How Far??

[emmasmum]

How far do you all travel to take DD's and DS's to audtions? My DS has been asked to attend an audition about 90 miles away on Friday. It is a lead part but it is unpaid and I don't know what to do. I can't really afford to take her and will struggle to get her there for the time they want anyway. Any comments would be appreciated.

[islandofsodor]

Unpaid I would probably travel 20 miles tops unless it was very prestigious eg West End or major touring show.

90 miles for unpaid - no way.

[francescasmum]

We travel quite a long way for all auditions as we live 15 miles from the nearest reasonably sized town and over 40 from any large city. If you live in London then you would probably think 10 miles was a long way, but as we have to travel 11 miles just to get to school every day we think nothing of travelling 50-100 miles for auditions (Leeds or Manchester) as we are used to it and have to travel to do anything, swimming, shopping, drama, singing are all 15 miles away even the nearest playground, post office or library is 3 miles away! (There is not public transport in our village either and we have to drive 3 miles to catch a bus!)

[Irishdancer]

As u say that u can not really afford it if it was me would say no, or ask if u can do a video audition. If u do go ask first how many children are going for the role now a days they seem to see lots of kids for the same role, most cd who audition for TV only see about 20 if that dif if its a big blockbuster film, but it seems that a lot of people who are doing short films or not paid films see lots of kids. If they are only going to see a few and u want to go then go but if they are seeing lots would not bother.

[pg]

I think if it's unpaid you have a bit more leverage and shouldn't be afraid to use it!

As Irishdancer says, find out what you can: Can you do a video audition? How many people are they seeing? When will they make decisions? Are they doing just one round of auditions?

Don't be afraid to ask whether they can offer another time - If they are interested in seeing your DS they will almost certainly accommodate this - if they say no to another time, you will know that they were not that interested . Where is it being filmed? This is an important consideration. If they are offering travel expenses for the filming days (they should be) they may be reluctant to cast someone from a long distance anyway because your travel expenses may be too high. It's probably worth finding that out before you decide whether to go or not.

If they are not paying you, you are doing them a favour (they might not see it this way, but they should!) so don't be worried about asking questions and making reasonable requests - you might be surprised by how willing they are to accommodate you.

I understand the dilemma but sometimes you just have to say no to these things. I certainly wouldn't travel that far for unpaid work (well, as an adult actor I can't afford to work unpaid anyway!).

[emmasmum]

Thanks a lot for all your replies.

My DD (I did mean DD and not DS) is going for the audition on Friday but there are a few of them going from her Drama School so she is getting a lift there and back.

It is interesting to see what everyone else does though and I will let you know how she gets on.