The Casting Director - MY AMAZING JOB…
October 26, 2008
There are some amazing perks to this job. I get to meet and read with (audition) amazingly talented actors. I normally don’t write about actors specifically but I am inspired to tell you this story, because I auditioned an actress yesterday that reminded me of this story.
A few years ago I was hired to cast “Dark Shadows,” a television pilot for John Wells Productions. The director was P.J. Hogan. It was my first time ever casting a pilot, and to tell you the truth it scared the crap out of me. Pilot casting moves very quickly and you need information at your fingertips because a producer – and there are like ten of them – always want to know the “who, what, where…” of the casting status of any actor at any particular time. I was being hurled information at such a rate that eventually I just broke down and shut my office door, and cried. Ordering myself to get myself back together again, I pulled myself up and made it through a very tough casting process that resulted in a cast that I was proud of, but alas never made it to your television screens. Nearly three months of hard work resulted in nothing that the public would ever see, but I learned a lot. The irony is that all of the challenging hard work made me want to do it again, but I have not been given that opportunity…yet…
During the pilot casting, I got a phone call from an agent telling me that Fiona Shaw (http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0789716/) was in L.A and would like to be considered for one of the roles. I of course became very excited, because I love her work and having lived in London for ten years, actually knew who she was (not so much for the TV execs) and was super excited to have her come in and meet with P.J. Also, I really loved her performance as “Medea” which I saw in Edinburgh several years before this audition and I was so excited to get a chance to meet her.
Well, when I enthusiastically told my team that she was interested in a series regular role, you could have heard crickets chirping. There was no excitement oozing from within their pours because they didn’t really know whom I was talking about. I had to literally say, “Aunt Petunia Dursley in ‘Harry Potter’!” which was like so embarrassing (I don’t even like the ‘Harry Potter’ films) to me because I wanted to tell them what an amazing actress she was and her credits and accolades were truly world-class. But did they care? Umm, not really. All I got back was, “Will she read for us?”
Why? Why GOD? It’s firkin Fiona Shaw for F-k sakes! She could read the yellow pages and be more interesting then anyone - in general. But, she wanted to audition and so she came in and I introduced myself to her and the producers and she sat down and read with me. I managed to conjure up my years of acting training and was determined to give Ms. Shaw the reading and reader she was entitled to. I mean this was just a TV pilot, she would be fine, more then fine, I was the one freaking out on the inside, she won an Olivier for Best Actress, she can act, why was this happening to me?
Of course she was amazing. She nailed the role. I was like, “See, see you plebs?! Aren’t you embarrassed that you made Fiona Shaw read?!” But, I didn’t say what I was feeling, I let it go. I wished Fiona a good day, and got back to work, casting. Because, ultimately they didn’t go with her, they went with another lovely actress, not as interesting as Fiona Shaw, but a good, solid, proven entity when it comes to television pilot casting. I was sad, because I felt we had missed an opportunity. Maybe the show wouldn’t have been dropped if there were a casting choice that wasn’t “CAPTAIN OBVIOUS.” Maybe seeing quality, world-class acting, instead of what was expected, would have excited the audiences. I think I was right, because like I have mentioned the pilot never went past being a pilot.
I won’t say who the actress was who inspired me to think about this, because I am currently casting a wonderful feature film and I hope that the actress who did come in to read for the director gets the part, but if she doesn’t, I will let you know, in a year or two.
By the way, it is often true that the more talented the actor, the classier they are. They have no fear about auditioning, because they usually come in if they know they are right for the role and probably 8 out of 10 times they would book that role. It’s usually the agents and managers who posture and try to get their clients a direct offer without auditioning, which is all part of the process of casting, understandable and why I love it so much. What I learned from all of this is that aside from the gazillion other things I have to do in a day, part of my job is to make sure that the producers and directors are educated on who actors are that are being presented to them. If they don’t know them, then how can I expect them to be as excited about an actor as I am when the actor comes in to audition?
Tags: Film, Film Blog, Movie Bloggers, Filmmaking, Oscars
The British Film Director - I LOVE our economic situation!!!!!
