13197: Thankfully, Performers Aren’t Put Through This New Wringer
Hey there, hero!
We know as performers that the way things are handled in our business are sometimes very different from the way they are handled in more mainstream businesses.
And that can be frustrating, especially when it comes to not getting the booking.
We’re not told why. We never know why. We won’t ever know why.
But that’s a double edged sword, especially given this new twist to the traditional rejection letter that the Muggles get when they don’t get the job.
You might be very surprised what current HR practices have led corporate culture to “offer” to candidates who don’t “get the booking.” Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
I often hear performers that are at the
very least disappointed and in some
cases very upset when they audition for
something they don’t get the gig and
nobody tells them why or that they
didn’t get the gig they don’t get the
proverbial rejection letter well
something has been happening in the
world of business that we should all be
thankful we don’t have to deal with when
it comes to rejection I’ll share that
with you in this episode of the vo
Heroes
[Music]
podcast now those of you that are
writers you will likely if you write for
uh magazines or journals or bloggers or
uh you are in a sort of a traditional
position maybe you’re submitting a
manuscript to a publisher you’re in a
kind of a traditional position where you
if you don’t get it if they don’t want
to do what you want to do if they don’t
want to accept your book or your article
or whatever uh you get a very nice
rejection letter or email or whatever in
the world of voice over and the world of
acting we don’t get that I mean the the
casting entities are busy enough letting
the people who did get the job know
about it and contracts and you know
notifications and agents and wardrobe
and all that stuff but there’s been this
thing happening in the world of business
in the do world world in the hiring
world in the uh Human Resources world
that we should all be very thankful
isn’t something we need to deal with
apparently uh according to an article
that just appeared in slate magazine the
new thing and maybe it’s not new it’s
just new to me but the new thing is not
a rejection letter physical letter sent
in the mail or an email but rather
asking you to join a live Zoom session
where you’re told you know we decided to
move forward with another candidate we
really appreciate what you’ve done we
just wanted to give you uh uh the the
news uh personally and we hope that
you’ll continue to pursue positions with
us if there’s anything that’s open that
you want to apply with we welcome you to
do that and people are
reacting with understandable horror at
this you know you get this notice from
somebody that you’ve applied for a job
with and they say yeah Hey listen we’d
love to meet with you this Friday you
know you’ve been through the first
interview the second interview the the
you know search committee what however
the process is and then here’s this Zoom
session where you think certainly
they’re going to offer me the job right
but no they’re and I think this is this
is probably somebody who came up with
what they think is the brilliant idea to
have a more human touch to it and not an
impersonal email or an impersonal text
or an impersonal uh physical letter sent
in the mail that they would rather like
what do you do when you’re in that situ
can you imagine if casting directors
wanted to connect with you to tell you
you didn’t get the job or if Publishers
wanted to jump on Zoom with you to tell
you yeah we’re not going to move forward
with your book but thank you and please
submit other things in the F boy oh boy
so my point here is be careful what you
wish for because you just might get it
and let’s be thankful
that we can do an audition or send in a
submission and then just move on and if
we get it we get it if we don’t we don’t
but we don’t have to worry about getting
all dressed up in a suit and expecting
to be hired and then all of a sudden
you’re told no no no we’re we’re we’re
we’re going with somebody
else
anyway uh let me know what you think
about this new move in the world of
business and whether or not we should do
that in performance should we do that I
don’t think so but let me know in the
comments below hit the like button if
you like what you’re hearing uh you can
subscribe to the channel hit the
notification Bell to find out when the
next episode comes out you can pass this
on to some actor or voice Talent OR
writer who you’ve heard complain that we
don’t hear when we don’t get the job we
just don’t hear yeah okay well maybe
that’s a good thing I’m David H Lawrence
the 17th I thank you so much for
watching and for listening and I will
see you in the next episode of the vo
Heroes podcast
[Music]
am
(from YouTube)
I consider auditioning to be the job, and getting the booking to be “gravy.” I stopped obsessing over whether I got the job decades ago. Yes, I still do my best on the audition, but if they’re not looking for what I bring to the project, that’s fine. I can’t IMAGINE having to be rejected in person on a Zoom call. I don’t have time for that, and it’s hard to believe anyone involved in casting would, either. Book me or not, but don’t belabor the rejection process.
I really have to wonder how casting directors would feel if we did that to them: “I’ve decided that the direction of your project isn’t what I want to pursue in my VO career. But thank you for taking time out of your busy day to allow me to tell you this personally, and if you should find a future opportunity ….” . Obviously, nope.
It sounds like an awful process! Whose ego is this designed to boost?
Perhaps in responding, one should develop a suitable AI ‘clone’ avatar to attend the ‘interview…. It might be an enjoyable one to record 🙂
That’s a bit of a double edge sword. I’ve been auditioning and booking…and not booking for many years. I know all of the casting directors in my market. Each have booked me on numerous occasions. While I know that it’s not going to happen, I would welcome a video call to let me know why I missed a role. The information I would get would well offset the time for the call.
One of the biggest fears an actor (ok. This actor.) has is no information. So, I do all the workshops I can afford. A massive amount of information can be gleaned that way.
Do I get disappointed not hearing why the rejection? Yes. But in this business environment, it’s not going to happen. Instead, I work on doing the best performance for audition I can imagine.
Many years ago, when I lived in San Diego I would drive to Burbank every week to study with Micheal Shurtleff (of the How to Audition book fame). One of the things he told us was to NEVER worry why someone didn’t cast us. It is not helpful. As a casting director, working beside directors, producers, etc he saw that he could bring a brilliant actor in with a great audition and the director or producer would say no. Not because they didn’t fit the part or weren’t right for it; because they reminded him of his ex or didn’t like the color they wore or some other very subjective reason. Things, as an actor, we cannot control.
So I’m reminded of Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements of which #2 is ” Don’t take anything personally”.
My personal philosophy has become: there must be something else I meant to do. Because that ends up being the case.
Let’s not do that. That’s a terrible idea. I’d rather not hear back.