hi can someone offer advice please on auditions?
ive trained in musical theatre but my problem with auditions is :-
i dont know where the right place to look is?
+ my confidence lets me down, ive been told my voice is strong and good.
i cant afford to go on with it letting me down, i need a job and am getting older!!
when you're auditioning for say a musical or a cabaret act, if you have one person looking at u? should you stare at them?
if you have a panel of 3 who do you look at? do u look above their heads, but then that feels weird like you've got something wrong with u that u cant look at them?
ive never got through an audition successfully (professionally) only at drama school, the thing with that was i was comfortable with my tutors i knew them. but put me infront of anyone else i get intimidated by them. i never forget my words or stutter or anything i just dont think i appear confident.
i recently went to an audition for a part time cabaret act, and i didnt get it, i felt my voice and dancing were strong, she didnt even mention anything about my voice, or dancing just said i didnt seem confident enough, yet i looked at her and was confident, my question is
how do you nail this confident audition thing?
also are you allowed to close your eyes? i do a little (cant help it), but was told a while ago that you shouldnt?
sorry for all the questions !!! but i really need help!
thanx so much anyone
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Hi Trinkletoes
Here are my thoughts on what you've said:
1. Keep going for auditions and you'll grow in confidence. There are West End showcase auditions every so often listed on StarNow.com. Go for those and as many other audition opportunities you can that come up. Each time you'll get stronger.
2. At stage school you were probably told not to look at the audition panel but I spoke to a West End performer about this last week and he said that in the same way as a theatre audience likes to occasionally connect with the performers, it's a good idea to occasionally look at the panel as if inviting them to connect with you but don't fix your gaze on any one of them. That'd just be awkward for you and them. Don't close your eyes. You can't act the song with your eyes closed!
3. Confidence is everything. Look like you got your act together. No mistakes, and certainly no apologies if you do trip up. Just professionally doing the song, knowing it well and bringing is to life with your acting skill will all help.
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thanku so much ill have a look for that thing
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what actually is a westend showcase audition? and whereabouts on starnow would they be?
what happens if u get thru?
do west end agents get to see you?
d'you have to pay lots of £?
thanx very much!
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The two sites I've seen them advertised on are www.starsinmyeyes.tv and www.starnow.co.ukYou can look at the listings at any time but there's a joining fee to pay to be able to apply for castings. They list all sorts of casting opportunities. StarNow usually has loads of singing ones, but not generally musical theatre. More cabaret or pop. Beware the ones that are recording companies looking for 'undiscovered vocal talent' because they'll want you to pay for them to make a demo with you. They say they share it, but their costs are really their regular studio running costs that they would be paying anyway, so on paper they share it, in reality they pay virtually nothing. Regular listings looking for singers usually want you to have some mp3 vocal samples for them to listen to, so if you join, it's worth putting them on your profile so that you can direct them to your profile when you apply. Remember, you can still look at postings and not join but as soon as you click on Apply, you need to pay but can do a short-term membership. Things like the West End showcases are only there every now and again - like maybe twice a year. You wouldn't pay for the West End showcase auditions. The ticket sales for the resulting show funds it. You just apply like any other theatre job. You may or may not be invited to audition, but if you are, they will then recall if they think they might want to use you in the ShowCase. When the Show cases are put on, they invite agents and casting directors to them but as with any show, there's no definite guarantees that the ones that matter will turn up. |
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oh thanx very much very kind of u!  |
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The two sites I've seen them advertised on are www.starsinmyeyes.tv and www.starnow.co.ukYou can look at the listings at any time but there's a joining fee to pay to be able to apply for castings. Hello a mac,
I'm just catching up with all that is going on in the threads, and notice you list one of the organisations I often put forward. However, I must add that yes there is a joining fee but also a charge is levied on your mobile phone of five pounds for every seven days. Ultimately during the course of a year this could be very expensive, ( 52 weeks) there is also some disagreement about whether this charge is legal. As agents can not charge you unless they actually get you work. They seem to be escaping legislative enquiry as they argue that they are an online magazine. So anyone logging into this site should be very wary they may have to pay far more this way than by buying Thursdays issue of the stage newspaper. Which does list everything current. Advice is also available through the Newspaper about what you can be legally charged for.They list all sorts of casting opportunities. StarNow usually has loads of singing ones, but not generally musical theatre. More cabaret or pop. Beware the ones that are recording companies looking for 'undiscovered vocal talent' because they'll want you to pay for them to make a demo with you. They say they share it, but their costs are really their regular studio running costs that they would be paying