As with every profession there is another language that most other people outside the profession don’t understand. Acting is no exception. Actors aren’t completely aware of it all the time but the more you get into the entertainment industry you will hear terms from agents, managers and on set. Understanding what these terms mean will help you communicate more effectively with your key people as well as give you a leg up on the competition.
When you begin your training and working with an agent or manager you may begin to hear these words; cold reading, scene study, improvisation and green. Green means you come off as new to the industry (which you probably are – but you don’t want them to know that) and need some training and refining. Improvisation is making things up on the spot without preparation of any sort. You will be asked to improvise numerous times throughout your career so if you’re not naturally good at it you should get into some classes.
Scene study refers to a type of class in which you analyze the story aspects and structure of a scene so that you can get it right when you are only given two pages out of a one hundred and ten page screenplay. Scene study helps you break down “beats” for both comedy and drama, although it is much more important for comedy because in comedy timing is everything. Scene study basically teaches you to read deeper into an individual scene of literary material. Cold reading refers to the horribly difficult times when you must perform scripted material without having rehearsed it. Sometimes you will walk into an office be given a scene and in a matter of two minutes be in the casting office. So, you better know how to pick up any piece of material, read it quickly pulling out the important factors necessary to give it your best and walk in the room confident that you can shine. Cold reading is very difficult and really does require training to become good at it.
When you begin auditioning for commercials you may hear the terms; callback, on avail, on hold, released from availability, principal, extra, Taft Hartley, scale, overscale, holding fee, cycle, session fee, residuals, regional, local, wild spot, cable, buyout, international, roll-out, non-air test, lift, voice-over and director’s reel. A callback is when you are brought back in (normally on a different day) after an initial audition and are asked to re-audition in front on the director, client and typically some of the producers. These are the people making the decision whether to hire you or not. They may ask you to do exactly what you did during your first audition or to do something entirely new.
You never know. On avail is a wonderful term, it means they like you. So the casting director will call your agent and ask for your on avail, meaning your calendar of availability to see if you are able to shoot on the days production has set out. If you get an on avail call it’s a good sign, you’re in the running for the role, they just haven’t narrowed it down to one lucky person yet so they’re checking schedules. On hold means the production company is doing more than just checking to see if you’re available for their shoot days, they’re going to pay to put you on hold. Now it doesn’t mean you have the role yet they are simply paying to reserve your calendar under the notion that they might hire you. While being on hold you are not allowed to accept any other work for those days you the company reserved you. It is not until you are released from availability that you are able to schedule other work as that company has decided to go with someone else. Now in commercials there are generally three types of roles; voice-overs where your voice is heard but you are not seen on camera, extra work where you are in the background or a part of your body is shown but your face is not recognizable and principal work in which you face is clearly shown and you are deemed recognizable.
Principal work is what all actors strive for because it brings in residuals, money for each time the commercial plays. If you’re an extra you do not receive residuals. If you’re non-union and you book a union job you will be Taft Hartleyed, meaning the production company is essentially paying a fine to use you, a non-union actor, as opposed to a union actor. It is a Federal law that allows non-union actors to do a union job before they are members of the union and allows them to become members if they choose. If you do one union job and choose not to join the union that is your choice but if you book another union job you must join the union within thirty days and from that point on you can never do non-union work again.
Alright so you got the job, now you will hear your agent talking about all these terms and you contract will be filled with terminology referring to where the commercial will be shown and how much money you will make. Most commercials pay scale which is a set rate standardized by the union in bargaining agreements for all union commercials. Scale changes every so often so you would have to check the SAG website (sag.org) to find the exact rate. Overscale is the amount your agent demands for you because you’re either a celebrity, in demand talent, it is a difficult shoot or they simply think they can get more for you. This is something your agent handles so don’t worry about it, just know that if you’re getting overscale it’s a good thing. Once in a while a commercial will pay a buyout fee as opposed to a session fee, which is the amount you are paid for your day of shooting. A buyout is one check. It is the only check you will receive for this work. They are buying all rights to your image, name and likeness for inclusion in their production.
