Carrie Lee Martz | Actress
carrieleemartz@hotmail.com

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Actors:  Why You Need a Website

12/15/2014

 
Should You Build a Website
 Websites – everyone has one these days, from your hip snowboarding Grandma to your neighbor’s dog.  Having a website allows Grandma to share the latest pics of her sweet jumps or your neighbor’s dog to show off his cat herding skills.  You may think that you don’t really need a website to connect with people.  Think again.  What Grandma and the neighbor’s dog are both getting out of their websites is exposure.  Exposure to a huge worldwide audience that they may not be able to get anywhere else.  And one thing you need if you want to succeed in this business is exposure.  Whether you’re a Film Actor, Stage Actor, Voiceover Artist, etc., a website can give you that exposure.

Exposure
You can be the most skilled actor in the world (and skill is important), but if only a handful of people are able to see your work then you’re never going to get anywhere.  While a website can’t guarantee that a big Hollywood director will watch your demo and call you to audition for their latest film, it at least opens up that possibility.  Having a website gives you a chance to say, “Hey world, look what I can do!”  As an actor you already need to have a set of marketing tools at your disposal – headshots, a resume, demo reels, VO demos.  Sometimes it can be hard to even get someone to look at these things.  Why not maximize your marketing potential with a website?  That way you can get them in front of a potentially limitless audience.

Accessibility
Not only can a website give you more exposure, but it can make you more accessible.  Ever been at an event and met a great Director or Casting Director who was interested in you?  Maybe they even asked to see your reel.  Chances are you didn’t have it with you (unless you constantly carry your DVD demos with you).  This is the digital age, so even if you do carry a demo with you, handing someone your demo on DVD (or even a thumb drive) may get you a funny look.  These days that’s exactly what websites are for.  We should consider ourselves extremely lucky to be actors in today’s world.  In the old days, actors had to carry their DVD’s (or “gasp” CD’s, dare I mention VHS tapes), paper copies of their resumes, actual headshot prints, business cards, and any number of other marketing materials with them at all times, just in case.  We no longer have to do that thanks to the ease with which we can create a website and display all of these materials.  At most you may need to carry a business card with you that has your web address on it.  (MOO makes the best business cards for actors – they’re easy to customize and reasonably priced.)  So all you have to do when you meet that fabulous director is whip out a business card and point them to your website.  Now you are instantly accessible to them.

And what about if you’re a stage actor?  Maybe a CD sees you in a play but isn’t able to connect with you after the curtain closes.  Guess what?  They have a playbill with your name on it (and possibly even your web address, if you put it in your bio).  Now all they have to do is go home and Google you or type in your URL.  Voila, instant accessibility!  Without a website, the CD would’ve had to ask around about you.  They may have loved you, but with the lack of time that everyone has these days, having to track you down organically is just too much of a hassle.  The easier it is for them to find you, the better it is for you.

Media Control
Now you’re probably thinking, WHAT?!?  I need to control the media???  Let’s say you don’t have a website, but a potential client decides to Google you – they are almost certain to Google you.  What happens when those search results pop-up?  Well, first there’s the picture of you from 5th grade that your mom insists on having front and center on her Facebook page because “You were soooo cute!” – that’s a good first impression!  (You know the one I’m talking about – the one where you have braces and that tragic perm.)  Then there’s all the companies that try to collect data about people and sell it on the internet – great, now they have your home address.  And last, but not least that scathing review you wrote after having a bad experience at your local Hair Salon, where you called them a bunch of Jagoffs and some other Not-So-Nice words – incidentally this really just ends up making you look like a jerk (they may forgive you after seeing that perm, but still).  Impressions are everything, especially first impressions.  The best way to make sure that you are making a good first impression digitally is to have a website where you can control the content and influence your search rankings. 

