Actors spend a great deal of time preparing for auditions – learning lines, making character choices, setting up self-tapes, and trying to deliver their best performance. But great audition preparation involves much more than memorizing a scene and pressing record.
Whether you’re auditioning for a television series, feature film, commercial, or hosting opportunity, your job is to understand the world you’re entering and show casting how you could authentically exist within it.
So, what should you actually do before, during, and after an acting audition?
In this post, we’ll walk through audition preparation tips we believe every actor should know – from researching the project and understanding your character relationships to working with your reader, reviewing your self-tape before submitting, and knowing when it’s time to let the audition go.
1. Research the Project Before You Audition
Your audition preparation should begin before you start working on the scene.
Research whatever information is available to you about the project. Depending on the audition, that might include:
- The television series, film, commercial, or other project
- Writer or showrunner
- Director
- Casting director
- Production company or network
- Previous seasons or episodes, when applicable
If you’re auditioning for an established television series, watch some of it when possible. Pay attention to the performances, pacing, visual style, and overall tone.
The goal isn’t to imitate the actors already on the show. It’s to understand the world you’re being asked to enter.
A perfectly good performance can still be the wrong performance if it belongs in an entirely different show.
2. Understand the Tone – and Your Contribution to the Story
Once you understand the project, ask yourself: What is my character contributing to this story?
A broad comedy, single-camera comedy, network procedural, period drama, and gritty streaming series can require very different performance styles.
Understanding tone can help you determine:
- How grounded or heightened your performance should be
- The appropriate pacing
- How subtle or broad your choices should be
- Where the humor lives
- How your character fits into the larger story
Don’t simply ask, How should I play this character?
Ask, What does this story need from this character?
That small change in perspective can make a significant difference in how you approach the material.
3. Know Where You Are, Who You’re With, and What Happened Before
Before performing a scene, you should understand the circumstances surrounding it.
Ask yourself:
- Where am I?
- What am I doing here?
- What happened immediately before this scene?
- Who am I talking to?
- What is my history with this person?
- What do I want from them?
- What changes during the scene?
Even when the sides provide limited information, look for clues in the dialogue and character description.
If the project takes place during another era, research it. Clothing, social conventions, mannerisms, posture, and behavior may be different from today.
You don’t need to turn your audition into a costume performance. Small, informed choices can be much more effective.
4. Know What You’re Doing Before the First Line
The scene doesn’t begin when you say your first line.
Know what your character is doing when we first see you.
If you’re already in the middle of an activity, conversation, thought, or emotional moment, allow us to see that before the dialogue begins. Avoid looking like an actor waiting for the reader to start.
The same applies at the end.
Don’t say your final line and immediately drop the character, look into the camera, or reach for your phone.
Stay present in the scene until the camera stops recording.
Those moments before and after the dialogue can tell us just as much about your character as the words themselves.
5. Have a Conversation – Don’t Just Say Your Lines
One of the most important acting audition tips we can offer is also one of the simplest:
Listen.
Really listen to your reader.
Don’t spend the other character’s dialogue thinking about your next line or waiting for your cue to speak. What they say should affect you.
Allow yourself to react.
Let your thoughts happen.
Then respond.
When an actor is genuinely listening, a self-tape stops feeling like someone performing an audition and starts feeling like we’re watching an actual conversation.
Your lines should come from what just happened between you and the other character – not simply because they’re the next words on the page.
6. Understand Pacing for Drama and Comedy
Pacing can dramatically affect an audition.
In dramatic material, actors sometimes believe slowing everything down makes a performance more emotional or meaningful. It doesn’t necessarily. Important moments need room to breathe, but the conversation still needs to feel alive.
Comedy presents a different challenge.
Timing matters, but don’t rush through reactions, discoveries, or changes in thought. And avoid trying too hard to show casting where the joke is.
The funniest choice is often the truthful one.
Whether you’re performing drama or comedy, stay connected to your scene partner and allow the pacing to come from the circumstances rather than imposing a predetermined rhythm on the scene.
7. Choose Your Reader and Props Carefully
Your reader is an important part of your self-tape, but they should never become the focus of it.
