A working television actor on bombing an audition and booking it anyway, why a callback is a win, and the backstory question nobody in the room cares about.
13 Things Actors Should Know About Auditions, Callbacks and Relationships
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to
spend the 41:09 watching it.
Physical training buys you parts a talking head cannot get
Dance taught him accountability inside a group, where falling out of unison makes you visible immediately. Boxing taught hyperfocus, because punches are coming. Between them he can be asked to run somebody down, take a fall, or go off a balcony, and that widens what he is sent up for.
New actors worry about marks more than almost anything on a first set. On a wide lens there is no tape and no sandbag to feel for, so you are triangulating from what is left, right and ahead of you. Physical training gives you that sense, and once you have it you keep it.
He tripped over the same line three or four times reading for Shameless while the director sat there smiling, crawled over the finish line, and got the job. His own reaction was that they must have confused him with someone else. They had not.
The instruction he gave himself mid-collapse was exactly that: do not apologize, and do not do it again. The room can see a stumble is a stumble. What they are reading is whether you can keep working, and an apology answers that question badly.
He has casting directors as genuine friends, high profile people with several shows running, and says he has never had to overdo anything to get there. Pushiness is a turnoff even when you are not chasing anything, and the payoff of the slow version is being accepted for who you are rather than what you offer.
Social media closed a distance that used to be absolute
You can follow each other and both know what the other is doing without anyone having to say it. That works only if what you post is what you genuinely do. A comment engineered to be noticed reads as exactly that to people whose whole job is reading people.
Casting directors see what you are in a minute and who you are in five
He rates them alongside writers as the sharpest people in the business. Image and likeness register immediately; the person underneath takes a few minutes longer and they get that too. Which is the practical reason attempting to be someone else in the room does not survive it.
He has opened himself up completely on camera and not booked, then done something simple and unremarkable and been called back and booked it. Both felt organic. The lesson he draws is not to stop caring, it is to stop judging your own work while you are doing it.
His line to actors is that they are desperately trying to keep a job they were never holding. Nothing is at stake that you currently possess. He suggests treating the audition as your first day on the set, or as already cast, so you can play instead of white knuckling it.
Getting called back means you fit one or more of the specs and you did something right. It is genuinely hard to hear that when you wanted the job, but a callback is evidence rather than a near miss, and the difference matters over a career.
The role is still being written while you audition for it
As a writer himself he is blunt about this. Nobody holds a table read before there is a cast, so auditions are the writer hearing the lines aloud for the first time. Text, character and scene all move in response, and he has watched a whole part he was pinned for get written out.
He uses a standing sheet of forty-five questions and does not need every answer. His test is simple: nobody cares that you were adopted if the scene is buying milk. Detail earns its place by changing what you actually do, and most of it does not.
If you're an actor trying to build a real working career in the industry, you're in the right place. I'm Shannonet Sturgis and I've worked as an actor for over 30 years and for the past 15 I have coached some of the top working actors in the business. So I have seen this industry from both sides. So I'm uniquely qualified to talk about what it takes to get you hired and have a lasting career in this industry. So today I am joined by J. Teddy Garcus, whose credit, well, he's one of our amazing teachers at the studio, - but he hasn't been teaching so much lately because he's been so busy working. He just got a very big job and he'll be gone out of the state for a while, but he you've seen him on The Pit, you've seen him on SWAT, he's created his own movie. He's a busy, busy guy. Thank you for joining us. - Right on. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Appreciate it. - The casting directors consistently say about you. - My god. Honestly, I I I I wish I knew that because that's kind of like that would have that would be like having intel. But but I do think that there's a a a a general consensus if you look at the the the jobs that I've gotten that there is a a bluecollar feel. Mhm. - Um there is the ability to to handle movement in space, whether that be stunts or um any type of any type of like just movement within a certain environment. Um, and then character-wise, I think it would be there's an I I think [laughter] I be and and I'm going also by what my how my wife feels about me. - I just love how you start. - No, seriously. No, she seriously. though cuz she I think that there's an earnestness and a nobility that kind of juxtaposes this kind of bit of a tough exterior with the facial hair and with, you know, the the whole workout persona, - the muscles, right?