October 25, 2008
For Filmmakers there is some hope in the economic turmoil that we are experiencing. Yesterday the UK announced a drop in Gross domestic product of 0.5 percent from the second quarter, the first contraction in 16 years. Why is this a good thing? Well in many ways is …
Tags: Film, Movie, Movie Bloggers, Television, Oscars
The Production Designer - Awaydays
October 24, 2008
It’s so gratifying to see a film that you worked on (put heart and soul into, spent many long hours, day and night away from family and friends) NOT go straight to DVD, and, if the reviews coming out of the London Film Festival are anything to go by, Awaydays may just have the legs to carry itself a little bit further. Needless to say, I am very proud of my Liverpudlian effort although I haven’t yet seen it myself! Again, I think I may have been proved correct with reference to my theory (come on, keep up!) that those projects where the effort of every cast and crew member is supplemented by some extraordinary good feeling and all round faith in whatever it is, will eventually come out in the wash and show in the final telling. Let’s see. All those projects that have been spoiled in one way or another through the production process….believe me there are way too many ways to achieve this…..have mostly turned out to be flawed in the final cut. Here’s a link… http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/awaydays and here’s a pic… 
Tags: Film Blog, Film, Movie Blog, Actor, Director
The Showrunner - Hire Your Friends…if you have any left…
October 24, 2008
We were sitting around the table having the get-acquainted staff lunch. There was me, your aging showrunner; the opinionated head writer whose opinions (and inability to control those opinions) would alienate hundreds co-workers in two countries before we’d be through - but whom the network “loved”, of course. Also …
Tags: Filmmaking, Hollywood, Television, Oscars, Movie Theatre
The Independent Filmmaker - A Cause for Celebration
October 23, 2008
I am currently prepping a short film called Touch and it has thus far truly been a labor of love. This week, finally, I have some really exciting news to report. We are cast!
Congratulations all around because my very hardworking, patient and persistent casting director, Lisa Mione, did an amazing job and I am absolutely thrilled to get started working with the brilliant women she found.
Touch is a simple little film about two women waiting for a train who make a deep but fleeting connection with one another. It’s one location, one day shoot and all about the performances so there’s zero room for error in the casting. This is a quiet film that will provide no distractions from bad performances.
And I couldn’t feel more confident with my team. After a very picky and exhaustive search we found our gems in Lily Knight and Tanna Frederick who have signed on to play the two women, Jean and Heather.
There’s a wonderful feeling that comes over me as a director when I know I’ve cast properly. It’s excitement, anticipation, eagerness to get on set and record the magic. And oddly a sense of calm.
To me, casting decisions are the most important ones I make on a film. After a long hard search I know I’ve found the best women for the roles and that brings us that much closer to executing the vision that’s been dancing around in my head ever since the producer first brought me the script.
I can’t wait to get shooting!
Tags: Film Industry, Oscars, Movie Blog, Filmmaking, Actor
The Cinema Studies Major - Preview
October 23, 2008
Sorry to be really lame, but I don’t think I have time to publish a worthwhile post this week. I have a decent excuse, though:
The second Penn Film and Media Pioneers conference will be held this weekend. I am participating in a panel on “Theory and Practice” (I really don’t …
Tags: Movie Theatre, Filmmaker, Movie, Hollywood, Movie
The Storyboard Artist - DOING THE LAST MINUTE OVERNIGHT STORYBOARD JOB
October 22, 2008
It was Monday night at about five-thirty in the evening that I got the call. There was a nice sounding woman on the phone saying that my good friend Danelle (lovely person and talented fellow storyboard artist) recommended me to her for doing boards.
This woman, worked for a company called THE JONES, and they had a gig where their current storyboards needed to be changed.
The previous artist had to do forty-nine frames in ten hours (a lot), and new frames needed to be drawn, while other frames had to be cleaned or altered.
As work has been extremely slow all the way around, I instantly took the gig. I was told that I would only work “maybe three or four hours” and the rate would be good.
Well, I got to the office at seven o’clock, set up my computer and Cintiq monitor, and was given digital copies of the old storyboards that I needed to change.
First thing is that it was TWO spots that needed to be worked on. I actually thought the first artist did a good job, given the time frame he had to work in.
I had to add new frames and keep the style someone consistent. Well, that wasn’t much of a stretch as I had to legible scribbles just like the first artist. Boards had to drawn, added to the old frames, re-cut into four frames per page, and then sent to the production team, who then had to type descriptions, run it by the director, then email these boards to the agency.
GOT ALL THAT????
This repeated for both spots, and as I got tired I made mistakes when it got past two o’clock in the morning.
Suffice it to say, I didn’t get home until five o’clock the next morning. When I got home, my wife Betty had slept in the living room so she could greet me.
Yea, it was freaking hell in terms of the hours and the rushing. The production team were all nice people and very professional and I will get a nice little check in a few weeks.
But, it was one day, and I need a long-term gig. Keeping things in perspective.
Tags: Movie, Filmmaking, , Movie Blog, Hollywood
The Screenwriting Professor - where have I been? can you guess?
October 22, 2008
not sure exactly but I never left LA. My class at USC is small (6 students) and I am so impressed with them this semester. If you are currently searching for a great writing program. The MPW program at USC is under new leadership and is accepting applications now for Fall ‘09. Just apply - see what happens. Oh…..one more plug. My short film THE DIAGNOSIS starring James Urbaniak, Leslie Ann Warren, and Emily Deschanel will screen on Wednesday, October 29th at 7:30 pm - Skirball Cultural Center as part of the donkaphant film festival. A donkey and an elephant were sittin in a tree - K-I-S-S-I-N-G - first came love - then came marriage - then came a film festival. Check it out. I’m hoping I can post an entry here every day for a year to make up for my silence. xtheprof
Tags: Filmmaker, Film, Filmmaking, Television, Actor
The Script Reader - Scary Blog: Your Barbarella Costume’s Days Are Numbered
October 21, 2008
Just wanted to let you know that if you, like me, have been thinking about being Barbarella for the past 2 Halloweens only to settle on something easier because finding metal capes and black body stockings that aren’t super porny is too much work, get your mofo shit together TODAY. …
Tags: Film, Film Blog, Movie, Actor, Director
The Genre Director - GENRE MOVIES - the really smart ones are no longer in English…
October 20, 2008
A blue cheese hamburger in one hand, a microbrew ale in the other, a comfortable seat, and a big screen in front of me…does Cinema get any better than that? After my week of Fantastic Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse, my local multiplex pales by comparison.
