Every summer, my casting director colleagues and I get together and celebrate the end of pilot season before episodic casting starts up again. Inevitably, we get to talking about our pet peeves in the audition room. Between the cocktails we regale each other with hilarious—and scary—stories. In the interest of education, I’d like to share how to avoid being “that guy.”
Don’t wear perfume or cologne. Please remember that we have to sit in an often small, cramped room without ventilation for hours on end. Some of us are highly sensitive and allergic to perfume and get migraines and nausea. Think of the casting office like you would a doctor’s office. Don’t do it!
No weapons, not even fake ones. I’ve had actors pull fake guns and knives on me—it was very traumatic. If a scene asks you to pull a knife out of your jacket, please don’t do that in an audition. This could lead to a big producer putting you in a chokehold.
No touching the casting director. I was in a producers’ session reading a scene about a homeless guy who attacks a girl, and the actor put his arm under my chin so hard that he knocked the wind out of me. I was shaken. My producers were appalled.
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