And that gives - that gives an interesting contrast. Um, I don't know how they use that. - Well, you know, I was really interested you said how to move through space. And I think two of the things that are so interesting about you and how well-rounded you are as an actor is that not only are you a boxer, - but also a dancer. You want to talk about how those have impacted you and your career? - Physicality. I love physicality. Um, you know, I was a dancer for many years and I and I played around and dabbled in boxing and it was um it it's both have given me something for my for my craft and for and and and as an actor that I don't think I could have gotten anywhere else because there's a there's this hyperfocus that you have to have especially, you know, when you have punches being thrown at you. Right. And also, you know, and as a dancer, when when when you're dancing with a group, staying in unison and falling out of sync with that group and choreography, you stand out like a sore thumb. So, you are accountable and responsible for keeping your place and for understanding um the choreography and and it's - it helps when it comes to ensemble stuff, - you know. It it's just yeah it's given me it's it's given me the ability to kind of like broaden my horizons as an actor.
I'm not just you know so that I'm not just a talking head I think. - Right. It you could send me to run after somebody or or take a tumble or um jump off a balcony which I've done or you know combat stage combat and stuff like that. And and also spatial awareness. I think spatial awareness is important, you know. - Do you think that helps you in working with the camera? - It does. It does. It It has helped me the most in hitting my marks. - Right. Um especially in a wide open space where you have a wide angle lens and that lens is catching the ground, - right? So there's no - there's no mark - sandbags down there to stop.
- There's no mark. There's no sandbags. There's no tape on the floor. You know what I mean? Um, so it just kind of it helps me understand like triangulation like where I am to my left and to my right and what's in front of me and how far I have to walk and how much I have to move in order to get to where I am. And it's kind of it's kind of cool. It's just kind of giving me this other like six sense kind of thing. - A lot of actors when they're starting out, if they haven't been on set will they're very concerned about hitting marks. you know, that's very much their concern because it's something that's new to them rather than being on stage or in class - and you know, practice and I think having that physicality and understanding where you are in space is so important. Then once you got it, you got it. - Yeah. Yeah.
It's kind of like riding a bike, - right? - You know, you get better as you go along, but you still have to kind of continue to do it, you know, um to to kind of just like be proficient and not be wonky at it. But yeah, it's it's it's a it's a worry. It's definitely it's a it's a legitimate worry, especially when when they have to be responsible for something and they're out there by themselves, right? You feel naked. You're like, "Oh my god, and if I don't hit this mark, you know, somebody's going to come up to me, tap me on the shoulder, and be like, "Hey, listen, you were off camera." - I heard a great story about uh Ed Zwick when he was doing shooting Glory, and it was uh Andre Brower's first job right out of school. And the the DP was like, "You need to talk to him. He's not hitting his marks. He's always out of focus." And they went over and they said, "You got to hit your marks." And he went, "Okay, what are those?" - Wow. - That's how green he was. He had no idea. And then he hit them all every time.
- Yeah. Yeah. It happens a lot also um when when you've done a lot of stage. There are marks on stage, but you're it's more about finding your light than it is finding a mark. - It's true. I remember once I was in church and I felt the sun come through the stained glass and I leaned into it and I went, "Oh, I'm in church finding my my light." [laughter] - Exactly. - I was like, "Oh, I'm an actor and my bones." - Exactly. That's God's way of saying, "Thank you." 10 [laughter] 10 minutes to curtain. Come on. Um, - the question I love is, have you ever thought that you bombed an audition and then you booked it? - I bombed. I bombed and I booked.
I bombed and I booked and it happened one time. I did a show um called Shameless, right? And I went to I for the live I can't remember the name of the casting director. Um, I wish I did. Uh, but I think they Yeah. Well, whatever. Um, so I go to this audition and it's it's cool. I mean, you know, I'm just regular audition. Oh, in the before times when you used to go into the room - in person auditions. - In person auditions. - See all your competition in the hall. - Yeah.
