3 Components to Mastering the U.S. Audition

Are you struggling to get more callback on your U.S. auditions?

If you’re a Non U.S. Actor it could it be that you’re focused too much on the American accent and losing sight of character creation.

• The 3 keys to mastering the U.S. audition

• Why you may have been going about your process totally wrong

• How to stand out when the competition is high for the audition

If this episode inspires you then I’d love to hear from you! Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram stories and tag me @katherine_beck_

Then follow me on Instagram to go ‘behind the scenes’ with me and my own journey as an American accent coach and Voiceover Actor.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

The doors to All American Voice are now open. Check out all the details at www.katherinebeck.com/act

LEARN MORE FROM KATHERINE BECK:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE | TIK TOK

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SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Katherine Beck
You're listening to the All American actors Podcast, episode 76. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about the three key components to mastering the US audition. That's coming up next. Ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to build a sustainable career as a working actor in the US film and TV industry. Join me Katherine Beck, your all American accent coach, as I give you the insight and inspiration to take action on your career, learn my best tips and tricks to performing with an American accent and hear from working actors and other industry professionals. To give you a comprehensive overview of this biz we call showbiz. This is the All American actors podcast. Before we get into today's episode, I have some big news to share with you, I'm opening up the doors to all American voice one last time in 2022. And I'm doing something really cool. For the first time ever, I am doing a six week us audition intensive. So if you are already a member of all American voice, you can do the six week intensive with me. Or if you're new to all American voice, you're going to be getting my entire program, lifetime access some amazing bonuses. Plus, you're gonna join me for six weeks of intensive us audition training, we're going to work through all sorts of different genres, we're going to do it in a condensed timeframe. So every week, you're going to be auditioning with me, you're going to be learning my process for breaking down scripts are accent or character and for story, and you're gonna get feedback from me every single week, and I've created in a way that is super flexible. So it doesn't matter whether or not you've got things going on, I've made it in a way to make it work with everybody's schedule, which is super cool. So to grab all the details, just head over to Katherine beck.com, forward slash AC T. And we're going to be starting very soon. So make sure you check out all the details sign up, it's limited spaces. And I'm so excited for this, I cannot wait and hey, if this goes really good, we'll do it again in 2023. This is a first time so let's make magic happen on this first round. Ah, it's gonna be good. Anyway, let's get into today's episode. And it is about mastering the US audition. Now this subject and the inspiration for that six week intensive came from a private coaching session I did with one of my students. And we were working on a script. And I just had this epiphany, this thought I thought, you know, you're such a talented actor, you know, all the things to do you perform amazing. But when it comes to the American accent, there's a bit of a struggle, which there is for many of us, you know, when we layer on that accent, and I said to her, is it because you're focusing on the accent. And it was this idea that I thought my goodness, you know, when you get that US audition, you focus so much on the accent, that everything else goes out the window, or it could be the opposite. Maybe you're intimidated by the accent, or you're just not 100% there. So you put more focus on the other stuff, maybe the character, or the actual performance itself, and the accent suffers. There's an imbalance in our process. And so when we go to audition, the balance is not there, we actually see the imbalance, maybe we see, or we hear the accent, instead of this captivating performance, or the performance is so amazing. But the accent is not so good. Or maybe the character is unbelievable. But the accents, not believable. And the performance suffers because you're so entranced in this character, but you forgot some basic moments and transitions and you know, all of the juiciness that we get out of our text analysis. And when I talk about text analysis, I think that's where a lot of people get it wrong. We focus so much on the character, but we forget about the story. And when I look at a scene, I first always look at the story. I always serve the screenwriter or the playwright. I acknowledge And I honor their words on the page. They're there for a reason. They're there in that flow for reason, one word next to another, a punctuation mark, is all there for a reason, I honor that. Now, that does not mean that we hold it to a tee that everything has to be perfect in a specific way. Because that's not real life, that's boring. We want to serve what's on the page. But we use that as the inspiration. And when we go into performance, the beautiful part about it is we set it free. That's what's so exciting to watch. And that's what's so exciting for us as the actor, to live in that moment, of releasing all that and being so present in the moment that it's almost like you forget what's coming next, which is how it should be right. Because in real life, we don't know what's coming next. We forget about that next moment, because we're so present in this moment. So