Today’s post will conclude my observations on America’s biggest and best genre festival, but fond memories will linger; not just because I got to present a couple of my old films to appreciative audiences, but because the Alamo Drafthouse staff so obviously cared about proper presentation - like in focus with good sound all the time! - and quality food, quickly and unobtrusively served. I am used to film crews going that extra mile for quality during production, but I rarely see that same enthusiasm in exhibition, that all important retail end of the process. The major theatre circuits could learn a lot from Alamo Drafthouse.
At last, all over the world, indigenous film industries are embracing GENRE, and spicing up familiar tropes with their own cultural ingredients. What particularly distinguishes foreign language genre from its English language counterparts is the attention paid to the quirkiness of character. Take a look at this trailer for THE SUBSTITUTE, a Danish riff on MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN. There are no subtitles, but you get the idea.
The sweetly demented Paprika Steen is brilliant in the title role. Hollywood will come calling soon if they haven’t already. Matching her are some outstanding child actors playing a bunch of slackers and whiners, who cannot convince their parents that the substitute teacher is in fact the vanguard of an alien invasion. The movie is enormous fun, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, though you may not want to eat chicken for a few days. However, the US trailer chooses to play down the laughs in favor of a more traditional Sci-Fi horror approach.
The US trailer chooses to expose a key surprise VFX shot, the first and more startling of the two VFX shots in a particular sequence. The Danish trailer only uses the second shot, the reverse angle. Its effect is thus more oblique. Those that see this trailer are less likely to anticipate the money shot when that sequence starts. Please compare and contrast both trailers if you wish to comment. I’m interested in your thoughts.
Also from Denmark, is FIGHTER, a riff on THE NEW KARATE KID, which gave Hilary Swank her start. Here’s an extract. This movie will certainly put a spotlight on Semra Turan, a Danish martial arts champion, totally convincing in her first acting role. Where FIGHTER differs from other Kung Fu Girl Wants To Be Champion flics is the nature of the obstacles in her path. She is a Turko-Danish teenage Muslim with very conservative parents who forbid her to train alongside men, and want her to consent to an arranged marriage. The complexities of culture clash and family politics are powerfully realized, resulting in the social drama being as compelling as the many fight sequences.
The Karate Hellcat movie that everyone is waiting for is ONG BAK director Prachya Pinkaew’s latest - CHOCOLATE, for which his protégé Jeeja Vismistananda trained for five years. And it shows.
In Jackie Chan movies they run the painful accidents of the shoot in the end credits. Here the Thai trailer showcases them as an incentive to customers. The plot is borderline incomprehensible, particularly the first 20 minutes, and its use of autism as a gimmick is tasteless, but in a Muay Thai action picture, who cares? The final jaw dropping, bone breaking 20 minutes are worth the price of admission alone.
It’s great when a first time director really hits it out of the park. After award winning shorts, Na Hong-Jin demonstrates he is a major talent with THE CHASER, his riff on the chase the serial killer when nobody believes you genre. The trailer certainly covers its visceral thrills. But the movie offers much more depth of character as a hard boiled ex-cop rediscovers his humanity. It was the last of five movies I saw that day. It was utterly riveting for its entire 123 minutes.
Also from Korea was a spectacular nod to the Westerns of Sergio Leone entitled THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD that reworks Leone’s Civil War piece into 1940 war torn Manchuria. It’s a veritable banquet of Leone set pieces from all of his work. Even a bit of the Hong Kong-Leone derivative DRAGON INN is thrown in. But that dark quirky sense of humor that has distinguished so many recent Korean films elevates the picture way beyond mere homage to A Great One. Song Kang Ho - I loved him in THE HOST - does play Weird/Ugly the original Eli Wallach character with more layers and such gusto that he drives the movie. You can’t wait for him to be back on the screen. The trailer gives you some idea of the scale of the top notch action. No doubt you winced at the horse stunts. As did I. But I was pleased to find out in the end credits, they used animatronic horses for those shots.
If you like your GENRE a little more sophisticated/exotically flavored than the standard English language variety, then you will probably have as much fun at these movies as I did. In GENRE, as in life, character counts.
Tags: Television, Movie Bloggers, , Movie Theatre, Filmmaking
