How to Slate Better: The Secret Is What You’re Thinking

First impressions matter, and in the audition room the slate is exactly that. Your name, your agency, maybe your height, and in those few seconds the people behind the table have already decided a great deal about you. So the question is how to deliver a confident slate every time, and how to bend it for different roles. This one I shot in our studio, in a real Phoenix casting setup, because I wanted you to see the room.

That room can be intimidating. You have to hit your mark, be aware of the camera, listen to a casting director who isn’t always nice, and then give a performance while pretending there aren’t six clients taking notes. Auditioning is tough. But a confident slate is sometimes all it takes to calm the nerves and set the rest up, and the secret to it is not what you’d guess.

The secret to a good slate is thought life

What you put in your mind is what comes out of your face. Most actors underestimate this, and walk into the slate thinking about their lines, how they look, or what they’ll do with the money if it goes well. Those thoughts bring anxiety, you try to bottle it, and the camera sees the bottle. So don’t fight those thoughts. Replace them. Force new ones in.

The commercial slate

Focus on gratitude and on someone you love. Then replace the camera with that person, and talk to them while you slate. That’s it. Your face does the rest, because it already knows how to look at someone you’re glad to see. For most commercials, this slate is perfect. Warm, easy, and impossible to fake any other way.

The character slate

What if you’re up for a dramatic role, or the villain? Same principle. Change the thought and change the person. Instead of gratitude, maybe your character is thinking about revenge, and instead of someone you love on the other side of the lens, it’s the person who has them. You haven’t changed anything about how you slate. You’ve changed who you’re talking to, and the camera reads it in a second.

Now you have the secret to a confident slate, and you know how to adapt it for any character. Try it on the next one, and notice what your nerves do when you’re busy thinking about somebody else.