Why is a whiteboard so important?

A board is your golden opportunity to book a major trade in the market. A blackboard is the 4 second opportunity to drive your competitors out of the market. A blackboard tells us who you belong to.

“Hello! I’m blah blah!” But there’s more than that.

1 – What is a blackboard?

Contrary to what many actors think, a list is not just saying your name or the name of the product before recording a commercial audition. A blackboard is the first 4-7 seconds of your audition. It’s the introduction of yourself to the client, producer, director, and all those “creative writer-ad agency” type people who sit down and watch the plays from 50 to 100 auditions (your competitors) and decide WHO gets hired. for work. Guess what? They decide in those first 4 to 7 seconds if they want to see your audition or if they are going to reject you. One bad whiteboard and they will never see your wonderful commercial performance staged. You are out of the game. The audience is over!

2 – What not to do on your blackboard.

A – If you say your name in a soft or boring way, that’s what they think of you. Fast forward and they never see their “reading”, their hearing. oops! The audience is over!

B – If you nonchalantly say your name and then look at the copy and come back smiling, “acting” and selling the product, they’ll think you’re fake because you haven’t connected with the copy about the product. It must be perfect, without spaces in between. Who you are and how you talk about any product should be in the same voice, the same personality. They’re probably going fast. oops!

C – If you say your name too fast or you stammer or your name sounds very strange to the average Midwestern American, they will definitely move on quickly. Central America, West of the Hudson and East of the Pacific – buy 95% of all commercial products! Say your name slowly, of course, repeat if necessary!!!!! If you can’t say your name and be understood, it’s over. No one will spend a few million dollars on an advertising campaign if the actor representing the product and the corporation cannot understand each other by saying his own name! (It happens all the time!) Oops! You’re wasting time coming to the audition.

3 – What to do on your board.

So the trick is to catch them with your smile, your warmth, your personality and your energy so they see your audition. Even then, they’ll probably fast-forward after the first line, jumping to the last line. They wrote the copy, they know it very well and they certainly don’t need to listen to 50-100 actors say the same thing over and over again. They want to be “wowed” by someone in the first few seconds or the last few. Time is money, lots of money, in the advertising world. Provide the solution quickly and you will earn money!

A whiteboard is the time to charm them, surprise them, enchant them and motivate them to hire you. Sometimes that’s all you have to audition for, the blackboard. How is that? If you go to a commercial audition and there is no copy and no lines, how do you book the job? 30% of all commercials have no lines, just a storyboard. The actor is doing something with a product. You are a teenager at the pizzeria, a housewife dusting the furniture, a happy couple on a cruise, a pretty woman brushing her hair, some guys drinking beer in a bar. So how do you get a job where you can’t act, can’t talk or say anything? Your blackboard. You may be the character they are looking for by the way you say your name and introduce yourself. There is no law against what can be said on a blackboard. So think outside the box. Be creative!

4 – How can I do that?

There was a Volkswagen spot a few years ago, very retro, where they were looking for a couple of hippies from the 60s. I suggested to one of my clients that he go dressed in a tie-dye shirt, with beads or a headband. OK. That is easy. Costume choice. When he got to the audition, no copy. So what did he do? When it was time to write his name, he raised his fist, made it into a “V” of peace, and said:

“Like wow-Peace man I’m Stephen” and then joined in by pretending to smoke.

That did it! They were able to see the behavior as well as the “image” of a hippie and Stephen was chosen. Network place. Five figure income in the next 6 months. The blackboard got him the job. (Okay, of course he wouldn’t be smoking a joint in an actual TV commercial, but he was suggesting ’60s behavior.) A good actor has imagination and that’s why they hired him!

Another example: For a baby shampoo, one of my clients pretended to wash her baby who was obviously splashing soapy water in her bathtub. Wiping the imaginary soap from her face and eyes, she used her best “mommy” voice and said during the whiteboard:

“Wow, no more tears even down my face. Hi, I’m Jenny and this little waddler is Joey…mmmm?”

Again, the behavior, mom’s voice during the whiteboard and the presentation of an imaginary baby using the product, BABY SHAMPOO did it. He reserved the main market place and earned an income of $6.

Does it sound ridiculous? Well, that’s how commercials work and that’s why your whiteboard is so important. In addition to having fun and being creative as an actor, you earn a lot of money!

Long story short: just saying your name won’t get you the job. Use the board to portray the will of the character. You can’t argue with a few hundred thousand dollars worth of waste, right?

Happy auditioning and successful marketing!

gwyn