How To Let Go Of Your Last Audition

You finally get an audition, and you throw yourself into the deep end of preparation.

You’ve done the scene study, character development, made your choices, spent the time memorizing every word. You’ve organized your day so that you can be 100% present at this audition, even if it is self-taped at home. 

You might have driven for an hour through traffic, panicking over a flat tire, maybe even got a traffic ticket on the way just so you could be on time.

  You gave the best audition possible. Or maybe you’ve flubbed a line. Maybe the audition didn’t go the way you wanted it to.

No matter how it goes, once the audition is over, it’s out of your hands.

But you still keep thinking about it. You might even be kicking yourself over mistakes or things you forgot to do. For people in general, it’s hard enough to let go of our anxiety. But for actors, this might be one of the most typical times for high anxiety. You can’t go back and change it. It is what it is.

 Now, what do you do? You wait. And wait some more. And if you don’t hear anything in a couple of days, it’s usually over. I say, usually, because sometimes it’s even longer than that. You have no idea what producers are doing.

But no matter what happens, this is what you need to know so you can let all of that anxiety go.

As it is in life, you can only control a few things.

 Here’s what you can control:

 Your character choices

1. Your preparation
2. Your essence and charm
3. Your professionalism

Here’s what you can’t control: 

1.  The producers vision of the role
2. Changes that happened to the script
3. The actors who are booked for other roles…they might look too similar as you
4. When a role has been cut
5. When a scene has been deleted
6. When producers decide to change the description of the role

There are so many things out of our hands. The sooner you can understand this, the easier it gets to move on after an audition.

 For example, you can't become Hispanic, if you are Asian. Meaning if they change the character description, you’re probably not getting the role.

Why waste time worrying about the past audition? You did your job. Now you need to focus on the next job, the next audition.

Our job as actors is not to book, it is to audition.

When we get a callback, or when we are on hold for a project, that is a major win. Celebrate!

 You already won because you got that audition. You may have only performed for one person, the casting director. But your job is to act, and you did that.

But if that’s not enough, here, are some suggestions to get that audition out of your mind:

1. Go for a walk with a friend.
2. Start working on another scene, whether it's for an audition, acting class, or something just for yourself.
3. Have an activity for after the audition, like grocery shopping or lunch or going to your day job.

 Usually anxiety is triggered when you stay focused on a stress point for too long. Distraction is a completely valid way to stop thinking about it.

 And here’s the funny thing. Sometimes, when you feel like you didn’t book the role because weeks have gone by, you end of booking it. We never know the timeline for producers.

 Remember, the saying, “There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself?“ There same goes with worrying about your audition. It doesn’t help anything or anyone.

So learn to schedule other tasks after an audition.

The longer you are in this business, the easier it gets to let it go. You’ll realize there’s always another audition to prep for. 

You don’t have time to worry about yesterday. Focus on today and tomorrow.

TAKE AN AUDITIONING CLASS!

 Okay, so one last bit of advice so you know that you're doing everything you can as an actor. If you're not in class, that might be a HUGE reason you have self-doubt and anxiety. If you haven't been to an acting class when that audition comes up, it's too late. You need to be enrolled in a good acting class right now, way before that audition-of-a-lifetime pops up. So get in class today! 

Now get ready for your next audition!

Break a leg,

Nancy