Whatever they shoot is theirs for all of time and you will never receive payment from them for that specific shoot ever again, period. Where it plays will often be a good determinant of how much money you will make. If it’s regional or local you’ll be paid every cycle of thirteen weeks and the money will be okay, nothing to brag about. A wild spot airs on off-network stations and on major networks during local programming hours. A cable spot is just what is says, cable television. Cable pays well upfront but drops off dramatically after a specific number of viewings. Internal is anything that plays outside of the United States and Canada. This is just a flat fee for usage. Nationals are the big money. You will love nationals.
Every time you get a national it’s like Christmas in July. It is utterly wonderful. Now on to some of the less frequently used but still equally important terms. A roll-out is when a commercial will start under one categorization such as regional and then eventually become something else, like a wild spot. It is a marketing strategy. A non-air test will have no residuals as it is intended to be just a marketing test to determine whether the concept works or not. You will just be paid a session fee. If a commercial is made under the categorization of “director’s reel” once again it is simply a test commercial and will not air. The director is building their body of work to show potential clients in seeking employment. But it is still a session fee, a credit, experience and something to put on your own demo reel. Finally a lift. A lift is when a portion of one commercial is taken out and placed into another commercial. Companies sometimes do this to create multiple spots or to bring back something from years before. You will be paid residuals on these as if it were a new commercial in itself.
In the world of theatrical auditions you will often be told to get your side at Showfax. So what does that mean? Sides are a portion of the script which the casting director selected for you to read during your audition. Showfax is a service which provides these sides to actors. You can subscribe to this service for a yearly fee if you think you will be using it often or just pay as you go for each page you need. Now the are several different types of projects you might audition for; sitcoms, MOWs, mini-series, episodics, reality shows, pilots, network presentations and soaps. Sitcoms are half an hour comedy shows. The pace on these is very quick and you may work several long days. MOWs are movies of the week, these are shown on television and are popular on channels such as Lifetime and TNT. Mini-series are multipart movies shown on television.
They are normally spaced out so you can only watch one segment every day or every week for a planned period of time. Episodics are hour long drama programs and nowadays, dramedies as well which combine comedy and drama but in the one hour format. Reality shows are true to life programming in which you are not bringing a character to life but being yourself. Pilots are series that are produced for networks to consider picking up. These are sometimes shown on television but not always. Pilots are filmed, showed to executives and test audiences and then the producers decide whether to make more episodes or not. Network presentations are episodes of a series or pilot that are performed live for network executives and sometimes a live audience. Soaps are daytime dramas that run one hour in length and air every weekday.
Theatrical auditions are very different from commercial auditions as are the types of auditions you might find yourself going to. A general audition is an initial interview with a casting director so he or she can get to know you and consider you for the future. These are extremely rare, but you never know you might get one. A pre-screen is often used for films where a casting director will call numerous people in and see if they believe they might be right for any of the roles in the film. A pre-read is like a first audition for a commercial. You are auditioning for a specific part and the casting director evaluates you to determine whether to bring you in for the director and producers. A producers call is a callback where you audition for the producers and director. There may be several callbacks especially if they are having trouble deciding who to hire. A network call is when you are auditioning for a series regular role. When you are sent to network it is a big deal. Your agent or manager should go with you as you will have to sign a great deal of paperwork before they send you to hair and make-up and so forth to do a screen test. When you get to this point you should be feeling really good.
The last things you should understand are what types of roles you’re auditioning for. A series regular applying strictly to television and it means you are a regular character that gets billing on every episode and generally appears in every episode. A guest star is a leading role but only appears in one episode. A co-star is a role that appears in only one episode and generally only one scene however they may have several lines. Featured refers to someone who has a single line in a single scene in one episode or in a film. A recurring character is one that appears in multiple episodes. A day player is one that may been seen on camera but typically has no lines and is hired on a daily basis for either film or television. For soaps, a regular is someone who appears frequently while a principal is a character that has more than five lines but is not a regular or recurring and lastly an under five role is when someone has less than five lines on a soap program.
So, now hopefully you have a little better understanding of some terms you might have heard but weren’t quite sure about. Good luck in all your acting adventures.