anyway, so on paper they share it, in reality they pay virtually nothing. Most recording services do not come free.Regular listings looking for singers usually want you to have some mp3 vocal samples for them to listen to, so if you join, it's worth putting them on your profile so that you can direct them to your profile when you apply. If you do use an MP3 and recordings of cover songs please make sure that before you place them onto live websites. As licenses must be sought otherwise you would be in breach of copyright. The fines are as much as a thousand pounds if you breach them. Remember, you can still look at postings and not join but as soon as you click on Apply, you need to pay but can do a short-term membership. Things like the West End showcases are only there every now and again - like maybe twice a year. You wouldn't pay for the West End showcase auditions. The ticket sales for the resulting show funds it. You just apply like any other theatre job. You may or may not be invited to audition, but if you are, they will then recall if they think they might want to use you in the ShowCase. Please remember to license your covers.When the Show cases are put on, they invite agents and casting directors to them but as with any show, there's no definite guarantees that the ones that matter will turn up. I have noticed a - mac that even with 'you tube' small print all the wanabe artists are supposed to have licensed there material unless it has been self composed. The site is not supposed to have any unlicensed material loaded or available for download and the propreitors can delete files if they suspect that they are in breach. The legislation in this area is heavy but you will need to adhere to it. Maureen Ageing tart. |
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Hi ageing tart ( trying to visualise you now lol ). My daughter and I are both members of StarNow and of StarsInMyEyes.tv No probs at all with additional charges.
QUOTE
I must add that yes there is a joining fee but also a charge is levied on your mobile phone of five pounds for every seven days.
I paid a one-off joining fee for 6 months and there has never been a single charge on my mobile phone. Both my daughter and I have got work through the site so I think your info is incorrect. As with anything, the longer you join for, the cheaper it works out per month.
QUOTE
Most recording services do not come free.
Re your point about recording services not coming free, let me clarify my point. There is a difference between a recording label that wants to sign you and invest in you, and a studio that makes demos for you.
We sent one these company's recording offer contracts to a friend of ours who used to work for EMI and now works for another recording company. He said 'don't touch it. If you have what it takes, a recording company who wants to sign you will invest in you not ask you to pay to be recorded.' They hope to get the money back in sales when you succeed.
Recording companies that charge you are effectively charging you for a demo CD which they then tout around the big recording companies trying to get a deal. That's the point I was making. They advertise saying that they are looking for unsigned talent and the impression is given that they themselves are wanting to sign people. These guys are not going to 'sign' anyone. They just record you and charge you for it.
So to recap - the ads are worded as if they are the big boys looking to sign someone. They are not. They are just Demo producers and want you to pay for the demo, as would any demo producer.
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Hi ageing tart ( trying to visualise you now lol ). Ah a bit deceptive ageing in reality but very much still like my avatar at 45. My daughter and I are both members of StarNow and of StarsInMyEyes.tv No probs at all with additional charges.
QUOTE
I must add that yes there is a joining fee but also a charge is levied on your mobile phone of five pounds for every seven days.
I paid a one-off joining fee for 6 months and there has never been a single charge on my mobile phone. Both my daughter and I have got work through the site so I think your info is incorrect. As with anything, the longer you join for, the cheaper it works out per month.
QUOTE
Most recording services do not come free.
Re your point about recording services not coming free, let me clarify my point. There is a difference between a recording label that wants to sign you and invest in you, and a studio that makes demos for you.
We sent one these company's recording offer contracts to a friend of ours who used to work for EMI and now works for another recording company. He said 'don't touch it. If you have what it takes, a recording company who wants to sign you will invest in you not ask you to pay to be recorded.' They hope to get the money back in sales when you succeed.
This in general was good advice. Although you may still need a demo unless you are very lucky to get a private hearing. In reality though all recording artists live in debt on record company advances for the duration of their contract, as it is not money earned until sales have had the chance to log up. For an artist to make a profit the sales must go a great way beyond the ceiling'. The ceiling is a technical term relating to the amassed gross spend on the production, promotion and distribution of a set number of CD's. When sales have gone a substantive way beyond this the record company makes its money back and a little for the artist. Anything from 5 to 10% is what the artist would gain a little more if the material is written by the artist and whose copyright is not in dispute.
Recording companies that charge you are effectively charging you for a demo CD which they then tout around the big recording companies trying to get a deal. That's the point I was making. They advertise saying that they are looking for unsigned talent and the impression is given that they themselves are wanting to sign people. These guys are not going to 'sign' anyone. They just record you and charge you for it.
