If you’ve never been in a casting room before, this is generally what it looks like from the casting director’s perspective. This one is from a commercial casting house I used to do some session directing for.
But as you can see from the banner image on my site, there may sometimes be chairs in there as well, depending on what it is you need to do in your audition. TV and film casting rooms may have a chair available for you if you’d like one, but you’ll mostly audition standing up. The camera is framed with the same kind of parameters as your headshot. Props are a rarity.
Commercial rooms may have a wide range of set ups and/or props. Their camera may do a wider shot so they can see you perform an action, then follow you or open wider to now include the second person in the room with you. They may give you a lab coat if you’re supposed to be a scientist or a doctor, or a bowl of popcorn if you’re supposed to eating crackers or pizza or tacos. (Popcorn is inexpensive, so when you’re seeing people in five minute increments from 9 am until 4 pm, it gives them the idea of eating without breaking the bank. They may have the actual product at the recall.)
I’ve been given a slapped together dashboard or video game controller to simulate driving a car, tennis rackets are guitars, clipboards are tablets and chairs are fences to climb over.
In commercial casting, they want to see the whole thing. In film and tv, they want to see your face. In both rooms, there’ll be a backdrop and a possible mark on the floor showing you where to stand.
The rest is all you.
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