Journeyquest Audition FAQ: How to Prepare for Your Five Minutes
by Cornelia D. Moore, Casting Director, Journeyquest
Welcome to general auditions!
We are ecstatic that you are coming in. It means a great deal to us to have had such a huge response to our notices about the show. Hundreds of folks are auditioning, and that is a great gift. We have the best, smartest, most creative, and most hilarious fans in the world.
Some of you have had questions, and rather than have you take up any of your precious five minute slot in the casting room, we thought we would answer a few of those preemptively. We realize that for some of you, this is your very first audition. For those of you that do this several times a week professionally, please bear with our beloved fans and skim this, or just see it as a fun refresher:)
Remember to breathe. We love you and want you to succeed. No one wants you to succeed more than we do. We want you to show us your awesomeness and are pulling for you with every cell of us.
What will happen in the room?
You will come in, introduce yourself, tell us whether you have a monologue or not as you hand two copies of your picture and resumé to the nice Casting Associate (who will hold out a hand for them), walk to the area that the camera is pointed toward, and “Slate”. You slate by saying your name, the part you are reading, and, if you are represented, your agent’s name. Then at the nod from the person running the camera, you begin your monologue if you have one. We will stop you after one minute. Then you sit in the chair opposite the reader, and begin reading your sides in the general direction of the camera. It is very likely that you will be stopped before the end of the scene for an adjustment. And of course at five minutes you will also be stopped. Then you smile and exit. Please do not be upset if we do not shake your hand upon entering or exiting, after many actors in a day our wrists get tired, especially that one that got broken last year . . .
This is why we need a picture and resumé with fully-filled-out intake form, so we know everything we can about you and your interest in the project.
What not to do:
Do not do what this infamous actor did. For a THREE-minute slot (which is more usual) for Seattle Shakes, he came in and started Schmoozing. We politely suggested that he do his piece as time was ticking. Then he got up, and stood for a full minute INTRODUCING the scene. “I am playing the part of King Lear. Now, Lear has three daughters . . . “ and he began to tell us the story. To folks who ran a Shakespeare company. After way too long I said “Um, we know the play . . .” and he hrumphed and went into his monologue. All thirty seconds of it before he was cut off. Just saying.
What should I bring?
Attire that shows you off the best. No armor, no costumes, no weapons – especially – as we are in a small conference room. No accents, as, if everyone were from Westhaven, they would all speak the same dialect. Pictures of you in your amazing costume may arrive stapled to your resume.
This brings up a biggie:
STAPLE TOGETHER YOUR PICTURE AND RESUME. We are not a secretarial service. We want to see your picture on one side, and your resume on the back of it, FACING OUT, so we can easily flip it over and see your stats. Please.
Can parents watch their child’s audition?
Nope. Everyone waits outside. And is very, very quiet.
Can I read my monologue?
Yes, we do not expect you to be “off book” (memorized) but familiarity with the material is a plus.
Can I ask questions?
Please not too many, and only about the scene or character, just to clarify your performance. One question or two. Max. This is your time, and we want to see your acting. You can almost always gather most of what you need from the side.
When do I get there?
About ten to fifteen minutes before your slot. And you fill out your forms, and wait very quietly.
When do I leave?
Right after your audition, there is not room for folks to hang around, and strangely, folks who do want to schmooze, and that can ruin the recording of someone else’s lines. We frown on this.
Why are the slots only five minutes?
Because we can learn more than you realize in five minutes, and because we have made a commitment to auditioning everyone that applies for a slot. 5 minutes is long enough to know whether to call you back for a longer read in Callbacks on the 22nd. These are General Auditions, which means everyone gets a shot. Callbacks are where we put people in groups to see who goes together best with whom, and to answer any remaining questions the director may have.
Why did I only get one shot to read through the sides?
Because we got everything we needed the first time.
Why did the casting director, or the director, ask me to do it again another way?
Chances are they liked what they saw, but felt that they would get more depth with an “adjustment” of your performance.
Why is my “Side” (selection from the script) so short?
It is far better to do three lines fabulously, and to get to do them several ways, than to do two pages of a scene once in a less-fabulous way. This leads us to:
Why was I stopped part way through?
Because we either got what we were looking for (which can happen in one or two lines -seriously) or did not want to go down that road any more; we wanted a new and fresh approach; a new take on it.
Why won’t we hear about casting for so long? I want to know tomorrow!
Because after this we go to L.A. for another round of auditions, in December, and then comes the part where we cast Actor A, but a week later he finds out he can’t do the shoot March 1-26 because he got a job at Seattle Rep, and then we go to Actor B, who implies four other actors that match HIM better as a team . . . etc. etc.
Why was director Matt Vancil not in the room when I auditioned?
Because we are filming every single audition, and he will be reviewing them. He lives in L.A. currently, and in the week he is in Seattle, he must handle many details of our upcoming shoot, including location scouting. Think of this as an old-fashioned Screen Test – we want to see if our nice little HD camera loves you 
Why did they cast HER/HIM as “_______” when I read for it so beautifully?
Example: as of this writing we are seeing 47 actresses read for the part of “Wren”. Why? Because that scene has a great monologue and we are using it to see whether we need to call certain young actresses in for some other roles. You may be reading for another part, but auditioning with a lead.
What does a Casting Director really do and why do we need one?
The casting director is responsible to run the auditions, and to offer the director a smorgasbord of wonderful talent, so that he can choose the very best actors for this specific project. She is a matchmaker of sorts; trying to honor the vision of the director in all ways, and empower him to fully realize it.
Thanks you for this FYI! Very helpful and informative!
That answered all of my questions. Thanks Cornelia!