Whether referred to as “casting director traps” or “actor traps,” let’s face it: Unless actors are laying audition traps for themselves, what the term really insinuates is that casting directors, and often screenwriters, lay traps for you. They set these traps, either intentionally or inadvertently, while actors are auditioning for the very commercials, television shows, or movies that they wrote, or are casting in that moment. This suggests a conspiracy: that casting directors and screenwriters are in cahoots to sabotage your audition.
Why on earth would anyone do that? Why would we set audition traps for the actors we bring in? I know that my job, as a casting director, is hard enough to find good actors who don’t fall apart in the audition. Why would I plot to make it harder? And, more importantly, when would we have time to plan them? Chances are we just got this project the night before, and first thing that morning started seeing people. That would just be a waste of time.
Casting is a strange job in which you interview hundreds of people for a single job, wanting every single one of them to be the right one for said job. We don’t bring in anyone who we don’t think is going to be great doing the job. Casting directors don’t have to invent a process to weed out actors. Actors are able to do that all by themselves.
Oftentimes, a casting director just wants to see what you bring to the audition without our clogging up your creativity with our direction. So, we ask you to give it a go. If you are totally not what the director has told us he is looking for or managed to get it right (or close to right), one read might be enough. If we think you might be right for the role, and you are way off-base in your audition, most times, if that is the case, we’ll offer a re-direct.
If you’re bad, it looks bad on us. If you look good, it looks good for us. It’s very similar to your acting career. If you do a good job we’ll bring you back. If we send the director 100 auditions, and all of them are awful, it’s not likely that they’ll bring us back for the next project.
I do hear stories from actors that there are casting directors who give you nothing back as you read with them, and then only give you one pass at the scene. Well, what can I say? It takes all types, and that is not our personal style. However, in all fairness, if the casting director doesn’t have a reader in the room, and your are reading with the casting director, you are reading with a casting director, not an actor. They may have been an actor at one point, but there’s also a good chance they weren’t, and now, after six hours of casting, they are just exhausted. Either way, the task falls upon you to use the situation as best you can, and give the best (and least paranoid) audition that you can. No casting director I know is out to get you, or to make it harder for you to do a good job.
Also worth noting that, of all the writers I know, none of them sit at the computer writing traps for actors to fall into. So instead of looking for “traps,” focus on bringing your best working on your scene. Your best will take you to another level of “your best”. Study the art form, practice the craft.
So really, forget about the traps. Relax. Ask questions, if something is not clear in the writing, we will do our best to clear it up. If something is not clear in our direction, we will clear it up, too, as much as possible for you. It’s in our best interests to make sure you get it and that you feel like you can give your best. We need you to be good. We want you to be good. We are on your side.
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