The Art of Auditioning: Second Edition by Rob Decina
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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This is a revised edition of a book about how to audition for television shows. The first edition was written in 2004 by a successful casting director (now VP for Casting at CBS) and teacher of casting, and the revision includes industry changes due to technology and the pandemic. For example, it explores the post-COVID shift toward more self-taped auditions and the best practices for them. It also has a few new notes about how the author’s perspective has changed on an issue or two with his new experiences.

This book is niche. Except for a chapter on how to become a casting director, it’s all about preparing actors to audition for a television series. While it might seem that auditioning would be auditioning, apparently television auditioning is quite different from stage auditions and even a little bit different from other on-camera auditioning (e.g. for movies.) To a neophyte, such as myself, the book might be expected to present teachings about acting, but one of the major recurring themes is that acting and auditioning are separate (if related / overlapping) skills and that the latter presents a number of additional considerations. It’s these considerations that are explored in the book – e.g. how to plan and determine your own acting choices (being undirected,) how to behave before and after the audition, how to know what are good or poor investments for a new actor, and how to not be unappealing or ridiculous with your attempts to distinguish yourself.

The book is honest and direct, to the point that the most frequently repeated advice is to not expect to get the job. That’s probably also among the book’s most controversial advice, but the author feels it helps new actors to get out of their heads, to deal with the tons of rejection all of them will face, and to not fall into the bad behaviors that some novice actors think will help to separate him from the pack [while such behaviors often only serve to annoy the casting agent.]

As I said, it’s niche, but if you want to learn how auditioning works or how the sausage is made in the entertainment industry, it’s a quick and well-organized read.


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