Cost Savings

If you’re going to have a website, it needs to be www.YourStageName.com and nothing more, but that means buying a web domain, hosting for your site, and web design.  This can all sound very expensive to anyone without experience in running a website.  It’s not.  In fact, I would argue that having a website is actually a cost savings.  Let’s go through the costs for one year.  (This is based on 2 well-known services, but there are plenty of providers out there and most are competitive at these rates.)
Buying your domain – currently $27.32 at GoDaddy for the 1st year (approximately $50.32 each year after, if you buy more than one year at a time, you’ll get a good discount) and this includes making your registration information private (a good idea to prevent access to your home address)
Hosting Your Site – currently $4/month or $48 a year for a plan on Weebly that allows you to use your own domain and completely customize your website.
Web Design – Free.  With the technology in today’s WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors, creating your own website is easier than figuring out how to use your new Smartphone.
Website Total – $75.32 for the 1st year and $98.32 each year after
If you’re thinking that $98.32 is a lot of money to spend just for a website, you need to re-evaluate your thinking.  If you’re an actor, you probably take classes right?  There’s no way you’re taking a class for less than 100.00!  And chances are you aren’t going to get much exposure from that class.  What about headshots?  Do you buy in bulk for savings because you’re afraid you’ll run out?  Guess what?  Now you can cut way back on the amount you spend – send people to your website to view your headshots instead.  And what about those DVD’s to put your reel on – sure they’re not crazy expensive, but why buy them at all?  And don’t forget, your website is an advertising tool for you.  I don’t know if you’ve ever looked into the cost of advertising, but I promise you that less than $100 for a steady stream of worldwide advertising is an amazing deal!

Competition
Everyone else is doing it.  Now I know the old adage, “If everyone else was jumping off a bridge, would you do it too?”  And I rarely suggest that you should do something just because everyone else is doing it.  However, when it comes to having a good Acting Website that is exactly why you need to have one.  Many of the actors you know likely already have a website, which gives them a leg up on you when it comes to all the things I mentioned above – exposure, accessibility, and cost savings.  So if you want to be more visible and able to compete amongst your peers, you’d better get a website.

Social Media
And last but not least, what better way to allow everyone to connect with you all in one place.  Your website is a great place to link to all of your other social media accounts.

Now that you know why you need a website, start building yours today.  If you don’t know where to start, have a look around My Site.  It'll give you a good idea of how you can lay out your site, what you might want to include, and design options.


No new blog posts until after the Holidays.  I'll see you all again in the New Year.



photo credit: Stefan Leijon via photopin cc

Guest:  Author Barbara Venkataraman - Audiobooks 'R' Us!

12/7/2014

 
This is the last post of my Audiobook Blog Series.  I launched the series by telling you about how I got my start in narrating audiobooks.  Then I gave you practical advice and tips on how to begin your career as an audiobook narrator.  Now here to conclude the series, and talk about her experiences of finding an audiobook narrator, is none other than the author of the books that I've been narrating.  A huge warm welcome to my first Guest Blogger:  Barbara Venkataraman!

Audiobooks 'R' Us!


Making an audiobook with a narrator is like marrying a total stranger and hoping it all works out. As in a marriage, the participants start out starry-eyed, but soon discover each other's idiosyncrasies and quirks, realizing with a sense of dread that they are now stuck with each other--at least until the project is finished. That's why it makes sense to choose a narrator with experience and a stellar reputation, one who has completed at least one project and done it well. Or you could fly by the seat of your pants like I did. Boy, did I get lucky! After hearing other authors' horror stories and seeing reviews of badly done audiobooks, I realize just how lucky I was/am.

Unlike many authors, I write in two unrelated genres, humor and mystery, specifically, cozy mystery. Ideally, I wanted to find a narrator with the talent and skill to handle both genres. It needed to be a woman (my mysteries are told in first person by a female protagonist) with a sense of humor, someone who "got" my jokes. She had to be able to do a range of voices to cover all the characters in my mysteries and, one more thing, she needed to work for free! Now, when I say free, I don't really mean free; I just mean that I couldn't afford to pay her anything.  I figured I'd have to be the greatest saleswoman in the world to convince a total stranger to spend hundreds of hours recording my self-published, unproven books as unpaid labor, OR, I could find a narrator through ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) who was willing to royalty-share (spend hundreds of hours recording my self-published, unproven books as unpaid labor AND split any future profits, assuming there were any).

