subject: Get More Auditions Straight From Producers [print this page] Get More Auditions Straight From Producers
Get More Auditions Straight From Producers
If you're looking for ways to increase your auditions, you are in the right place. Now, every actor knows that it's important to have an agent, and if casting directors don't know you, it's hard to get auditions. Yet actors forget that casting directors and agents don't actually hire you for jobs. The people who hire you for jobs are producers.
As the Actor's Advocate, what I recommend to all of my students is that you reach out and become known by the producers you most what to work with. Let me give you a few tips on how to make that happen.
First, identify the actors or directors you would most like to work with. You can look these people up on IMDB Pro and identify the producers they work with most often. This is going to give you a nice, targeted list of producers that you will market to on a monthly basis.
Then, send a headshot, send a postcards, send your demo reel, make phone calls, volunteer at the producers office. Take action in a consistent way to become known by these producers.
I was on an industry panel last year with a casting director who works for a very busy television series. She was complaining that she would go through the entire casting process, and at the very end, the actor who "won the job" is not the actor who got hired for the role. Why? The producer gave the job to one of their friends.
Now we can think this is unfair or complain about nepotism, or we can appreciate the fact that all of us want to work with the people we know and like. Your job now is simply to become known and liked by the producers who can hire you. You can accomplish this through effective marketing and networking.
I recommend utilizing Goole alerts (www.google.com/alerts) in order to stay up-to-date on all the producers you'd like to build a relationship with. Google will e-mail you when the producers have a project that has been greenlit, when they're nominated for an award, or when they will be speaking at a networking event. With that information, you can attend the same events as your target producers, send congratulatory notes when they are nominated for an award, and be the first actor to reach out through marketing when they have a new project in the works.
Again, the trick here is to research a short, targeted list of producers and truly become known by them. You become known first by doing great work and secondly by effective marketing.