when it comes to a US audition, if you're not from America, you're from another country. Sometimes we forget the basics. And that's when a coach can really help you out. Now, I always say, I don't want to be a crutch. For my students, I want to empower you to be able to do the process on your own. Why? Because I learned from my own experience that a coach can only get you so far. When you think about let's say you're working with a personal trainer. Well, personal trainer can tell you the exercises you need to do, they can give you a routine to follow. They can critique your technique, give you notes give you feedback, but they can't actually do it for you. If you want to get the results, you have to do it, you have to experience it, you have to feel it. So a coach can only do so much for you, a coach can't run the big race for you, a coach can't give you that Academy Award winning performance. That's up to you. So we can't put all the pressure on Well, I didn't have a coach. Well, the coach didn't tell me that. Now, it's up to you. You've got to have accountability, for your craft, for your career. And if you're waiting for a coach to help you out, maybe that's where your problem lies. So I always empower my students to not wait for me to tell them what to do, I will give you my process. It's a pretty incredible process. It's all laid out in all American voice. And then some when you do additional group coaching and things like that with me, and I'm always changing my process, refining it, tweaking it pivoting, evolving, shifting, because we need to as actors to stand out to be on top of our game. Let's face it. The reality is, is it's much harder to be an actor these days, it's great, because there's so many opportunities now with self tapes being the norm. But with that, there's a greater problem. There's more actors, there's more competition, it's harder to get seen. It's harder to get the callback, it's harder to book the job. It's not impossible, because the majority of the actors aren't putting in the work, the effort, the dedication, the things that they need to do the discipline to get to where they need to be. But you are, aren't you. And maybe you lost sight of that. And that's okay. Now we're gonna get back on track. Now is the time as we get ready for 2023. The work starts now to prepare ourselves for next year. So if you've held back, if you've resisted, if you've let yourself get busy, let other things get in the way. That's okay. We're human beings, that's life. But I like to set my goals now. Instead of waiting till the New Year, I set them now, I start thinking ahead. And that's what I want for you, too. So I have this session, and we have this conversation at the tail end. And it really inspired me to shift how I teach. lately. In the past, when I opened the doors to all American voice, I was doing six sessions. I'm still doing six Actually, no, I'm doing 12 Haha, I've doubled. And I would focus so much on the accent because I knew that that's where people struggled. But I had a thought about that. And I thought it's not so much about learning the sounds of pronunciation, because a lot of people are teaching that let's get real. For me. What it's always been about is more the placement of making sure that that's correct more of the habitual practice to get yourself out of your head and freeing up the accent. But it's really about the sound identification, about taking A new script and being able to see the accent on the page, finding the flow, the character's heartbeat, the rhythm, the words that they stress and why they stress them. What makes that character American? How can we exude an American character? How can we serve the story and serve the character? How can we embed the subtext within the text? How can we layer in that emotional element? How can we stand out? This has been my work. This has been my journey of discovery of being an actor, to coaching and sharing with you, my discoveries, my struggles, my strengths. And what I see is so very needed, I challenge you to find a coach that's like me, because I incorporate it all. You know, usually, when you go see a coach, they focus on one thing. But that's part of the problem I see is that a good coach is able to incorporate all the things that are needed to encompass a scene and a character. And to give you that standout performance, and that's what I do. So today, I encourage you to get back to it to find your character's voice, instead of finding the accent, because that's what's gonna stand out. So if you are interested and diving deeper with me, the doors are open to all American voice, and the All American voice audition accelerator. So if you are new to my world, and you've been waiting for the doors to open, you can join all American voice or you can join my accelerator. I hope to see you there. I'm telling you now that the doors are open for a short period of time as we've got limited spots in the accelerator. So if you're serious about making 2023, the year that you really achieve those goals and step into the working actor you dream to be now is the time, head over to Katherine beck.com forward slash AC T. And I'll see you there. And coming up next week on the show. We're going to be talking about what makes a character All American. That's coming up next week, so stay tuned. And hey, if you enjoyed this episode, go ahead and send me a DM on Instagram at Catherine underscore Beck underscore I'd love to hear what you thought about this episode, take a screenshot of the show and share it with me on your Instagram story and tag me in it. Now make sure to share the show with all your actor friends, let them know what's coming up next week and invite them to tune in with you and learn how to become an All American actor so you can be the Working Actor you dream to be until then go practice your American accent and I'll see you back here next time.