I started on my quest to find the perfect Jamie Quinn (the star of my Jamie Quinn mystery series). I stumbled through the labyrinth known as ACX and, throwing caution to the wind, posted two projects simultaneously: a book of humorous essays and my first Jamie Quinn mystery. I listed both as royalty-share projects and put them out for audition. I must add here that ACX allows you to choose the qualifications of your ideal narrator and it's enough to make your head explode! First, you chose the gender and the language. Easy enough. Then, you choose the accent, which can range from British to American to Boston, Irish, to Southern drawl to…well, you get the picture. Now come the hard choices. Do you want a voice that's warm? Scientific? Authoritative? Matter-of-fact? Sexy? And so on and so on…I hate to admit it, but I hadn't given any of that much thought, nor did I want to. I hoped I could pick the right one. But what if I couldn't?

I got exactly three auditions, all of them very nice women, none of them Jamie Quinn material. I felt so bad rejecting them. The only thing I'd gotten out of this project so far was a truckload of guilt. Then I realized that I didn't have to wait around, I could listen to the demo recordings posted on the site. There were only a bazillion of them, no problem at all. I realized that many of the demos were repeats as in the same narrator putting herself up for different projects: here's me narrating a romance, here's me narrating a thriller, etc. I listened to many women reading many different passages until I started questioning the whole project and wondering why I always had to do everything the hard way. Sigh. Finally, I heard a "maybe" voice which gave me a little hope, enough hope to keep trying. I kept slogging through until the heavens suddenly parted and I heard an angel sing, only she wasn't an angel, she was Carrie Lee Martz, an actress who did voiceover. Her demo wasn't of her reading a book; it was a voiceover demo in which she showed off her range of voices. She was perfect! Hallelujah! I made her an offer for both books and she accepted them both. Oh, happy day! Then, I had a sobering thought, what if she didn't like the books? I told her to look them over first and then decide. She decided yes. Then we had an e-mail exchange in which I confessed that I'd never done this before. She confessed that she hadn't either. We said we were both game and we jumped right in. We are now recording our fourth book together (when I say "we", I mean the "royal we"--Carrie is doing all of the recording) and I'm not going to say that it hasn't taken a lot of effort, or that we didn’t hit a few bumps along the way--like when I sent her the wrong version of the second Jamie Quinn mystery and she had to re-record the last 5 chapters! But I am thrilled to report that we are very happy with our arranged marriage and we've even started making some money! So, if you’re thinking of making an audiobook, I hope you find the right narrator and that it’s love at first listen.
Indie Author:  Barbara Venkataraman
Award-winning author, Barbara Venkataraman, is an attorney and mediator specializing in family law and debt collection.
She is the author of  The Jamie Quinn mysteries; "The Fight for Magicallus," a children's fantasy; a humorous short story entitled, "If You'd Just Listened to Me in the First Place"; and two books of humorous essays: "I'm Not Talking about You, Of Course" and "A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities," which are part of the "Quirky Essays for Quirky People" series. Both books of humorous essays won the prestigious "Indie Book of the Day" award.
Coming soon, "Engaged in Danger"--the next Jamie Quinn mystery!

Barbara's Blog:  www.barbaravenkataraman.blogspot.com


Barbara's Current Audiobook Selections
Click on the cover to Purchase



I hope you enjoyed hearing Barbara's perspective.  If you'd like to leave a comment or question for her below, please do so.

I wish you all the best in your audiobook endeavors and remember to come back and re-read these blog posts anytime you're in need of a little guidance.  If you find them to be a handy resource, please share them with others as well.


Next Week:  Actors:  Why You Need a Website

How I Started in Audiobooks & Voiceover

11/3/2014

 
Bark in Here
I’ve been getting asked a lot of questions lately about how I got started in Audiobooks & Voiceover.  Most often the question is “Where did you go to get started?” or “How do I get into that?”  In fact, I owe several people an answer to these questions.  So I figured what better way to answer them than to write a blog post about it.  This way I can kill two birds with one stone.  I can answer the people who have been asking me and I will have a place to direct anyone who asks in the future.

I have to be honest, I sort of just fell into voiceover, slowly.  Disclaimer:  This is not the way it usually happens for most people, I was incredibly lucky!  I was taking an acting class one evening and a local VO Pro was sitting in with us.  She told me that I had a great voice, that I should do voiceover, and that she wanted to work with me on it.  I immediately loved this woman and was flattered, but hadn’t previously considered doing voiceover.  I was still in the beginning stages of acting and was really focusing all of my time on learning the craft.  I expressed my interest to her, but never followed up on it.  I kept kicking myself over it, but the truth is, I’m glad I didn’t follow up back then – I had a lot to learn about acting in general before I could even think about doing voiceover.  In my opinion, if you want to be a great Voice Actor, you’ve gotta be a great Actor first.

