Carlos Bravo

This was a funny experience that I had on the last commercial we cast, and it led me to think about what is really important for the director.
After casting two commercials for about 4 days we were at callbacks. The video conferences with the auditions from Mexico D.F. and Miami had finished and we were now seeing the callbacks from LA.
I was reading with the actor, this means that every time a new actor reads I give them the other person’s lines in the scene. Sometimes there can be quite a few characters to keep up with, and with that comes a different direction. It’s not complicated, or at least it shouldn’t be.
So, the first actor for a new category comes in and auditions, then the director switches the role and asks me to read with the actor.
It was a two word line that I messed up on, in my opinion it did not necessarily influence the actor’s performance. It was quite good, But when we cut, the director says “Carlos, do you want me to explain the commercial to you?”, and everyone started laughing because the way he said it was hilarious.
Then it occurred to me, wow, understanding the commercial is everything for the director. If the actor manages to understand the commercial, scene, movie etc it becomes a real moment because there is nothing he or she can do that will not seem it came from an honest and truthful place. It does not come as a surprise that the actors who understand the scenes are the ones who book more often.