Holding Your Own Auditions: Tips for the Novice or Amateur Indie Film Maker

You have a movie project and you are trying to find actors. The problem is you are nameless, on your own, and you have no idea where to find actors. You live in any city that is not near New York or L.A. and thus actors don't wander the streets by the hundreds. You've tapped your friends out or your friends can't act their way out of a wet paper sac. Maybe you're anti-social and don't have any friends. So, what do you do? Go ahead and hold auditions of course.

Holding auditions is really easy. Getting people to show isn't as easy. My experience with this has been in Memphis, TN. Different locations could get you different results. I've done auditions for four amateur indie films (three my own projects and one I helped a friend on). Here are the basics from my experience:

First, find a location

The location can be numerous places. Most people I know use a restaurant or a coffee shop. Make sure to ask the staff if it is okay. I had a friend that auditioned people at a Mexican restaurant. I typically use a starbucks or other coffee shop. Coffee shops already have an artistic flare. If you are there during their dead times you can sometimes get the place to yourself. Most restaurants have dead space where they get no business between the hours of 3pm and 5pm. For coffee shops I've found that at 5:30pm on a Thursday you can hear a pin drop. Granted this will vary on where your coffee shop is located. The one I used was in a suburb. The city ones are usually generate business at all times.

I've also seen people use churches for auditions. This depends on the subject matter of your film. Is it something that a church would help you in the creation of? Some churches rent out their spaces. If you happen to go to a church, talk to the pastor and see if you can't use the building for free. Free is awesome.

Second, pick a time

Weekdays after 5 seem to be good. Saturdays seem to be terrible. People go out on Saturday, or else sleep the whole day.

Third, get the word out

This is the tricky part. You want to start putting up notices and e-mailing people at least a week before the auditions take place. If you know any actors at all, even if they are in high school or only do theatre or no longer live in the area, e-mail them. Ask them to pass the word along, even if they themselves aren't interested.

Flyers don't seem to be very effective. However, if the place you plan to audition has a bulletin board, I would suggest putting a flyer there. Here are some better spots.

Craigslist

If you are able to pay the actors at all, even if it's two dollars, put up an ad in the jobs category (TV/Film/Video). If you can't pay them, then put it in the gigs section under talent.

Yahoo groups

If you live in a city large enough to have an ecallboard then put up a post with the details of your auditions. Here is Memphis's so you can see what I'm talking about. groups.yahoo.com/group/eCallboard-Mem-CHAT/ If you have a group for your city that is related to film than post in that one. However, a theatre board works just as well. Especially in a city where the film scene is small, many actors perusing the theatre boards would also like to work in film. They need things for their resume, even if you are as new to film as they are.

Local talent agencies

Do a google search of local talent agencies. Some, if they are new, will send actors your way even if you are making a no budget film and are unable to pay anyone hired. In my last auditions, ETA, happened to find my auditions ad. As a result my last audition set saw 14 people audition. Before that, the most I'd ever had show to auditions was six people. Also, the acting agency sent better people. People who'd had some small experience and actually knew how helpful bring a headshot can be.

The audition itself

If you've ever auditioned as an actor then you've seen what to do by watching the director. It's pretty simple. There's two basic ways. You can have the actor bring a monologue to read. However, unless you are doing an experimental film, you typically don't find monologues in movies. So it's probably better to just bring a part of the script with some dialog and have the actor read it. This requires you to either have two people auditioning or to bring a friend with you that can read the other part. If worst comes to worst, you could always read the other part yourself and watch the actor during their lines.

Make sure also to bring a contact form or a notepad to write down contact details on. This is for potiental newbie actors who might show to the auditions. These actors don't bring head shots. However, since you are new too, you won't be judgmental. However, you will want something for them to write their phone number and e-mail on.

If you've already worked out a filming schedule make sure to bring it so that you can see if the actor is free during the times you want to film. I find it better to chose your actors first and make the schedule afterwards. I typically bring a sheet with some days I'd like to film and have those auditioning fill out when they are free on those days.

Those are the basics. I hope this helps and good luck finding that awesome actor that fits the part you're looking for.