Why Audition?

WILLIAM REYNOLDS;

IN MY OPINION;

WHY DO ACTORS/DANCERS/SINGERS

HAVE TO AUDITION???????

I love auditions. I always have and I always will. I will happily sit through day-long auditions. I recognize, however, that auditioning is a deeply flawed process with huge limitations.

For that reason, I also hate auditions. Their artificiality makes it difficult to understand how an actor works in a rehearsal and performance process. There’s also a historical  feeling to auditions that makes me uncomfortable. I see actors as co-creators rather than as puppets who execute my or a directors vision. I think I’m auditioning for them as much as they’re auditioning for me. But the reality is that sometimes we have more actors in front of us than we  have roles to fill., some actors need to start small. Some will hear “yes” and some will hear “no,” and I hate that. The fact remains that I must find a way to make decisions about who will we select to cast or submit to a casting director or director. Some actors do not take rejection well at all, and start blah blahing about how, or why they did not get the role. Some think it was all set up for someone else. Others see it as a learning process. Agents make their income from commissions and sometimes functioning as the casting director as well. We have to be selective and objective, many times stepping on toes and hurting feelings in the process

Taylor Mac wrote a great article about casting a couple of years ago, saying that we should completely do away with auditions and instead cast people we get to know through work in the community or working with them directly. This is, of course, a fantastic way to get to know actors– I’d even say the best way. But it’s not something that can replace auditions outright.

I use a combination of both techniques. I cast people without an audition (or bring them straight to callbacks) if they’re someone I’ve worked with before, or someone whose work I’m familiar with (head shot/resume). But I just can’t envision completely giving up auditions, because I think, as flawed as they are, they offer something unique to to the making of a film or TV, or casting for that matter.

But just like the NFL, the most dedicated and talented somehow seem to always come out with a job, and a career.