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Your body tightens,

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you abandon what felt honest.

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You perform the note

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instead of

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responding to it

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sound familiar.

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In today's episode, we're breaking

down.

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Y redirects

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or adjustments

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What casting is actually testing, and

how learning to adjust with ease

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can make you unforgettable in the room.

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Because

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actors who adjust with confidence

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are remembered.

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Actors who freeze

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disappear.

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This is casting actor's castle.

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Well, hello, and welcome to today's

episode of casting actors.

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Gas.

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I'm Jeff dreisbach.

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I'm a casting director with mechorical

casting in New York City.

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How are you hope you have it a good

day?

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I'm having a good day, and I'm looking

forward to talking to you at length

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about this, because it happens all the

time.

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It certainly happened to me when I was

an actor and would receive a note from

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either a director or the casting

director

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there's all kinds of machinations that

I would put myself through when I got

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that a note during an audition

especially.

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And I want to just share my insight

about that to help you through those

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moments.

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Because I know sometimes they can be

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disarming, they can be uncomfortable.

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They can really foster a lot of

insecurity.

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And I want that to end right here and

now.

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And we have to talk about why do those

adjustments exist in the first place?

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Well, there's a lot of answers for

that.

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But first, this is that moment of the

podcast where I get to say thank you

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for tuning in to casting.

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Actress Cass, I invite you to check out

the websitecasting actors, cast all one

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word dot com.

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You can find all kinds of information,

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free stuff, a book, all that good stuff.

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Also, my audio book is available.

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And of course, that I'm teaching

online.

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It's really, I think you'll find it

great, great fun.

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So thank you for that.

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I don't want to spend too much time on

this, but I also want to give my shout

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out to my good friends at actor's

connection, actor's connection, dot

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comslash, New York.

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Hello.

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once forgot her name, and I've known it

for like, twenty years.

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Anyway, I'm glad we are having an

opportunity to talk about this, because

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we have to show, why do those

adjustments that you get during an

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audition?

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I also call them redirect.

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You know, you get a redirection.

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Why do they exist?

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Well, I can tell you first and foremost

that they exist because you've shown

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one version of the character.

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And now we just want to see the

following.

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We might want to see some range,

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we might want to see some possibility.

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So what if your character,

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Dodd, Phil, in the blank?

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We also want to see some flexibility.

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More importantly, in some respects, we

want to see collaboration.

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It's about how adjustment

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becomes your secret booking advantage,

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that's the way to think of it.

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And that's why when we have those

opportunities to kind of

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sit back and contemplate what the

process is all about, we're going to

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find ourselves to be in a much, much

better place.

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So

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what casting is actually testing,

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I really want to know if you can adjust

quickly as a casting director,

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I want to know if you can remain

present.

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I want to know if you can

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release your previous choices.

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You see, sometimes in the process of

working on a role or an audition,

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we work on the way we're going to do it

so much that we create a structure

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around that work that is almost

impenetrable.

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And I can tell you from firsthand

experience, we need to see that actor

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be malleable, be able to take direction

and to be able to make that adjustment

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at the same time.

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We want to see if you can stay

collaborative,

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if you can do those two things.

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That's what I call

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booking behavior,

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because it's so true.

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The actor.

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Panic happens

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when an adjustment is given or a

redirect is given.

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The actor panics.

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The actor abandons

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the truth.

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At that moment, the actor performs the

adjustment.

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Authenticity

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disappears.

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You see, we don't want performance.

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We don't want you to perform the note,

the adjustment.

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We want responsiveness.

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See, that's a big deal, that word.

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So the professional response is, as

follows, I want you to think about listening

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fully.

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I want you to then pause.

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I want you to let that adjustment note

land,

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a just intention,

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not emotion,

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and then you move ahead.

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Go ahead.

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Here's what adjustment

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really means.

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Please understand that adjustments are

not requests to abandon your instincts.

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Honestly.

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They are invitations to explore new

behaviour.

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Here's the secret.

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Adjustments or redirects mean you're

still in the game, right?

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So if a director or casting director

redirect you

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they're engaged.

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If they're engaged

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they're curious.

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If they're curious,

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you are still a contender.

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Believe me, a casting director, a

director, a producer.

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They're not in it to give you an acting

lesson.

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If there's something about what you're

doing that is so intriguing enough for

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them to give you an adjustment or a

redirect.

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That means they want to see how you can

take that note and run with it.

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That's really important.

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Now, it's true.

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I have to share this with you.

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There are some directors out there who

like to just give a weird note, a note

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that kind of doesn't make sense in

terms of the script, in terms of the

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continuity of the script, in terms of

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the way you read the script.

