You can’t watch TV, surf the web or even read the newspaper without mention of some sort of reality TV show. What used to be America’s guilty pleasure is now on practically every channel. Reality TV offers everything from singing (American Idol and The Voice), to survival (Survivor and Naked and Afraid) to dating (The Bachelor and The Bachelorette), and that’s only scratching the surface.
Usually when you’re sprawled out on the couch with your favorite snack watching one of those shows a stray thought will cross your mind. “I can totally do that.” But where does one start when you want to experience your very own five minutes of fame?
Finding Reality TV Auditions
The internet is your best friend for the first step, finding auditions. A simple search of ‘reality show auditions’ will bring up thousands of options. Try not to become overwhelmed by the pages of possibilities and instead cut it down by either one specific show or genre of show.
Social media is also a perfect place to look. You can once again look up a specific show or follow multiple different casting company pages. This way, they will keep you up to date with the newest casting calls being posted right to your feed.
Evaluate Casting Companies, Production Companies, and Reality TV Show Opportunities
You’ve found a few shows and casting companies that have just what you need! What’s next? This is probably the most important step: make sure they are legit.
With the recent influx of people getting desperate to make their mom proud on TV, there are just as many scammers trying to get your hopes up in exchange for some personal information. Your first line of defense is research. Get your hands dirty like you just got a whiff of a significant other cheating. You’ll want to look up every single name that the company drops or any sort of piece of information: dates, locations, previous shows, etc.
If anything, and I mean anything, comes up that sounds shady or makes you question what is going on, walk the other way. Usually when it sounds too good to be true, it is. Granted a lot of these companies have to be very hush hush about details but they should always be able to give you some sort of reliable information. After all, it’s YOU that they want; make them work for it.
Get Ready to Sell Yourself
Finally, you have a couple of companies and a few casting agents that you feel confident in; it’s time to sell yourself. Find out exactly what these people need from you and deliver.
Whether it be e-mail, phone call, skype or video submission you’ll want to do this as soon as possible. Follow up with any interviews in person and be ready to jump through a few hoops. They will most likely need you to travel and rush for submission deadlines but you’ll also get a lot of ‘hurry up and wait.’
Don’t expect to receive feedback right away or even at all, even if you think ‘you’re in’ and the next Bachlorette. The casting world is very cold and cutthroat.
Maximize Your Efforts
To increase your chances you’ll want to shotgun your submissions. Do it often and across different shows and companies. Not only will you become more comfortable but sometimes something will pop up that you never even considered.
If you’re lucky you’ll have that x factor that will catch someone’s eye and think of you for a different project. Just be yourself and when you hit it big don’t forget about the little people that help get you your five minutes of fame.
Have you ever auditioned for a reality TV show? Tell us about it in the comments!
