Sent my voiceover audtion clips...

Took the easy way out for my voice over auditions and put a montage of my last 6 months of character audition videos together instead of doing new ones. Not a matter of being lazy but as the audition was for the same production conmpany and some of them had recieved good reviews it seemed sensible to put a collection of clips edited down into the 2 minute limit and submit.

Auditions are never clear cut and I treat each one as the first time I have ever done one for the producers. This I find stops me from being complacent and part of the lessons learnt in the past. One actor submitted an audition a couple of months ago and he chose to exceed the stated time limit for the audition with his reason that they knew he could do it in the time limit from his past work history with them and so his lengthy clip,(which was very good) recieved a brickbat from the reviewers.


Not because of the quality of the work or the actors ability, more so because he had ignored the directions. THese are not given by the casting crew just for the hell of it but because they ant a particular body of work to be able to cast the right actor for the job. The actor went and delivered an impressive visual piece of acting, using the script provided. But not a piece suited for the role as the Narrator of the Feature film. A role which has no On Screen appearance in the film.

I feel some sympathy for him particularly because he made a decision of his own chosing and took umberage when other actors noted that he had exceeded the time limit. Then after all his words had the reviewer comment that excceding the time limit, meant that no matter how good the audition was he would not be considered.

Prepare yourself for my 'Accents auditions lol the Australian one is pretty good though, the rest.. I am just begining to develop them, so I apologise for your aural suffering hahaha."



Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Another TV show audition done in February...

As you can hear there is not much demand for Australian accents in the auditions and this does help me. By putting on an accent in this case an atrocious french one, it makes me act a character from the start. I have never done much work on my accents previously they only needed to be good enough for short bursts when doing stand up. Performing them to a camera for auditions though has made me start working on them to try and develop to a passable level.

The quality of them does not concern me at this stage I have at least a month to get the next one ready and this means 100 % correct or as near to. Coming up I have auditions for a "Soprano's" style of movie in the US and the only passable US accent I have is a Southern states one. Even that needs more work which I have been doing lately, with an animation series audition closing on the coming Monday to get this right for. The mobster movie will need a passable New York accent and that is far from my usual manner of speaking.

Well back to talking to myself this morning getting the due Monday one ready for filming and sending off tomorrow. Then I can focus on two auditions I have for Australian films in the next two weeks. The first is for a WA based feature and fortunately they have asked for a recorded audition dvd to be sent. The second one is in Victoria on the 8-9 th of March and I will be driving over to Bendigo on the day to do that one.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

This was the screen test direction for the character, "Bernard"
Principal Support Role. Bernard is aged between 30 - 45. He is a flamboyant director full of Gallic charm and eccentric style. He has a comical intensity and believes in his art, no matter how cheesy or naff it may be. He will always try and deliver with great energy and his disappointment is acute when things go wrong around him.

My TV Auditions for 2008 so far...

2008 has started off with leaps and bounds career wise. Seems to be another decade ago that just before Xmas I was musing over what I would have to do to get the ball rolling for myself. Mind you dear readers I tend to be impatient and never satisfied that I am doing enough even if that is not the case. Getting work is not a problem for me as a performer, it is one of the oddest of circumstances that it does take time to prepare and develop a career and I have done that quite well in my opinion and I am happy with my progress. The catch 22 is that for some reason the instant gratification and result I derive from doing stand-up has some warped manner of creeping into the reality of setting up and preparing for future projects and shows. Ridiculous as it may seem a performance is simply that and is nothing to do with the 'admin.' side of the business yet it has the tendency to interfere with my happy demeanour.

Here I am nearing the end of February and so far have eight tv auditions under my belt this year and two feature film auditions coming up in March. I made a decision in late 2006 to start a concerted effort to do more tv and film work as a goal and this has been well worth the effort. It is a long way from success be sure of that but the progress from doing tv commercials to getting a screen credit took eight years of work and has made the results of the past 12 months possible.

The most important ingredient is professional feedback to be able to gauge my progress. Not being a particularly talented actor and with a limited range in my skill is not a problem. That can only improve and fortunately I have been auditioning with a production company and their review team for the various roles I have gone for have been sensational to say the least. While the early reviews were simply encouraging and a basic recognition of my ability to do better, now they are concise and push for me to discover and develop my performances to new levels and complimenting the bits they find to be good and at times excellent.

Wishing you all a happy and fruitful 2008 and here are some auditions so far, the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff
The Directions for the auditions in their order on my blogg were

1) J.O. is a very bouncy and jovial character who likes nothing more to string along gag after gag. However, being a lawyer, his approach is not always in the best taste. J.O. hosts a phone in consumer legal service, like you might find on a radio programme. His Eddie Murphy style delivery contrasts inappropriately with the sober nature of the enquiries. One thing is for sure, he does not respect the law.

2) Dave Grohl is famously "the nicest man in Rock", however we all have limits... Now that Dave is a successful rock star, he wants to use his considerable influence to do good in the world. Dave wants to spend more time offering his sage advice to vulnerable celebrities, and to encourage them to help him with numerous worthwhile causes.

3) Public Member 7 asks a question to Richard Branson