Your Stage : Casting and auditions! by Ewan Parker-Eaton

Hi everyone! My name is Ewan and I am a 14 year old actor and recently had the opportunity to work in casting for the first time in an non-union Indy film which I am also starring in this summer in Chicago. The director has graciously let me join him on the other side of the table after I requested to be involved. It was eye opening for me! I am sure many of you have read any of the number of versions of "What not to do in an audition". Reading about the "do's and don'ts" is one thing but experiencing some of them was a lot more impactful. I have been an actor for 3 1/2 years and learn through little steps with each in-person audition, with each taped audition, stage work and all the jobs and classes I am involved in. To see both young adults and peers auditioning on tape and in person has made me much more confident in my own auditioning skills. I've learned a lot but what I learned you really can't teach someone without examples. I also have had to have very tough discussions with my director about certain actors because I knew that they did not have what it took to really immerse themselves in a role (but the director initially thought that they were great...). Some people just walk in and "they are that character" and it has nothing to do with the acting. Some people create the character within themselves and do a great job (and I only know this because I know the actors personally before the audition). My director had to be convinced to look at the skill set of the actor to see if he or she could show that character in "another way" to understand if the actor could express more than just "angry". Few actors could. The ones that did it well were the trained ones and they showed the range of from "angry" to "frustrated" (similar, but not the same...) to a combination of both to "frustrated and giving up". Some even did comedy even though it wasn't a comedy script (and it was funny) and it demonstrated how creative and open to ideas the actors were. My advice to other actors would be this - walk in the room confident and don't suck up to the casting directors-it downgrades your ability before you even start. Seriously, DO NOT SUCK UP TO CASTING-it made me feel uncomfortable and made the actor look desperate. Talk to me like I am a friend-on equal terms with you-do your thing and confidently walk out. Sucking up is bad altogether-don't do it. Do not do it on social media either... Awkward!!!! Another thing that put talent in a bad light-even before they started acting was the way some people walked in the room. Sheepish and unsure people right away made me feel like they couldn't do the work- I felt as if even they were unsure if they could do it. That's not a good message to send. Especially as I am the actor who has to work with you! My first thoughts are "Oh Jez, I'm am so not gonna be stuck working late at night doing this same scene over and over and over again with this actor because he can't act ...". That is not the message you want to be sending to casting. Be comfortable, say hello answer castings questions or ask a question if you have one and get on with the audition and at the end say goodbye and leave. Be prepared-don't come in and tell me that you haven't had time to read the script-that tells me you don't care about the project and don't care about wasting my time. If you are taping an audition-get a close up on your face, slate and give me a body shot so I have an idea how you might fit in with the rest of the cast. Don't talk about your body insecurities on tape-I never would have noticed if you didn't point them out-I don't care anyways-this isn't a beauty pageant. Have decent lighting and sound-I need to see and hear you to know if we want to call you in. I don't need you to invest in expensive equipment-iphones and iPads work!!! And lastly, if you don't get a part it doesn't mean you weren't great-a few really talented actors are not getting parts in this film because of things outside of their control. Like their size, their look and the age they projected. If an actor looked/sounded too much like myself and the other lead actor they were immediately eliminated. This is out of the actor's control. I hope you enjoyed what I wrote. This is my first big post here!