YIKES! 

Have you read well-meaning "advice" like this recently from so-called "Industry Experts" online? In a blog? On Twitter? Or, maybe you've heard it while in acting class? This is dangerous "advice"!

However, if you are auditioning as a hobbyist, then we guess it's "okay" to leave it up to chance... However 99% of our readers want to get PAID as a performer. So guess what? You are in business. 

You are probably auditioning because you want to book work, build your resume, get footage for your reel, garner new or better representation, earn a living solely as a performer and not have to wait tables or work in a cubicle. Auditioning is a major time and money investment.

So, if you keep going in from one audition to the next and you just "hope for the best", then at what point (and after how many auditions) will you get overly frustrated? Demoralized by the fact that you find yourself with NO bookings, broke and ultimately decide to give it all up?

Don't be frustrated. Perhaps it would be wise after an audition to do what so many other performers are doing that benefits them every day.

For example, logging into PerformerTrack what you wore to an audition so you can wear it to the callback (ala 'repeat the look, repeat the performance' rule). Over time you may notice:

"...hmmm, when I wear my hair pulled back
and my 3 button green polo with my tan pants
I seem to get more callbacks
for the "girl-next-door" roles. 
However, when I wear my hair wild and curly
with my red shirt and black pants
I don't seem to get many callbacks
for those types of roles."

This way, when you get called in for that next "girl-next-door" audition you can make a wise choice to wear the outfit that tends to get you more callbacks and bookings. Smart, huh?

Feeling It Over & Over Again: The Replay Syndrome

We've heard Industry Experts say that it's not a good thing to spend time trying to change what you can't (for example - after the audition you replay it over and over in your head - thinking "If I had only done this..." or "If I had only done that..."). If you do this then it is quite possible that you didn't really prepare properly BEFORE the audition.

We hear it from casting directors all the time that unfortunately many of the actors they bring in don't do the minimal preparation. We also hear from actors how hard it is to get the material off the page. How they can't believe they 'flubbed a few lines in that commercial spot'. Well, if you don't take the necessary steps to help ease the approach to the copy or the script before you even look at it, then that's a shame. Instead, take a few extra minutes and steps to gain awareness and build confidence. It is well worth it!

Do NOT continue down the path of not preparing like casting directors and clients expect you to. Do NOT go to another audition and just "hope for the best" or worse, hope that you'll just "get discovered". How many people on the red carpet were "just discovered", or did they discipline themselves to be good performers who are also really good business people?

HINT! Check out our "Audition Game Plan: The Master Class" webinar which receives a lot of praise. In only 2 hours and 12 minutes you will gain an insight on what could probably lead to more callbacks and bookings. After all, bookings are what you need to create a paying career, right?

How About This One...

Huh?! Really? 

That's right. It's good to be a one hit wonder. Book one gig, it ends and then just wait... they will call you soon to book you again. You and your agent's phones will be ringing off the hook!

No. Not likely. Not likely at all.

When you start booking work how will you maintain things? How will your career sustain itself? Sure, you may hire a bunch of people to do everything for you... You can pay your agent their cut, your personal manager too, then your financial advisor is going to have his hand out. Also your assistant, your publicist, your stylist, your driver, your chef, your personal trainer, your acting, voice and career coaches, your assistant's assistant... oh, and don't forget taxes... 

...mmm, what do you have left?

Wouldn't it be wise to keep the momentum going with your team so you have on board only those you need and you know where all your money is going and why it's going where it is?

Wouldn't it be great to know what's going on in your career because you spent a few minutes here and there logging in some data. You probably already spend time Twittering, voting for friends in contests, and going to networking mixers. Couldn't you also devote some time to your performing business?

Do successful agencies with big overhead (i.e. - offices, staff, business utilities) like Don Buchwald and Associates, Inc., The Gersh Agency, CESD Talent Agency track the success of their clients? Do they spend time on performers who aren't going anywhere? Or, do they pay special attention to the ones that are heavy hitters? Do they see which of their agents are repping clients who are bringing in the dollars, or are they just "hoping for it to all work out"?

Do these agencies feel bad if what they are tracking isn't working? Or, do they realize that this is a business and it's time to change and adapt their company in an effort to steer it in the right direction? Ahhh... and so should you!

Our Last Point ...

So our last point from another Industry professional... and sadly many, others...

So is it important to FEEL good about your audition, even if it was crappy? Perhaps it is more important to log that it felt crappy, why it might have felt crappy (you were late, under prepared or just plain psyched-out) so that you can revert back to it if your audition/callback ratio is not improving or if you are not booking work/paid work. Think about it, if you have an agent are they really going to keep you on their roster because they don't want you to feel bad? 

If you are having one crappy audition after another do NOT just "hope for change" without changing anything. Do NOT give yourself a warm fuzzy feeling after every audition just so you don't bruise your ego. Step up to the plate and kick your career in the butt! Taking your career seriously is what will turn auditions into bookings. Our CEO, performer Brian Vermeire discusses this in the Inside Acting Podcast and we've received many Thank You's (hand written and e-mailed) about this subject. 

Having a thriving performing career FEELS wonderful. But let's get you there and keep you there. 

You want to do less, more often, right?
Work smarter, not harder, correct? 

These popular phrases do not translate into "hoping", they translate into "doing". Doing things that actually work that turn into pay, that turn into a career where you actually have some balance in your life. That "doing" takes a few minutes before an audition and a few minutes after to track and log what is happening so you can move forward and book work. Build upon that work from the foundation of your performing business on up throughout all the floors from smaller roles to bigger ones all the way to the penthouse where you can look out and finally FEEL good, really good.

Wouldn't that feeling of success be better than the feeling of hoping for success?