Real audition scams and unsafe locations from a working actor, and the specific questions that would have caught each one.
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to spend the 18:01 watching it.
A call came in 24 hours ahead saying they loved the headshot and resume and wanted to audition her. She never asked what the project was, and it turned out to be a sales pitch. Ask for the project, the character, the sides and the casting director's name, then Google all of it before you get in the car.
At that audition they attacked her headshot and resume, told her she looked like Zendaya and could be a millionaire with better materials, then offered a $2,000 eight week acting program. The emotional demolition was the setup for the sale. Only one or two of the eight weeks involved actual acting work.
When she asked for time to think about the $2,000, she was told she had two hours to sign up and send a check for the first payment. Legitimate training does not need your money that afternoon. Her parents came in and asked why the money was needed so fast, how short the program was and how many students shared the class time.
Two spec jobs both fell apart. One was a supposed ramen commercial, the other a Verizon spec that turned out to be a spec, not the phone company. She no longer submits for spec commercials at all, on the reasoning that a production with no money for a safe space, equipment or a decent location is unlikely to run a real shoot.
The Verizon spec call time was 8 a.m. on a demolished street with no buildings and no signs. By 8:20 the only emails were "I'm running late, I'm bringing snacks, stay put." She gave it 30 minutes, decided that was long enough, and drove off. Other actors were still standing on the corner.
A callback address turned out to be a stranger's occupied house next to an elementary school. A man appeared from the walkway between buildings, barely spoke English, said he had rented an Airbnb and was running late, and told the actors to follow him. Other actors went. She refused, even at the risk that the job was real.
The $2,000 pitch reached her because she had been searching online for Disney auditions and handing over her email and phone number to sites that came up. She never found a legitimate resource that way. She now works only through Actors Access, Casting Frontier and LA Casting.
She rode to the Verizon call with her parents because she was uncomfortable going to auditions alone, and stayed in the car watching the corner instead of standing on the street. Her parents also drove up to the acting program meeting and asked the questions that stopped her from writing the check.
Acting Craft is built by what casting looks for on an actor website.
0 comments