How To Feel Confident and Give a Great Audition

HOW TO GIVE GREAT AUDITIONS BY CHANGING YOUR FOCUS!

Hello fellow actors!

I’m thrilled to be able to share my years of experience as an on-set and stage actor and over 15 years of teaching and coaching actors. Some of the topics I’d like to cover include; how to have sexual chemistry at auditions and on set, the secret to playing bad guys, cops, lawyers, FBI, judges and prostitutes; how to break down audition scripts; how to get more depth and vulnerability as an actor and much, much more!

For my first column I’d like to address:

How to feel confident and have a great time at your auditions.
The incredible technique I’m going to share with you is based on the work of Jerry  and Esther Hicks, who introduced the secrets of the law of attraction years before the huge success of the video and book, The Secret.

According to Esther and Jerry Hicks we are always either focusing on what we want or what we don’t want. When you’re unhappy, nervous, angry, etc it’s usually because you are focusing on what you don’t want. “I don’t want to be lonely, I don’t want to have so few auditions, I don’t want to be poor”, etc. The secret to shifting your mood in general and specifically when you audition is to focus on what you do want and how you DO want to FEEL at your auditions and on set.

So here’s a simple process for preparing for an audition:

First, imagine yourself on the way to an audition for a part you really want. try to focus on how you are feeling.

FOCUS ON HOW YOU ARE FEELING
Usually if you’re honest, you’ll say, for example…I feel nervous, I feel excited. I feel anxious. I feel like I’m not even right for this role. I feel unprepared, etc.

THEN ASK YOUR SELF WHAT DON’T YOU WANT TO HAPPEN AT YOUR AUDITION
This is what we’re usually focusing on subconsciously and completely unaware of.
For example, most actors are thinking…

I don’t want to screw up my audition,

I don’t want to forget my lines,

I don’t want them to think I suck,

I don’t want to embarrass myself,

I don’t want to be nervous.

I don’t want to be intimidated by other actors or the casting director.

According to the law of attraction,  the universe does not differentiate between what you want  and what you  don’t want. The universe does not hear the yes or no in your statements or focus. It just hears what you are focusing on. So if you walk into an audition thinking, “I don’t want to forget my lines”, you end up attracting “I don’t want to forget my lines”, and you know what? You’ll probably forget some of your lines. So what should you consciously focus on? In this case you’d say to yourself “I want to FEEL like my lines just flow easily. I want to feel confident that I’ve got my lines down”

So what’s the key to having a great audition using this system?

Start focus on what you DO WANT YOU HAPPEN and HOW YOU DO WANT TO FEEL

WHAT YOU DO WANT TO HAPPEN
I want to have a great audition.
I want them to love me and think I’m amazing.
I want to nail this character and be open and vulnerable and confident.

I want to have my best audition ever.

Now on to the MOST IMPORTANT step – Focusing on how you want to FEEL at your audition. Here are some suggestions.

I want to FEEL confident and inspired.

I want to FEEL like I’ve got the part before I ever walk into the audition room.

I want to feel like God himself/herself is walking in with me into the audition room and telling them to hire me.

I want to FEEL  like the casting director and director are going to fight over who gets to compliment me first

I want to FEEL like the casting director is going to take one look at me and say, “you’re amazing. Let me go out there and tell the other actors to leave because YOU’VE GOT THE PART”

I want to FEEL playful and open and vulnerable and  have a GREAT time

I want to FEEL like a million bucks.

I want to FEEL like I look incredible, handsome, beautiful sexy.

I want to FEEL like the casting director and director will need to wear sunglasses because my talent will shine so bright

I want to FEEL like I don’t give a shit what people think about me in and outside the audition room

I want to feel free to express myself and take risks.

I want to feel focused, and in the moment.

I want to feel like I am the character I’m auditioning for when I’m in the audition room.

These are some of my suggestions but feel free to make up lots of your own.

The idea is to have as much FUN as possible when you are saying OUT LOUD how you want to feel at your auditions and on set. You need to say them for at least a minute to begin to shift your mood. If you can get into the habit of doing these “I want to FEEL’ statements every day for 5 minutes, then you’ll see how incredibly effective they will be at your next audition. Even if you haven’t had auditions lately, you’ll start attracting auditions just by consistently focusing on how you want your auditions to go and how you want to FEEL at your auditions.

Try these tools and let me know how they work for you. Remember to have fun and do them consistently.

Go forth with confidence and have FUN!

Also, remember to let the audition go once you’ve left the room. You have no control over whether or not you will be hired, but you do have control over how you FEEL when you audition!

Here’s one last important tip. If you are always waiting an external circumstance like an audition or booking a part to make you happy, you will never be happy.

Focus instead on your internal state. Focus on being happy and then you will attract the things that make you happy.

Benson Simmonds is an award-winning actor, acting teacher, coach and short filmmaker. His YouTube mini lectures series on acting continues to receive thousands of hits and inspires actors all over the world. Benson is currently working as an actor in LA and also teaches acting classes and coaches one on one. To view Benson’s YouTube lectures on acting, click below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B-SdWJ7E_0 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HWvAy-Wd0c To view some of Benson’s award-winning acting work (including his short , Applaud or Die) click here.