Is My Cv Impressive And My Performance A Failure?

[lolitasteward]

Hello. I'm new to Answerbank. So glad to have found this website. I'm feeling extremely nervous right now.

Let me explain everything from the very beginning

I'm a 21-year-old female. I speak 4 languages besides my native language. I have various MOOCs and certificates from top universities all around the world and I have published a novel and a short story so far. I've recently graduated from the acting school. I appeared on a commercial and a feature film as an extra and got a supporting role in musical stage performance. Sounds very good so far. Right?

So, 3 weeks ago I went to audition for a TV show. The director was amazed by my CV and I had a dramatic performance in front of him and I was able to improvise pretty well. I didn't know it was going to be a children's performance. He never provided me with a script or gave me details about the content of the show. I have no idea why he asked me to perform dramatically, while at the end he gave me the role of a crow.

I couldn't relate to the script. I didn't sound childish, spoiled or funny enough. When I got exhausted my voice wasn't loud enough.

The director had high expectations from me on the first day, but later he ignored me and gave my role to another actor. He even told the crew I'm wasting his time and I'm not prepared for acting.

I sent my CV to another casting director and he really wants me on his stage performance. He scheduled a meeting with me tomorrow morning and I'm going to audition again.

It's a dramatic play by Heinrich Boll and I think I'll be good at it, but what I'm afraid of is that my CV might impress directors and my performance might disappoint them. I'm really nervous. Please tell me something that might make me feel better.

Thank you.

[Buenchico]

>>> "The director was amazed by my CV"
That probably means that he was amazed by all of the irrelevant stuff you filled it out with!

A Movie/TV/commercial director couldn't care less if you've got PhDs from Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Harvard. Neither could he/she usually care less about how many languages you can speak (unless its relevant to the role), whether you're a cordon bleu chef, an experienced astronaut or a qualified brain surgeon. The ONLY thing that he/she cares about is whether you can ACT! You need a c.v. to get you through the door for an audition but, after that, it's then all up to your performance on the day.

Take a look at the specimen c.v. here and adapt yours to the same style:
https://www.backstage.com/uk/magazine/article/how-to-create-an-acting-cv-in-the-uk-69511/
I'm not saying that you should omit any references to your language skills but, if you do decide to include such mentions, they should be at the bottom of the list, in the 'Accents/Languages' section. (As 99.99% of the work that you'll be applying for will almost certainly be in English, a director is far more likely to be interested in whether you can speak with, say, an Italian or East European accent, than whether you can actually speak Italian, Polish, Czech or whatever). A director is unlikely to have any interest at all in your MOOCS unless you can show that there's a direct relevance to your acting skills. (Indeed, he/she might not even know what MOOCs are; I've just had to Google it!)

Once you've managed to secure an audition, don't be afraid to ask for further information BEFORE you turn up. Then you won't arrive, expecting to perform in a Brechtian drama, only to find out that it's a role in panto!

Remember that there are nearly 50,000 people in the UK who describe their occupation as 'actor', 'entertainer' or similar but that only 2% of actors make a full-time living from their performance work. Competition is extremely high, so prepare yourself for plenty of disappointment! That doesn't mean that you shouldn't aim high though; Judi Dench and Helen Mirren both had to start from the bottom too!