So a few years and one agent later, I finally thought, ya know I should see about that voiceover thing.  So I contacted Amy Hartman, the VO Pro from my class and she agreed to take me on as a student and help me produce a demo.  We spent a great deal of time together working on it.  Then I got busy with some film and theatre stuff and again voiceover just kind of got pushed to the side.  Several months later, Amy contacted me to let me know that she was doing drop-ins (this is where several VO actors get together and take turns honing their skills in the studio).  I started going to these sessions and had a great time at them.  After awhile I got busy again and dropped off the VO radar for many more months.  Amy contacted me yet again to let me know that she was teaching a group class and that I should join them if I was interested.  I had finished up several big projects and had a little extra time on my hands so I agreed.  I took the class and had a blast – we all did.  So much so that we decided to continue the class through another 6 weeks or so.  In all this time, I had done one or two VO jobs when people had asked me to, but I hadn’t really pursued it in the same way I had my acting career.  Towards the end of our second round of classes, Amy urged us all to sign up for some websites and create profiles to get our names out there.  One of those sites was ACX – a site where you can narrate audiobooks to be sold on Audible.  I was hesitant, (after all, I still didn’t have a studio and I knew nothing about editing and mastering audio – required skills if you plan to narrate through ACX), but I decided to give it a try.

So I signed up for ACX and created a profile, adding my demo and other info to the site.  Just nine days after I created that profile, I was contacted by Barbara Venkataraman, who wanted me to narrate her books – WHAT?!?!  I was flabbergasted and scared and excited and terrified and panicking – I didn’t even have a studio!  To make a long story short, I built myself a really great quality studio as quickly as I could and painstakingly taught myself how to both edit and master audio.  It was trial by fire.  I’ve since narrated 3 books for Barbara and she is patiently waiting for me to get started on a few more.  I’ve been contacted by several other authors to narrate for them and I’m branching out into doing promos and other types of voiceover now.  Most of what I've learned about this business, aside from what Amy has taught me, has been through trial and error, research, hard work, and the help of some good friends (most notably Justin Fraction and Rebecca Keller).  A huge thanks to all the people mentioned here, they have all been instrumental in my voiceover successes!

My VO career is still rather young compared to my Acting career (I’m still learning) and my journey has been anything but typical.  So rather than give you a step by step guide on how to get started, I’m going to point you to some resources.  You can explore them for yourself in order to determine whether voiceover is something you want to pursue.


In order to do voiceover, you need several things.  You need to train your voice, learn how to interpret copy, where and how to breathe, and which words need to be emphasized.  You also need to know how to market yourself, which includes having a great demo.  Also having a home studio is almost a requirement these days if you even want to think about working in voiceover.  And when you’re just starting out it behooves you to get a great DAW and teach yourself skills such as basic editing and mastering.  Woo!  I know it seems like a lot.  It is.  Don’t be fooled, just because voiceover can pay really well and it’s something you can do from the comfort of your own home, doesn’t mean it’s easy.  It can be a tough business to break into.

The very first thing you need to do is get into a class and get some training.  This will help you to ascertain whether voiceover is really for you, if your voice will help you earn money, and just exactly what your voice type is (Yep, just like in acting, you will have a type when it comes to voiceover).  You need to take a class before you go out and spend money on putting together a demo and a studio, so that you aren’t wasting your hard-earned paychecks.  These classes will teach you many of the things mentioned above – training your voice, breathing, and appropriate word emphasis.  I suggest you sign up for one and take it from there.

Here’s a few places you can get VO training in Pittsburgh:
Nancy Mosser Casting – Amy Hartman & Jack Bailey
Market Street Sound – Amy Hartman

Corbriwood Studios – Jack Bailey
Find Your Voice – Jean Zarzour

I have only studied with Amy Hartman, so I can only personally recommend her.

