Keeping an Audition Log can transform your career. Image via Flickr by peteoshea
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about a recurring guest star role I booked recently, digging into the long history of my relationship with the casting office and showrunner, as a concrete example of the role long-term relationships play in our careers.
I was able to write that post because of my Audition Log. It's where I've noted almost every audition I've had since 2002. I say "almost" because it's nowhere near perfect -- I only started it a few years ago, so a lot of the older information was put together from email searches and scraps of paper. But perfect isn't the point, and today I want to talk about what the point IS...
What's the value of keeping an Audition Log?
First, let's talk about what an audition log entails. You can include whatever you want, but it should contain a few important pieces of information:
- Casting office
- Project name
- Project type (Commercial, TV/Feature/Web Drama, TV/Feature/Web Comedy, etc.)
- Audition date
- Result (Callback, Booking, etc. I also use this field to note when I'm called straight to producers.)
I also have a field for Notes, which might include feedback I got in the room, a record of what I wore, whom I read for, something I learned, notes about the role, observations about the office, etc.
I keep it in a spreadsheet (I use Excel, you can use whatever you like) for one very important reason -- it allows me to sort by any of the fields in the list above. So in just a few seconds, I can answer questions like:
- How often has Casting Office X called me in?
- How many times have I read for Show A?
- What kinds of projects do I most often get called in for?
- How has my audition frequency changed over time?
- How has my callback ratio or frequency of being brought straight to producers changed over time?
The answers to those questions help me make proactive decisions about my career. If there's an office who calls me in a lot, I'm going to make a point of following what they're working on and make sure my representation knows they like me. If there's a particular show I've been called in for a number of times, I'm going to pay attention to what it tells me about my deep type, think about similar shows I could add to my target list, and stay on top of the story so I know what's going on when I get called in again. If I want to be working in comedy but am getting called in more often for drama, should I take an improv or comedy acting class, or focus on meeting comedy casting directors in workshops? If there are periods when I'm auditioning more than other times, what might be behind that? Aside from seasonal ups and downs, did I get a flurry of auditions after a particular marketing push, and if so, what did I do that I can use again? If there was a sudden dip in auditions, what did I stop doing, and how can I refocus on it? If I'm getting more callbacks or exposure to producers in recent months, what have I been doing differently in my auditions and how can I continue to improve? In terms of stepping back and look at your career long term, it doesn't get much clearer than an Audition Log.
If that's not enough to convince you of the value of keeping an Audition Log, here's another huge benefit; it takes the judgement out of auditions. So often, when I ask actors what's been happening, they shrug and look disappointed and say "not much." But as they keep talking, it turns out they've had several auditions that, for one reason or another, they've decided don't count. No wonder they feel so discouraged! An Audition Log fixes that. Every audition goes into the log, whether you think you bombed, or it was for a tiny role, or for a project you've never heard of. It counts just as much as any other audition. It counts because an audition is not about the role, it's about the relationship, and you have no idea how those relationships might pay off down the line. And in the meantime, every audition offers an opportunity to refine your prep and your skills in the room so you're better prepared for the next audition you really do care about.
So here's a little free coaching... Create an Audition Log. If you already have one, make sure it's as complete as it can be, and put together in a way that allows you to answer the questions above. Go back through all of your emails and texts and scraps of paper, dig out all those auditions you've forgotten about because they didn't feel important enough to remember, and add them. Now do some analysis. What trends have you overlooked? Where are the opportunities for you to try something new? What have you forgotten to give yourself credit for? Pretty soon, you'll find yourself feeling excited to enter every audition into your Log, no matter how you feel about it. And that's how it should be.