Commercial casting slate question

[aliceinwonderinc]

Hi NAPMers!

This is just a quick question, nothing serious but it's something I've been wondering about for a while and I thought one of you might be able to shine some light on it for me!

Basically, you know at auditions for commericials, you have to do a slate, which includes saying your name and agency and then having a front shot and both you profiles, and THEN your hands?? I've always wondered, why do they want to see your hands? Surely they don't base the casting on how your hands look? Should I paying more attention to the appearance of my hands?! It just seems so odd to me! Anyone got any ideas?

[islandofsodor]

I don't know for sure but I would guess that if you would be potentially advertising a product then there would be close up shots of your hands handling that product. Or sometimes they hire a separate hand model so yes, good hands would be important.