Where everybody looks like you and everybody decided to wear like the same military shirt that you wore. Like you're not special. You didn't think of that. - So, um, yeah, they called me into the room and, you know, I I worked my audition the way I worked everything else. You know what I mean? I'd go over it. I make my choices. Blah blah blah. I have a little backup choice. And so I it it comes to my line and I start off strong. I start off good and then halfway through my line I just thought it it's like a spaz stroke. Like it's a combination of like a I keep moving this mic.
It's a combination of like a whole lot of things that happen. And um and the casting director was like, "Okay." The the director is like sitting off to my left and she's looking at me and she's smiling. She's like, "Do it again." I'm like, "All right." And I do it again and I bomb again. I trip over it again. I'm like, [clears throat] "All right, let's go." That That's the Now it's the part that part kicks in where it's like, "Teddy, don't apologize, right? But don't this up again." Right. - Right. Like, don't you know what I mean? - I trip again. It was like three times in a row. No, don't worry. And the the - And I And I catch a glimpse of of the director and she still has the same smile on her face.
that she did when I walked in and the casting director and I did it again and the camera person I did it again and then I finally got it right but it was kind of like you know when you reach the finish line [laughter] and you kind of like crawl through and you just reach and you just - and and and I and I booked that job. [laughter] I booked and I booked Shameless. - Oh, that's wonderful. - It was it was it was the most out of control thing. I'd never experienced that again. Nobody. No. And I had bombed a couple of other auditions before, but that was the one that's so memorable because I was like, "What on earth?" And obviously, you know, when you know, you get to set and everything, you're more prepared. You know, you got more than 24 hours to remember all this text or whatever. - And so, it was fine. But my goodness, that might have been one of the biggest lowest to highest points in Oh my god. Yeah.
Did you think they had you confused with somebody else when your agent called to book you? - Totally. They totally They had to have. They must have known. They were like, "Yeah, let's call Bombed Guy. [laughter] Let's Let's book Let's book the guy that couldn't get it right like three or four times." It was It was crazy. Yeah. No, but uh - Yeah. I've I've had some of those, but I didn't book them. - Yeah. Right. Right.
[laughter] - I've had ones that I didn't think went as well as - apparently the casting people did, but uh - Oh, trust me. You know, I've had a few of those that I didn't book and they were right not to book me, right? Like - these for some reason they were just like, I don't know, this guy kind of looks like the the the the guy that I had in my head when I wrote it and he's the military guy and he has everything we need except the lines, so let's just trust that the lines will be there on the day. And they were. They were. It was cool. - I booked a show once uh that was a word perfect show, - right? They give you the script and they make you sign it saying you're not gonna change anything. - Like Aaron Sorgens show type of thing - kind of. Yeah. And - I didn't know that going into the audition. And so I had changed some things going into the audition.
Not on purpose. It just it happened, you know, - and I was so grateful I didn't know it going into the audition because it would have been so and they still booked me and I did it. Word perfect. - There you go. Yeah. Because as long as you can do that, you know, there's something about like having a relationship with the people behind the camera and the cast and directors and you know, everybody else who calls you in the producers or whatever is that if they know that you can do something, if they've worked with you before, if they've been in a room with you before where you've had to audition and you mess up that one audition, they'll still book you. - Yeah. Let's talk about that a little bit. Let's talk about relationships. What is um do you work hard to nurture those relationships? Do they come naturally? - I think sometimes that's one of the hardest things for actors is to nurture those relationships.
- They've they've come naturally. Um I can't say that I that I put such a strong effort into it. I allow things to be organic - because I think if you're a little bit too pushy um even if you're not trying to build a relationship and you're pushy with somebody, it's kind of a turnoff, - right? - And I'm morbidly afraid of turning somebody off because of that. - Yeah. - I don't I it it's a queasy, cringy feeling and I can kind of I could do I could do without it. I I'd rather just let it if we have something in common that we can talk about at a party or at some type of event. And I mean I know a lot of casting directors already - that are legitimate friends. - Oh, that's wonderful. - that are legitimate like and these are like high-profile people that you know - have multiple shows on TV and blah blah and all this other stuff. And I love the fact that I've never had to overdo anything because then you know that it's a mutual acceptance of who you are rather than what you offer, - you know. Um, - casting directors are some of the greatest people.
