Audition Room Etiquette: From Walking In to Saying Thank You

You’ve learned the sides. You’ve picked your clothes. You’ve practiced the scene in the hallway twice. Then the door opens, someone says your name, and you realize you have no idea whether to shake hands, where to stand, or what to say before you start.

Those few seconds feel huge, and they’re the part nobody rehearses. The good news is that the room runs on a small set of habits, and casting directors have written about them in plain terms. None of it is secret. It just often isn’t taught in acting class.

The short version: be easy to be around and easy to direct. Arrive early and calm. Don’t offer a handshake. Ask one real question or none. Slate simply, look where the camera can see you, and play against the reader without touching them. If you take a wrong turn early, start over without apologizing. Take a redirect by actually changing the read. Then say thank you and leave.

The audition starts in the waiting room

One casting director, writing about mistakes they see in the room, makes the point that the audition starts the moment you walk in. In practice it starts a little earlier than that. The person signing you in, the assistant running the camera, and the actor next to you on the bench may all be people you’ll work with later.

Get there early enough to be bored. Equity principal auditions are strict about this. Actors’ Equity’s published procedures for its principal auditions (the 2017 version) have members check in with the monitor 10 minutes before their appointment, and a member who is late loses that slot (they can try for an open one or go on the alternate list). Other auditions are looser, but nobody holds your time for you. Our guide on how to join Actors’ Equity explains how membership changes where you sit on those lists.

Use the wait for your own preparation, quietly. Look over the first line and the last line of your sides. Breathe. Don’t run the scene full-voice in the hallway, and don’t start a conversation with someone who is clearly trying to focus. Our guide on what to expect at an open call audition has more on getting through a long wait.

Where an audition should never happen

Etiquette runs both ways. SAG-AFTRA’s Code of Conduct Guideline No. 1 opposes auditions and professional meetings in private hotel rooms or private homes, urges members not to agree to them, and suggests bringing a support peer when there truly is no other option. UK guidance reported from Equity goes further: if you arrive and find you’re the only person there, leave. Being polite never means staying somewhere that feels wrong.

Walking in: take your time, and skip the handshake

One question actors ask again and again is whether to shake hands. Acting coaches Risa Bramon Garcia (a former casting director) and Steve Braun put it on their list of things to avoid in the casting room: don’t offer your hand first. Shake only if someone holds out theirs. Their reasons are simple: germs and sweaty palms.

Casting director Brette Goldstein has described an actor who coughed into his hand and then offered it to her. Her request is simple: take responsibility for yourself and the three feet around you. A smile and a “hi” do everything a handshake would.

The other mistake on the way in is speed. Goldstein’s etiquette tips note that actors often rush in out of respect for the casting team’s time, and then they aren’t grounded when the scene starts. Walk in at a normal pace, put your bag down, find your spot, and let yourself land. Five seconds of stillness costs nobody anything.

Let the casting director lead any small talk. If they chat, chat back briefly. If they go straight to “whenever you’re ready”, that’s your cue, and starting a conversation of your own at that point only eats into your time.

Ask one real question, or none

You’re allowed to ask a question before you start. Mel Mack’s advice on questions to ask at an audition is to ask before you begin, to make it a real question about the material (how your character knows the other person, say), and then to actually use the answer.

Questions to skip are the ones that suggest you haven’t prepared: “How do you want me to play this?” or “Is it a comedy?” The sides and the breakdown usually answer those, and our guide to breaking down audition sides shows how to find them. Skip questions about callback dates, which are usually posted outside the room.

The slate and the first ten seconds

In a room with a camera, you’ll usually be asked to slate: say your name straight to the lens (some offices ask for more). Offices differ. Some want height, some don’t want a slate at all, and when nobody tells you, your name alone is the safe default. Our guide to slating for a self-tape covers the same habits for taped auditions.

Say it as yourself, not as the character, then take a breath before you begin the scene. That small gap separates you from the role and gives the reader a clear moment to know you’re starting.

On commercial auditions in particular, the slate is often your whole introduction. There’s no need to shake hands or explain your résumé; the casting office already has your details from whoever submitted you.

Where to look, and how to use the reader

Where you look decides what the camera records. Advice on avoiding in-person audition mistakes is to keep your eyeline close to the camera so your whole face reads, and not to angle yourself toward the casting table. The people behind the table are watching you. They are not your scene partners.

The person you play against is the reader: the person, often an assistant or another actor, who reads every other character’s lines. If you’re new to working with one, our explainer on what a reader does in an audition walks through it. The reader gives you someone to play against and somewhere to put your eyes. They are not there to act the scene with you.