Here’s two books you can read:
Voice Actor’s Guide to Recording at Home…And on the Road
Making Money in Voice-Overs

Here’s two websites that serve as invaluable resources:
Edge Studio
Voice Over Xtra

And here are some sites where you can find work:
ACX
Voice123
Voices.com

There are lots more resources out there, but these are some good starting points.  Be sure to check them all out because there is a ton of info packed into each.  Hopefully someday you'll be telling your own “How I Got Started” story.


Next Week:  Audiobook Recipe - Serves 1  (Part I)


photo credit: zoomar via photopin cc /Added Border

The Importance of Improv in Auditioning

9/14/2014

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Improving in the Street
Improvisation is a very specialized skill and yet it’s one that should be in every actor’s toolbox.  If you want to be the best actor you can be, then I highly recommend that you take an improv class – in fact you should take more than one.  While improv stands alone as an art form, it’s almost a required skill for actors.  Actors often need to “Think fast on their feet” and studying improv will help you cultivate the skills to do just that.  There are many audition situations in which having improvisation skills gives you an edge.  Not only that, but there are times when not having improv skills will actually make you look bad.  I’m going to talk a little bit about each of them and the reasons as to why and how improv can help you to be a better actor in each case.

When you’re at an audition (whether it’s for film, theatre, commercials, voiceover, etc.), you may be given a script to memorize or familiarize yourself with ahead of time, you may be handed one on the spot, or you may be required to deliver a monologue.  No matter what the case is, there will almost certainly be a time when you will need to improvise.

Let’s say you get the script ahead of time and you’ve done your best to memorize.  Great!  You get into the audition room, you slate, and you begin “reading” dialogue with a reader.  All of a sudden you get to the third line and you can’t remember the next sentence or the exact phrasing of it.  Now what?  Well, there are a few options:
1.  You can stop the read and ask the casting director if you can start over.  (This isn’t the best option because it makes you look unprepared and they may say no.
  I have done this once or twice in a bind and luckily they were gracious enough to let me begin again, but I don’t think I booked those jobs.)
2.  You can stand there (for what feels like an eternity) and hope the lines magically pop back into your head as quickly as they popped out.  (In this case, you may end up having to go back and choose option one, if it doesn’t come to you.
  I have also waited a moment and had the lines come back to me, but sometimes the read just feels a little off the rest of the way through, because then I start second-guessing myself.)
3.  You can make it up or phrase it in your own words if you remember the gist.  (This is almost always the best option because it keeps the read moving along and oftentimes, if done well, most of the people in the room will never even realize that what you said didn’t match the script.
  I have definitely done this and it always feels better than the other two options because I haven’t lost any momentum.)
In order to choose option three, you need to have improvisation skills.

Ok, now let’s say you get the script ahead of time, you’ve done your best to memorize, you get into the audition room, and are asked to “read” with another actor.  This time you get to the third line, but your fellow actor throws you the wrong cue or they improvise the cue line because they’ve either had trouble remembering it or they aren’t prepared.  Now you may not know what to say or if you say your next line the way it was written, it may not make sense.  You can still choose option one from above, but instead of the unprepared actor looking bad for messing up the line, it’s more likely that you will appear to be difficult to work with since you can’t just “roll with it.”  In this case, it is best to make it up or rephrase the line you memorized so that it appears that you’re both part of the same conversation.  This is another time, when having improv skills can up your acting game.

Now let’s take the same scenario above, where you are “reading” with a partner.  One of your goals when reading with a partner is to make the other person look good – this reflects better on both of you and increases your chances of getting cast.  This time you get to the third line, but your fellow actor has forgotten the cue and is just standing there not saying anything.  In this situation, you may need to help your partner out by throwing out a made-up line that jogs their memory or by taking over and incorporating their line into your next line in such a way that it appears seamless, as if they haven’t forgotten a line at all.  Again, you guessed it – the ability to improv here is invaluable.  It can even teach you how to be more in-tune with your partner.

Switching gears now, let’s talk about when you’ve been handed a script on the spot.  You are being asked to do a cold-read.  Cold-reading takes another set of skills, one of which is the ability to “read” the copy while keeping your eyes out of your script.  Sometimes when you’re doing this, you may miss the exact phrasing on the page.  Without improv skills, you may be forced to look back down at your paper to rediscover the words that are written there.  However, if you have improv skills and you understood what you read, then you can most likely paraphrase it a bit without looking down and keep yourself on track.  Improv skills can also help you out if you’re doing a cold-read with a partner, in the same ways mentioned above.

