The Most Important Part of Your Commercial Audition - Your Slate!
Why is a slate so important? A slate is your golden opportunity to book a major market commercial.
A slate is the 4 second chance to blast your competitors out of the market.
A slate is telling us who you ware.
"Hi! I'm Blah-Blah!" But there's more to it than that.
1 - What is a slate? Contrary to what a lot of actors think, a slate is not just saying your name or the name of the product before taping a commercial audition.
A slate is the first 4-7 seconds of your audition.
It is the introduction of yourself to the client, the producer, the director and all those "creative-writer-advertising-agency-type" people sitting around watching the playbacks of 50-100 auditions- your competitors - and deciding WHO will be booked for the job.
Guess what? They decide in those first 4-7 seconds if they want to see your audition or if they're going to pass on you.
A bad slate and they'll never see your wonderful prepared commercial performance.
You're out of the running.
Audition over! 2 - What not to do in your slate.
A - If you say your name in a bland or dull way-that's what they think of you.
Fast forward and they never see your "read", your audition.
Oops! Audition over! B - If you say your name indifferently and then look down at the copy and come back smiling, "acting" and selling the product, they'll think you're phony because you haven't connected you with the copy about the product.
It should be seamless-no gaps in between.
Who you are and how you talk about any product should be in the same voice, the same personality.
They'll probably fast forward.
Oops! C - If you say your name too fast or mumble or your name is very foreign sounding to the average Midwestern American, they will most definitely fast forward.
Middle America,West of the Hudson and East of the pacific- buys 95% of all commercial products!!! Say your name slowly, clearly, repeat if necessary!!!!! If you can't say your name and be understood- it's over.
No one will spend a few million dollars on an Ad campaign if the actor representing the product and the corporation can not be understood saying their own name! (Happens all the time!!) Oops! You're wasting your time coming to the audition.
3 - What to do in your slate.
So the trick is to grab them with your smile, your warmth,your personality and your energy so they will watch your audition.
Even then, they'll probably fast forward after the first line, skipping to the last line.
They wrote the copy, know it very well and certainly don't need to hear all 50-100 actors say the same thing over and over.
They want to be "blown away" by someone in the first few seconds or the last.
Time is money- lots of money- in the Advertising world.
Provide the solution in a hurry and you make the money! A slate is the time to charm them, wow them, enchant and motivate them to hire you.
Sometimes that's all you have to audition with, the slate.
How so? If you go to a commercial audition and there's no copy, no lines, how do you book the job? 30% of all commercials have no lines, just a storyboard.
The actor is doing something with a product.
You're a teenager at the pizza parlor, a housewife dusting the furniture, a happy couple on a cruise ship, a pretty woman brushing her hair, some guys drinking beer at a bar.
So how do you book a job where you can't act, can't speak or say anything? Your slate.
You can be the character they are looking for by the way you say you name and introduce yourself.
No law against what you can say in a slate.
So think outside the box.
Be creative! 4 - How Do I Do That? There was a Volkswagen spot a few years back-very retro where they were looking for a couple of hippies from the 60's.
I suggested to one of my clients that he go dressed in a tie-dyed t-shirt, wearing beads or a headband.
OK.
That's easy.
Wardrobe choice.
When he got to the audition-no copy.
So what did he do? When it was time to slate his name, he raised a fist, turned it into a "V" sign for peace and said, "Like wow-Peace, man, I'm Stephen" and then mimed smoking a joint.
That did it! They could see the behavior as well as the "image" of a hippie and Stephen got cast.
Network spot.
Five figure income in the next 6 months.
The slate got him the job.
(well, of course he wouldn't be smoking a joint in a real TV commercial but it suggested 60's behavior.
) A good actor has imagination and that's why he got booked! Another example: For a Baby Shampoo, one of my clients mimed washing her baby who was obviously splashing soapy water in his bath.
Wiping the imaginary soap from her face and eyes, she used her best "Mommy" voice and said during the slate, "Whew, no more tears even on my face- Hi, I'm Jenny and this little splasher is Joey...
mmmm?" Again, the behavior, the Mommy voice during the slate and introducing an imaginary baby using the product, BABY SHAMPOO did it.
She booked the major market spot and and made a $6 figure income.
Sound ridiculous? Well, that's how commercials work and that's why your slate is so important.
Besides having fun and being creative as an actor, you make a lot of money! To sum up: Just saying your name won't get you the job.
Using the slate to portray the character will.