- They are. They are. - They really are. They love actors. - They are some of the most fine-tuned between casting directors and writers. I don't know who is more intelligent. Like writers are so smart and casting directors are so sharp. Like they'll look at you and they'll see what you are immediately. And by that I mean image and likeness, right? They'll see what you are, - but in about five minutes they'll see who you are. And that's a different type of skill. That's like an intuition that you can't like you've got to be good at that.
And I love that. I I I I love that. But yeah, you know, I mean, you know, th those those relationships, they've come naturally. Some of them I've I've I've had to, you know, take a step forward and be just a little bit more proactive, but still within the respect of the boundaries that the person's putting up and that I and that I would want somebody to respect about me. - Right. If you there's a show or something that you would like to do or that you've had Yeah. you've been on their other shows. - Yeah. Yeah. And you know what, man? We're in 2026 right now. like social media makes things easier.
It really does. Like before these a lot of them were so offlimit and and rightfully so. You know, you have to you have to be able to keep that separation. - But, you know, with social media, I can follow you, you can follow me, you can see what I'm doing, I can see what you're doing. And the unspoken thing between that is we already know what's happening in each other's lives. I know what you're casting. - You know what I was just in, - right? There's not this push to throw it in anybody's face. I post what I post because I love what I do, - right? And so do you. And so if something comes up that's a mutual interest to both of us, - then, you know, maybe I'll comment on the thing that you're casting and say, "This is this is this looks like it's going to be good or something - because it does look like it's going to be good." [laughter] Not because I'm trying to play myself or anything like that because then that's kind of cringey, too. - Right.
Right. I think people can you said being uh genuine and authentic. - You have to You have to You have to And be Look, you're dealing with people that see who you are. - You You want Yeah. Right. [laughter] - If they don't If they don't, you're doing something wrong. - Exactly. So, you're going to you're going to be disingenuous with somebody who can who's actually built to see these things, - right? - That doesn't You know what I mean? So, have you noticed anything different about the auditions that you book booked? Have you noticed anything different about the auditions that you've booked versus the ones that you didn't book? - Um, not all the time.
Look, I've I've I've put my I put my soul on like I'm do the artist thing right now. Let's let's do let's do let's do the artist thing. cut myself open in front of the camera and just, you know, and haven't booked. And then I've kept it very primal and and and simple and organic and didn't do anything that was in my mind, right? But I'm not the one judging this, - right? - Didn't do anything that was extraordinary and got the call for the call back. And I'm like, they're calling me back for this? like, okay, well, I'm not going to argue with that. And then and then and then I book it after that. So, there might be a story behind that. There might be a story in simplicity in the simplicity of of of execution, right? There might be a story in staying out of your head and not judging yourself along the way.
- I think that's so important, - right? But then again, the other stuff that felt really good, there was the same, it was the same thing. It was, it was still organic. It was still visceral. And but it just felt, you know what? It felt more connected when I when when when I felt like I did something. It felt real. It felt personal. And then when I didn't do anything and I kept it simple, it felt like I didn't care. Now, this isn't a message to actors to not care. That's not what this is, right? Like, you have to care about your stuff.
- But there's there's there's there's something to that. There's something always about people wanting what they can't have. - And it's also letting go. - Letting go. not being I sometimes I'll call it white knuckling the audition and you can just see the person and - it's such a huge part of it if if you're holding on too tight people see it they see your guard up - I was - they see you need it - I was just reading an article about an actor who booked something and they were told oh you're not they're going to go with a big name from you know a different country so you know just have fun with the tape - and so that allowed them to just assume that they weren't going to get it and do exactly what they wanted to do. That's right. And they said they had so much fun playing and they booked it. - That's right. So, yeah. - That's right. Have fun and and and and be bold and just if you go into it with a nothing to lose attitude. - Yeah.
