I’ve written previously about how I prep for the fall tv season (and my potential tv auditions) by watching everything that’s on tv. This is really an important step for all actors pursuing tv work. Preparation really is a huge part of making yourself feel at ease at auditions.
When I watch everything on tv, I write my notes in a notebook (I’m still working on transitioning to using Evernote for this). I keep my old notebooks because sometimes I audition for a show that’s been on the air for years, but I don’t watch it regularly. So I pull out my notebook from the first year that show was on the air, and I can find my notes on it from when I first watched it. If I have time, I also try to watch an episode online so I can see how things have changed, but that’s not always possible.
Very soon, the networks will have the upfronts where they announce what shows will be on the air in the fall. This is important for two reasons. First, you know what shows you will have to look out for in the fall to take notes on. Also, you can see what shows have been cancelled so you can remove those notes from your notebooks (whether physical notebooks or a digital one).
I try to keep my house clean of clutter and excess, so keeping notes on shows that aren’t on the air anymore is really silly. So while I’m working on typing up all my notes (so I can get rid of all the physical notebooks), I’m making sure I check the network cancellations so I don’t do unnecessary work while transcribing.
And when the new shows are announced, I will make a page for each of them with some of the basic information that I will know before the show airs (cast, important crew/production team members, network, airing date/time). This way, when I’m looking at my schedule on when I will watch each new show, some of the note taking work has already been started and all I have to take notes on is the tone and characters of the show.
I’m sure that you all think that this is over the top and a little too much work, but it came in handy for me a little over a week ago. I had an audition for a cable show that hasn’t aired yet. But I had made a note page for it when the cable channel announced that it was picked up. One of the things I noted was the blog that this show was inspired by (which is a blog written by the niece of a friend of mine). When I went in for the audition, I was able to let them know that I was familiar with the blog (which the casting director seemed shocked that I even knew there was a blog involved). I got put on avail for the show, but sadly didn’t book it. But I know that I booked that office because I impressed the casting director with my preparation for the part (and it was only a 2 line role). If I’m right for things in the future, I feel confident that I will get called in by this casting director because she knows that when I’m in the room, I’m more than prepared for the audition.