by: Natalie Lipka

At the beginning of 2015, I set a goal to get at least two auditions a week. While the breakdown by week has varied, by the end of each month, on average, I’ve achieved, if not exceeded my goal. Since I am currently seeking new representation, this goal has been set with my total effort in mind and has included print, commercial, short and feature film, and television auditions. It has been some of the best training of my career. When I set this goal, I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage it. But I know now more than ever that we are fully able to achieve anything we set our minds to. Here are a few tips to help you create your own career and get more auditions.

Read Everything
When you submit for an audition, regardless of what casting website, ALWAYS look at who is working on the project. Read every single part of the notice. Check to see who is casting, producing and directing. If you’ve been in the business for longer than a day, you may just know someone. And if you do, reach out and remind them of who you are, how you know him or her and that you submitted to the project. This is especially important if it is someone that you’ve worked with on another project, and it doesn’t matter if it was a while ago. Sometimes our inner demons will tell us not to write that additional email to reintroduce ourselves because this person “should” remember me. Get over this! Do you remember everyone you meet once? Try it, you may just like the results!

Add Another Casting Site to Your List
A friend of mine from acting class told me to sign up at Hollywood Casting and Film.
I am so thankful! If you aren’t on it, sign up for a profile now. The first month is free. Do it now, I’ll wait. There are so many castings posted by new and veteran filmmakers. I know, what you are thinking, “Natalie, ANOTHER casting site?” The best part about this one, though, is that most of your audition videos are posted to the site on your profile. So you get to watch your auditions! Imagine what you can learn from watching your tapes! My other favorite part? Once you are a premium member of HCandF, you have access to free self-taping! You never have to worry again about how you are going to execute your next self-taped submission. Instead, you just contact HCandF and schedule one.

Monitor Your Progress
On Ep70 in my Social Media Moment, I mentioned an article in Backstage that was about keeping an audition journal. This is very helpful in keeping track of your auditions and how you feel about them. Write everything down and take notice of similar notes. In my opinion, auditioning is like anything else; the more you do it, the better you get. Then the better you get, the more you book. It’s a numbers game. Another important thing to keep track of is who is calling you in. Are some of the projects you are going in for being cast by the same casting director? If so, then you’ve booked the room. You’ve done your job.

We are all in this business together. I want you to succeed and am cheering you on. Here’s to more auditions and, better yet, booking more roles!

What tactics do you use to get your own auditions?