Group Auditions

[chenjie108]

Hi, has anyone auditioned for a film in groups, instead of individually?

I was thinking I'd start everyone off with breathing/vocal/body warmups (anyone have good ideas / games to warm actors up?)

Then we'd move on to doing sides in minigroups.

And lastly we'd have individuals read sides from the script.


THoughts?

 

[trueindie]

Hi, has anyone auditioned for a film in groups, instead of individually?

I was thinking I'd start everyone off with breathing/vocal/body warmups (anyone have good ideas / games to warm actors up?)

Then we'd move on to doing sides in minigroups.

And lastly we'd have individuals read sides from the script.


THoughts?

Very bad idea. Don't do it.

Actors are going to be self-conscious in front of other people. They're already going to be preoccupied trying to impress you. You need to do you/your team vs each actor.

You have to take actors seriously. Not all of them are serious people. But neither are all directors. If you want to be able to identify good actors, you have to know what you like, what you don't like, and you have to give them pointers during the audition, see how they respond, etc.

This is a bad idea on many, many levels. I don't want to go into the dynamics of all of them. But honestly, take your actors and acting very seriously. Some people believe that 90% of directing, is casting. I couldn't agree more. If you get bad actors, everything you do afterwards, is not going to be worth it.

 

[directorik]

Hi, has anyone auditioned for a film in groups, instead of individually?

I was thinking I'd start everyone off with breathing/vocal/body warmups (anyone have good ideas / games to warm actors up?)

Then we'd move on to doing sides in minigroups.

And lastly we'd have individuals read sides from the script.


THoughts?

You aren't teaching an acting class. While actors with no experience auditioning
might enjoy this beacuse it will feel like an acting class, actors who have gone
to other auditions are likely to find this approach pretentious and less than
professional.

However, if you want to do this then I suggest you take a few acting classes
to see what games and techniques coaches use to warn up actors.

 

[ahennessey]

Is this an open call, or are these people you have selected for audition?

I ask because as a professional actor, if I went to an open call audition I would expect to wait, be seen and leave. I would not be expecting, (as true indie and Director have said,) some type of group acting class.

If this was an audition I was selected to attend, I would either have the sides in advance and have worked on them and prepped myself to go in and audition, or I would expect to be given the sides when I got there and then I would be expecting that I could read them over, analyze them, work out the beats, get in the mindset etc. Group activities are fun, and I know you are coming from a place of wanting to make it less stressful, but in my case at least, I would find it more stressful.

Also, I may have suggested this to you in another thread, but I highly suggest running auditions for film this way:

1. Put out a good detailed call notice asking people to submit headshots and resumes.

2. Look through the headshot and resume submissions to see who interests you. Look at reels if they have them.

3. With a narrowed down list, reach out to them and give them the sides. Ask them to video themselves doing the sides with somebody and send it to you. Give them a deadline when they have to have it in to you by.

4. From those submissions, you can narrow it down to those you want to have an in person audition with.

I'm an actor, I have gone though this process a lot. I have also cast two features and bunch of shorts this way.

It will save you lots of time.

 

[chenjie108]

Thank you, this seems like sound advice. I've always auditioned individuals in the past, but this time a producer I'm working alongside wants to do this "group audition" where we do exercises together, then have everyone wait while we call in two or three people at a time to work on sides together, and single people to do monologue sides.

It seems sort of strange to me, but I agreed to try it out of curiosity. Maybe I should have asked y'all first!

I've already done the first few steps, putting out calls and sifting through reels. In the future I think I'll try your version of having actors send in recorded sides.

:/

 

[directorik]

Thank you, this seems like sound advice. I've always auditioned individuals in the past, but this time a producer I'm working alongside wants to do this "group audition" where we do exercises together, then have everyone wait while we call in two or three people at a time to work on sides together, and single people to do monologue sides.

So let's see if I understand...

You have 10 actors and they all show up at 10AM. You do exercises
and acting games for half an hour. Then you do five minutes with
two or three people at a time while everyone waits. That's another
30/40 minutes. Then you spend five minutes with each actor doing
a monologue. That's another hour. So the last person to do a
monologue is sitting and waiting for almost an hour after spending
about an hour. That's two hours of their time. And that's if all goes
like clockwork and you have only ten people...

If you see 20 people this method seems like a four hour commitment
for actors. And how many will get the parts? Two or three people?

When I audition actors I set times and get them in and out in 15/20
minutes. I would never expect an actor (or ten actors) to give me two
hours of their time for an audition.

 

[Sasa]

When I audition actors I set times and get them in and out in 15/20
minutes. I would never expect an actor (or ten actors) to give me two
hours of their time for an audition.

That's exactly what a sane and mature filmmaker's supposed to do! Great advice that should be followed!

Don't "group interview" actors. That's pure BS, man. Try to treat them like the hard-working professionals that many of them claim to be. Anything less is asking for trouble. Casting is hard, there's no easy way to do it or around it.

 

[chenjie108]

Ooh, I see. 15 minutes a time is how I've always auditioned actors in the past. I was just wondering about different unconventional methods, I'll probably stick with what's tried and true.

 

[ahennessey]

BTW, I don't want you to think that there is anything inherently wrong with unconventional methods in auditioning or rehearsal and production. And there are some actors that are totally down with that. And it might be the way to go depending on the project.

However, you just need to make sure you manage expectations of everybody involved. In other words, you just need to lay all of that out clearly right from the initial call notice.

 

[directorik]

Ooh, I see. 15 minutes a time is how I've always auditioned actors in the past. I was just wondering about different unconventional methods, I'll probably stick with what's tried and true.

I agree there is nothing wrong with unconventional methods. If
you find actors willing to give up four hours of their day for a
group audition and they want to do warm ups and games like
an acting class then it may work. I suspect most actors do not
want to spend that much time at an audition. Unless it might
result in a high paid job on a major film with a well known
director.

Has this producer you're working alongside done this successfully
in the past?