And you you you don't have anything to lose. - You have absolutely nothing. - You have the job that you currently don't have to lose. - That's right. [laughter] Which is - And I say that to the actors. I'm like, you're so desperately trying to keep a job you don't have. - Right. Right? You don't have it. You can go in and and and do all the positive affirmations and this job is mine to lose and chance and, you know, do all your stuff, but bro, you don't have it. - Yeah. - You don't have the job.
You're going in there to, you know, you're going in there to play. The job is going in there and just having fun and and and treating those sides and treating it as if it's that's the day of work. - For me, yes. For me, it either helped to be thinking that this was my my first day on the set, not the audition, or it's already been cast, - right? - So, I can just have some fun and they can see what I can do for another role. - Right. - And I Right. Right. - Those Yeah. And and and you know, and and it's the room a lot of times, right? It's it's what's happening inside the room and and and and they say booking the room, but I just say being good enough to be worthy of of being considered for something else, you know, if some if that's not available, you know what I mean? 10,000 actors, there's one role.
I mean, - if you're not getting it, there's probably another really good actor who's getting it. - Come on. [laughter] - Come on. You know. Anyway, so - um do you think there's anything that actors don't understand about callbacks if that process is different at least for you? - Yeah. Um first of all, the call back is a win. It's hard to tell that. It's hard to say that to a young actor who's been doing this for whatever fill-in- thelank number of years. - Um and who has gotten his or her or their heart broken, right? because they wanted this job right away and they got called back and they feel like they came so close and then they called them after they called him back they called him back again it was like oh my god it's in the bag you know what I mean and as as a as a writer myself I can tell you that the role is still being written like don't act like this is set in stone when you audition for something, believe you me, especially if it's TV where writer is king, um, they can begin to readjust the text, they can begin to readjust the character, the scene, or anything that involves that dialogue and that story based on what they're seeing on camera, right? Is it remember, they're not having table reads before they have a cast, - right?
These auditions are like the writer's table reads. - They're hearing their words first time jokes if it's a comedy, - right? So, if you get if you get a call back, you know, you probably fit [snorts] one of the specs or to or one or more of the specs that they're looking for, right? Great height to play alongside our lead or maybe you're going for the lead, you know, great height for our love interest or whatever. um great ethnically ambiguous, great this, great that, all of these wonderful things. And then you have three people that fit that. Now, what are they looking for? You know, is this character going to offer me a little bit more sensitivity? Is this character going to be going to be able to offer me a little bit more hardness and street smart? like what is it about them that fits well with this thing that I wrote? And if you don't get it, it's it's it's absolutely fine. You were being considered for something that was already a moving target, you know.
So trying to land on that is - it's incredible. It's almost a miracle. - You can't take it too personal. - It I love that. It's a miracle when you book something. - Oh, you book something. It's a Oh, it's a My agent said it. My agent said it like I think a couple years ago or something. I had booked something and he was like, "Teddy, let me tell you this is a lottery out here." I was like, "It's a lottery." - So, let let me transition into that because actors are always asking me about representation. How did you get your your manager or your agent? Sorry, your reps. - N Yeah.
My very first rep. - Yeah. How about your very first? - My [laughter] very first my very first manager was in New York and I had a I had a headshot photographer. - I'm on the Okay. So, I'm on the I'm on the A train. I'm on the way downtown and I have a play open in my hand. I forgot it. It was for a class. It wasn't for an actual play. So, I'm reading the play on the train - and um we kind of make eye contact and I, you know, just kind of like nod my This is New York, right? Right.
- Kind of nod my hand. What's up? you know, and I just keep reading my play. Eventually, we start a conversation, right? He's an actor. Um, he's like, "Where do you go to school?" I'm like, "Oh, I'm going down to, you know, SFT to school for film and television, blah, blah, blah." This and the other stuff. And he goes, "All right, cool. Yeah, I know that place." "Hey, man. I'm a headshot photographer." Gives me gives me his business card. I'm like, "Cool." I take down his business card. Couple weeks later, I call him up because I need head shot. - I shoot head shots with him, right?
