Here's my deal. I tried out 3 times for The Real World. I made it to round 3 the 1st time, the semi finals the 2nd and the F-I-N-A-L-S the 3rd time. I know a **** of a lot about this process and want to share with you what I have learned. Maybe one, two or **** even the entire cast of season 22 will get on because of my advice.
I believe that having an interesting life story is a big help to you in getting cast on this show, but not the only thing. There are many things you can do to help your chances. I will go through each round of casting with you as tell you what I think about it. You can use this thread as an "ask any and all" questions thread. A nice little Q/A, if you will.
Lets get to business here.
[B]ROUND 1:[/B]
Pretty straightforward here people. Either send a 5 min. tape in or go to an open casting call. I always sent a tape in because to be honest my tapes were the greatest. I got called back all 3 times because my tapes were hilarious. There is a tip for you guys. Make your tape very funny. Definitely be informative, but be funny. You throw together a shit tape and you will get cut. I went to 1 open casting call actually because they were having one at a bar right next to where I was living at the time. My friend and I went down there and sat at the bar and got drunk while they were doing these group interviews. I think the casting people generally didn't like us since most of our fun was coming at their expense. I'm glad I went the tape route rather than the open casting call.
[B]ROUND 2:[/B]
The 20 page application. Again, I advanced all 3 times past this round. I took most of their questions and turned it into some sort of joke or mockery. Many of their questions were just absurd, so I figured an absurd question deserves an absurd response. There were some decent questions that I answered sincerely, but most were just senseless. So you fill this sucker out and send it back in with a copy of your drivers license and some pictures. Sounds easy and it is, but again, MAKE SURE YOUR APP IS INTERESTING! You got to stand out here people. Even if you are the most boring person on the planet, not sure how you would get even to round 2 if you were, but lets say you did, spice up your application. Make yourself out to be much "bigger" than you really are. Make them laugh, cry, **** themselves, whatever, as long as it is interesting you have a chance at moving on.
[B]ROUND 3:[/B]
Phone interview time. If they like your app and still want to know more about you they will call to schedule one of these suckers. They schedule a time to call you a speaker phone and then you record your interview with a video camera. They interview lasts about 45 min-1 hour and they pretty much just ask you more in depth questions about things off of your application. I got drunk for all 3 of mine and drank on the camera. They said to "look your best" so I wore old tank tops and other terrible looking clothing. They told me one thing and I did the opposite. Hahaha, worked for me. Just be funny and interesting here, tell some good stories, make the girl/guy interviewing you laugh a lot. Get creative with this stuff. I didn't know how they'd react to me drinking on camera, but they liked it.
[B]ROUND 4:[/B]
Semi Final Interview. You are probably a solid 2 months into the casting process at this point. Maybe a little more or less. If you get called back for this you are just an interview away from going to Cali for finals. This interview is usually in a big city. I made it here twice. One interview was at a hotel in a room and the other at some acting studio. It is very similar to the phone interview except live, obviously. I had one girl interviewing me the first time and 2 the second time. You go in and there is a superman colored background/screen, a chair for you, some lighting, the camera, and then a place for the interviewer to sit. They mic you up and throw some stupid make up on you. I tried to pass both times on the make up, but they insisted. They said it took the shine out or something. I had a lot of fun in these interviews. Especially the second one. They try and put you on the spot a lot and turn up shit. Not real hard to do with me. I would tell a lot of stories and then switch things around and put them on the spot. You do your interview which is about 45-1hour and then they leave and you do a quick 2 min or so confessional. You talk about whatever you want. I can't remember what I said. Then they come back in and talk to you about when you would hear back IFFFFFF you hear back. Back to the waiting game from there.
[B]ROUND 5:[/B]
That 818 number pops up and what do you know, you are going to finals. I only made it here once and it was a cool experience. I'd never been to Cali before and now my first trip there was free. Pretty sick shit. I beat out thousands and thousands of people for a spot that only a VERY small number of people get. I figured I was pretty much cast at this point, little did I know! They flew me out there and when I got off the plane a girl was waiting for me in baggage with my name on a sign. Real nice girl, I think a BMP intern. She gave me an itinerary and dropped me off at my hotel, which my right off Sepulveda. I got to the hotel around 1pm and had 5 hours or so before some other girl was picking me to take me to dinner. It said not to drink, but the ***k else was I going to do. They gave me a per diem of like $60 and I was getting a free dinner so I might as well get drunk. I have a friend that lives like 30 min. from where I was staying so he brought some people to my room and we got hammered. Definitely not what they wanted, but I don't think they found out. I went to dinner with some girl from BMP. I don't think it was part of my casting process, just something to keep me from going out and partying. It was a good dinner though and she was a real sweet heart. I went back to my hotel and slammed a few more beers and then went to bed. I had to be up early because some girl was picking me up for the drug test. This girl was pretty slamming and she took me to get my drug test. That took a few minutes then off to BMP for the final interview.
I went BMP and was interviewed by a guy this time. There was also a camera operator in the room. It was a nice studio. The interview was very similar to the semi final one, but a little more professional. I felt like the questions were a little more serious. They also made me hold up photos of famous people and comment on them. I had to hold up some photos of Real World people too and comment on them, I don't consider them famous though. Sorry Real World people if you're reading this. I had no idea who about 75% of the Real World people were. I'm not sure if they liked that or not. I just made ridiculous assumptions on them and they said I was wrong on ALL of them them.
After that I got moved around from room to room because there were other finalists there and they didn't want us to see each other. Screw that. During the semi final interview I saw one of the other semi finalists. She saw me too. Really good looking woman. I should have just said "***k this casting process" and talked to her. Regrets, regrets. Anyways, after I did another confessional and talked with some cacamimi intern I spoke with the exec. producer Jim. Real nice fella that Jim. For some reason though he was concerned about me getting into physical altercations with people heckling the cast. I guess my "colorful" background might have something to do about that concern.
I was then taken back to LAX and got on a plane home. About a month or so later I was playing basketball at a school near my house. When I got in my car to go home sure enough I had a missed call from an 818 number. Outstanding I thought! I guess the next few years of my life are going to be a little crazy. So I listened to the message and sure enough I was cut, axed, let go, terminated, whatever the **** you want to call it. They said they call all finalists to let them know if they made it or not. Different from the other rounds. They held up on that promise. I was a little disappointed for sure. To be honest though I really tried out 3 times because I liked making the audition tapes and messing around in these interviews. I thought it was fun as ****. I mean don't get me wrong being cast on the show and rowing over everyone during these challenges would have been a blast, but life moves on.
I'm here to help you guys now. Fire away with any questions you guys have. I'll give you tips, advice, whatever you need. I feel like giving back.
Pages