While it’s the exception to the rule, sometimes actors book jobs without returning for a callback audition.
In the video below, House of Cards casting director Erica Arvold and Lincoln actor and acting coach Richard Warner discuss some of the circumstances that contribute to this happening. Arvold says unless the shoot date has passed, actors who don’t receive a callback invitation still have a shot at the role, adding that “Things can change much of the time.”
In Arvold’s experience, eight out of 10 actors book jobs after being called back to audition, which leaves wiggle room for first-call actors to be cast approximately 20% of the time.
Sometimes the first-call audition tape demonstrates such a clear, good fit for the role that a callback is deemed unnecessary. Other times, a critical player in the casting process is unavailable to attend a callback, so the first call serves as sufficient.
There are even moments when decision-makers disagree about who best represents the character and the team puts callback talent aside and gives the larger pool of first-call actors a second look.
Arvold recalls a then-recent situation where callbacks were scheduled and about 300 actors were considered at first and sent to the client. It was then narrowed down to 21 actors for callbacks. That was reduced to eight people.
When the client got the eight actors, Arvold says they were “not satisfied with the eight people, so they widened it up, and they went back and watched the tapes from the 21, and then they watched the tapes again from the 300 with the client,” she said.
For these reasons, Warner and Arvold encourage actors to give their best efforts during their first calls. “That original audition is not a practice audition for the callback. That original audition could very well be the callback.”
When an actor is called back for a role, of course, it’s encouraging as it means the actor is on the right track, and casting wants to see more of him or her. It’s especially important for actors to show up for commercial callbacks because that’s when the director, the ad agency creative team and the client are present.
Arvold shares a commercial callback tip pertaining to an actor’s appearance: Always wear the same exact outfit and hairstyle that you wore during the first call. This way, casting will have an easier time remembering you from the initial audition.
And for actors who chose to improvise during the initial audition, sometimes casting requests they improvise again during a callback.
“The improv structure or goal the second time around should be the same with the beginning, the middle, and the end. Or your goal of what you want in that improv should stay the same,” Arvold says. “But because the nature of improv is based on the yes-and philosophy and is meant to be different, I would trust your instinct, and truly improv and have a variation on that original goal.”
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