DO'S

• Do arrive 10-15 minutes early. 
• Do have your lines memorized (‘off book’ is the industry term
• Do be polite, & cheerful; the second you walk into the building you should be ‘on’. You never know who could be watching the receptionist could be the CDs aunt, or the director might look like a student!
• Do respect their time
• Do be aware of noise levels (be quiet)
• Do understand your character
• Do wear audition appropriate clothing (no loud patterns, no overtly large jewellery)
• Do take direction (even if you don’t agree with it, sometimes the director is just looking to see if you can follow instructions)
• Do contact your agent regarding anything casting related
• Do know your stuff! Project name, character name, scene/story line

DON’T’s

• Don’t give excuses, blame or complain. Traffic is always terrible, scripts are released when they are available to casting regardless of how much time you prefer to have.
• Don’t treat the Director/Assistants as your besties. They’re working and so are you
• Don’t arrive late; its unprofessional!
• Don’t shake anyone’s hand that hasn’t offered it to you first, they see upwards of hundreds of people a day…that’s a lot of germs!
• Don’t bring in props (unless specifically told to do so)
• Don’t bring in multiple bags and bulky coats, leave them in the waiting room (or your car)
• Don’t overact (keep your performance natural)
• Don’t ever contact casting directly!! EVER! FOR ANY REASON!!!!!
• Don’t schmooze, this is a job interview, not cocktail hour. Stay in character as there will be lots of time to get to know other actors on set.
• Don’t attend if you know you are not available for filming or callbacks. This wastes castings time and increases your chances of never being auditioned again. With that being said, make sure to regret via your agent.
• Don’t ask a million questions. It is an audition (job interview), not a workshop. Casting does not want to take their time explaining things to you other than the scene that they want you to act out. Asking a million questions only makes you appear un-knowledgeable and unseasoned. It paints a picture that production will have to field to many questions from you the day of the shoot which only drives them crazy! Your Agent will have specified everything important in the audition email. All other questions are irrelevant to the audition. i.e How do pay rates work? When will I know if I’m booked? All questions can be forwarded to your Agent after the audition.
• Don’t ever recite your lines in a bizaar voice or accent that has not been requested. 
• Don’t attempt to change their scene into something other than what is laid out in your script. If they wanted a British accent then it would be listed in your audition details.

Most of these guidelines are common sense, and that you already ‘know’ what to do/not to do….but sometimes a reminder can go a long way! 

COMMON INDUSTRY TERMS TO MAKE NOTE OF FOR NEWER ACTORS:

CONFLICTS: For busy actors that are consistently booking you must READ the conflicts listed in the breakdown when confirming your audition. You cannot shoot for Honda if you have just shot for Toyota etc. Conflicts are listed in the breakdown to ensure that actors are not booking competitive projects at the same time. McDonalds/Tim Hortons, RBC/CIBC, BMW/Audi etc. Your Agent also keeps track of these but sometimes a project was submitted too prior to a new booking for a competitor. At times there are also requests made by casting for actors who were NOT submitted to a project by the Agent.

HOLD: Casting will often (but not always) ask for a hold on certain actors who have auditioned. This is not a firm booking, they are simply holding the actor until the client makes their final decision. Whichever casting agency has first hold has first dibs on booking you. If a second hold or booking comes in, whoever had first hold is asked by your Agent to firm up with a booking asap or lose you to another client.

RECALLS: Bigger projects will recall the actors that their client is interested in after the first audition is complete. A recall means you are in the final running. You should always wear the same or similar attire and do not change your audition strategy as casting obviously liked what you did at the initial audition. Try to attend with similar clothing, hair styles, beards, etc.

OFF BOOK: Means MEMORIZED. If script is supplied to you ahead of the audition, casting expects that you have memorized it. You are not to be reading it off the page, you are to know your lines!! If casting hands you a script 2 minutes before your audition or while in the room then this is referred to as a cold read. You can read from the paper, adding your own expression etc.

SOC: Silent on Camera, no lines.

PRINCIPAL or P: You have script, or your character is one of the featured characters in the spot.

ACTRA/UDA/SAG/AFTRA: Union divisions: ACTRA: Toronto union, UDA: French Union, SAG/AFTRA: U.S Union

BUYOUTS/USAG: When a breakdown specifies that there is a buyout offered in addition to the session pay rate, this is only paid to the actors that are still visible in the campaign when final edits are complete. They are the actors that are shown in the commercial that is airing. Buyouts usually arrive AFTER session rate cheques and are NOT guaranteed to every actor that shoots. Your Agent will inform you if you made the final edit as production will always request an invoice for the buyout separate from the initial filming invoice for all talent who have made the cut.EG. Session rate $500, Buyout $4000. You are only guaranteed the session rate. Buyout is the rate they pay to use your face!! If they are not using your face in the end then they are not paying you the buyout!!

PAYMENT SCENARIOS:

Union cheques: All cheques MUST for forwarded to your Agent so that we can keep track of airing cycles, correct amounts etc. Union cheques arrive with-in 30 days. They are quick and easy and do not require an invoice from us. An Agent authorization form is always sent to ACTRA from the talent instructing them to forward ALL mail to your agency i.e T4’s, cheques, letters etc.

Non Union Cheque: Non-union is referred to as the wild west for a reason. 30-60 days is the norm, however production can take up to 90 days if they want to be difficult. After the 90 day mark we start to harass them if we still haven’t received the cheque. Please keep in mind that we want our payment as much as you want yours…we are both in the same boat. If you haven’t received payment, then we haven’t received OUR payment. We are at the mercy of production. If they want to with-hold until the last minute, there is nobody there to stop them as the union has not sanctioned their project.Rest assured your Agent will work with the Casting Director (who often has not been paid either) to get the payments issued asap…we all have our ways to put fire under production if needed. 
sActors are notified by accounting when a cheque is being released, usually 5 business days after receipt to give it time to clear. Union cheques are released upon arrival as we allow our talent to cash their own Union cheques to save them HST