Can't argue with a few hundred thousand $$'s in residuals, can you?? Happy Auditioning and Successful Marketing! Gwyn
A slate is the 4 second chance to blast your competitors out of the market.
A slate is telling us who you ware.
"Hi! I'm Blah-Blah!" But there's more to it than that.
1 - What is a slate? Contrary to what a lot of actors think, a slate is not just saying your name or the name of the product before taping a commercial audition.
A slate is the first 4-7 seconds of your audition.
It is the introduction of yourself to the client, the producer, the director and all those "creative-writer-advertising-agency-type" people sitting around watching the playbacks of 50-100 auditions- your competitors - and deciding WHO will be booked for the job.
Guess what? They decide in those first 4-7 seconds if they want to see your audition or if they're going to pass on you.
A bad slate and they'll never see your wonderful prepared commercial performance.
You're out of the running.
Audition over! 2 - What not to do in your slate.
A - If you say your name in a bland or dull way-that's what they think of you.
Fast forward and they never see your "read", your audition.
Oops! Audition over! B - If you say your name indifferently and then look down at the copy and come back smiling, "acting" and selling the product, they'll think you're phony because you haven't connected you with the copy about the product.
It should be seamless-no gaps in between.
Who you are and how you talk about any product should be in the same voice, the same personality.
They'll probably fast forward.
Oops! C - If you say your name too fast or mumble or your name is very foreign sounding to the average Midwestern American, they will most definitely fast forward.
Middle America,West of the Hudson and East of the pacific- buys 95% of all commercial products!!! Say your name slowly, clearly, repeat if necessary!!!!! If you can't say your name and be understood- it's over.
No one will spend a few million dollars on an Ad campaign if the actor representing the product and the corporation can not be understood saying their own name! (Happens all the time!!) Oops! You're wasting your time coming to the audition.
3 - What to do in your slate.
So the trick is to grab them with your smile, your warmth,your personality and your energy so they will watch your audition.
Even then, they'll probably fast forward after the first line, skipping to the last line.
They wrote the copy, know it very well and certainly don't need to hear all 50-100 actors say the same thing over and over.
They want to be "blown away" by someone in the first few seconds or the last.
Time is money- lots of money- in the Advertising world.
Provide the solution in a hurry and you make the money! A slate is the time to charm them, wow them, enchant and motivate them to hire you.
Sometimes that's all you have to audition with, the slate.
How so? If you go to a commercial audition and there's no copy, no lines, how do you book the job? 30% of all commercials have no lines, just a storyboard.
The actor is doing something with a product.
You're a teenager at the pizza parlor, a housewife dusting the furniture, a happy couple on a cruise ship, a pretty woman brushing her hair, some guys drinking beer at a bar.
So how do you book a job where you can't act, can't speak or say anything? Your slate.
You can be the character they are looking for by the way you say you name and introduce yourself.
No law against what you can say in a slate.
So think outside the box.
Be creative! 4 - How Do I Do That? There was a Volkswagen spot a few years back-very retro where they were looking for a couple of hippies from the 60's.
I suggested to one of my clients that he go dressed in a tie-dyed t-shirt, wearing beads or a headband.
OK.
That's easy.
Wardrobe choice.
When he got to the audition-no copy.
So what did he do? When it was time to slate his name, he raised a fist, turned it into a "V" sign for peace and said, "Like wow-Peace, man, I'm Stephen" and then mimed smoking a joint.
That did it! They could see the behavior as well as the "image" of a hippie and Stephen got cast.
Network spot.
Five figure income in the next 6 months.
The slate got him the job.
(well, of course he wouldn't be smoking a joint in a real TV commercial but it suggested 60's behavior.
) A good actor has imagination and that's why he got booked! Another example: For a Baby Shampoo, one of my clients mimed washing her baby who was obviously splashing soapy water in his bath.
Wiping the imaginary soap from her face and eyes, she used her best "Mommy" voice and said during the slate, "Whew, no more tears even on my face- Hi, I'm Jenny and this little splasher is Joey...
mmmm?" Again, the behavior, the Mommy voice during the slate and introducing an imaginary baby using the product, BABY SHAMPOO did it.
She booked the major market spot and and made a $6 figure income.
Sound ridiculous? Well, that's how commercials work and that's why your slate is so important.
Besides having fun and being creative as an actor, you make a lot of money! To sum up: Just saying your name won't get you the job.
Using the slate to portray the character will.
Can't argue with a few hundred thousand $$'s in residuals, can you?? Happy Auditioning and Successful Marketing! Gwyn
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