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That's really bizarre sometimes.

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But understand that the director wants

to do it simply to see you make the adjustment

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has nothing to do

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with the context.

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It has everything to do with your

ability to take a note

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and make a quick adjustment happen.

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So sometimes it's more of a test

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just to see if you are in that

collaborative

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mindset.

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But let's talk about why actor freezes.

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And I used to do this all the time.

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Instead of listening to the note,

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my inner dialogue would go along the

lines of, oh, my god, this is going

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really good.

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I think they might like me.

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And in which case, I completely miss

the note.

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I had no idea what they just said.

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But I smile and nod, and I usually

ended up saying something I had, oh,

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that's great.

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Let's try that.

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And now I'm getting ready to do the

scene again, and I'm like,

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what did I just hear?

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So that's what I call an actor frieze.

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Or the opposite can happen,

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that you're being given this redirect,

and your inner monologue is going

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something along the lines of, oh my

god, if I don't do this, they're going

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to hate me.

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If I don't make the adjustment, they're

going to hate me.

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How am I going to do this?

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What are they really asking?

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What are they really saying?

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I don't understand what they're saying.

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It sounds like a foreign language.

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That fear of doing it wrong is really

prevalent.

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Ooh, good word at.

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Fear of losing what you know, worked.

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And if you lose those things that

worked, then you're free floating

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over a precipice.

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You know, another reason is there's a

fear of judgment.

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But let me just say this flexibility

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reads as confidence.

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See, casting loves actors who stay

relaxed,

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who stay playful, who stay open,

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you know, who stay human.

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You're not a performing seal.

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You know, you are a human being having

an exchanged conversation,

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and incorporating that information of

the adjustment,

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understanding why it might work really

differently, but it also might work

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equally well.

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So practice flexibility.

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Here's how you do that.

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Try performing a scene,

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any scene.

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Take anything, maybe it's a the last

self tape you did, that scene that they

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gave you.

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I want you to try it just very warmly,

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that your character is just a warm,

generous person.

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Next, I want you to try it guarded.

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You're hiding a secret, you're holding

something back.

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Next, try it again and do it amused.

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Everything about the situation is

amusing to you.

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How does that feel?

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How does that sound?

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Then finally, I want you to try it

again.

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But I want you to be a character who is

completely exhausted.

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What discoveries did you make when

using all of those adjectives for each read?

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What new areas opened up?

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An interesting choice for you

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it's those spontaneous choices in an

audition that we are longing for.

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We being casting, producing directors,

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because flexibility

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builds

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responsiveness.

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So let's talk about what I call the

reframe.

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Redirect equals,

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expansion,

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not correction.

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Let me say that again,

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an adjustment

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is something that you expand upon

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it's not a correction of something you

did wrong or didn't do correctly.

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So often we feel that we're still in an

acting class, and the teacher's telling

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us why your scene didn't work.

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And that's what's very triggering for a

lot of actors.

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Please reframe

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that moment that you have with that

director or that gasting director,

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because that will absolutely

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help you feel more comfortable, more

confident and more

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00:12:02,255 --> 00:12:04,190

in a collaborative frame of mind.

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I think I don't think I know that to be

true.

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I see it happen too many times.

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But I've also seen the opposite.

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I've seen the actor absolutely freeze,

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or worse case scenario, I've seen the

actor do the scene exactly the same way

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they did it before,

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zero change, zero adjustment.

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And you can just tell from the producer

or the director, even the casting

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director.

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Close grate.

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Thank you very much.

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Thank you for coming in

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of audition.

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I don't mean to sound crass about it,

but if you're not putting any effort

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into making the adjustment,

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then that's speaking volumes about your

technique as an actor and about how

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you're going to behave on the set,

perhaps.

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And that's an attitude thing.

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That's a professionalism thing that

sends up some,

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definitely, some cautionary flags.

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All right, here's a final thought.

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So actors who are just with ease,

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let me tell you what, those actors are

absolutely remembered.

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And actors who freeze,

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sorry,

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those actors have a tendency to

disappear

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listen.

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If redirects or adjustments make you

nervous, I want you to share this

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episode with your scene partner and

practice adjustments together.

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I gave you that list, those list of

adjectives to try each scene.

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Those will be a great start.

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Frecks,

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frecks, flexibility.

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Flexibility is freedom.

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I really appreciate you tuning into

casting actor's cask today.

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I'm Jeff riseback.

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We'll see you next time.

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Please, feel free.

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I would love it to give alike a share

of thumbs up.

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Subscribe.

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All that stuff means so much to me.

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It'll keep me doing these podcasts.

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Well over 400.

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So

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come on, show me some love.

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