A good reader should:
- Be clearly heard
- Stand close enough to the camera to provide an appropriate eyeline
- Give you something genuine to respond to
- Avoid overpowering your performance
Your reader shouldn’t be so quiet that casting struggles to follow the scene – or so loud and theatrical that attention shifts away from you.
The same principle applies to props.
Use a prop when it’s pertinent to the scene and helps make your behavior more natural. But don’t make the audition about the prop.
If you’re constantly picking something up, putting it down, eating, drinking, typing, or handling objects, ask whether the activity is helping tell the story or simply distracting from your performance.
Props should support the scene, not compete with it.
8. Approach Commercial and Hosting Auditions Differently
Not every audition should be approached like a film or television scene.
Commercial Auditions
Commercial casting often relies heavily on personality, authenticity, likability, natural reactions, and your ability to connect with the audience.
Before auditioning, research the brand when possible and think beyond the product itself.
What is the brand trying to make its audience feel?
A pharmaceutical campaign, luxury brand, fast-food commercial, and humorous national spot aren’t selling the same experience. Your performance should reflect the world of that particular campaign.
And don’t assume “commercial” automatically means a giant smile and exaggerated enthusiasm. Authenticity still matters.
Hosting and Spokesperson Auditions
For hosting and spokesperson auditions, know the material well enough that you’re communicating it rather than simply reciting copy.
Imagine that you’re actually explaining this information to someone.
Casting should see someone who appears comfortable, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and capable of connecting directly with an audience.
9. Watch Your Entire Audition Before You Submit It
Never assume your self-tape is ready simply because you finished recording it.
Watch it back – from beginning to end.
Before submitting, check:
- Did I follow all of the audition instructions?
- Did I choose my strongest take?
- Is the sound clear?
- Can the reader be heard without overpowering me?
- Is my lighting appropriate?
- Is the framing correct?
- Are there distracting noises or movements?
- Did I stay in character through the end of the scene?
- Is everything properly edited and labeled?
Then ask yourself one final question:
Would I cast me?
Not: Is this good enough?
Not: I’ve already done enough takes.
Would you confidently send this performance to a director, producer, or network and say, “This actor can play this role”?
If you know you can do better, take the time to do better.
10. Never Rush an Audition
An audition should never be treated as another item to cross off your to-do list.
Even if it’s three lines.
Even if it’s a co-star.
Even if you’re busy.
Every audition is an opportunity to show a casting professional what you can do – and another actor would have loved the opportunity you received.
That doesn’t mean doing 25 takes in pursuit of perfection. Overworking a scene can be just as harmful as underpreparing.
It means giving every audition the preparation, attention, and professionalism it deserves.
Show your best work every single time you tape.
11. After the Audition, Let It Go
Once you’ve submitted an audition you’re proud of, your job is finished.
There are countless reasons someone may or may not book a role, and many have nothing to do with the quality of the audition.
You can’t control those decisions.
What you can control is your preparation, professionalism, and performance.
So don’t spend days analyzing every expression or wondering whether you should have submitted a different take.
Move on to the next opportunity.
Take a class. Work on your materials. Prepare for your next audition. Live your life.
What Makes an Acting Audition Successful?
Don’t make booking the only measure of whether an audition was successful.
A successful audition is one in which you understood the material, researched the project, made thoughtful choices, genuinely listened, stayed present, followed the instructions, and submitted work that represents what you’re capable of.
Then let it go.
Sometimes the audition that doesn’t book the role you’re reading for is still the audition that makes a casting director remember you for another role.
Your job isn’t to control whether you book.
Your job is to consistently give casting something worth remembering.
Getting Started with Devise Talent Agency
Knowing how to prepare for an acting audition is an important part of building a professional acting career. Strong preparation allows you to stop worrying about “performing correctly” and instead be present, authentic, and connected when the camera starts rolling.
Looking to strengthen your overall audition package? Read our guides to creating an affordable professional self-tape setup and building an Actors Access profile with casting in mind.
At Devise Talent Agency, we represent actors for television, film, commercial, voiceover, and other opportunities across the East Coast and beyond.
If you’re looking for representation and believe you’re ready for the next step, submit to our agency.
