George Leonard wrote a classic book called ‘Mastery’ that talks about what the difference is between people that never get good at anything, and those rare individuals that rise to the level of mastery in their chosen craft. One pattern he recognizes among every masterful artist was that they had a long term commitment to regular practice. The question is, how the idea of mastery apply to the art and science of acting auditions.

First things first; set specific auditioning goals that will allow you to maintain a regularity of practice. George Leonard had it easy because he practiced Aikido. He joined a dojo near his home that had a regular schedule of classes and then he settled into practicing three to five times a week. (Perhaps more if you count his solo practice time) When it comes to auditioning though, I’ve noticed that most actors leave it up to chance. You’ll realize, if you take the time to look, that you don’t have to rely entirely on your agent to book auditions. This applies to people early in their acting career. For those of you more advanced I have other suggestions to follow. For those of you relatively early in your acting career, there are a ton of auditions that you can attend for local community theater, student films, musicals, etc. If you’re young, audition for some graduate or undergraduate programs even if you probably wouldn’t go. Just preparing an audition that is good enough to get you into Yale school or drama or NYU’s undergraduate musical theater branch will stretch your audition preparation skills to the limit. As an individual artist you can apply to Shakespeare festivals and submit your headshots at different agencies; even if you already have one. Go read for a different agency, let them know you are just shopping around and thinking perhaps it might be time for a move and you just want to get to meet the other options around town until you could find one that is a great fit. This “audition everywhere you can” idea graduate school audition will work until you actually get in and have to turn it down. This principle of “keep auditioning until you can easily land the part” goes for everything I’ve mentioned. After a certain point you’ll get so good at auditioning that you’ll get 80-90% callbacks to your auditions, you’ll learn to adapt to any situation and learn to do your best work in situations you’d normally resist and resent. Action is the best medicine for incompetence. It always strikes me as funny that we are all “actors” and the one thing that keeps many of us shackled in mediocrity is our inability to take long term committed and focused “action”.

Go to it! Audition everywhere you can!
And remember…

“Consistency, before intensity, is the path to long term mastery and eventually, a legacy!”

James Wagner

PS- if they offer you the part and you don’t want it, be cordial. Tell them that you have to think about it because there are a few other offers on the table right now for that period of time and that you’ll get back to them. If you tell them you’re taking another project offer, not only will they respect that, but your status has just gone up because you are polite, amiable, professional and in demand.

James Wagner: BFA UC Santa Barabar, Professional Actor in Denver Colorado, has been a teacher/instructor at Naropa University, Integral Institute, Tony Robbins, and privately. Creates products that help people master the art of auditioning. http://www.auditionexcellence.com

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