Workshop experience

Tonight I attended my first casting director workshop. I'm not really a fan of the concept of these things, but I want to cover all the bases. Basically, you pay a nominal fee to be a "member" of a workshop company, and then you pay another fee for a chance to cold read a scene for a casting director.

There were about 20 other actors in the room. The CD briefly outlined her experience and take on things, then opened up for about 15 minutes of questions. After that, she assigned scenes and scene partners. I was matched up with another fellow in a scene from a fairly popular sitcom. We were given about 15 minutes to "rehearse" [no writing on the script please] before everyone was brought back in for the performances. My partner and I went next to last. We got redirection a couple of times, but I still didn't feel we hit a groove.

It was definitely a learning experience, though I'm not exactly sure what to take from it beyond future workshops of this type. I learned you have to take care of yourself in your 15 minutes. If you need time alone with the sides, then politely tell your scene partner and take it. If you get "direction" from your scene partner that doesn't fit your instincts and take on the scene, then stick to your guns and do your thing. In such a weird set of circumstances, this can be tough to balance with honest listening and the overall philosophy of always making your scene partner look good. You can't just get up there and not play the scene with the other person. I know that I didn't take the time for my process in the beginning and it affected my performance.

And so, I am not really any more a fan of the whole paid CD workshop thing than I was beforehand. Our guest seemed to be a nice person, and it's interesting to hear a little about how someone on that side of the business works. For now, I'll continue to attend some of these workshops to glean what I can and meet people. It is what it is, and as long as you know that going in, it's fine.