Rearranging audition times

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Brighterthanstars
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Rearranging audition times

Post by Brighterthanstars »

Hi, just wanted to see what you all think/what your experience is in terms of rearranging auditions. Do you do it often? Is it an 'okay' thing to do or will some CDs get annoyed?
Just asking because as a 17yr old I have a lot on my plate and wondering if others just drop everything to go to auditions or if there's much room for wiggling with most auditions?

Thanks as always! I really value all your responses.

B x
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TalyaB
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by TalyaB »

In my experience, it's generally a case of go at the time given or risk not getting another opportunity. Do you have an agent? It's generally worth keeping them informed about your availability. DS's has an online calendar that we update - on the one occasion he wasn't able to go, we grovelled; he was seen at another time, but there was no expectation that this would be possible.
Mamadetres
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by Mamadetres »

Drop everything for a Casting, CD s work to a set timetable due to costs and timescaled
lyndahill
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by lyndahill »

We have changed times before and it's not been a problem, only by an hour or so though. Might be different with children but if I know I can't get my DD to a casting for the time given I have asked for a later time and it's not been a problem. I'd rather that than run in really late.
Brighterthanstars
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by Brighterthanstars »

Thanks for your responses! Yeah I've got an agent who I've told about my situation and so far she's been very helpful, I just don't want to overstep the point to which she can change things without it being a problem. :?
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paulears
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by paulears »

I think you perhaps need to have a think. Casting is a very one-shot process. Far too many people going after a very small number of jobs. Unless they come looking for you, rather than you looking to them - they really do not care if you turn up or not, but they WILL remember your name.

One bot of advice - and please forgive me, as it might appear rather blunt. Do you drop everything? Do you want the job? At 17, you have a tiny plate to have a lot on. Some of the people attending these auditions will have serious child care issues, or perhaps dependents to look after. Some will have kids that need collecting from school, many will have to find the money to get to the audition, with little hope of getting it. Anybody at 17 who texts, emails or phones saying can they re-arrange gets the cold shoulder, mentioning the reason as an excuse rarely works and sounds terrible.

How seriously are you taking your potential career? I't the only fella (I think) on here, and most of the mums here would do anything to get their kids into productions or shoots.

You need the castings more than they need you. If you have 'too much on your plate' that sounds terrible as an excuse. Drop everything. Sell your soul. Borrow the train fare. Cancel the dentist appointment.

I just wonder why you even think they'd give you a second chance. Some of the dance auditions mean people travel hundreds of miles, spend all their spare cash, and get three minutes then a thank you and goodbye. That's how this business works. If you get offered an audition - say yes and turn up, on time, and prepared. Sorry.
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Caroline A-C
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by Caroline A-C »

Audition slots are usually set in stone and if you can't make it then that is it normally. Having said that, ds recently had a casting for a big show which he was away for and was asked to self tape for. Off the back of that he was invited back for later rounds so it does happen but I think it is very much at the descretion of the CD. Another time he was asked back for a recall on a day when he was filming so couldn't do it and that was the end of the process for him for that particular show. As said, there are so many people in for each role that if one can't make it the process just carries on.
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pg
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by pg »

I would always consult your agent. Sometimes a different time is easily arranged - often it really isn't.

An agent could become irritated if you frequently asked them to ask for a different time. It makes the agent look disorganised as well as you.

If your agent knows in advance the times that you can *never* make - or Is kept strictly up to date with your commitments - then they can request a suitable time for you * at the time that the auditions are being timetabled* - that's much easier all round than altering a time you've already been allocated.
Brighterthanstars
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by Brighterthanstars »

paulears wrote: How seriously are you taking your potential career? I't the only fella (I think) on here, and most of the mums here would do anything to get their kids into productions...I just wonder why you even think they'd give you a second chance.
Thanks for your response Paulears, really helpful food for thought. To answer your question, yes, I'm taking it very seriously, it's all I want to do, but unlike some lucky others, I'm having to do it myself and don't have a wise parent who knows the do's and don'ts or who will drop everything to send me to an audition so it's difficult to know what's acceptable or not. And to be honest my exams are also important to me (and even more important in my parents eyes) regardless of if I need them to be an actor. Is that bad? I don't think so.

I want to be able to drop everything, I really do, but how can I convince a) my parents b) school and c) work- which I do to fund acting as borrowing is not an option? I guess I'll just have to find a way.

Like I said thanks for replying Paulears and everyone else, you're all so helpful and I wouldn't even have the pleasure of being in a place where I need to ask these questions if not for all your help and wisdom.
P.s I always encourage bluntness I think it's often the most helpful!

B x
If you think that you're too small to make an impact, try sleeping with a mosquito in the room.
pg
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by pg »

Concentrating on your exams at this stage is absolutely the right thing to do.

