QUESTION:
Is it ok to ask to do a second take for a commercial or film audition?
ANSWER:
Sorry it took so long to reply to your question, it’s been a very busy month! If you have done an entire take, it’s usually not OK to ask to do a whole other take. Casting directors are busy and they should be the ones deciding if they need another take or not based on what they saw. A lot of the time, they will give you adjustments in commercial auditions and have you do it again. If they don’t, it’s usually that they like the take or don’t think a second take will make a difference.
In film auditions, you could ask to start again if you feel you got a bad start, but then I would ask after the first or second line. Let’s say for example you rehearsed with a good actor and the reader is giving a completely different read that really threw you off or the casting director told you something about the scene before you started that changed everything. It happens, but in general, as much as possible, I would try to avoid asking to start again or do the scene over. A lot of the time, it will make you look unprofessional, whereas getting a line wrong or being out of character for part of the scene happens to everyone.