Print auditions are weird...

Okay, so I’ve only been on 3 print auditions in my life – The Post Office, Frito-Lay, and most recently this week, the Illinois Lottery. Now, I’ve been trained in how to audition for all kinds of different things – character roles in a film scene, voice-overs, improvisation for a TV commercial, etc., but I’ve never been “trained” on how to do a print audition. This has got to be, by far, the hardest audition to perform. Well, for me at least.

In order for a model to be considered for a print ad (for example, magazines or outdoor billboards), the client would need to see what that model currently looks like in photographs. So they arrange for a photography studio to do a “mini photo shoot” of all the candidates, or models, who fit their criteria for the job. Agencies call it a “go-see”. The rest of us experienced auditioners call it what it really is – a cattle call. Because really, it’s a plethora of people (a.k.a. “cattle”) coming to one place to put in their application for one job.

So here’s how my audition for the Illinois Lottery went. I drove over 2 hours to Chicago and arrived at the studio just after they cut the line off so the photographers could go to lunch. As slightly inconvenienced as I was having to wait an hour before getting in line again, I was happy to be near the front of the line when the photographers had returned -- full and happy -- and ready to run through the next batch of hopefuls.

When it was my turn, I greeted the photographer and took my mark. He took one close-up shot and one body shot, then asked me to pretend I was driving in a car. Silently I was laughing to myself because I had just spent the better part of the last two hours doing just that. So, I put my hands up like they were on the steering wheel and was ready to go.

Then he described to me that I needed to look like I was having a good day – but not too good. He then took a couple of pictures (snap, snap). Then he said to look in the rear view mirror (snap), and then around to some shops (snap) and then pretend I was driving in reverse (snap). Then, for the final shot, he said to look straight into the camera and give just the smallest hint of a smile (snap). Then he thanked me, shook my hand and I was done.

And that was it. I traveled 2 hours (a little more than 4 hours round trip) for about 2 minutes of the photographer’s time, and I have no idea how I did or how I fared. I will never see the photos from the shoot, so I have no way of seeing how I could improve for the next one.

This was the same scenario with my other two print auditions. For Frito-Lay, they did a close-up, a side shot, one from the back (which seemed weird at the time), and then I had to pretend I was throwing a Frisbee. For the Post Office, they took a close-up, a body shot, I had to pretend I was receiving a package already in my hands, and then pretend I was putting one in a mailbox.

Seriously, how does one prepare for such auditions? As an actor, if they told me what facial expression they were looking for, I might have a better shot. Like, we’re looking for the instant you realized you were in love, or you’ve got a secret you just have to share with your best friend -- something like that.

Not that I mind pretending, of course. That’s totally my nature. But asking me to pretend like I’m doing nothing more than driving in a car just isn’t very riveting. Guess that’s what I should be working on, eh -- finding the “riveting” in mundane tasks and reading between the lines, so to speak. Sounds like I’ve got some homework to do. Hmmm……