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The Casting Director - To Joe Kiddle…

December 29, 2009

From time to time I get emails from students about what I do, so I thought I would publish this one…

Hi Matthew

My name is Joe Kiddle and I’m currently in my third year studying advertising at Uni. I’m currently doing an assignment that requires me to research the role of the casting director in film and commercial making.

I would be extremely grateful if you would be able to spare a few minutes of your time to answer a few questions for me.

How closely do you work alongside the director and producer? How much input do they have in the casting decisions and are there ever disagreements? The producer is the person who is actually hiring me. From their production entity I will be getting paid, so the answer is – VERY CLOSELY. At the same time, the director on the film is responsible for the creative perspective of the film. Often the director is also the writer, so the script and the vision for the film have been living with him for a long time. When the director is also a producer and there is another producer that I answer to, because that is who has hired me, there can, sometimes, be disagreements about casting choices amongst them. However, my job is to mitigate and foresee the bumps in the road that casting can cause and try to make the process as smooth as possible. My job is to bring to the producer and director the best possible choices for casting. If I am doing my job correctly, the choices I would make are what they would go for. Ultimately, the choice of who gets hired is hashed out between the director and producer and if there are disagreements, I try to resolve them by suggesting that “we sleep on it and decide in the morning.” Most of the time, this works. When it doesn’t work, well, it’s not a good day in the office…

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How do you go about casting a role? Do you send out blind adverts or are specific invites made to actors you know inside the industry? Does this vary depending on the role? After reading a script, I make lists of ideas of who I would want to play the role. The lists are based on several factors and are also influenced by factors such as the budget of the film and who is available to play the roles. I then create a “breakdown” which has all of the information about the film and all of the roles written out and described in detail. The breakdown is then sent out to a service that distributes breakdowns to agents. In the U.K this is done through a company called Spotlight and in the U.S through Breakdown Services. Sometimes, I will contact agents directly and not put out a breakdown, this just depends on the project and it’s requirements. If I am looking for unrepresented actors (street casting) I will find ways of getting the word out, but this is an entirely different process and requires a lot of legwork to find what the director is looking for. I primarily start with represented actors and go from there…

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What factors do you look at when casting an actor for a lead role, and which factors do you feel are most important? I have to be able to visualize (with my eyes closed) the actor playing the role and seeing him on screen. I have to be able to hear the actor’s voice in my head when reading the script. That is how I know an actor is right for the role. Seems simple, but sometimes there are only a few actors I can visualize. Once I have gone through that list, I have to audition, watch reels and re-think how a role is going to be played. Going for the obvious actor can be boring. Find the actor who will make the role unique and I have done my job.

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Do you use auditions and interviews or only one? Does this depend on the role? Some actors get offered the role directly. Then if they like the script/role the meet with the director to see if their vision of the film matches their expectation of why they were attracted to the script in the first place. I tell first-time (and even experienced) directors that the actor is auditioning you at this meeting, not the other way around. Based on my availability lists per role, I will find out who is: available, offer only, to be auditioned, not available, passing, etc… Generally I am auditioning all roles, even ones with offers out, because you never know how it is all going to turn out in the end. Sometimes an actor will come in for one role and be right for something else. Auditions are an opportunity for an actor to meet with a casting director, director and producer. If you are a talented actor, we will know, even if the role is not right for the actor.

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What areas do you assess when agreeing a fee with an actor? Actors’ salaries are based on several factors: budget, who the director and producer are, script, etc…. I can find out what an actor made on previous films by calling casting directors from previous films they have worked on or business affairs heads at various production companies. This process is called “verifying quotes” and is usually done on a Studio film (Fox, WB, Universal, etc…). In the independent film world if I am casting a 5 million dollar budget film and want Rachel McAdams to play a role, there is probably very little chance that we will be able to pay her what she made on a film like “Sherlock Holmes.” I always advise my producer to offer what they can afford to offer. After doing this for several years I have a general idea of what actors make.

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How do you go about keeping up to date with new, upcoming acting talent? I go to the cinema, watch television, go to theatre, look at websites, etc…

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Once a cast is assembled, do you have any further roles in the film production? Nope.

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Look forward to hearing from you,