Depending on what they charge you for doing the recording and all the donkey work, it might not all be a complete rip off. The least they should do for you is give you a live hearing first though and then a realistic interview or report on your chances of getting a deal. They should also tell you what there role will be should they successfully get you a contract. Are they going to act as your main pr and promotions company, or will they expect a payment from the company as well. Some recording companies do not like working with third parties.
Just by case in point Shallit Global is a major player in the market promotion of artists but offers to record nobody, yet they take 40% of the contract values they achieve for there work.
So to recap - the ads are worded as if they are the big boys looking to sign someone. They are not. They are just Demo producers and want you to pay for the demo, as would any demo producer.
Hello a-mac, I joined via the website a few years ago, but to get audition information from them in full or to be kept updated the charge is 5 pounds for seven days via your mobile. This does not include the free e-mail of up and coming auditions. But as always to get the full information it does cost you, and for a few members on an extremely strict budget this is one of many luxuries they will miss. Also as per normal not all auditions are free or open and a few do have some serious restrictions. One of the things that does annoy me is the number of irrelevant auditions they'd text to my phone and once you access to read them you are charged. I returned a text asking them to refrain from sending me irrelevant audition information and when they failed after several weeks of irrelevant audition information - I sanctioned a stop on my phone. I still receive emails which is fine. But today I only respond to legitimate auditions coming through the bodies I am represented by and THE STAGE NEWSPAPER. Eventually online concerns will not be able to charge for information that is available freely without cost, ie The broadcast' Music Today' The Stage Newspaper' The BBC' ITV unless they are actively admitting to being instrumental in gaining you employment or placing you in a better position to get gainful emplyment and to do that they must be licensed and hold a registration document. Maureen Ageing tart. |
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ONLINE CASTING: The key here is not to sign up for alerts by mobile! Because the mobile, email and any other types of alerts are mostly irrelevant to our areas of interest, we opted out of ALL alerts. We just look on the sites each day.
Part of the problem is due to scatter-gun listings - eg: the TV folk companies who are looking for candidates for some body make-over TV show, list the opportunity in EVERY category of the site so as to hit all potential interested parties. This means that the actor, singer, voiceover artist etc who has signed up for alerts on their area of interest gets this sort of tat alert on their phone and it costs money. So the key is to use sites like StarNow and StarsInMyEyes wisely so that they work for you. Just go online and look! These have both been a good source of work for us.
RECORDING COMPANY LISTINGS: I think the issue here is what's been advertised. If a recording company is upfront and says 'let us make you a demo' then of course you pay them. However some of them insinuate that somehow they will be able to sign you.
My daughter has travelled this route, had an audition at which they were very professional, clearly knew the business and directed her, etc etc. A week or so later she was sent an incredibly encouraging letter and a recording 'deal' where she had to pay 'half'. It was this kind of listing I was suggesting caution with. Our ex-EMI friend was sent the contract and he checked out the company with his contacts amongst the welll-known companies (not the indies) and faxed them the contract. It was as a result of this that we were told 'don't touch it'.
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ONLINE CASTING: The key here is not to sign up for alerts by mobile! Because the mobile, email and any other types of alerts are mostly irrelevant to our areas of interest, we opted out of ALL alerts. We just look on the sites each day.
Part of the problem is due to scatter-gun listings - eg: the TV folk companies who are looking for candidates for some body make-over TV show, list the opportunity in EVERY category of the site so as to hit all potential interested parties. This means that the actor, singer, voiceover artist etc who has signed up for alerts on their area of interest gets this sort of tat alert on their phone and it costs money. So the key is to use sites like StarNow and StarsInMyEyes wisely so that they work for you. Just go online and look! These have both been a good source of work for us.
RECORDING COMPANY LISTINGS: I think the issue here is what's been advertised. If a recording company is upfront and says 'let us make you a demo' then of course you pay them. However some of them insinuate that somehow they will be able to sign you.
My daughter has travelled this route, had an audition at which they were very professional, clearly knew the business and directed her, etc etc. A week or so later she was sent an incredibly encouraging letter and a recording 'deal' where she had to pay 'half'. It was this kind of listing I was suggesting caution with. Our ex-EMI friend was sent the contract and he checked out the company with his contacts amongst the welll-known companies (not the indies) and faxed them the contract. It was as a result of this that we were told 'don't touch it'.
