^ I read the diaper comment on audition update and think it was a joke… getting there at 2:30 a.m. to sign up on the informal list was not. My S has had no experience with that either.
I recently heard people I trust talking about an actual fight that broke out as people attempted to add friend’s names to lists. That and other events might indicate building stress among those finding it hard to be seen.
Let’s hope it does’t come to singing mobs with rolling pins and farm implements.
My daughter is actually doing these open calls in NYC right now. Those 2 AM unofficial lists that may or may not be accepted and all the rest are real. But here is the trick to bring this back to something less insane. Actors need to do their homework and learn how to self-edit. They should ONLY show up for things they are right for and stop just shooting at anything that moves. It creates chaos and an overly long process for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you decide to audition after queuing up at 2 AM if you are waiting for a role that you will NEVER get cast in. But it might matter a lot to the person who shows up at 9 AM who really is right for the part but will never get seen because the line is just too long and they will never get to him/her. If as a group all actors could just wise up to this, it would make things better for everyone and the process less insane.
My daughter is doing her part. She is self-editing. She has realized that shooting at anything that moves is a huge time suck which also takes away from earning money in survival jobs, sleep, social life and all of the rest. It sort of makes me think of what I ponder whenever I’m stuck in traffic on a highway with no reasonable explanation for the congestion. “Hey people why don’t we all just decide to go faster together right now as a group so we can all get where we are going sooner?” Sigh.
@halflokum
Agree:)
Many of these kids have been surrounded by that “more” is “better” approach, look at the numbers of colleges all kids are encouraged to apply to these days. I can believe many of them are going overboard, kudos to your kiddo for valuing her time as well as everyone else’s.
The “open call” casting, although hypothetically possible, has become less and less improbable due to everything so throughly outlined in all the previous posts. (Yes, Yes, we all know open-call success stories…I also heard that this one guy shot a hole-in-one once, too.)
Could it be that if you plan to move The City for your career, you should have your Equity Card first. Work in Dallas/Fort Worth, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul Etc (those Equity Lines are so much shorter.) Would that be an effective barometer to an actor’s marketability?
@sbc, I think you are on to something here which is really too bad. I wish I could remember the exact circumstances and details but my daughter went to an audition within the last month (and it could have been the combined Rent tour and whatever the other show was that it was paired with… blanking… Mama Mia?) and her quote was something like, “we need to figure out how to be nicer to each other.”
I thought she meant something like maybe hallway brawls in the queue but she didn’t. She meant that the process of matching the work with the people seeking the work needed to be more dignified. Instead it has become something that looks an awful lot like what I see when I drive into my local Home Depot. A large cast of very willing day workers whom I’m sure many are great at what they do, some better than others, but all have to stand there all day waving at cars in the hopes that someone actually is looking for their skills instead of picking up a 12 pack of light bulbs. And when a car actually stops, there are only seconds for the hiring manager to decide who really is a skilled worker vs. not. And… because the demand for the work far exceeds the supply, the really skilled worker may have to rely on luck of just getting picked randomly and settle for less than what they are worth until their value is recognized.
So back to your point @sbc, maybe because of the more is better that seems to be the message in the college process, people are being taught early on not to expect much and to accept anything. It’s wrong. This work is too hard and too specialized for that to be the norm.
How do these auditions know they are not right for a part?
@bisouu ~Auditioners need to know their type… leading man, best friend, ingénue etc and not just go to an audition to go.
There’s a breakdown, too, which will say things like Joe, African American 20s…
But with so many production willing to do blind casting etc. I think many performers feel like they can break the mold and be cast…
Blind casting still would not go against type. For instance my son is a best friend, skater dude, rock and roll guy. He is not going to be cast as a tall, dark and handsome leading man type. He plays to his advantage.
There’s bending the mold, and then there’s breaking it . . .
It is acceptable to break the mold by sending someone who is a little bigger and non-white for Cinderella or Belle, as opposed to a thin stereotype princess look. Breaking it would be a waste of time. For instance there should be no overlap in the guys auditioning for Gaston and for Lefou in Beauty and the Beast. Another bad thing is to break racial necessities white people shouldn’t waste their time at certain calls for Porgy & Bess, and Ragtime.
Yeah, Like “Hamilton.”
Totally agree with @lojosmo. Actors must know their type. It is only worth attending auditions that you are right for. My kid would never bother with an audition that she knows she is wrong for. She doesn’t attend any open calls, but just saying this is something a professional actor needs to know about themselves. My D, for example, is not the ingenue, nor the chorus girl.
@ManVan not sure what you mean about Hamilton?
Just some sarcasm.
@ManVan - I get the sarcasm - But if you read Hamilton’s casting calls (which I think you can still find on backstage etc) they CALLED for diverse ethnicities to play the founding fathers- it’s not like that “happened along the way”. So type issue would still apply. Actually, my husband laughs at me - b/c the one thing that “bugs” me in Hamilton casting is that the actor playing James Madison is the tallest guy in the cast- when Madison was our shortest president (under 5’4"!) My husband says “you’re fine with the fact that he’s African American… But it bothers you that he’s tall…” To which iI respond “yes”, and he shakes his head
@toowonderful, I think that is the frustrated 6’ actress in you feeling some rightfully sour grapes for never getting the same free pass (Never mind the AP History teacher).