Original subtitles

- If you will be the one handling auditions

and not having a casting director do it for you,

you'll want to make sure your audition process

is as productive and efficient as possible.

It might go without saying that when

you're auditioning, remember to record

your auditions for review later,

to see how your talent actually works on camera

and to be able to gauge their performance properly.

You want to make sure you schedule appropriately,

so you don't have a crammed session

of actors and rush them all through.

You might want to consider having an assistant

that handles ushering actors in and out so you can

take the time to concentrate on people's performances.

While you're auditioning, it's a good idea

to bring in actors together in pairs

especially if the scene requires it to give you

a better idea of how they might work with each other.

And if necessary have someone else be the reader, not you.

You want to take that time to concentrate on performances.

Always, always take at least a few notes

on people's performances right after they leave

and your first impressions of the actor.

It'll help you greatly later when

you're determining who to cast.

Now if your actors don't nail it

in the first take, don't discount them.

Start directing them.

Give them some direction and give them

multiple takes to get things right.

This is all able to be done if you

do appropriate scheduling ahead of time.

If your actors are versatile, they will follow

the direction you give them.

But some are going to get locked in,

especially if they got the sides ahead of time

and have rehearsed it too much at home.

Here's an example of an audition I

conducted for an industrial, where the actors

were paired randomly together.

Let's watch their audition.

- I suppose a meeting together

would help people feel more cohesive.

- So now you have painted a

different picture of team meetings.

What would help you hold the kind of team meeting

that would consistently deliver

the benefits you just outlined?

We want to identify steps you can take

including resources that can help you.

We'll also want to think about--.

We'll also want to think through

a time frame and what success will look like.

You can capture all of this in your action plan.

- (laughs) Okay. One idea would be for me to

speak with Rob.

I've been to his meetings and they're run very well.

- Yes.

- I could see what tools he uses.

Another idea would be for me to speak to the team

and explain that I've heard their concerns

about cohesiveness and input.

I could also ask for their help as we

learn how to make meetings productive.

It never occurred to me I was contributing

to the problem.

- Now you're contributing to the solution.

(both laugh)

- Now they didn't have the most exciting material

to work with to begin with, but they both

did a fairly decent job with the audition.

But they did have some stumbles.

However, they were both cast

as the actors in this production.

Now that you have your excellent talent

selected and in place, let's move on to

one of the most important steps in working

with both actors and non-actors: thorough preparation.