Um he shows me on his you know on his camera um you know some of some of the pictures he's like man I really like this one and I like this one. I'm like great. So he dumps them into the computer and out of nowhere I don't know why I asked I said I said you know you got an agent a manager. He's like yeah and then he's kind of looking at me for like a hot second and he goes I think my manager would like you but but I'm going to try to set something up but my manager likes crazy people like he you can't - No joke that's what he said. He was like, - "Did he seem a little crazy?" - He was a little bit off. - Okay. - He's still a good friend of mine till this day. - Oh, that's wonderful. - He was a little bit off. And he was like, "My manager likes crazy. You got to be a little bit, you know, loose." I said, "All right, cool. No problem." He emails his manager.
His manager emails him back within an hour. In one week, I have a meeting. And when I got there, I didn't know what to expect. He had papers on the table and I I signed with him immediately. and he's the manager that helped me, you know, come over here to LA and I got an agent in LA because of him. And it was just, you know, stepping out and and doing something that I don't normally do, which is kind of like make friends on the train, - right? That could be especially in New York. - Yeah. Especially in New York. But he was so incredibly cool. He's a great actor. He works all the time, but he was, you know, he was shooting head shots all the time.
And um it was that that's how it happened. So, it was just a matter of asking and it worked out and it worked out well. - Oh, great. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. - What do you think is something that actors over complicate? the artist, the the the art, the actor artist and then the person because you the actor part of you, the artist part, I think I think I know I'm going to get push back on this. I think they overco complicate backstory. I I I I really do. I really do. I think backstory is important.
I have a laundry list of questions. It's a sheet of 45 questions. - Oh, I've seen it. - You've seen it, right? It's a sheet of 45 questions that I use religiously for all of my auditions and for all and I may not have to answer all of them, right? - But it helps me find things about my character that I may not have known. Now, this is the thing. Nobody cares that you were adopted if you're going to the store to buy milk, right? Nobody. No. No. Nobody.
Nobody cares. Nobody cares. All right. Nobody. How would I How would I grab the milk out of the refrigerator if I was adopted versus not adopted? Bro, you grab it. You [laughter] grab it. Nobody cares. What's the complication? Like, what are you doing? Like, that's the I I really I I've never really fully understood that. I'm like, "All right, cool.
No problem." But but then you know I mean I think I think also you know just as a person like not not within the craft not within the actor craft the actor him or herself outside of the set or outside the stage and the play or whatever. Um I think they overcomplicate what they what they feel is necessary to succeed. There's all of these myths. Oh, let's talk about some of those myths. - I mean, do you think I should get cheek implants? Do you think I should get - Yeah. - be real careful? Well, maybe not. - Back in the old days, just should I change my name? - Should I change my name? Should I cut my hair? I mean, like, it's - No.
Get your instrument better. - Yeah. - You're a shape shifter. This is what you are. You're an actor. You are a be a person an individual who becomes this thing within yourself, right? I tell you what, if they want you to have cheek implants, there's a makeup artist that they're paying a lot of money to who can do prosthetics and - right a little too, you know, - what do you know what I mean? They can cut your hair, they can dye your hair if the job is big enough, - you know, or wigs. I I don't you know just just stay healthy, stay in your craft, right? But don't don't buy into nonsense. Don't buy into nonsense. This is a this this isn't this is a craft that very few people turn into an art form.
I believe - that's true. - Right. - That's our job and we try. - Right. We try. This is a craft that uses two things. your voice and your body. I don't know what else it uses. These are the two instruments that you bring to the table for each and every single thing that you will do as an actor. Train those things. Work on those things, - right? - That's it, you know, and don't worry about if you were adopted for the for the [laughter] for your scene at the 7-Eleven where you're buying milk, bro.
