I was talking with Tom McCafferty about auditions the other night and had a memory-a good one-about the national Budweiser commercial I booked a couple years back.

We were talking about being prepared. Well-prep for a commercial is usually pretty simple-but not "easy" if you are at all hard on yourself. You learn a page of dialogue-or a couple 15 second spots worth of dialogue. It is usually pretty easy-not Shakespeare-in fact most copyrighters haven't read Shakespeare, except for a required course to get their degree in communication or or advertising...so it is like every commercial you see:

"Jake here is a 15 year old German Shepard. He has been my best friend since grade school. But recently he started to limp...." Nothing major-just learn your lines. When you go in for the read-you are pretty much all smiles, you slate yourself (say your name and agent) and do your lines. You are in a non-discript room, with a couple of casting associates and a video camera-you stand on the mark (an X or line of tape on the floor), do your thing, they say thanks, and you leave. 99 times out of 100 you never hear about or think of the audition again. If you think about them afterwards, you will drive yourself crazy-and if you live in a town where you get a lot of auditions(Chicago, LA, NY, Toronto, Vancouver, Grand Rapids/Detroit) Austin/Houston) then you get enough of them you forget anyway.

Anyway, as we talked about prepping for auditions (Tom will be posting a story about an audution he booked-actually 2 auditions at once he booked), and I remembered the Bud commercial. I guess I remember it because I booked it-but when we were talking we were trying to figure out a way to tell young actors, or newly professional actors how to prepare for all auditinos, not just theatre and screen, but commercials too. So I remembered when my agent sent over the call sheet from the Advertising Agency-and I had a great idea to tell you guys. When you get that from your agent, it has the agency, casting director, copy(sides/script), and the DIRECTOR'S NAME. The director is key. Many film and television directors do commercials. And in the case of the Budweiser commercial, the director is a very well known, highly sought after commercial director. In fact, every commercial(spot) he shoots is like a feature. I mean these things are beautiful-and expensive. So, anyway, I looked him up on line, and found that he is way into improv, and often changes the shoot when his actors are in place. So, the sides weren't even sides-there was no dialogue-he wanted me to tell him something aobut myself for the audition. So, I thought about the funniest story about me I possibly could remember. And I practiced telling it to my wife the night before-So dig this, I acted out the story-think Lewis Black meets Jerry Seinfeld(not comparing myself with their talent-just to their story telling and animation)...well-it worked, because I booked the spot in 1 audition. That is right-no call backs, just booked it and less than a week later I was in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin playing a farmer.

Long and short-we are in a creative business. There are two words there-CREATIVE and BUSINESS. If you approach everything you do creatively and always remember this is a business, you will do alright. Most of the time, you will have dialogue to speak at an audition. In fact, 90% of the time you will do dialogue that is written for you. But, you can always improvise. If the lines feel stiff and not conversational, make them your own. If you know the dialogue, inside and out, then you can modify it and make it your own. This will always help you when auditioning(except for stage-know your lines and speak only your lines for stage). You can make a character who seems boring, stiff, and convoluted on paper real and your own. You just have to be prepared.

So, when you get your sides, you learn them. Learn them, and then learn them again. If you know your lines, you can do the part. But, if you not only learn them, but you prepare in front of a mirror, you can watch yourself as that character. By doing this, you will know if you are "that character". If the lines look and feel right-then don't make any changes. If they feel off, unreal, and stupid, then make some changes to make them sound like something you thought up. Now, this doesn't mean improv the whole scene. But it does mean to add your mark to it. You will make the director think when he sees your tape, about YOU, not the lines.

Also, don't ever listen to music when you are memorizing lines. If you hear other music just before you go in for your audtion, you will forget your lines-even if it is a 15 second spot. Music can really screw up your audition. On the day of the read, don't listen to it. Here is what happens: If you are reading for a spot that is a brand you recognize, you won't be able to get their jingle out of your head. In fact, think of the jingle while you prepare-it gets you in the spirit/mood. But if you listen to The Black Crowes when you are going in to read for puppy chow, well, you are not going to be in the spirit of the read. So, leave the music turned off. Live that copy. Live the character-even if it is just a commercial. Make it you, and you will book the callback at the very least.

I will talk about film and television auditions next. Tom McCafferty will talk about a film and a television episode he booked at the same time-and how professionalism, perseverence, and creativity played a role in booking him the best 3 weeks of work in his career, tomorrow.

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