And last but not least, what about when you are being asked to perform a monologue?  While you often have much more time to prepare a monologue (you should always have a few in your back pocket), we are all human and forgetting bits or words or making mistakes is bound to happen.  Rather than letting these mistakes derail you, you can use them as opportunities to add new life to your monologue.  If you have learned how to improvise, you can roll with the mistake and figure out a way to quickly lead yourself back on track.

So I hope that you can now see just how important it is that you learn to improvise as an actor.  Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been acting for years, learning to improv or refreshing your improv skills is a must if you want to be able to compete in the marketplace.  There are so many times during an audition where the ability to “think fast on your feet” can elevate your acting and increase your chances of getting cast.  If you’ve never done improv or you’re a little rusty – get into a class as soon as you can, it can only help you.

Here are a few places to study improv in Pittsburgh and around the U.S.
Pittsburgh
Steel City Improv

Arcade Comedy Theater
Unplanned Comedy

I have personally taken classes at Steel City Improv and highly recommend them.

Elsewhere

The Second City
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
The Groundlings
Peoples Improv Theater


I encourage anyone to comment to this post with any other improv classes and/or resources (in and out of Pittsburgh) that you can personally recommend.


Next Week:  Improv is Crucial in Your Work

photo credit: Éole via photopin cc /Added Border

Scattered Play Poster
 I'm performing onstage in "Scattered" this weekend and next in Group D of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival at Off the Wall.
The show runs from Sept 19-28.

I'm playing June (June-Bug) among a wonderful ensemble cast in this incredibly lovely, charming, funny, and heart-wrenching tale.

For details and information on purchasing tickets, click one of the links above.

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Auditioning - But Where do I go, What do I do, How?

5/25/2014

 
Ahhhhh Auditioning – sometimes it feels like this process will never end.  That’s because it doesn’t – so start doing it and get comfortable.  Even the stars and others who’ve “made it” have to audition for their roles.  Auditioning can often feel like a whole other animal and in actuality it is.  Being able to audition well can make all the difference when it comes to getting cast.
Confused Man
There are many parts of the audition process that we as actors can’t control when it comes to what they’re looking for:  age, looks, height, weight, hair color, and just plain human chemistry are just a few of them.  Some of those things can be controlled to a certain extent, but the moment you start questioning every single thing about yourself is the moment you become your own worst enemy.  You can drive yourself crazy by trying to determine exactly what “THEY” are looking for.  So stop, slow down, and instead think about what you can control – your preparation and performance (even your performance isn’t always completely under your control and is in fact, usually better when it’s not).  A wonderful friend of mine once told me that our job as actors is not to book a role or even to perform a role, but rather to audition and audition to the best of our abilities.  You can decide just exactly what if anything that means to you, but I can tell you that it changed everything for me!  It made auditioning much less scary somehow.  I started having more fun in auditions, I was more prepared, more relaxed, and I started booking more jobs.

Ok, so with all those thoughts swimming in your head, let’s talk about some of the more technical things.

Where do I go?
There are lots of places you can start looking for auditions.  Now again, if you are just getting started, I recommend limiting yourself to student films and community theatre in order to first gain some more experience.  With that in mind, here is a list of some places where you can look for audition notices.  This list is nowhere near complete, but it’s a good place to start.  Many of these will pertain to the Pittsburgh area, but others are available all over.  Also, please keep in mind that you should be careful going to auditions – personal safety comes first – you can read up about it here.  The last paragraph is probably the most important.  I don’t agree with everything 100%, but until I get the chance to write a post on audition safety, this is a pretty good warning.  Also keep in mind that while I am recommending these sites or pages as good resources, I do not endorse every audition posted – you must decide for yourself what you feel is legit and worth your time.

