As a TV performer, you have to be ready for casting questions and answers, so have your answers ready for the casting director. You’ll be getting the interview and you need to be ready with your best answers.
The number one question on the minds of casting directors, managers, and agents are usually about what TV shows can cast you and why. It’s a tough question that stumps a lot of performers, but it is one you are going to have to answer if you want to look professional.
Consider, also, for yourself. Your time is valuable and you want to target the people who are most likely to hire you. You will save yourself a lot of time by targeting auditions for roles you know you have a good shot at.
“If you don’t know where they can sell you then you don’t know you.” It’s something A-list Mentor Lera says all the time, and it serves as a caution to all of us to stop and think about what we are doing before we hit the casting pavement.
Know thyself. It’s an old axiom that applies to auditioning.
Many casting directors, agents, and managers seek performers who know themselves. They want to work with people who know themselves well and submit as the type they are looking for. It demonstrates to everyone on the project that you are thinking about them. You see yourself as part of the team. A TV show is a collaborative effort.
A performer who knows themselves and targets the right people are thinking about the needs of the whole project. Think of all the time you’ll be saving casting directors, agents, and managers.
The riddle is how to know what roles you would be best for.
Let’s listen to Lera. She knows herself. She is originally from Russia. She speaks fluent English with a Russian accent. That is something she knows about herself. She easily could fit a role of a young woman who speaks English with a Russian accent.
She then needed to find auditions for roles. She did some research and discovered the hugely popular show Stranger Things is set during the 1980’s. The 80’s were a time of abundant conspiracy theories about Russians, and those theories were an integral part of the story for Stranger Things.
Lera knew that she could play the Russians on the show. She submitted, but she didn’t get the part.
This brings up an important point – just because you target and submit for a part and don’t get it doesn’t mean you wasted your time. She made a positive impression, a professional impression, by targeting her submission to what casting wanted. Professionalism gets noticed and rewarded.
Lera has a solid reputation because she does her research to target the parts she can play. She knows of the obvious things like her Russian accent, but she also knows about roles she can play from training and experience. She has worked on numerous major productions with top talent. She succeeds because she knows herself as an actress.