Hello a-mac, That's a bit much for hardly any work or any continuing involvement to produce work. In fact I know its not legal to do this. To charge an artist for finding you work the charge itself cannot exceed more than 17.5 % (used to be 14%) and to warrant that they must be providing you at least one service on a continuing basis for which they are licensed via employment legislation under entertainment agencies and registration. In all my years of being involved in music at all levels this concern that you speak of needs reporting, and if I were you I'd log it with The Stage Newspaper. The Stage Newspaper are noted for exposing rogue firms and rogue agents who illegally charge to register artists without finding them any work. So this 50% of whatever the gross contract is or is it 50% of what your poor daughter expects to pick up. Whichever way it is, it's excessive and I would imagine that EMI would refuse to engage them in any manner or form. At least with Shallit Global, they provide the accountancy services, the legal services, all the pr and promotions of there artist, some managerial provision is made, event staging management etc so there 40% is probably a lot less than all these areas added up and in addition to that they will only charge if the artist is one they successfully gain a recording contract for so they do this donkey work also. Johnathan Shallit invests his own money in artists in the process of being on his books and whilst 40% might sound a lot every service listed is seperate and fully licensed and under normal circumstances the artist would have to fund this himself out of his contract and any royalties due or to have negotiated this with the recording company prior to signing. Johnathan Shalit of Shalit global is recognised in the industry as having some clout and the record companies love him. This leaves the recording company the task of organising a revised floor (minimum spend) and ceiling (maximum spend) to cover for photography stills for a cover or cover design, the production and manufacturing of the CD, plus the advertising campaign exposing the artist, (radio TV magazines etc) and lastly distribution. I understand why you don't think wanabes should touch them with a barge pole. There are loads of studios doing this now but the smallest twist of the lot is the one where expert tuition is supposed to be given and the promise that your demo CD will be of the highest standard blah blah and yes it will they proport attract the attention of the biggest recording companies looking for the up and coming. This demo costs an average of 1,000.00 yes one thousand pounds and anything up to 3.000.00 pounds. There is also a live television showcase company offering five minutes of time for a minimum fee of 500 pounds. More crooked money making rackets to catch the gullible. It is my belief that wanabe artists should consult educational bodies for careers guidance or recognised arts bodies to get themselves a mentor who should be more than qualified to guide if appropriate a talented person iirrespective of age as to what there real career goals should be. All else is really an excuse for being taken the loan of. Maureen Ageing tart.  |
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« Last Edit: February 04, 2008, 05:48:06 PM by AGEING TART »
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Hiya Mo The 50% was the cost of making the recording broken down into studio time, engineer, produciton, mixing, etc etc. She was to pay half of that. They would also 'pay half', but as our friend pointed out, the studio is there anyway, the engineer was inhouse, the production also. So their 'costs' regarding her recording would be just on paper. So the costs were really at that her end. She already has an agent who takes 11% of her earnings so she wouldn't be looking to pay anyone else her hard-earned money. Once the demo was made, they said they would tout it around the main recording companies with a view to a recording deal. I think you misunderstood me about the 50%. They weren't stating that 50% commission would be due on the work she got subsequently. The 50% only related to the costs of making the demo. Our mate said that is common practice so nprobably ot reportable as malpractice, but he was surprised they wanted her to pay 50% of the costs and no-one had heard of the company. Anyway anyone reading this listing wanting audition help will be wondering what this tangent has to do with it all, eh?! |
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Hello a - mac, This tangent is extremely valuable to any wanabe as it makes the individual think before agreeing verbally to anything said and also makes them think about anything they may be asked to sign up to. The 50% you speak of would have been illegal had it been for the service you indicated they were originally charging her for 50% of any contract they had acquired on her behalf. Anyone wanting to do a demo disc, should just hunt around for the best price estimate with no other strings attached and go for it. You can get a reasonable demo produced for anything from 70 pounds to 200 pounds. This is depending on the financial status of the artist in question and whether or not the studio used have healthy discounts for low income earners. The cost is inclusive of the hire of recording studio or booth, plus that of one sound engineer who will also mix and burn the tracks to demo disc. The hire of a music producer normally comes at a higher price. However,the work would normally be undertaken with the artist having sought written permission to record a cover of a set song from the composer or via the acquistion of a mechanical license or if the material was first hand and copyright in the name of the artist, than the recording could go ahead. The only detail to be wary of would be whether the studio used, had a clause indicating that all music howsoever gained once recorded became the property of that studio. The only other thing for young up and coming singer songwriters is that if one such individual were to audition as a session singer and find that they have come up with arrangements of peices that they should check out that the copyright for such is theres and not belonging to the company because it was drawn up in company time. Exchanging copyright or selling yourself short many artisits have done in the past in an effort to make a name for themself and to gain work. Studios can be great places to work and as such audition opportunities do come up through them. Maureen Ageing tart. |
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« Last Edit: February 05, 2008, 06:47:40 PM by AGEING TART »
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