Today, we're going to cover a topic I suspect every actor can relate to: anxiety. Even if you're a rock-solid pro, or an a-list movie star, you're still susceptible to a little nerves now and then.
You know how it goes... You have an audition that matters to you, so you prep hard and rehearse as much as you can at home. Then you get in your car and drive to the audition, trying to stay as confident as you were home but you're starting to feel a little stress.
You try to stay focused and walk into the waiting room, where you see other actors who are famous, look better for the part or have worked longer than you, also there to audition.
You walk in the room and try to come off super friendly and likable to the CD. By the time she says, "Action!", you have to push so hard to act believably like the character that at the end of the take, you know your performance was 1000% less impressive than at home. You're given some direction, but you just can't get out of your head and really feel your way through the scene. You head home feeling terrible and frustrated.
I totally get it. When the stakes are high, you don't always get the time you need, and it's intense pressure when landing the role could change everything for you, especially pay some bills!
So I hosted a LIVE training session and Q&A on how you can shift your mindset around the process and focus almost exclusively on the needs and feelings of the character to help you prepare for your next big audition. The video is normally just for members of my private online community, The Instinctive Actors' Society, but today, I’m giving you access to it.
Here are a few highlights we covered:
Change the context of what audition means. When you look at it as a test, it brings out all your gremlins. In truth, there is no "audition". That is an invented concept. Your anxiety is stemming from the implanted belief that there is a right and wrong way to do it, and if you do it "wrong" then you've failed.
Create a new context: the character does not exist. Yep, that's right. The character does not exist because YOU are the character. And the audition doesn't exist either, because you're just YOU going somewhere. When you're in the room with casting, you're not an actor trying to book a job. You are the character, wanting something and trying to get it. When you step out of the character, and start to worry about whether what you're doing is right or wrong or if people like you, you're not longer the character; you are your ego, taking up space in the room.
If you want additional help with your pre-audition jitters, be sure to grab a seat in the LIVE Instinctive Actor webinar on April 1st at noon PDT / 3pm EDT / 19h00 UTC. You can try out radical new tools to take turn anxiety, fear and resistance into instinct and power, for FREE. Plus, I'll be there live to answer any of your questions. Click the image below to grab a spot.
Now, enjoy the video training!
Let me know your thoughts on this new context for auditioning in the comments below!
Until next time!
Jo
Whenever you’re ready, here are TWO ways I can help you:
1. Join my free Facebook Group, THE INSTINCTIVE ACTORS’ SOCIETY, exclusively for actors who are ready to go from good to great and become undeniable.
REQUEST TO JOIN: facebook.com/groups/instinctiveactorssociety
2. Get on the waitlist for my course, The Reset Journey From Resistance to Freedom, and stop struggling to access your natural, authentic talent in the audition room or on set. You’ll learn how to reset your instrument to be 100% instinctive and free in just 33 days.
GET ON WAITLIST: tobeornottoact.com/waitlist