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My ds has an audition for A&J in January and he needs to prepare an audition piece suitable for TV or film. Help!! What would be suitable for a 14-year old? He has several stage audition pieces but nothing really suitable for TV or film.

Can anyone give me some pointers?

When DS had his audition at Abacus we couldn't find anything suitable and so we wrote our own piece. We just based it on a character from his favourite book and told a funny bit from the story in his own words. Seemed to go down quite well and he was accepted.

I'm glad that worked for you scriptassistant, but I've usually been told that you shouldn't write your own monologues (especially as you get older) because then you can just write something that is perfect for you, but it doesn't show that you can adapt to a real character if you know what I mean. But I dunno, that's just what I've been told.

It would probably be worth while trying to find plays written for schools (perhaps try asking a drama/English teacher for pointers). I suggest this because they are likely to have at least some characters of the correct age and this can be one of the most difficult things to find for younger teenagers in stage plays. I remember my son did an interesting one from a play called " The Terrible Fate of Humpty Dumpty" (which was about bullying). It was a couple of speeches put together. He performed it at a festival when he was about 14, I think, and it went down well. I would think it would work well for an agency audition. I'm afraid I don't have a copy of the play but you could probably get it relatively easily (Amazon?).

I shouldn't worry too much about choosing a speech from a stage play. They can work well for TV/film audition purposes if you choose the right ones. Those that work best for TV/film auditions tend to be written in a modern idiom and perhaps a little introspective (which I would normally NOT recommend for audition purposes!). If you can find a speech written for the stage which you like, then you can just concentrate on delivering it in a naturalistic manner: keeping the volume at a conversational level and resisting the temptation to project to an audience.

I would think that writing your own for agency auditions would be fine, so if that appeals then I'd say go for it! An agent will be trying to discover what your talents are and what your casting type is as well as how you are likely to come across in an interview or audition. They won't be worrying too much about what you choose to perform.

HI
Ds auditioned for A&J last year when he was 15. It was so hard to find the right piece.In the end he did a Lamda piece called The Penguin about a boy who kidnapped a penguin from the zoo. We thought it a good choice as it was slightly humourous, and it allowed him to show several different emotions of anger, regret etc.

A & J said they liked ds, but not his choice - not contemporary enough. They said he could go back another time and do something different. We didn't!

DD just performed a play about a playground mugging and stabbing called 'Mugged' by Andrew Payne. The main character is a teenage boy and has a couple of long speeches which might be good. Obviously a very contemporary subject.

We also say a local youth theatre perform 'Bang Bang You're Dead' by William Mastrosimone recently. That's a very powerful play and again the male lead has some really good monologues. I know you can find the script to download online. Haven't got time to do a search right now but did find this which will at least give you a taste for the play: http://www.icarusplays.com/preview-plays/bbyd

Good luck!

Thank you so much everyone. It's really helpful to have all the suggestions...now just need to work on them!

Well done to your ds for getting an audition Lamda pieces are perfect for this sort of thing. Good luck

Hi,
I find the 'audition speeches for....'books by Jean Marlow( METHUEN DRAMA) quite useful. For eg in the 6-16yr old book it gives 7 speeches for boys between 14-16, from cider with rosie to OliverThe most contempory piece in that age ange for boys in from Little Sweet Thing by Roy Williams, 2005, and thats about football. The pieces look quite good the only drawback could be that whoever is auditioning your son may have heard these pieces a few times before. Good luck