The
other day I had an audition for an independent feature film over at,
aptly named, Film Independent. I had an appointment time, arrived a few
minutes early, signed in and went over my sides, which were emailed to
me the day prior by the film’s casting director. When I arrived I saw
many other young women waiting in the wings, though some were for
another project, most were for the one I had just signed in for. Slowly
they went in and out. Time passed. When the CD finally realized they
were taking too long for the number of girls they called in, they
started doubling up– pairing girls together and giving them new sides
which called for 2 female characters together, instead of the original
male-female scene. After waiting an hour and a half, I too was given the
new set of sides, much shorter and completely different from the
original (the new one was very comedic and light-hearted, the original
was much more dramatic and serious) and paired with the girl sitting
next to me.
Auditioning with a fellow actress who is going for the same part is just plain awkward. I’m not the competitive type, so it’s not like I feel that competitive edge against the other actress, or any of them sitting in that room for that matter. But it’s just strange to me to go in together. And this isn’t the first time I’ve experienced this…
Last week I had an audition for a USC Grad film over at Cazt and was paired up with another actress. We read together one way, and then the CD had us switch roles and read it again. As if that wasn’t bad enough… the CD then asked me to read the second set of sides, which was played opposite the CD herself, with the other actress in the room! She literally watched me audition on my own. When I was done with that, I was let go and the other girl read the same thing. Whether I nailed it or blew it, my performance is what’s fresh in that girl’s mind and I can’t imagine how she could just ignore it. When we were reading together one way and then switched parts. I tried really hard to forget the way she had just read it. Obviously I didn’t want to imitate her, mimic her or even directly oppose her. I just wanted it to be my own, which is hard when literally just saw someone else do the same thing you’re about to do.
Another time was a couple weeks ago at an audition for some indy horror feature. 2 by 2 girls were called in and the entire audition was improv. We were clearly the exact same type– we were even both Japanese!
It’s just weird.
