Everyone says to be early to your auditions, but how early is early? 5 minutes? An hour? In this article, I’m going to rate different types of auditions by their suggested earliness.
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First of all, you want to be early because:
- It can take longer than you expected to park.
- The first people casting directors see are the ones they are most likely to remember, so it’d be great to be first in line.
- The earlier you are, the more likely you are to be seen at all. (Sometimes at open calls, if there are too many people to see in a day, they’ll just send everyone home past a certain hour.)
- Being late will cost you the job in most cases, so you need some time padding.
- It’ll make you feel more prepared, and therefore more confident.
Before I go into it, one thing that I always do, no matter what, is Google maps the address and check how long it will take me to get there with my specific arrive date and time. Going somewhere at 9 in the morning on a Monday is a very different drive time from going at 12 on a Saturday. Always check and add that into the equation.
Here we go!
6+ Hours Early – Professional TV/Film Open Calls
Yes, you read that right. I went to one of Disney Channel’s open calls and there were people that slept there overnight for this audition. I was new to the auditioning world and got there only an hour early, then was stuck in line for hours and my mom (I was 15) gave out on me and we went home and I didn’t get to audition for Disney Channel.
Open calls are the reason why people seek agents. My life has gotten a lot easier since.
3+ Hours Early – Musical Theater National Tour and Broadway Open Calls
Another hard one. I went in for a Wicked national tour open call and I won’t lie, I was almost late. The website said “Arrive no earlier than 10AM,” and my dumb butt actually followed that instruction. Tip: When you get that note, it probably just means they won’t let anyone in the building before 10.
So I get there at 10AM and the place is packed. I sign in and wait for hours and have to re-park my car because of how long I’m there for. An hour passes and a man comes out of the little room with the announcement: “We are cutting the 32 bars to 16.” Another hour passes and he comes out again and says, “The 16 is now 8 bars.” Thank goodness he didn’t come out again.
1+ Hours Early – Musical Theater Callback without Appointments
If you get the message that you’re called back at 10AM, 11AM, or basically any :00 time, it’s probably not an appointment. It’s slightly better than the initial audition, but sometimes there are tons of people called back.
I went to this audition, actually fairly recently, and it’s an appointment from my Musical Theater agent. It was an in-and-out situation, it was so fast. They called me back right there in the room. 3PM another day.
99% of the time, my agent’s auditions and callbacks for me are appointments. So, picture my surprise when I get there 30 minutes early and it’s absolutely packed to the brim with people. I was there for almost 6 hours! Ha!
45 Minutes-1 Hour Early – Community Theater Auditions
There aren’t usually as many people at this type of open call, so you don’t have to get there 3 hours early.
30-45 Minutes Early – Audition and Callback Appointments (Agent-found or Otherwise)
This goes for musical theater, tv/film, and student films. Student films are tricky because a lot of the time they audition you on-campus so it can make parking and finding your way around very difficult and time-consuming.
There you have ’em!
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