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Sometimes you'll get an audition that really doesn't fit. So why is your agent sending it to you? And how do you walk away from it professionally?
Get to know your agent and how they operate.
You've gotten a lot of auditions and a lot of casting specs, and probably you've gotten some of those auditions, and the casting specs did not apply to you. Um, I know that that's happened to me quite a bit. It really depends on, let's say, your agent that is sending auditions, sometimes they are filtered, sometimes they're not. I think it's important for all of us when we are looking at auditions to look at the specs first and foremost, to see what it is that they're looking for.
Now, if they're looking for a particular character, and you can represent that character, uh, in a way that's not referring to a particular ethnicity, um, I think that maybe that's something you should carefully consider, if that is truly what the casting director is looking for. But if there's any verbiage or even wordage on the casting specs that talks about maybe a different ethnicity that does not obviously pertain to you, um, that might be something that I would really think about walking away from. And sometimes that's really not easy to do, especially if the audition came from your talent agent.
So these days, casting diversity, inclusivity is really a hot topic. I think it comes down to what you really feel comfortable with. But I think, you know, I think right now, because we are seeing so much diversity inclusivity in our auditions, that for me personally, I, I love that. I love seeing that. And if I get any audition that comes my way, that does not pertain to me, I don't have a problem, uh, saying no to that. And also if my agent needs an explanation -- although I don't think many agents, if they're good agents, are gonna need an explanation, um, and I don't have a problem telling them that I don't feel comfortable. Uh, I believe that the, that the client is looking for something different than what I can provide authentically. So I don't have a problem telling my agent if I'm not comfortable with that.
And that might be something that is difficult for you to do in the beginning. Sometimes we're getting to know our agents, and we're getting to understand what types of, uh, opportunities they pass on to us, whether we're going to get the quote, unquote cattle call of auditions. And maybe it's just understood that those auditions don't have to pertain to us and that the talent agent won't be upset if you don't respond to it. That's one thing I think is important for you to, to kind of understand about your agent. Know your agent enough to understand what types of auditions they send out. If they do send out auditions all the time, that may or may not, uh, be specific for just you, know that about your agent. And if you don't know that about your agent, there's nothing wrong with sending an email and asking them if this was meant for everybody or if, you know, they would be offended if you did not respond. I have different agents, I have some agents that would be very offended if I didn't respond to them or tell them why I wasn't auditioning. And so I think it -- the key factor here is to get to know your agent and how they operate.
Thanks for reading!
Keep on rocking your business like a #VOBOSS
About Anne Ganguzza
Recipient of multiple Voice Arts Awards for Outstanding Narration Demo - Anne Ganguzza is California-based Voice Over Coach and award-winning Director & Producer specializing in target-marketed voiceover Demo Production. Anne's production team creates SOVAS-nominated demos across several genres, including Commercial, Corporate Narration, and eLearning, and her VO BOSS podcast is the winner of SOVAS Outstanding Podcast in 2022.
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