Uncomplicate Your Acting
Air Date: January 19, 2023
Having had a very successful year with the multiple projects we’ve cast at McCorkle
Casting, I have come to the conclusion that actors are smart. Really smart. So much so that it is astonishing to see and experience how much talent, training and tenacity today’s actor brings into the audition space. It’s amazing. With all the positive’s, however, there are some universal issues I’ve seen with talent. It’s time we address these issues head on. Let’s uncomplicate your acting on this episode of Casting Actors Cast!
Ways in which actors complicate their acting:
1. Work on being “unique” or different in the way they chose to audition
2. Over intellectualize the choices
3. Disregard the information provided on the breakdown
4. Believe that “making moments” is the most important impression to make
5. Deny simplicity in favor of “layers”
Ways to uncomplicate your acting:
1. Start with a foundation of you and not your imagination
2. Spend more time on the other character in the scene for direction
3. Once you understand what is happening, chose simple subtext
4. Trust your training and stop stinking thinking
5. Never ask, “what are they looking for?”
Why you need to uncomplicate your acting:
1. Casting needs to see you in the part, not your methods of preparation
2. School is over, you are not being graded
3. Not every role requires an intellectual debate
4. Casting/producers/directors need to see you in the part
5. It’s more fun that way!
There have been so many auditions of late that leave me more confused than enthusiastic. It is as if the method of preparation is more important to show than a clean, interesting, captivating way of you playing the part. That, compounded with the actors desire to be different creates a confusing impression for the observer. So, next time you are asked to audition for a role, refrain from thinking you must “do” something different. Remember, you are enough. You are unique, you are the character you are playing. Please let me know if this works for you. From where I sit, an uncomplicated audition is a breath of fresh air and you are reason.