Scott Thomas Hinson is an actor/writer who recently moved to Los Angeles from New York City where he appeared on Law & Order, did a Sealy Mattress commercial and worked at such off-Broadway theaters as Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard, Orpheum, Union Square, Signature, Minetta Lane and The Joyce.  His latest theater work was in revolver at The Celebration.  He is in the process of publishing his children’s book Hermione the Brutal Poodle.  Scott is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and a native North Carolinian.

Dear Actor Friends,

I recently had an incredible audition experience that I wanted to share with you all…

I was given the opportunity to observe the callback process for a commercial from the ‘other’ side of the table.  It was a non-union white cyc spot to be shot in front of a green screen.  They wanted 3 women:  a blonde, a brunette and an ethnically ambiguous (yep, that’s EXACTLY what they call it).

After watching the first round of auditions on tape, it was pretty clear who needed to be called back in and who didn’t…some girls just ‘popped’ as appropriate while others just flat out and absolutely did not.  This you could gauge w/in the first 5 seconds or so…no need to watch all of every audition.  It had nothing to do with slate, nothing to do with how they worked with the camera, NOTHING to do with ANY of the garbage I’ve been taught in commercial audition classes over the years.  Either the girl was right for the spot or she wasn’t.  Pretty simple stuff really.  Even before the callbacks began, favorites had begun to emerge.

During the callbacks, the girls came in 3 at a time.  It was so much fun to know the secret language of the room…who the favorites were, who wasn’t being considered for casting but for BACKUP casting, who the director liked but somebody else didn’t, who the camera closed-in on because the two on other side of her were just terrible, who didn’t have a shot in hell of getting the job (wh/ made me kinda sad), who was being pointed at on the monitor, etc.  And when the girls left the room, it was clear.  “She’s great!”  “Nope, none of them.”  “Great look but that awful voice!”, etc.  Fascinating stuff, I tell you.

So they picked their 3 girls:  Susie the blonde,  Claire the brunette with the bad hair but who was a good actor and Melanie the ethnically ambiguous girl who was so cute you wanted to go have lunch with her.  They all ‘popped’, they were all ‘bright’ and there was just that ‘something’ about them that set them apart from all the other girls as right for THIS job.

They picked 2 backup girls:  one little blond girl who was cute but just didn’t have the ‘sparkle of rightness’ that the other blond did, they couldn’t decide on a backup for the brunette and they picked a 2nd ethnically ambiguous girl…but now I can’t remember who she was.

So…the director, casting director and ad agency producer presented their casting choices to the owner of the ad agency.  The owner had never seen any of these girls in person and was solely going on what was presented to him on the monitor.

He loved the blond. (She was a shoo-in from the start.)

He did not like the brunette.  He didn’t think she fit the demographic, so he went back through the auditions and picked a Jami Gertz-alike with a generous bosom.  (I had liked her from the beginning…but there was something ‘flat’ about the way she came across. The other brunette had the sparkle…and the other brunette will NEVER KNOW how close she came to getting the job or that the director thought she was the best actress he saw all day.)

He did not like Miss Eth. Amb.  He didn’t like the way she spoke…and that was that.  He picked some Asian girl that hadn’t even really been on the radar, in my humble opinion.

And that was that.  The best actress DIDN’T get the job.  The girls who popped DIDN’T all get the job.  In the end it came down to ONE guy’s idea of a demographic and his dislike of someone else’s speech.

So, actor friends, what can we learn from this?

• Go in and do YOUR thing.  And go in and do it because you love it. HAVE FUN OR  GO HOME.  Otherwise there is NO reason to be there and you can’t 2nd guess what you think they are looking for.
• This is SO not personal.  Those guys behind the camera are trying to do their jobs just like you are.  It has nothing to do with you personally.
• WEAR THE SAME OUTFIT TO THE CALLBACK THAT YOU WORE TO THE FIRST AUDITION.  Very important.  Some girls weren’t recognizable from one tape to the next…and yet, somehow, one of them that did that STILL got hired.
• You’re either the right guy for the job or you’re not…AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.  So relax.  Doesn’t that take the pressure off just a little?

Hope this helps somewhat…

Scott