from everybody.

I'm glad you wrote what you did. I need to remember this more and more as I do commercial auditions.

I get what you are saying about personalizing. In fact, one CD told me "I want you to speak as if you were telling your best friend about this great deal."

But that's the problem for me. The way it was written! There is no way anybody would speak using those words in a conversational, personal way. The very language on the page is formal--and yet they want you to be informal.

I wanna scream, WELL THEN HAVE THE FUKING WRITER WRITE THE SHITT IN AN INFORMAL WAY!

But, as you have probably guessed, it would not be in our best interests to do that.

OK, I hear ya, personalize, personalize, personalize.....

Heh RHL I think we took the same class--taught by a woman?

quote:

But that's the problem for me. The way it was written! There is no way anybody would speak using those words in a conversational, personal way. The very language on the page is formal--and yet they want you to be informal.

I wanna scream, WELL THEN HAVE THE FUKING WRITER WRITE THE SHITT IN AN INFORMAL WAY!

It's kind of like this. You know Shakespeare right? And you know how 99% of people who try to perform Shakespeare tack on some cheesy heightened British accent "because that's the way it was written"? And you know how that looks completely cheesy and you want to roll your eyes when you see a performance like that? Same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by CSilvera:
Heh RHL I think we took the same class--taught by a woman?

Actually, I've studied commercials with a few folks:
1) Barry Shapiro at Actors Connection. He's a commercial casting director. He is very technical and 'old school.' He's more about keeping your eyes on the cue card and less about the who, what, when , where, and why.....he's assuming you know how to do that already. He has called me to audition for him twice.

2) I took a general 'Auditioning for Film&TV' class with Ruth Nerken at the School for Film & TV. She had one or two sessions devoted to commercials. She's very good and she books a lot of commercials herself. She is ALL about the acting questions, and creating a 'moment before.'

3) When I was out in LA, I met Lisa Pantone, a commercial casting director. I bought her CD for $20 on acting for commercials. I love that CD, and actually had friends over my house watch it. We all sat together and took notes. Very helpful, and probably as good as taking a class.

4) FINALLY - Joan See's book is great. It's a little outdated at this point, probably 8 or 10 years old, but a GREAT book! Talks about all the different types of commercials out there, and how to prepare for them.

So when I go out, I probably take the advice of everyone mentioned above. I think it's important to have an acting teacher like Ruth give you one perspective, and a CD give you another.

I'm now freelancing with two commercial agents and three managers for commercials. Believe it or not, I haven't gone out on THAT many auditions, it's still relatively new for me. But I'm starting to get used to it. Haven't booked anything yet, but I got a 1st refusal on something, and I booked two industrials. I had two today which went very well, so we'll see........

Hah, I hadn't studied with any of them, but the advice I received was the same! And I believe it works.

My experience is that it does not happen on Union auditions, just non-union.

In regards to the "audition with other actors in the room" question, I know that I've been on both sides of the table.

I was reading sides for my manager to pick up some extra cash and we were just kind of churning through groups of actors. Every now and again, he'd give a comment out such as "well, you look nervous." The actor would explain that he/she isn't used to having other people in the audition room with him/her, etc.

The idea behind this is that, largely in film, the room is full of people besides the casting director and director. Usually people who may have nothing to do with the actual final choice in casting. It might be frustrating, and I understand how hard it can be to do your work in such a setting, but that's part of the reasoning behind it.

While auditioning is the process through which talent is supposed to declare itself, there are a lot of factors that can trip you up, etc. Maybe, if you're running into this problem all the time, have your friends set up a mock situation so you get used to doing sides in front of others.

I did audition for a play, and after two rounds of traditional call backs, the third round had the director place the eight final actors she was considering in the room and had us do a monologue in front of one another. It's tension filled, because you wanna support your fellow artist, but it really hammers home the competition aspect of auditioning.

The final callbacks were two actors for each part doing scenes from the play with the other actors called back. Frustrating, yes, but I highly doubt the director was doing it just to be evil; and I firmly believe, while working on the play with her, that it was the best way she knew how to create the ensemble she wanted.

Hi, I just thought I'd jump in with some info here too; albeit, nearly 7 months after this thread started, but I couldn't resist!

I just love reading all of your experiences and watching the brainstorming and problem solving out loud. I wanted to say that my daughter, who just turned 13, has been auditioning for nearly 4 years now, and it is the rare occasion when it is just her in the room. In fact, she was at Chelsea Studios last week for a big audition, and they had all the kids in one room, singing their 16 bars one right after the other. They were all watching and able to hear the critiquing from the directors. Although she was used to this, it was the first time she didn't hear a panel of directors (casting, musical, and artistic) saying "great job" to each and every kid. Some of the kids just couldn't handle it. With kids, I feel it can go one of two ways - either it lights a fire under them to become really competitive; or it can make them insecure and nervous and unable to perform. My daughter said the directors were brutally honest saying to some of the kids "you seem nervous" or "why not try it again with more feeling this time" or "it wasn't that great", "come back next year", etc.

They were given a callback sheet right there if they were asked to go to the 2nd round in the afternoon which was dance. They were taughta a fairly complex routine by a choreographer, and if you couldn't keep up, you were asked to leave at that point. Those asked to stay, went on to do scenes with partners in front of all the other kids. The directors offered tips to some, then had them try again, and then either kept them or released them. The final 5 left (my daughter made it to the end) had to sing together as a group, and it sounded awesome. We could hear them in the corridor. It was amazing to follow the process from beginning to end. The kids had the song memorized after singing it just 3 times and the harmony was incredible. It was as if they were singing together for years. I think that is the part that blew me away the most. We were there from 7:30 in the morning until nearly 5pm, and they started with about 220 kids. In the end, they had what they believed were the best choices for the roles. What is different for me this time was that the process was so professionally organized and decided so rapidly that you wondered how they could have narrowed it down so quickly. What was heartwrenching was watching some of the kids coming out crying (we've been on that end a few times too - my daughter never cries, but it can leave you feeling a bit downtrodden). I had always wondered how the process worked, and this particular time, I got a small glimpse into it. We were officially notified about the role my daughter was cast in 4 days later.

Bottom line is that from my experience, they get the kids used to auditioning in front of each other as though that is the norm. For commercials, she usually reads the same script with other kids in groups of about 6-8 at a time.

I'm in LA and have had (SAG) commercial auditions with more than one person in the room. I think it's fairly common for commercials here. One was for a Nip/Tuck Promo and it was three girls at a time, we danced together and then we all had our little scene. Also, for a TJ Maxx commercial, we all walked together like on a runway. Had a double dutch jump rope audition (double dutch requires 3 people) so that was in a group outside the casting office. I've also had non union group auditions- one for a music video and one where they had lots of people so they took two actresses at a time and we each did our separate thing.

I think it all depends sometimes on the actual script. I don't let it psyche me out - I just try to chat/bond with the other actors cause I think a good energy means you're likely to get called back/book the job.

A lot of auditions for kids are done in groups...at least that is our experience. Not so much with legit, but definitely commercial.