Get out of here. - Right. Quit your job. - You did that. - I need milk. [laughter] - Yeah. But I'm lactose intolerant. How would I - Oh, God. Well, how would I Why would I buy this? Oh, God. - All right. [laughter] - I - not always.
Most of the mistakes that I think that actors make, I feel come from a good place. Mhm. - But sometimes people who are a little lazy in doing maybe voice work, maybe the body work, maybe other kind of character worksh - then will overfocus on these other things that it's like you're not really understanding the process because you're going for result. - It's an IA, right? - It's it's it's it's - Yeah. It's it's ignoring the things that have to get you to where you want to go and trying to jump straight there, - right? - And and that I mean I don't maybe there's somebody out there that that's worked for. It's never worked for me. I you know what I mean? I've had to take the stairs like I you've got Right. So it happens. It happens.
And I think it's also uh something that happens with when you're just a little bit when you're when you're still in training, when when when when you haven't been connected to this thing long enough. Um it's easy to get advice from people that's not um that's not true. It's easy to hear opinions and to get, you know, to hear information that that that's misleading and you don't know what to weigh it against because you haven't had that experience. - Oh, that's a great point. Yeah. - You know, you've just you're new and that's okay. That's okay. There's places that there's places - everybody's green at one point. - Everyone is green at one point. Everyone. So, yeah. But but you know, you heard it here first, right?
Do you have any rituals or process that you do before a big audition or and or before a day on set? - I don't. - Okay. - I don't I don't before before a day on set. I do try to get some good sleep depending because some of these call times are [laughter] - 4:30 in the morning. - Yeah. I just had I just had a couple of them this this past week. 6 a.m. 6 a.m. call time 6 am on set, right? Which means, you know, you're shooting in if you're here in LA and you know geography, you know, I'm we live by the beach, so that's that's a drive to Santa Clarita. - Yeah.
- Right. Even at that time, like it's it's a buck. It's an hour. Um, so get a good night's sleep, get well rested because in my experience, the toughest thing you'll have to do will be after having to wait five, six hours to do it and then you're right, hurry up and wait, - right? - And so then you're run down or you're hopped up on coffee, right? Uh, but I, you know, the there is no true ritual for me before an audition. I am an obsessive um repeater of of of lines and I'll and I'll rehearse it 25 different ways, - right? - And I don't know what sticks. I I typically I don't know what's going to end up on camera. I I don't - And what I love about knowing you and knowing your process or seeing your work is - a lot of times actors who don't really know what they're doing, they'll rehearse it and then it's only one way. - No. - And yours, it's every take it can be a little different.
You're exploring something new. It's not never locked in. It's this - this knowledge but with a freedom within it. It's it's gonna it's it it has to have and I don't think that is a voluntary reaction to be honest. I think it's involuntary. I think it begins to I think everything that I rehearse eventually begins to seep out - ah - at different points and I think there's times when I try to control it that it's kind of it gets weird and that's not what we want. But when I'm free, like we we spoke earlier - and and and you know, you just kind of give yourself that li liberty of letting go. There's there's the there's the spontaneity and then there's there's the thing where it just kind of happens. And I'm like, "Wow, I didn't know that was going to happen." That's pretty cool. That's the beauty of like that's the beauty of self taping is that you get to you get a couple of those, right? Like you know, you you you'll choose you'll choose the take that most speaks to you most, right? Do you ever get nerves anymore or did you ever get nerves?
- Um, in I don't get nerves on set anymore. I I am I'll tell you something that I've learned about myself recently and I would say probably when I say recently I probably mean like maybe the last seven, eight years. Um, the more people around and the bigger the cast, the bigger the crew, the more I love it. It's the smaller intimate stuff where I'm like, I want to be more quiet. - And I do have a shy part about me. I do. It It's It often seen, right? It it just pops it set out every now and again, but that's that's typically in smaller in smaller gatherings, - right? I feel like I really want to get to know you before I open up. But if there's a lot of people, it gets my whatever inhibition or whatever shyness I have gets covered or blanketed by the fact that there are so many people and I really can't connect with each and every single one. Um, so on sets I don't I don't get nervous. - That's wonderful.
