Auditions: The Makes and Breaks for Producers
So you're going to produce your first radioplay? Congratulations! You've got a script, a list of characters, and it's time to put up your fist audition page. You may be familiar with the template but as you may have seen, there's a lot of ways to personalize your thread. You want to get as many auditions as possible and make this first production perfect. Well, while I can't promise to keep you on the front page with auditions pouring in like crazy, I do have a handful of tips and advice for the audition process top to bottom.
1. Keep it simple. The more things for people to read, the less likely they are to do so. Pick out the most important details for the plot to grab their attention and separate any warnings like adult language or concepts from the bulk to make it stand out more to those thinking of auditioning. Don't forget to spell check. The more typos and misspellings within the text, the less reliable and serious you come across to actors.
2. While different text color can help distinguish between different focuses, it makes your thread and your production look juvenile. I recommend avoiding color as well as unrelated images. Nothing advertises immaturity better than stolen artwork. That's right, I said stolen. Unless you have the rights to advertise the character in the picture as the character available for auditioning, you're infringing on someone else's creative property. For fan based radioplays and fandubs, use only official artwork or fan works you have been given permission to distribute. For those original productions, if you want artwork, you'll have to either draw it yourself or find someone else to do it for you. NEVER use images you have found on 4chan or any other sites for use in your audition, even if the character's appearance was inspired by the picture. Respect the artists; ask permission.
3. Make audition lines different. Don't have someone read three audition lines of the same emotion. Mix it up, get a real feel for what the actor's skill is. The best ones to cover are usually anger, sadness and a simple, pleasant and conversational tone. If the person is only ever even keeled, you probably don't need three audition lines. If the character displays a whole range of emotion, more than three lines may be needed. Three is generally the magic number though.
4. A lot of AVAs have a procrastinating tendency. Holding auditions over long periods of time can cause a large lull due to interested actors waiting for that last moment. Consider how many roles you need to fill and base your audition deadline off of that, generally between two to five weeks. You can always lengthen an audition period so don't worry about limiting yourself with too short a deadline but do remember to keep it reasonable. Conversely, starting with a long deadline and shortening it after receiving the initial influx of auditions is generally viewed unfavorably and should be avoided. Making sure your audition period includes at least two weekends will set you up for the best results as many people find time to browse and record on those dates.
Personally, I don't believe in extending due dates for individuals. If you have been bumping regularly and have had auditions open for several weeks, there's not really much of an excuse for them not to have seen it or to have found time to audition. Consider how this person might be about due dates concerning lines once cast if they already are requesting extensions for the audition. This is definitely up to personal taste and circumstance though.
5. Bumping threads is messy business. Try and limit yourself to once a day to allow a good rotation of other productions as well as yours. Consider not bumping until your production falls past the second or third page rather than striving to sit only on the first page. It may be the best place to sit but you need to share the spotlight with the other productions holding auditions and give them a fair chance too. An added word of advice to those willing to read this article, do not be ignorant to timezones. If you bump a production at 9pm PST, how many people do you think are going to be awake and on their computers in New York to see it? If you're not living within the Americas this is even more of an issue as a large percentage of the AVA community lives within those timezones. Bump when people are going to be the most active on their computers, generally between 4 and 8pm when accounting for school aged people. If you're on the East coast, bump towards the later spectrum so your production is still fresh for the West coasters. West coast producers, bump early so the east coasters are still within an active time period. For those in between, you get the picture. For all others, do the math and hit as close to those aforementioned times as you comfortably can. Don't stay up till 3am your time so you can bump a production at 6pm CST. Take care of yourself.
6. Ah, critiques. Some people may only ask for a critique for an ego boost but many are generally interested in improving. Don't be afraid to let them know what needs improvement; if you're helpful about it you're not going to offend anyone. As a rule though, don't say anything is wrong unless you can offer some kind of solution. Just saying "It was echoy" helps about the same amount of people as "It didn't sound good". Let the actor know perhaps they need new equipment, should record in a different room, so on and so forth to try and to help them improve. If you're new to voice acting in general, you may not know how to offer solutions to the issues. Familiarizing yourself with the basics such as noise, puffs/pops and volume will cover most of the basics though and are within the top 80% of technical issues an audition may have. Don't get so overwhelmed with the technical that you forget to mention the the performance and vise versa. The sandwich technique is also favorable, ie. say good things about their audition, things that need improvement, and close with more good things. If everything is good, don't feel you need to write much. Thank them for their interest, give them a quick compliment on their hard work and move on.
7. Don't cast as you go unless you have warned about it before hand. You may have heard the perfect voice but allow others to continue to try. You may find yourself blown away by someone else. If not, you haven't lost anything in letting others try and you have broadened your familiarity with an actors voice that may help you later on when casting other things.
It may seem like a daunting list but don't let it scare you. Producing is very much a learning experience based on trial and error and no one expects perfection. The more auditions you hold, the more you learn, so keep on producing and good luck to you!
Happy casting,
~Niko