The first thing you need to do when you decide to be a performer, whether you want to do it as a hobby or as a career, is to take it seriously. For some reason, a lot of people don’t realize that even in Alberta we have a $165 million industry and that in order to build on the reputation that we have made for ourselves, we have to be professionals.

You have to be prepared to do a lot of legwork and to invest in your professional development through workshops and headshots. I know a lot of performers who will take the day off of work to perform an audition that they were ill-prepared for but won’t take the day off work to participate in a workshop that will help their audition technique. The opportunity cost you pay for not undertaking professional development opportunities and for being unprepared at auditions is huge. Casting Directors may choose not to see you for auditions again, and in the big picture your shortcoming will reflect badly on our industry in general.

There are however workshop providers who will try to take advantage of your desire to become rich and famous.

You must also come to the realization that our industry has slow periods, so work is often sporadic. And when there is work to be had, you have to be prepared for rejection. Keep positive: get feedback on the auditions that you did not get the role for, make changes, and move on to the next project.

So… how do you find out about auditions?

Get a Talent Agent. That’s it, plain and simple. Unless you already have a relationship with a Principal Casting Director, you won’t hear about auditions any other way. There are other benefits to having a Talent Agent: they help weed out the projects that you are not suited for, and they take on the role of collections agent when dealing with miscreant producers.

You can also book Background/ Extra work through an Agent, or you can contact the Background Casting Director directly for that type of work.