Difference between Castings & Auditions

[Doodoos]

What is the difference?! Isn't a casting an audition in itself? I often read audition for this, casting for that, aren't they really the same thing? Is casting an American word for audition that the UK have latched into?

Please explain as it drives me mad!

[SNN]

I know how you feel
I think it has something to do with the amount of detail that goes into the casting requirements or to do with how public the casting call is (I'm just using 'casting' because it sounds right)

[Doodoos]

DD recently went for an 'audition' which involved the usual monologue, singing, dancing, etc... then she went for a 'casting' & had to do a bit of acting so in my eyes it's an audition! Maybe a casting is that you have the 'look' they want but I suppose even if you have the look can you actually do the job required which to me it then becomes an audition! I'm old fashioned I like the word audition! DD has started using the word 'casting' and when school friends asked her why she wasn't in school one morning when she said 'casting' their reply was 'what's that!' as soon as she said it's an audition they understood! Confusing! I'm sure this 'casting' word comes from America!

[SNN]

Maybe casting is to do with the look because Models go to castings and not auditions!

[possiblypushy]

A casting is what THEY (the CD, the producers etc) do. An audition is what YOU (actor, singer, dancer) do. That's what I thought anyway .
You can go to a casting, like you can go to an audition - but you, as the performer, can't 'do' a casting like you 'do' an audition.
Does that make sense?

[pg]

I honestly think they are used interchangeably - and/or that they have different emphases for different people - though possiblypushy's reasoning sounds good to me .

My agent refers to all of them as castings. I think of all of them (except commercials) as auditions. In my head, castings are in-and-out affairs and auditions are where you have a chance to show what you can do. So that fits with SNN's theory too! That's only my definition though - I don't think there's a definitive definiton

My ds and his fiancee refer to most of them as "meetings" - just to add to the confusion!

[forgetmeknot]

Years ago my DC attended a Tree Petts & Lou workshop. theywere told that an audition applied to Theatre, TV & Film roles where an actual performance albeit acting or singing or dancing was required at audition stage, & that the term casting was applied to TVCs, Photographic,Promo , Music Videos etc, where the judgment is more based on a look rather than the performance,.. I had always thought the same, though it seems both terms are used by agents/ CDs to describe both...

[Genevieve]

interesting one, and strange the there's no one obvious answer - except...like other posts, I've always understood:
castings = modelling/photographic/video/commercial
auditions= acting where there's scripts/lines to learn/group workshop auditions for tv/film/stage roles

[Doodoos]

Thanks for replies! Makes complete sense now! Although I still like the word audition!

[Doodoos]

Found the info on this site! http://www.notapushymum.com/gpage3.html