If you're still in education, this is NOT yet your "career" - so other things take precedence.

Even when it is your career, there will (I hope) still be things more important than acting.

The important thing is to keep your agent really well informed about your availability - then requests to change times will be a rarity.

Best of luck!
paulears
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by paulears »

It's good in a way you're being faced with these decisions early on - franky, so many younger people never really have to learn how to make decisions, and even worse get used to when you made the wrong one, and there's nobody to blame. At school because of the way things are, and the law in many cases, 16s and under never make decisions, even when they think they do, because somebody is there visibly or invisibly guiding things. The one you've been considering - going for an audition for a possible job, or taking the money from the current less nice one never goes away. In my 50s, working for myself, I still have to make the same choice. I turned down a nice paying job in Dorset on Saturday to do some training that might get me a nicer one later in the year - maybe. Always a gamble. You sound like you know your own mind - which is a good trait.

If you're leading up to your A Levels or other Level 3 quals, this also becomes a balance. The education is supposed to be essential to get jobs in the future and grow, but so is a job. As you are discovering 16+ education becomes quite different, with your days packed with essential, trivial and pointless sessions - many are catch ups for the weaker ones. Your teachers know this, parents less so, and the schools always promote every moment as essential - when clearly you will have spotted this isn't the case - so if you have a teacher you trust, who is willing to be honest, then you should be able to find out what will be happening on your audition day. They will, because of OFSTED, have a plan - so it's rare for spur of the moment class content, and in their lesson plans it will say "continue work on ........".That is eduspeak for catch up. Your teacher will be able to tell you what you will miss - and because of the new stay in education rules, they don't really have many powers to say no, because the focus is on self-training, not teaching. teachers become more as 'facilitators'. The Law is a bit badly written now - all you are required to do is stay in education until your 18th birthday, but it is not compulsory after 16 - so the school's powers to stop you doing auditions are zero. If it's a choice of something critical at school, or a maybe at an audition, I guess school should win, but if you miss the session because of the lazy kids who didn't do the work at home and are going to be allowed to do it in class time, while you clear off top the library, or rehearse a piece you've done 27 times already - then for me, the audition makes sense. The schools now have people in 6th form who they really hoped would have left at 16, so you know what it's like.

If you have the support at home for making your own decisions, good or bad - then you will be fine. If at home they really just don't get it - which sadly many parents don't, then breath deeply, consider the pros and cons of both sides of the decision and go for it.

My contract for pantomime is the same one the key actors get. It says when and where and how much. My duties are whatever it takes to make the production happen, and when I make mistakes - some HUGE, my bosses back me up, even if I was wrong. This is very much like the ones you make now on your own. Not sure if it helps, but whenever I make a tough decision, for the best for the 'whole thing', I always think about the consequences. Sometimes this helps. In your case - what are you missing from not being at school? What happens if you don't do the shift in the job? What happens if you don't get the performing role. Avoiding the negatives can often be a better decision maker than the benefit of the positives. Have you already said no to a few shifts at work? If you have, will your boss continue offering them to you first, or will they go to the person who has recently picked up yours - first? Will the subject matter you miss at school be something critical in an exam, or will it wreck everyone else's practical work? Would you really have had a chance in that audition, or did you really know it was one of those finger crossed and hope everyone else is rubbish ones?

None of this gives you the right thing to do - but is what many of us end up doing. Good luck!
jennifer1972
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Re: Rearranging audition times

Post by jennifer1972 »

Brighterthanstars wrote:
paulears wrote: How seriously are you taking your potential career? I't the only fella (I think) on here, and most of the mums here would do anything to get their kids into productions...I just wonder why you even think they'd give you a second chance.
Thanks for your response Paulears, really helpful food for thought. To answer your question, yes, I'm taking it very seriously, it's all I want to do, but unlike some lucky others, I'm having to do it myself and don't have a wise parent who knows the do's and don'ts or who will drop everything to send me to an audition so it's difficult to know what's acceptable or not. And to be honest my exams are also important to me (and even more important in my parents eyes) regardless of if I need them to be an actor. Is that bad? I don't think so.

I want to be able to drop everything, I really do, but how can I convince a) my parents b) school and c) work- which I do to fund acting as borrowing is not an option? I guess I'll just have to find a way.

Like I said thanks for replying Paulears and everyone else, you're all so helpful and I wouldn't even have the pleasure of being in a place where I need to ask these questions if not for all your help and wisdom.
P.s I always encourage bluntness I think it's often the most helpful!

B x
My DD is 17 too and in the middle of exams, so masses of stress. Her agent knows this and doesn't put her up for anything which will interfere with her exams and at the moment we only do self tapes for projects that are being filmed after June. It's not worth the stress!
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