Audition Notices (in alphabetical order) - Note some of these services allow you to create online profiles and some require you to pay in order to submit yourself for auditions.
12 Peers Theatre
Actor’s Access
Backstage
Carnegie Mellon University
Craigslist
Dragonuk Connects
Gemini Theatre
Little Lake Theatre
Nancy Mosser Casting (sign up for free to be listed – they will contact you if interested)
Pittsburgh City Paper
Pittsburgh Film Office
Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Pittsburgh New Works Festival (once a year)
Point Park University
Smithfield Street Theatre
South Park Theatre
Stage Right
The Casting Pitt
The University of Pittsburgh
The Theatre Factory
Throughline Theatre Company

Facebook groups (in alphabetical order)

Actors* Models*
Auditions An'at
Carnegie Screenwriters (not technically an audition resource, but a great group of writers who host staged readings once a month)
Cleveland IndieClub
Greater Pittsburgh theater info board
Pittsburgh 48 Hour Film Project (once a year)
Pittsburgh Model & Actor Castings & Industry Networking
P.O.W. II Secret Group

Before I start, there are going to be some technical terms introduced here that you may not be familiar with, if you do not know what they mean, you should be able to find the definitions of them here.

What do I do?
Well, that depends.  Are you auditioning for stage, film, commercials, industrials???

Stage:  You will be asked to do one or more of the following – a prepared monologue, a cold-read monologue, a prepared scene (with a partner), a cold-read scene (with a partner) – a cold-read monologue or scene may be from the play or it may not.
You should always have at least 4 monologues memorized at any given time – one comedic contemporary monologue, one dramatic contemporary monologue, one comedic classic monologue, and one dramatic classic monologue.  If you already have these, you are prepared for a monologue audition, if not, find some monologues (the library is a good place to start) and get them memorized.
Monologues are the most common form of audition for the stage and a good monologue is essential for a good audition – choose one that provides conflict and energy to your performance.
Cold-reading is a little different and a skill that requires practice.  Aside from practicing this skill in itself, one of the best ways to prepare for a cold-read for a play is to read the entire play.  Familiarize yourself with the characters that you are right for and their circumstances.  You may not know ahead of time which section of the play you will be reading from or which character you may read for, but at least you’ll have a good idea what is happening.
Often your initial audition will be in the form of a monologue or 2 contrasting monologues and generally callbacks will require you to cold-read a scene from the play with a partner.

Film, Commercials, Industrials:  You will be asked to do one or more of the following – a prepared scene (with a reader or a partner), a cold-read scene (with a reader or a partner), a prepared monologue, a cold-read monologue – most often the scene and/or monologue will be from the actual script and these scenes are referred to as sides.
You should read, memorize and prepare the scene as best you can and/or practice your cold-read technique – if possible, practice the scene with your partner, if given one, ahead of time.
For monologues – see above in the stage section – since performing a monologue for film auditions is rare, you can often do a stage monologue, but if you’ve got a film monologue prepared, all the better.
Often your initial audition for film will be in the form of a cold-read of the sides opposite a reader and generally callbacks will require you to prepare or cold-read a scene with one or many scene partners.
Often your initial audition for commercials will be in the form of a prepared scene (usually the whole commercial itself) with a reader and generally callbacks will require you to read the same prepared scene with one or many scene partners.
Often your initial audition for industrials will be in the form of a prepared scene (usually from 1-3 pages of the script) with a reader and generally callbacks will require you to read the same prepared scene with one or many scene partners – although many times you will be cast or not from your initial read.

How?

So how do you go about preparing a monologue or scene and readying yourself for an audition?  If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you should be taking a class and in that class, you should be learning exactly, in detail, how to do this.  Since I think there is no substitute for a class when it comes to teaching an actor to prepare a script, I’m going to just give you a neat little checklist to work with – I call it the Five FFFFF’s

The Five FFFFF's

1.  Figure out your character.   (Character substance, etc.)
2.  Find your motivations.  (What are you doing in the scene?)
3.  Fix it in your mind.   (Memorize your lines.)
4.  Feel relaxed.   (Calm yourself and trust that you got this.)
5.  Forfeit your fears.   (Give in to the process and most of all have fun.)


Next Week...  The Actor Resume - The Who, What, When, Where, Why?
photo credit: PhotoJonny via photopin cc /Added Border

A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities Cover

Be sure to check out my very first audiobook, a humorous personal memoir collection entitled "A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities" written by Barbara Venkataraman.  It's available through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

Also available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes:
"Death by Didgeridoo" by Barbara Venkataraman


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    Carrie Lee Martz

    I'm an Actress with a voracious appetite and passion for my work and life.  I believe that hard work coupled with determination is a good recipe for making your dreams a reality.

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