I was talking to a friend last night about a TV workshop she had recently attended. In this class, all of the students were given an exercise where they were asked to tell something about themselves while being taped. When it was her turn, she thought of the most relevant happening that was present in her life today. Sometime back her guest house had burned in the Malibu fires. It had been quite an experience for her in the re-building process. Finally 'only' four and half years later, it was almost finished. When they played the taped back the casting people commented on how animated and alive they saw her. Real emotional life always comes to the forefront when you talk about something you have strong feelings about. In this case, she was thrilled with the outcome of her guesthouse and elated that it was nearing completion. The story she told truly meant something to her. She went on to tell me about some of the other interesting things that people had shared that evening.
In a recent posting, Getting The Job, I talked about sharing something that you like about yourself, something you think is special about you.This conversation with my friend reminded me that not only can you share about the things you feel you like about yourself, but you can also share a brief story. It's a great way of letting the casting people see a side of your personality.
Make sure the story is short(no longer than one minute), full of color and I would recommend keeping it on the uplifting side.
