WATCH: Raamla Mohamed & Lena Waithe On The "Dos & Don'ts" Of Auditioning And Pitching

essencemagazine

Writer &amp; Black Women In Hollywood Honoree, Raamla Mohamed &amp; Director, Lena Waithe discuss the &quot;dos and don&#039;ts&quot; when pitching and auditioning.

Transcript

00:00for both of you guys, give us three do's and don'ts

00:03that you think actors or writers should keep in mind

00:06when auditioning or pitching.

00:09Okay, I will say, do be kind.

00:14I think that goes without saying, a long way.

00:16I mean, whether you're, like you said,

00:18pitching or auditioning, there've been times

00:20where I've been in an audition or a callback

00:23with someone and the energy is kind of off,

00:25even if they do a good job, I'm kind of like,

00:27I don't know if this is someone I wanna be on set with.

00:31So that's definitely, I think, part of a do.

00:33And I also think don't hold back, right?

00:37Don't think, okay, I'm gonna do this version,

00:40but then when I get that callback, I'm gonna really show him

00:43but okay, what if you don't get the callback?

00:44Or you pitch and you're like, I don't really care

00:47about this project, so I'm just gonna kind of pitch it

00:50halfway because I've pitched things where I wasn't in love

00:55with the project, but then that executive remembered me

00:59for another project or moved to another company.

01:01So always give it, don't half-ass it,

01:04I guess is the way to say it.

01:06Great, how about you, Lena?

01:09I mean, to say be authentic is like,

01:11it may seem kind of vague, but I think the biggest thing

01:15is just to be such a unique individual

01:20that when you're auditioning,

01:22because that's the thing about auditioning,

01:23I think when you said, oh, we were talking about casting,

01:25I'm like, it's such a weird thing to talk about

01:27because it's such a guttural experience.

01:29Like, there's literally nothing a person can do,

01:31other than you can commit yourself to your craft,

01:33you can do theater work, you can build your community

01:37with other actors, but it's so funny

01:40because I just saw Jodi Turner-Smith yesterday

01:43at the Essence Black Women of Hollywood event.

01:45It was her first time being there,

01:47and obviously a full-circle moment

01:49because I'm super proud of her,

01:50everything she's done since Queen and Slim.

01:53On Netflix right now?

01:54Yeah, yeah, and then she's also got a show,

01:57she was asking me, have you seen my show yet?

01:59That's on Paramount+, I was like, I haven't seen it yet,

02:00but I'm about to watch it, I hear it's good things.

02:02But my thing is, I'm just like, I don't, man,

02:05I don't care if you, I don't know what it is,

02:06I'm like, the fact that you're still working

02:08is really an honor for me

02:10because when I'm casting somebody,

02:13yes, for that part and that role, and she was right,

02:15and shout out to Carmen Cuba,

02:17Jodi was in the first batch, first batch,

02:20where it was like, oh, damn, okay, there she go.

02:23And it was like, do we need to see anyone else?

02:25And we kept seeing people, we just measured them to her,

02:29and the thing was, it was just,

02:30we were measuring this, her magic,

02:33there was something special about her

02:35that was like, what is this?

02:36And then obviously with chemistry readings,

02:38we can't teach that.

02:39When Daniel reads with her for the first time,

02:41it's like, yep, there it is, there they are, okay, got it.

02:44So that's what I mean, it's guttural, it's godly,

02:47it's not like, so if somebody didn't get it,

02:48I see the actresses who came in and read for that part,

02:51I'm not gonna necessarily say their names,

02:52but when I see them out, there's a love and affection

02:55because they're like, yep, I didn't get it,

02:56but I was close, and I'm grateful you have me in the room,

02:59and it was cool, and I'm still working, exactly, amazing.

03:02It really isn't about what you did or didn't do,

03:05I think of it as, it is divine.

03:08Something that is not yours, it wasn't meant to be,

03:10and something that is will always come.

Category

Transcript

Recommended