Cast Away

So, casting.

I dig casting muchly - I think it's a great learning experience and really exposes you to all kinds of amazing talent. I'm helping cast a play I'll be performing in ("Sex, Love and Time Travel: An Evening of Bizarre Mysteries") (details soon) and I always have a great time.

First of all ... there's just no reason to have bad actors in your project. None. There's so much sensational talent out there, union and non-union, that really WANTS to work. I helped a friend out on a short film recently - there was a scene that took place in a classroom with ten or so students that had one line each. *ALL* of these actors were wonderful - and they only had one line! The talent is out there ...

Where to look? If you're not blessed with great actor friends or friends-of-friends, we place a (free) notice on Actors Access or LA Casting. This will get outstanding response, and you can sort through headshots & resumes. The great thing nowadays is actors post links to their reels (or short films they've done) so you can immediately see whether or not they're right to call in.

When we call folks in, we want them to be as prepared as possible. If it's a short film, we'll send the whole script - why not? They'll have more than just the sides to work with, they'll see how their character fits into the whole scheme of things and they can get a deeper, richer sense of who they're playing and can bring that to the audition.

When they arrive, we also want them to feel comfortable. We'll have someone at a check-in table, and we always try to have bottled water available. Someone also brought Rice Krispy Treats once - again, why not? You want to make a very welcome environment where your actors can relax and give the best performance they can.

Once inside, we welcome them and chat a bit - try to dejangle those "audition nerves". We'll ask if they have questions about the character or the scene - and this shouldn't be perfunctory, we really want to help and give as much information as possible to get the best performance possible. After the actor reads, we'll try to hone the performance by giving them adjustments - important to know if the actor can take direction.

And this is my favorite: seeing what the individual brings to the part. It's constantly amazing to see the varied interpretations of the same part - I'm always amazed by a gesture or inflection or subtext, something we can maybe ask them to expand upon in a second read-through. I'm also amazed by the dedication the actor brings - when we were casting Finding Space, we had actor after actor come in and pour their heart out. Blew me away. We found Elisa Dyann, who was wonderful in the film.

I also sat in on the casting sessions for Quiet - very intense, as we were casting a mentally disturbed character, and every actor genuinely tried to scare the hell out of us (and most succeeded). And we found Tim Trobec, who gave an extremely creepy performance.

I think the main thing, though, is to have fun - we cast Tossers and everyone had to do a silly frisbee dance when they first came in. This really loosened everyone up (as well as showed us whether or not they could sell the concept of frisbee dancing), and then they continued with the audition. And we found Rob Ullett, who was fantastic.

And by all means, if you're not 100% jumping-out-of-your-chair nuts about your casting choices, keep going until you are. Don't settle for someone who you're "pretty sure can do it" - keep searching until you find that actor who comes in and floors the entire room. It's *your* project and you want to shine everywhere you possibly can.

Danny