Dear Bay Area Actors (and those further afield as well, if you're also reading):
How do you follow up after you've done a first round audition - a general audition, or the first round of reading for a specific role on a specific project?
Having a discussion with a non-actor about the etiquette of following up after job interviews vs. the etiquette of following up after auditions, and I promised I'd do some investigating. Starting here.
Comment away, won't you please?
thanks,
Valerie
Realized I could also ask: Dear Directors and Casting Directors: what is the most effective way to follow up with you after a general audition or a first round audition for a project you're casting.
ReplyDeleteWell, here in LA, it's frowned upon to follow up after a pre-read or first audition. If there's no callback, you simply weren't right for the role.
ReplyDeleteOther jobs are so much different. Interviewers aren't going through over 1,000 resumes for their one position, and interviewing up to 200. A follow up note in another field could be appropriate. One for the acting industry simply isn't, and it makes one look green.
But let's say you get the callback. You do well. You ask your representation to ask for feedback.
You never do it yourself.
I'm curious what the Bay Area market deems appropriate.
Lira - I totally agree w/you about looking green, and it's the point I was trying to make w/my friend outside the industry. I think what you've written is very appropriate for on-camera/industrial/commercial auditions in the Bay Area market as well.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of live theater here, I think it's a little more open and friendly. What I typically do is send an emailed thank you note after a general audition, and might point out things in a theater's season that I'm interested in and let folks know that I've got a helpful skill (I can do a british dialect for your pinter play, etc.)
For on-camera where the audition comes through my agent, I don't usually do any follow up, beyond checking in w/my agent when things go well (like the time the CD said 'it isn't up to me to make the final decision, but you should know that was the best read I've seen all day')
The more specific scenario from the discussion that made me write this post was more like this:
let's say you're brought in to do a first read for a project, and then don't hear anything after that. You know that callbacks are taking place within a certain time frame. Is it possible to secure yourself a place in the callback through the way you conduct your follow up? I said no - you'd come across as desperate or unprofessional or inexperienced.
My friend (who works in job skills training) says that he coaches clients all the time to do things like this and it may get them from the first interview into the second one.
So, I promised I'd start asking people how they follow up after auditions - maybe others are doing something I'm not. Would love to hear what others have to say.