Who Is Your Most Dangerous Adversary?

Hey there!

As you sit there in the waiting room, getting set to go in for your on-camera audition, who’s the actor that’s going to give you the biggest run for your money?

As you submit your VO audition, you know that many other performers are doing the same. Who’s your biggest competition, and how will their auditions sound to the casting team?

The answer to this might surprise you. I hope it gives you comfort.

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Hope this helps!

David

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hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and today I have a real quick but real
potent reminder of who your competition
is I want you to think about when you
get together a voiceover audition you
record really really well you gotten
your storytelling just perfect and you
know the technical side of things is
awesome you’ve got your mp3 prepared and
as you go to upload it you think to
yourself oh I’m just one of probably
hundreds in some cases people who are
doing the exact same thing I wonder
who’s gonna be better than me I wonder
if I’m gonna be as good as they are or
you’re sitting in the waiting room ready
to go in at a casting office for an
on-camera gig and you’re looking around
and you see these people you know and
you’re thinking to yourself okay now see
he –have looks like he’s gonna get it I
mean you know I remember I once went in
for an audition on the Paramount lot for
monk which was a great show missed that
show and toward the end the final few
years of the show they do what they do
in a lot of shows they reward the stars
with executive producer titles and money
to sort of you know an additional reward
to what they originally contracted for
in terms of a per episode payment and I
remember we were all sitting there for
this this this you know I think it was
like maybe a four scene thing was a
guest star role and Tony Shalhoub walked
in turns out he was gonna be directing
this particular episode I knew that from
the breakdown but a lot of people didn’t
he walks in and everybody notices him he
says hi to everybody and then he sees
one of the actors that’s auditioning
it’s a friend of his and he walks over
to him and he goes hey John and he puts
his arm around him big hug goes he says
I’ll see you guys all in there we’re all
going like apparently John’s gonna get
it you know I mean that was the initial
that was the immediate thing that you
think well if he’s got a connection
already with the star of the show who’s
also directing the episode you know he’s
gonna be leaning in favor of him and you
know turns out it wasn’t him
I actually watched monk and I remembered
when the episode started I’m ago this is
the episode I auditioned for I wonder if
John got it he didn’t so our minds go to
that point where oh I’m not good enough
you know who cares what I do you know
those limiting beliefs that we’ve talked
about and that brings up the point the
the adversary that you have in that
situation is absolutely not
John it’s not those hundreds of other
people on a pay-to-play site or on a on
you know you know on a CX that may be
auditioning for an audio book there it’s
not everybody else it’s you and what you
tell yourself it’s you and your mindset
and what I would say to you is it’s one
of those things that you can put on the
list that I’d like you to create of the
things you used to worry about
people come up with questions all the
time in my Facebook groups in in live
sessions and workouts hey I’m worried
about this that’s what it boils down to
I wonder about cutting all my breaths
out there’s a million different things
that people come up with oh one of them
was and we’re gonna talk about this you
know in a future video one of them was
how come how can I make my retail
samples sound better once they get on
audacity and you can’t the answer is you
can’t you have no control over what are
not audacity audible you have no control
over what audible does to what you give
them and what you’ll hear on their
public site they crunch it down it
doesn’t sound as good as when you record
it it’s just the way it is and nothing
you can do will fix that so move it off
the list of things that you worry about
to that list things I used to worry
about okay and do the same thing when it
comes to competition when it comes to oh
I wonder who’s gonna get this I wonder
which guy here is gonna get this it’s
like nothing you need to worry about
move it onto that list and move on with
making sure you’re ready to go when you
walk in the room or when you upload that
mp3 don’t let those inner thoughts take
over so much that they begin to affect
your performance or begin to affect your
attitude or begin to affect your
willingness to stay in this crazy
business that’s filled with rejection
you are for the most part your own worst
enemy your own biggest adversary not any
of those people in the room in the video
the other day where I talked about my
hero’s experience every other and there
were like 22 guys that were at this
audition every single one of them was
people were individuals that I’d seen on
television more than once and usually
had scared the crap out of me in one way
or another
I was clearly not the guy that was gonna
get that gig any one of those guys would
have been able to do it awesome at it
people would have been old I know him
he’s creepy the viewers and I got it and
I worked three years on that show
so it kind of Illustrated that whole
idea of you can really put yourself in a
box if you’re worried about your
competition if you’re worried about your
adversaries so don’t what are your
thoughts on this wherever you’re hearing
this or viewing this please leave me a
comment on the page below somewhere I’d
love to know how you think as you are
just about to submit yourself to the
process of auditioning how do you think
about that how do you feel about that
who do you think you need to beat is it
John or is it you if you’d like to
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I’m David H Lawrence the 17th I so
appreciate you watching these one-a-day
videos and I will talk to you tomorrow.

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