Non-Union Attending a Union Audition

EPAs are a total crapshoot turnout-wise. If it's for a Broadway production and this is the first round, odds are they will be pretty full. If it's a required call or something that's not directly going to Broadway, it may be very light. But you honestly never know. I've done EPAs that were wall-to-wall people from start to finish and I've done others where we'd see three or four people an hour and just sit around reading the rest of the time. Lots of non-eqs get seen on those days.

There's nothing wrong with highlighting the productions of the show you've done on your resume, so the casting folk will notice. But that's all I'd do. Just have your resume exactly as it is, and literally just use a highlighter to highlight the title of the show and the role to make sure they see you've done it. That's it, just very simple, and it's not a bad idea at all. I see people underline or highlight specific things on resumes all the time if it's relevant to that specific show.

So give it a try. Once you're in front of the casting director, whether you're union or non-union, done the show before or not, none of it matters. It's all about what you do in the room. The biggest mistake auditioners make is that they push too hard and they bring their stress and desperation into the room with them. The casting people just want to see you perform and connect to your material.

Break a leg.

That is NOT always a selling point. To some directors/casting agents, they might look at that as someone that will come to the role with pre-conceived notions that might not be willing/able to be directed, or be able to grow.

Is there any way to know the difference? Of course not -- and all auditions are a crap shoot.

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DO NOT take Goldenboy's advice! Please.

I used to intern at a casting office a few years ago and I'd hear stories of people doing stuff like that. Sorry but we'd make fun of crazy actors. NEVER call the office or director.

Leave your headshot at the EPA and hope they are looking. The office I interned for would call non-union actors based on their headshots all the time if they needed to.

"By the moon light you can hear those Darkies singing!" Man they don't (or wouldn't dare) write them like that today!

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There's always a chance you won't be seen, but I've had pretty good luck as a non-union actor getting seen at union auditions. Bring your headshot and resume and be prepared to sit there for a while. I've also been to calls where they say they will be seeing non-Eq people but to come back at a certain time (after lunch, for example), so I usually go sit in Starbucks or something when that happens. Also, potentially be prepared to cut your song down...it doesn't always happen but I've been to auditions where they only allow non-union to sing 16 bars when they asked for 32 bars on the breakdown (I've also seen it go down to 8 from there).

And please for the love of god do not take goldenboy's advice.

They are right about Casting Directors. Do not call their offices. They are gate keepers. Their job is to only allow in people they know and whose work they know. They are paid to keep the perceived "not talented" out so the directors and producers don't have to waste time seeing the riff raff of talent.

Do try to get seen at the union audition. But if that doesn't work and its a part you know you have done in the past and you know you are right for... what do you have to lose by making a phone call? Or better yet have a manager do it for you? That's a managers job. There is a fine line between being persistent and being annoying. Be careful.

It's the casting assistants job to answer the phone and dissuade you from getting an audition. They pick up the phone and say "casting". Usually they are non working actor or someone who has given up acting who love telling other actors "no." It validates their failure. It's what they experienced so it gives them pleasure to say no to you as well. They will deny this.

They love to say " the role has been cast." "we are not seeing anyone else for this."
"we are only seeing people through agents and managers."

As mentioned above by a former intern:they will sn* as you just try to get an audition. Casting offices are alternately wonderful if they are on your side and alternately hard to break into.


It is the casting directors job to get the right actor for the role. By getting seen for something you are right for, you are ultimately helping them out.

Good luck.

Updated On: 7/2/12 at 03:41 AM

Goldenboy, either you are trolling or you have some serious issues. In any case, obviously the picture you are painting of a casting office is absolutely, completely wrong.

You have it completely backwards. The casting people are the ones who want to see new people, find new blood, and give as many options to the director as possible. They're the ones who are going to Senior Showcases and Fringe productions and NYMF productions and absolutely every place they can to find new actors. They specialize in being able to see possibilities.

Directors are usually the small-minded ones. If you can't get the casting director interested, odds are you won't get the director interested. Directors are involved in many, many other things beyond the casting of one particular show, so no, they have no desire to hear from an actor who can't get seen by the casting people who just "Knows they're right for it!!!" The whole point of having a casting director is to not have to deal with that.

I'm not saying casting people are cheery rays of sunshine 100% of the time - nobody could sit through endless hours of auditions and still maintain that outlook, but they are the actors' allies. The idea that they're gleefully keeping people out of auditions as payback because they're failed performers themselves is an absolutely ludicrous statement with no basis in any sort of reality.

Just as it is the poor mechanic who blames his tools, it is the actor who is not as good as he/she thinks they are who blames the casting director.

goldenboy ask, "What do you have to lose?"

How about your reputation as a sane actor who won't be overly difficult to work with?

KellyGreen23: the lesson here is not to listen to anything goldenboy has to say.

Goldenboy must be Sean Young.

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Could someone please post a link to that Voicemail of the crazy woman that called a casting director? I would love to hear it and can't seem to find it on YouTube.