You arrive at your audition early as always. Your appointment is 12pm and you figure you'll be there for about a half hour and you'll be able to meet the wife and son for lunch. Typically you walk in, find the closest restroom because you have been in the car for an hour or so, sign in, run your lines in the hall or at your seat, you may run in to an acquaintance and chat it up, then get called in, audition, and walk out by about 12:25pm. Today, you walk in and you see a line of actors leading from the waiting area through the hall. You hear whispers of "I've been here since 10am and still haven't been called in." You can't find the sign in sheet, and the person who has it is not the assistant as there isn't one. You sign your name under 25+ people ahead of you. The group that is in now doesn't come out for about 15 min. Actors are ditching the audition because they can't stay any longer for whatever the reason. You find out that it is in groups of 4 for the audition. Since there is no assistant, it's chaos as to who is to go next, thus, further slowing down the process and because people are leaving without notice, the order is getting mixed up and you have no idea when your turn is next. The Casting Director comes out once and looks stressed and the names he calls for up for next are either here or not, making the CD even more stressed, completely screwing up his process and wasting everyone's time.
I must admit, I wanted to leave too. I was already passed my typical half hour mark. At a certain point it was ridiculous and didn't seem worth it. I assessed the situation and thought, "How will that look to my agent that I just ditched the audition." How would that look to the Casting Director who I may audition for again? What does that say about my work ethic?
Now, there are union rules for this type of situation where if the audition goes longer than a certain amount of time, they pay you. It wasn't till after this particular situation that I looked up the rules. I will post links at the bottom of 2 articles that address this issue. The articles also give you things to consider before you make an issue of it but this is how I handled it.
Now, there are union rules for this type of situation where if the audition goes longer than a certain amount of time, they pay you. It wasn't till after this particular situation that I looked up the rules. I will post links at the bottom of 2 articles that address this issue. The articles also give you things to consider before you make an issue of it but this is how I handled it.
So what should you do? By all means, in my opinion, you have a right to leave and your agent would probably agree. I definitely thought about it and almost did however, I just thought it would be the wrong thing, FOR ME, to do. I stepped up to the plate and took charge of the situation. I knew that if someone would do something to help the process along, things would get moving and I wouldn't be too late for my lunch plans.
I grabbed the sign in sheet and began calling out names as to who was still here and who had left the building. I began putting actors in groups of four accordingly. As people came in I would sign them up and tell them who they would be entering with. What about my lines? I was prepared. I did the homework as any actor should do before the audition, so it wasn't a worry to me. The line of people began to move. The actors moods began to change. They began thanking me for stepping up. The tension in that room lifted. I also made sure that there was someone else willing to continue the work when I left and because I stepped up, there were others willing to do the same now.
Things moved surprisingly fast after that and I got in the audition room 45-50 minutes of my arrival. Not bad considering the situation. The word got to him of what I was doing. He seemed less stressed about the day and things were moving along. He thanked me for helping out.
I wasn't looking for praise from the CD and hoping he would hire me because of it. I just wanted to leave on time and have lunch with my family. I just felt that it was the right thing to do at the time.
At different audition, the same type of thing was happening but this time, actors were very vocal amongst themselves. They started saying mean things about the CD, huffing and puffing in the halls, reciting union rules, etc. How did that help the situation and how did that help their audition? How does it help if you are not in the mind set for your audition. I'm sure it threw off some of the actors and it affected their performance. In this particular room I kept my calm and cool and went over my lines and what I was going to do. I just figured it was extra time to work out my nerves and yes, I had things that needed to be done that it was holding me back on. My choice was to stay and complete the audition. The upset actors could have left if it was that bad for them and taken it up with their agent or union rep. Some had real worries about who was going to pick their kids up from daycare or that they needed to get back to work. I believe there is a way to present yourself in these types of situations and a time and place to voice your concerns. I actually walked away from this audition very confident that I was at the top of my game despite the long wait and thick room and guess what? I booked that role!
I wasn't looking for praise from the CD and hoping he would hire me because of it. I just wanted to leave on time and have lunch with my family. I just felt that it was the right thing to do at the time.
At different audition, the same type of thing was happening but this time, actors were very vocal amongst themselves. They started saying mean things about the CD, huffing and puffing in the halls, reciting union rules, etc. How did that help the situation and how did that help their audition? How does it help if you are not in the mind set for your audition. I'm sure it threw off some of the actors and it affected their performance. In this particular room I kept my calm and cool and went over my lines and what I was going to do. I just figured it was extra time to work out my nerves and yes, I had things that needed to be done that it was holding me back on. My choice was to stay and complete the audition. The upset actors could have left if it was that bad for them and taken it up with their agent or union rep. Some had real worries about who was going to pick their kids up from daycare or that they needed to get back to work. I believe there is a way to present yourself in these types of situations and a time and place to voice your concerns. I actually walked away from this audition very confident that I was at the top of my game despite the long wait and thick room and guess what? I booked that role!
A lot of times things aren't perfect. Sometimes the situation calls for someone to step up to the plate and lead in the name of professionalism. I don't think I would have been looked down at for leaving if I did, but it wouldn't have been professional of me.
Here are the links to the articles I mentioned.
Here are the links to the articles I mentioned.
From Casting Director Bonnie Gillespie:
http://bonniegillespie.com/blog/sign-in-sign-out/
From Backstage.com:
http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/commercials/signing-in-signing-out/
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