Yeah. I don't get nervous. I have gotten nervous in in the room in in for auditions for sure. Just kind of sitting out there and thinking more about what it meant to me to have this - than I did thinking about what I wanted to do in the scene. So, the nerves came from that, - right? this means this much to me where if I would have just thought get the money, right? Like if that's the scene, right? Or save the kid, - right? - Right. - Your objective being about - Yes. or - what it is for the character rather than what it is for Teddy. - Get back together with your with your girl.
- Save this job. I want this job. - Instead, - focus on that, right? Instead of this and I would have been okay. And that's where the nerves came from because then you you have to leave the waiting room and step into a room, right, where there's, you know, a couple of folks, maybe you might have one or two people, but they're needing you to do that stuff and you didn't you weren't focused on that. - This uh series that you're about to leave and go work on. - Yeah. - Was that an in-person audition? Self tapes? This was self tapes, you know, - and and the call back as well. Or was it just Okay. - From from the uh No, from the uh from the tape.
- From the tape. Yeah. - Just one tape or one tape. - Oh, fantastic. - One tape. One tape. And then it went through it went through whatever channels it had to go through - and here we are. - Yay. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It's it's it's cool. I mean, you know, talk you you talk about like so many of these things being a fast track, right? Like there's like they move very fast. This one kind of took its time a little bit though, right? - Like I sent it in and I didn't hear anything back. Then there was the hey moving forward, right? And I was like, hey, great. And then they didn't hear anything. And then hey, you know, this is not it's uh the artistic choice is what they called, - right? [clears throat] Hey, this is the artistic choice. And we were like, great. You know, and then didn't hear anything, right?
Oh, no. It's like like six weeks, maybe close to two months of just kind of like not knowing like, okay, and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, you're flying out on such and such dates. Yeah. Like Yeah. So, it's it's so it's it's pretty cool like it it just it it all worked out. So, that you know, but - sometimes you find out you booked something from wardrobe calling you, - right? [laughter] Right. Like, hey, you know, can I get your sizes? What are you talking about? What? - Like, you have any dietary restrictions? [laughter] - Who is this?
No, but it it's it's it's a you know, it the word bureaucracy gets thrown thrown around a lot in this business because of the different channels and the different levels that things have to go through. And in some sense, it is right. I'm not mad at that word. I mean, I think I think it's kind of appropriate. Um, but there's a lot happening behind the scenes. Like you can I've been pinned on something like I've been pinned I've been pinned on a job where I was likeoo [laughter] I'm going to get some nice nice stuff out of this where it's like yeah we just wrote the whole thing out. - Yeah. - TV now wrote the whole thing out. I'm watching it. I'm watching the show. I'm like the whole thing is gone. which has got to feel better than watching somebody else do it.
- It's [laughter] got to feel it. It It does feel better. It does feel better. I have I I have I still have the text message from from from my agent. He was like, "Hey, Teddy, you know, I'm afraid, you know, that, you know, it was such and such and it was down to you and somebody else and, you know, they went with somebody else." I was like, - "But they didn't go with somebody else. - It was gone." you know, and I was like, "Oh, okay." I was like, "Well, I'm glad the other person didn't get it." In this case, right? I mean, you know, you you want to be honest with yourself. You're like, "Man, you know, I I really wanted that, but it's gone. It's - You can't lose out on a role if the role doesn't exist anymore." - Which brings me which brings me back to the whole call back question. - You can't take it personal, right? - You get you you you get pinned, you get called back, you're the choice for something - back. That's fantastic.
That's fantastic. You did something right. - You did something absolutely right. And then, you know, if if you you know, you have no idea what's happening with the writing or with with the restructuring of the story, you know. Um I had a I had a an audition for a pilot where that happened and the entire pilot episode that I watched was different than what I read. It was it was I was like, "What show is this? - It seems familiar. I'm going through my emails. I'm finding the script. I'm like, "Is this the same?" Yeah, it's the same show. I mean, it was different. It was It was materially different.
So,
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