So don’t walk toward them, don’t touch them, and never tell them how to read. The casting director mentioned earlier describes an actor who touched the reader and tried to direct them, and the result was that he didn’t get a second take. Even if the reader is flat, play the scene as if they gave you everything you needed.

A few more room habits that keep the focus on your work:

• Don’t mime props. The same list that warns against offering a handshake also warns against miming, and that includes a pretend handshake inside the scene.
• Hold your sides even if you know the words. Casting directors differ on how much they mind, but a glance down is normal, and the page saves you if you go blank.
• Don’t make physical contact with the reader. Play the intention instead.

If it goes wrong: starting over, and no apologies

Sometimes the first line comes out in the wrong key and you know it. Casting directors have said you can stop near the top, say simply that you’d like to start over, and go again, with no excuses attached. Restarting is fine; a string of apologies is what makes casting think you’ll need hand-holding.

If you drop a line in the middle, don’t stop at all. Glance at your sides, pick it up, and keep playing. Our guide to cold reading has a quick technique for looking down and coming back up without losing the scene. For when to restart and when to push on, see what to do if you mess up a line in an audition.

Whatever happens, don’t apologize. Not apologizing is one of Goldstein’s six etiquette tips, and it’s easy to see why. An apology tells the room you think the read was bad, and they may not have thought so until you said it.

Taking a redirect

A redirect is usually a good sign: they want to see something more. Advice on the kinds of redirects to expect separates two common ones:

1. “One more time, no notes.” Often this just means they saw nerves and want to see you settle. Breathe, and give the read you planned.
2. A note that describes the character differently (“she’s more amused than hurt”). This asks for a real change, so change the read.

A specific adjustment that seems to contradict your choice is often, as advice on communicating in the audition room notes, a test of whether you can take direction rather than a sign the first read was wrong.

A common mistake with a real note is nodding, saying “great”, and then doing almost the same read. Make the change bigger than feels comfortable. Our piece on how to take direction has a way to turn a note like “more amused” into an action you can play.

Ending well and leaving

When the scene ends, stay in the last moment for a beat. Don’t say “and scene”, and don’t apologize. Let the moment finish, then come back to yourself and say “thank you”. That’s the advice in the same in-person audition guide, and it’s the cleanest ending you can give.

Pick up your things and go. Don’t ask how it went, don’t ask about the callback, and don’t linger at the door. Casting director Jerry Knight-Smith’s audition tips include not trying to guess whether you got the job. Reflect on what you learned, then let it go.

A short thank-you note afterward is fine. Goldstein’s rules for following up say it shouldn’t ask for anything, that you should learn how each office prefers to be contacted, and that every six to eight weeks is a safe pace for staying in touch after that. Log each audition in an audition tracker so you know when you last reached out.

Your room-etiquette checklist

1. Arrive early enough to check in calmly, and be pleasant to everyone you meet.
2. Walk in at a normal pace, say hello, and wait for a hand before offering yours.
3. Let the casting director lead the small talk.
4. Ask one real question before you start, or none.
5. Slate as yourself, take a breath, and then begin.
6. Keep your eyeline near the camera and play to the reader without touching or directing them.
7. Restart near the top if you need to, and don’t apologize.
8. Change the read when you get a note, and make the change clear.
9. Hold the last moment, say thank you, and leave without asking how it went.

Know the scene so well the room is easy

Almost every point above gets easier when the words are no longer your problem. You can take your time walking in because you’re not cramming. You can keep your eyes up because you’re not reading. You can take a redirect because your attention is on the note instead of the next line.

One way to get there is to rehearse with the other lines read aloud. Offbook does that: upload your sides, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character while it listens and plays the next cue when you finish your line. You can hide your own lines, or show only their first letters, and work until the scene runs without the page.

Try the other lines at a few different speeds so you aren’t thrown by the reader’s pace. If you need material to practice with between auditions, try our monologues.

Questions actors ask

Should I shake hands at an audition?

Don’t offer first. Wait to see whether anyone holds out a hand. If they do, shake it. If they don’t, a smile and a hello are all you need.

What should you not do in an audition?

Mistakes casting directors and coaches describe include rushing in, chatting before they invite it, playing to the casting table, touching or directing the reader, miming props, apologizing, and trying to guess how it went.

How do I start and end an audition?

Start with a simple slate, a breath, and the first line. End by holding the last moment for a beat, then say thank you and leave. Skip “and scene”, and skip any comment on how you think it went.

Can I start over if I mess up?

Near the top, yes. Say you’d like to start again and do it, without an excuse or a string of apologies. If you drop a line later in the scene, glance at your sides and keep going instead.

Should I hold my sides if I’m off book?

Usually, yes. Casting directors differ on how much it matters, but holding the pages is normal, and it gives you a safety net if a line goes. Just don’t bury your face in them.