Three Mistakes All Commercial Actors Make (Have You?)

Ever feel like commercial acting is… kind of a crapshoot? It’s easy to be frustrated, but there are some easy ways to make sure you’re not making the same mistakes as everyone else! @ActResourceGuru has got you covered with this guest blog from @BillCoelius! #ActorsLife #Share

1. I make the audition about me.

I forget this one thing over and over again: The advertisers have no idea if the commercial is going to work! They have no idea if the demographic they are trying to reach is going to buy their product. Imagine their anxiety! Then, this fear travels down the great hill of creating a commercial, from the production company to the guy running the camera in the room. The audition room is dripping with fear before we even get in there. If we enter the room with fear (“I need this job, no one here looks like me, is this shirt right? the list goes on and on) then we look and smell and taste just like them, and they don’t want anything to do with what looks and smells and tastes like them and we get rejected as soon as we walk into the room. Instead, we want to enter the room in service, in our actions and in our thinking “How can I help?” It’s our only job now. Whew. What a relief. It’s no longer about us, it’s about them, and in return, we are unlike any actor they’ve seen all day and they gravitate towards us, they NEED us on set and they want to return that service with the only currency they have which is the job. Hooray!

2. During the audition, I’m living in the past or future.

How can I possibly serve the now of the audition if I’m living in the past? (“I better book this, my agent is going to drop me, I’ve had 5 auditions and no callbacks, I’ve had 5 callbacks and no jobs, the list goes on and on) or in the future. (I need this job, I have rent to pay, If I just book this then my tv and film career will finally take off, the list goes on and on.) How can we be present to what is needed now if we are elsewhere? Actors constantly lose moments of great inspiration and joy when they are living in the past or present. How can we stay in the present of an audition? Live in the present in your “real” life! The audition door is not a magical portal. The service you have outside the room will inform the service you have inside the room. How are you serving now?

3. I never wear the right clothes.

Or at least I don’t think I do, which creates doubt and fear. There are three types of dress for commercials: casual, business casual and business. Always know what you’re supposed to wear for the audition, stay away from crazy patterns and colors and don’t wear clothing that makes you self-conscious. If you are not a clothing maven or good with colors (pointing at myself here) then hire a stylist. Reach out to others for help. You don’t have to do this alone! Above all, choose clothes that make you feel good, so you can pass that along in the audition, in service.

Be present, stay in service, and wear slamming clothes that make me feel good. I know if I remind myself of these three things before every audition, my chance of booking just increased a thousand percent. You too?