Characters Are Cast, Not Actors

Character in Auditions

by Neil Schell

With so many acting teachers always stressing the perfection of your acting technique, actors sometimes loose sight of what the key people who hire actors are looking for. After all is said and done, actors aren’t really hired at all. Characters are. This piece of wisdom was imparted to me by Mr. Bob Fraser. And here’s a little story that completely confirms it.

I once had the most amazing experience at an audition. I had been given an audition for a very wordy commercial. Commercials help pay the bills. They are not vital to an actor’s overall advancement in the film and television industries. “Well,” I thought to myself, “this is the time to try something new. I’ve really got nothing to loose.” There were no sides (script pages) provided ahead of time. We could only see them in hard copy in the audition waiting room. Perfect. There was absolutely no way I could do my usual mental gymnastics with the script – working out beats, verbs and objectives and trying to memorize it – because I wouldn’t have enough time.

Like most actors who regularly go for and get commercials, I know that when you have a long-winded script, it’s got to be condensed into the 30 seconds or 60 seconds that commercials run. I was trained to make sure that when doing a wordy commercial audition I had to get all of the mumbo-jumbo spit out before the almighty stop-watch reached it’s pre-set limit. But this time, I was not even going to try and do that. I was going to ignore everything except my impulses and reactions to the text of the script. Period. In other words, I was not going to do anything I had learned that acting was about.

I went in the room. There was a panel of 7 people. My intellect was yelling at me, “You can’t go through with this!” I ignored it. I greeted everyone politely. The cameraman said his ominous, “Rolling!” And I pushed forward into the land of the unknown regardless of what thoughts were trying to enter my awareness.
I slowly connected to the text a few words at a time. I didn’t try to sound slick or cool in any way at all. I just let whatever impulses or ideas that came to me from those deliberately chosen words on that page take control. I felt free of the worry that’s related to trying to do a plan. I plodded along, paying no attention to time or perfection or performance. My intellect was racing with ideas of failure because of it. I forged on.

After what seemed like ten minutes (I am sure it was more like two and a half) I said the very last words that I could read on that page. I looked up. I was certain the giant hook that often takes the form of a cordial “Thank you.” was going to come out of the director’s mouth and yank on my neck until it broke. But I was wrong. Or should I say, my intellect was wrong. I, in fact, could hardly believe what I was hearing from the director’s mouth. He said in a very friendly and collaborative voice, “I really like that character.”

“Character! What character?”, I thought to myself. I was dumbfounded. I could hardly speak to thank him. I had just gone through one of the slowest, unslick commercial readings of my career. I had railed against everything that I knew I was “supposed” to do. And there I was, listening to a comment unlike any I had ever heard before. My acting career and life changed forever.

I have since zeroed in on exactly what I was doing in that audition and then developed how to pass that along to others. It works. I got my acting out of the way so the character could be there. The more consistently you can do that the more you will get hired. Why? Because characters get hired and actors don’t.

Having directed and act over 120 TV episodes I can 100% endorse that viewpoint to this very day.  Skill is part of the selection process, character is primary.

© Copyright 2009 by Neil Schell

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