There’s More to Auditioning
Have a feeling your auditions are missing something?
They might be.
I’ve worked as an actor in TV, Film, and on stage. I’ve cast actors in television, film, and theater. But it’s my experience as a Casting Producer, shaping story for unscripted television, that arms me with the tools to find that missing piece of the puzzle.
Everyone has the same four pages to audition. No one else has your story.
And your story needs to be part of your audition.
I will help you pinpoint your story, recognize how it influences the role, and craft auditions that get you working.
Story Is King
It took an accidental career in Casting to figure it out, but I can honestly say I understand why producers and directors pick one actor over another. And it’s not what you might think. Having the skills and talent to perform a role “right” isn’t enough to excite the people behind the camera or the audition table. You need something else…
You need an intangible that you know you’re missing when you take the stage and fail, but have trouble putting into words. After almost two decades working with award-winning talent in TV, Film, and Unscripted Casting, I’ve discovered how to help you find that intangible and bring it to your work. I help you find the story. Your story.
Always searching to improve, I’m obsessed with discovering new coaching methods—individually tailoring exercises so you can truly dig in, bringing the brilliance you have bottled up inside out into the audition room.
Experience Matters
In addition to a career in Casting, I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actor’s Equity, working professionally in film, network and cable television, and theatre. As an Audition Coach, I’ve successfully coached actors into all levels of roles: Co-Star, Guest Star, Recurring, Series Regular, Film Leads, and beyond the screen to Broadway.
A life-long learner myself, I’m blessed with a legacy of teaching actors from all age ranges in a variety of settings. My teaching history includes Kimball Studio, Actor’s Connection, One on One, Wiest-Barron, Shelter Theatre Company, University of Kentucky, and as a guest instructor for high-school students in programs throughout the United States.
“Demonstrating great technique is not the same as being creative.”
—Twyla Tharp
Jamie's Story
I have always admired moving performances and the actors who give them. I grew up acting, studied acting, earned a degree in acting. For as long as I can remember, I’ve soaked up every ounce of acting craft and stage lore that I can find. You’ve probably lived this same experience.
But do you know, in your gut, why one actor gets the role, and another doesn’t? Why one actor books project after project, and another struggles to build a career?
Neither did I.
It took me years of being a student before I understood how to learn.
Throughout my years of study, I was terrified to be a bad actor; afraid it meant I would never be good enough. And the thing is, when I first graduated from acting school, I wasn’t good enough to work professionally as an actor. And it’s not that I didn’t have some incredible teachers, instilling in me all the basics that would give me a solid foundation. I had great teachers.
It was because I didn’t know what I was doing and I was afraid to tell anyone. And that made me unteachable.
In my teens and early twenties, learning wasn’t a joy. I lacked the willingness to be bad enough to improve. Instead, I sought the passing approval of my teachers, waiting breathlessly for their inevitable validation of the fear I’d harbored for years: that I wasn’t talented enough to do the only thing I thought I wanted to do. Act.
I believed talent was finite. That belief was devastating in the way it can only be when you’re nineteen and trying to learn Nina’s monologue in The Seagull, hating the sound of your own voice, judging your every impulse as phony.
While studying at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a Casting Director came in to talk to students about the Business of Acting. I could barely follow what he was talking about.
Around that same time, my mother heard something about some actor working as an intern for a talent agency. Taking it one step further, she suggested I look up an internship with a Casting Director. Why not? I didn’t know what else to do! One Google search and a few emails later: I had a meeting.
I started my internship with Elissa Meyers Casting the following week. On the second day there, I answered the phone and it was Theresa Rebeck. My theater geek heart was pounding. Luckily, I managed to transfer her without dropping the call. I still had zero understanding of “the biz”, but the exhilaration of that one tiny connection hooked me. Shortly after, I started to sit in on auditions.
There’s magic in casting. Watching phenomenal actors audition. Reading beautiful scripts. Working as a team, racing toward a deadline on a mission. It has all the ingredients for great drama.
I would continue performing in the odd festival play here and there, but in the decade after graduating from acting school, my focus was on casting. I worked in network television, cast some feature films, and then through sheer happenstance found my way into a whole different world: casting hosts and experts for networks like HGTV, Food Network, and Travel Channel.
One of the most important lessons I learned was while working on the first few seasons of the hit Food Network show Chopped. And it was a lesson about resilience. No chef had ever heard of Chopped (it hadn’t aired yet), and no chef wanted to be a part of it. To get ten chefs interested (much less cast), I had to reach out to one thousand. Literally.
And just like that, I realized how many times I’d have to fail if I wanted to succeed at anything.
In Unscripted Television, I learned a wide variety of skills: how to produce talent, pitch a story to network execs, visualize storytelling, edit for story. All of these I still use to this day. Working my way up the ladder, I eventually became a Casting Producer. In Unscripted Television, a Casting Producer finds the stars of the show but also helps develop the actual story—what the show will be about, and how to tailor the series to the talents of the star. I didn’t realize it then, but I’d learned a secret.
I helped create a few hit shows, with offers to cast projects coming in steadily. I started teaching workshops for developing talent at One on One, Actors Connection, and elsewhere.
I was making a nice living, working on an Emmy-nominated team, but something was missing.
None of what I was doing fulfilled me. Did I miss being an actor? I decided to find out.
In my off-hours, after work and between casting projects, I immersed myself in re-learning the craft of acting. I dove into classes in scene study, vocal production, Alexander technique, and on-camera training. I wanted to see if the lessons I learned in casting applied to acting: would I be okay failing now?
I spent a year committed to studying with an array of excellent teachers, and embraced the idea of trying, failing, and being bad enough to improve. And to my absolute delight… I finally learned how to be a student.
I started working as an actor in television soon after and even had the good fortune to work opposite Richard Dreyfuss—an actor I’ve admired since childhood (and star of my favorite movie of all time, Jaws).
And while I loved being on set, telling stories, something was still missing.
It was about this time that a studio where I practiced On-Camera Audition Technique asked me if I’d be interested in teaching a class. I said yes, and brought all of my years of training, studying, acting, and casting together—focusing all I’d learned on my students.
All the years of training and working as an actor, casting director, and producer gave me a perfect skillset for coaching actors. I knew the work of an actor, the job of a casting director, and most-importantly for booking the job: how to put a stamp on the role. And while I’d done all of those things independently, for years, I now realized I knew how to bring those elements together to help others.
Since then, I’ve had the privilege of coaching actors into an incredible range of roles. Each booking means so much more to me than any of the work I booked myself.
Itching to dive further into the world of script analysis, I started studying with renowned acting coach Larry Moss, learning to break down a script in a way that stirs the artist and honors the writer (I continue to study with him to this day).
I believe that to be great at anything, you must be okay with being not good. And I believe it’s a teacher’s job to create an environment that welcomes failure, encouraging you to discard habitual patterns and truly express your artistic voice.
I’ve found my story – and my story is helping actors like you tell yours.
I’m sure it’s a story worth telling. Let’s find it together.