^^’ If you are beginning as an actor or actress and you receive a phone call for an audition, a lot of doubts will arise about how to prepare for a good audition. For example:

What should I wear? Is it necessary to learn the text by heart? Is it bad to feel nervous? How should I act before the audition? Can I ask questions? If they dont´t pick me, does it means I did a bad audition?

Here you go with some advice that can help you to face that moment, make sure that the casting director likes you and how to get satisfaction out of the audition.

I am going to give you 13 pieces of advice in order to do a good audition in Spain to use if you are starting your acting career, you are a young actor or actress or even if you have had a long acting career…😉

1 Read all of the information about the audition thoroughly

You shouldn’t go to an audition if you don’t know all the conditions. If you go to every audition just to see if something will come from it, you’ll actually lose confidence in yourself. You have to know what it is about, because if you go to the audition you are accepting the conditions and you shouldn´t back out if they pick you, because if you do, they won’t call you again and neither will the casting director or the producer. If the shooting dates are mentioned in the call, it is very important that you check to see if you have any other commitments on those days.

Remember, you must be available and ready to work. If that’s the case, go for it!

2 Find out who the director is

It is very important to know peoples’ names. This reflects personality and knowledge. If you know about the casting director’s curriculum, it will help you to get an idea about his or her likes and ways of working.

You don´t have to be an ass kisser by talking about his or her career. This information is only for you, so you can know who is in front of you, giving you the freedom to act accordingly.

3 Find out what the audition is for

The codes are different for commercials, cinema, theater and television. In each media, there are many different factors to consider, such as, the quality and the rhythm of your voice and the other thing to consider is the genre and the kind of program, series, play, it is for.

4 Read the text slowly and think about what the character is like

The first thing you need to do in order to start is to get a general idea. You need to know where you are and where you are going. Now, analyze the text and visualize the whole scene by feeling yourself as part of it. This will help you to get close to the character and start to find out what he or she is like.

5 Learn your lines by heart

This is very important. In the USA you can read lines during auditions, but this is not the same case in Spain.

In this country you have to learn your lines perfectly. You will have opportunities to do some improvisations if it is necessary, but at the beginning, you need to be confident of the text and about yourself, so you will not have any doubts and not go blank.

Ask someone to help you run your lines. You should study them as much as you need to. They have to sound absolutely natural, and as if you only had one opportunity to say them. If you don’t learn them by heart, you will sound insecure and you will appear to be a worse actor or actress than you really are.

6. Choose clothing, make-up and the most appropiate hair

Of course you are not a costume designer, a hairdresser or make-up artist, but your image is very important and it will help you a lot. It is not necessary to go to the audition dressed like the character, but the closer you dress to the character, the better.

You will make it easier for the casting director – he or she won’t have to use their imagination so much. You don’t have to arrive in costume. You can take your outfit with you and change when you get to the audition. Don`t worry, there will always be a place where you can change your clothes.

7. Look for elements that can help you on stage

Bring props for the scene. It could be some food, something to drink – anything that goes with the action of the scene. But, be careful, you mustn’t choose anything that will distract you, only choose things that will help you.

Don’t be afraid and have fun. You will enjoy it and so will they and this will make a very good impression

8. Go with enough time

As you would for any other job interview, you have to be on time, so you will make a good impression.

Don’t arrive exactly on time. Go with time to spare. You can have time to change your clothes if you need to, and you won’t have to run..

Running in to an audience will make you feel speedy and you will seem flighty, which might make the casting director form a negative opinion about you only because you rushed in.

9. Nerves are not bad, don´t worry about them

Learn how to ride the waves of your nerves. Controlled adrenaline brightens your face, dilates your pupils and makes you feel present. Enjoy this feeling in your stomach while you are acting.

10 Enter with confidence and a smile on your face

Smiling is the first sign of confidence. Trust yourself and let the casting director feel it. Act calm, firm and confident… Embark on the role knowing that nobody can do it better than you.

11. Look into the casting director´s eyes without fear

When we make direct contact eyes with someone we connect with them. When you look into the casting director’s eyes, you are saying you are a professional and you know what to do. Of course you can ask questions, ask as many as you need to, but always with confidence and by looking into his or her eyes. Win their trust!

12. Listen to the guidelines before starting

Don’t rush into your audition before listening carefully. No matter how may times you have read everything again and again, there may be some details you have missed.

Sometimes you will have more information and sometimes you will have less, but what you offer the casting director should be what they want, and many times, the image we have about the scene is not the most appropriate. Don’t worry, you are a great artist, you can change your performance accordingly. Therefore, pay a lot of attention when they talk because these tips are golden.

13. Don´t give up hope if they don´t pick you

It has to be number 13, of course. Sometimes we do a good performance, we leave happy, it seems they loved us but they don’t call us back.

Don’t despair, you did all you could do, and that’s the important thing. They might choose you the first time and you’ll never stop working.

Wow, that would be great!! But statistically, you will do a lot of auditions and you won’t be chosen, and that doesn’t mean that you did a bad audition.

Not even the chosen actor, or actress, did it better than you, it is just that there are thousands of factors that have to fit together in a production and there are so many people giving their opinions.

Don’t worry, you are sowing seeds and doing everything very well, so, within time, your experience will grow, the field will present you with the fruits of your labor and they will pick you.

Break a leg!!!