Commercial Audition Class with Karen Ryan
As the founder of Canvas Casting and a board member of the Commercial Casting Directors Association, Karen Ryan has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to commercial casting. She has hundreds of regional and national spots to her name that include the Eva Mendes-starring Avon commercials and the Natasha Lloyd-led Hyundai campaign. And with a busy slate of upcoming projects, Ryan still found time to virtually sit down with Casting Networks and provide her own mini class on auditioning for commercials. Keep reading for five of her takeaways in regard to the process.
1. Be confident in your performance, regardless of the reaction to it.
Everyone has had to learn and evolve as we’ve been working with the virtual landscape for the past year. It’s been a challenge for everyone, but we’ve tried to ensure that actors feel comfortable with the new landscape. I often reassure actors that they may not get much of a reaction during their virtual audition, but it doesn’t mean they gave a bad performance. That’s especially true for virtual callbacks when the director and the client are there, too, because pretty much everyone will mute their audio and video while the talent is doing their audition. Particularly when the actor is working with comedic material, they may question whether their performance landed or not if they don’t get any reaction. There is no way to “read the room” in the way you would with in-person casting.
Don’t take it personally if they don’t laugh or comment on your awesome performance — they are likely enjoying it immensely and making notes.
2. Take care of all the technical aspects of virtual auditions.
There have been a lot of important troubleshooting tips already mentioned in this series that actors should keep in mind when virtually auditioning. But there are two pointers that I want to add. Firstly, when an actor dials in for the audition and they appear grainy or cloudy, the first thing I do is have them wipe their camera lens. Most likely, there is a smudge on there that is distorting the image. It seems simple, but you’d be surprised at how many actors have done this during auditions and it clears up their image immediately. I’d recommend checking that before every virtual appointment. Secondly, make sure the username for your Zoom account is your full name. Sometimes actors will use another person’s computer to dial in for the virtual audition, which makes it hard for us to know who’s in the waiting room. And since the clients sometimes jump in and out of the meetings, we need to be clear on who everyone is. I also recommend you practice on the platform you’ll be using if it’s unfamiliar to you. The last thing you need is to have to concern yourself with the technical aspects when you should be concentrating on your performance. Most of the platforms out there are free, so I recommend testing beforehand by connecting with a friend and going over a scene together.
3. Don’t stress.
Making sure you have the technical aspects sorted out is just one way to remove stress from an audition. It’s also important to keep in mind that casting directors champion actors, which means that we want you to do a good job. Actors often worry if they mess up during an audition by flubbing a line or something like that. If that happens during one of my sessions, I’m happy to scrap the take and have them start again. I would never want an actor to leave an audition feeling like they didn’t get a chance to give their best performance. Although sometimes there can be a little magic that happens in a “messed-up” take so I might not completely nix it. All that to say, we want to pass along the best tape we can from your audition.
4. Only audition with a dialect if you can authentically and consistently do it.
So many people will say that they can do a certain accent when they haven’t yet completely mastered it. Dialects are very technical, and if you end up booking the role, you’re going to have to nail the accent on every single take. There’s no room for error on a shoot day so you really have to be confident with your ability to do that accent if you’re auditioning for a role that requires it. For me, I can easily hear if an Irish or English accent is coming from an actor who’s not from there unless they’re spot-on with it. And 9 times out of 10, the client will be more comfortable going with the actor who naturally has the dialect that the role calls for.
5. Be a well-rounded person.
Something I’ve always encouraged is to cultivate a life outside of acting — whether it’s a side hustle or a particular hobby — and bring it into your personality slate. Or just incorporate it into your acting career in a way that makes you more interesting and broad. I’ve seen people book jobs based on how well-rounded they are as a person. If someone has a passion outside of acting, it can strike a chord with the client or the director. Whatever it may be, it makes you more relatable as a person, which is ultimately what we seek in a commercial actor. There has been a trend towards “real” people in the last few years so cultivate the things that make you who you are. Be intentional about noting these things, such as by adding a line at the bottom of your Casting Networks résumé. There used to be this idea that actors needed to be 100 percent focused on just their craft, but we’re always looking for people to whom we can relate, especially for commercials.
As for what makes the casting director a well-rounded person outside of her own profession, the Dublin native now resides in Los Angeles with her husband and their beloved rescue dog, Sozi. Ryan also shared during her interview that she loves to travel and will go anywhere at a moment’s notice, which she frequently does. Those interested in learning more about the casting director can follow her @canvascasting page on Instagram, where she periodically posts casting breakdowns.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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