{"id":308303,"date":"2025-11-21T09:12:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/acting\/the-casino-metaphor-for-commercial-auditions\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T09:12:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:12:46","slug":"the-casino-metaphor-for-commercial-auditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303","title":{"rendered":"THE CASINO METAPHOR&#8230;for commercial auditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/phones-picture-taking-on-set\/?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=https%3A\/\/d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net\/20251002\/af\/d9\/0a\/f5\/99d334f2746ed4aea36d8e9a_524x524.png&amp;utm_campaign=actingstudiochicago.com\"><strong>FOR THE ARTICLE ON \u201cPHONE ETIQUETTE ON SET<\/strong>\u201c, <strong>CLICK HERE!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Auditioning for commercials can be a lot like going to a casino.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hear me out\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes when you go to a casino you might sit down in front of a slot machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You put your money in and hit the buttons and if you\u2019re lucky enough to be playing the right machine at the right time, you win. It\u2019s mostly about showing up. No real skill involved. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-64-1.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-64-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-64-1.png 250w, https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-64-1-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>And maybe half of all commercial auditions are similar to playing a slot machine: You show up, slate your name, and maybe complete a few basic actions for the scene (e.g. Pretend to open a fridge door! Answer a random question designed to get some of your personality on camera! Eat a bite of cheese and smile!) and hopefully serendipity is on your side and you get the job. Commercials are a visual medium and these \u201cslot machine\u201d kind of jobs generally trade on your look and a natural, authentic vibe more than acting skill<\/p>\n<p>But then you can also sit down at a poker table in a casino. And in that case, you better know how to play poker or you are going to lose very, very fast.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And this is the other half of commercial auditions: skill games, or, in other words, stories that require a well calibrated performance. Can you deliver a one liner or a single facial expression so that we get an honest laugh? Can you make these lines sound like you are saying them for the first time?  Can you deliver the performance at the pace the commercial will require? Can you take this slightly funny line and make it really funny\u2013 without changing a word? This is where training, experience, and well-honed instincts pay off, almost exclusively.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-65.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"350\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-65.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-65.png 350w, https:\/\/www.actingstudiochicago.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-65-300x171.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ultimately, commercial writing is incredibly structured and recognizing how a commercial is built and functions allows you to prepare more efficiently and confidently. So: is this commercial a slot machine or a poker game? Does this story hinge on a look or a nuanced performance or both? Determining what kind of \u201cgame\u201d you are playing as you begin preparing for a commercial audition automatically puts you in the mindset of the director and the ad creatives who will be making the hiring decisions. And that\u2019s a huge help because now you\u2019re beginning to assess, just like they are, what the story truly needs from the actor in order to be successful.<\/p>\n<p>Give yourself the advantage of that critical perspective. It\u2019s always more fun to gamble when you can tip the odds slightly in your favor.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013<em>Matt Miller is a commercial director, recovering casting director, and occasional instructor at ASC.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR THE ARTICLE ON \u201cPHONE ETIQUETTE ON SET\u201c, CLICK HERE! Auditioning for commercials can be a lot like going to a casino.\u00a0 Hear me out\u2026 Sometimes when you go to a casino you might sit down in front of a slot machine.\u00a0 You put your money in and hit the buttons and if you\u2019re lucky [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":308304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12021],"tags":[13481,14152,14115,138828],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-308303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acting","tag-auditions","tag-casino","tag-commercial","tag-metaphor-for"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>THE CASINO METAPHOR...for commercial auditions - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"THE CASINO METAPHOR...for commercial auditions - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR THE ARTICLE ON \u201cPHONE ETIQUETTE ON SET\u201c, CLICK HERE! Auditioning for commercials can be a lot like going to a casino.\u00a0 Hear me out\u2026 Sometimes when you go to a casino you might sit down in front of a slot machine.\u00a0 You put your money in and hit the buttons and if you\u2019re lucky [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T09:12:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Resource-Wednesday.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"THE CASINO METAPHOR&#8230;for commercial auditions\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T09:12:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303\"},\"wordCount\":464,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Resource-Wednesday.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Auditions\",\"Casino\",\"commercial\",\"METAPHOR...for\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Acting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=308303\",\"name\":\"THE CASINO METAPHOR...for commercial auditions - 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