What would Jesus do?

This is an actual breakdown (please do not send me submissions as I am not the CD).

[JESUS] 30 to 33 years old, a rabbi in First Century Palestine, Jesus is an itinerant preacher whose teachings and parables win Him an enthusiastic group of followers. After performing miracles in public, His fame spreads, and He becomes targeted by the Pharisees, who regard Him as a blasphemer. Jesus gradually reveals the central truth of His existence: He is the literal Son Of God. Now regarded as a deadly nemesis by Caiaphas, Jesus enters Jerusalem to great acclaim, only to be betrayed by Judas and condemned for blasphemy and treason by the Sanhedrin. Sentenced to death by a reluctant Pilate, Jesus is crucified, only to return to life after three days in the tomb. Seen regularly by His disciples in the weeks following, Jesus ascends to Heaven in their presence, and His life inspires the spread of the Christian faith…LEAD

Sometimes, depending on the company I am casting for, the legal department reviews the breakdowns and makes sure that the company is not violating any employment laws when sending out a breakdown. So if the company is sensitive to this issue the breakdown could have started out like this:

“[JESUS] An actor (or actress) to play the role of a 30 to 33 year old, etc, etc…”

And ended like this:

“Please submit all genders, races, ethnicities, etc, etc…”

I think casting directors are very sensitive to race and gender issues because we are the first creative eyes to look at a script objectively and question if a role has to be a Caucasian male? With every script I cast, I am looking for opportunities to open up the director’s eyes to talent that he or she may not have thought of, I consider it part of my job.

So, if I were casting Jesus, I would have to say that I don’t know who I would cast, but I know one thing, I would love to see those casting lists!

ATTENTION ACTORS: EVER WONDER WHY YOU ARE SITTING AT HOME NOT WORKING? READ THIS…

This is a real email correspondence between a manager who represents some wonderful actors and myself - the casting director. Names are changed to protect the annoying, stupid & innocent.

Here is what you should know: the film starts shooting in two-and-a-half months, it is financed at 500k, but may go to 800k-900k. First time director/writer, multi-feature, experienced, successful, producer, producing. Script is a very well written, coming-of-age story that is attracting interest from talent.

Dear Matt,

It just dawned on me. How much does “Modified Low Budget Pay”? Ann has 2 series under her belt and is about to get another one and Arthur just wrapped “BIG MOVIE THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET” and the lead in the sequel to “ANOTHER BIG MOVIE SEQUEL THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET” for substantial money. I just realized that unless their roles can wrap in less than 3 weeks I don’t think “TOP FIVE AGENCY IN LA” will want to tie up Ann and Arthur out of town for what low budget films pay. Does your production have more money for actors like these who are breaking out? I realize that your picture doesn’t have that big a budget but do they have any more for an actor with these circumstances? I am so sorry I didn’t think this through before I submitted these two. If not, I just a moment ago resubmitted a couple of really terrific lesser know actors for this film including Arthur’s roommate, Joe, a great young actor for the role of “Bob the Stripper” (made up the name) for whom Arthur often will take a cut in pay for his friend to have a role in something he otherwise wouldn’t do. Please check out Joe and the other’s demos on Breakdowns. Then let me know if I should still send Ann on Wednesday. If the money is horribly low, she and Arthur could still do it if their roles could wrap in a couple of weeks so they wouldn’t be out of commission for too long. Please let me know.

I wrote back:

Scale. should shoot out in 3 weeks or less for the role of “Lila.”

A “well known actress (with a body of work that spits on your clients)” is negotiating for the role of “Pam” the adult lead. She will get the money if she does it. Everyone else is scale. Money is 900 something per week – “Lila” should shoot in under 3 weeks and the role of “Parker” shoots out in under 5.

Manager wrote back:
Thank you, Matt. Full regular scale?

Or, the special lower rate from SAG for Modified Low Budget?

Day Performer $ 268
Daily Stunt Performer 268
Weekly Performer (5 day week) 933

And how long would Arthur’s role shoot? Please forgive me. These two are terrific actors whom I think are real contenders and I am just trying to second-guess what their agents will say to me.

Thank you, Matt.

I wrote back:
933 i think they will do a six day weeks but they are still considering 5 day weeks as well. I think Arthur’s role is 5 weeks.

What I wanted to say:

Dear Manager,

money is 900 something per week - I think they should read the script and know what the money is while reading it. These are great roles! The production team knows what they are doing. It is definitely a festival circuit film. It is sad (to me ) that agents or managers would prevent actors from potentially really cool jobs just because of money and that young actors (with no public profile, by the way) are not given the opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to audition or not. I understand that “BIG MOVIE THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET” is going to be big but who knows, it could also not open that well and then where would Arthur be? Ann is a great actress, agreed, but not a name in any way. She has been on a television series that received great reviews but also got canceled in season one because no one watched the show! And while I realize that her other television show was a huge success on “FAMOUS CHILDREN’S TELEVISION NETWORK,” the general public would not know who she was and if I asked someone on Wilshire Boulevard, “do you know who Ann is?” or for that matter, the same goes for Arthur, I would say less then 1% of respondents would recognize their names.
I would rather hear that your client is passing on material, not a lecture about how fabulous they are or blame agents ignorance on projects for not “allowing” them to consider a script-which, I know may actually be the case. When I think of all of the trouble I had casting “Rocket Science” and “Mean Creek” and I look at what those films did for those young talented actors, I look back and remember all of the potential actors that should have auditioned for me but didn’t because of the money, certainly working for scale didn’t ruin the careers of the actors cast in those films - on the contrary these films helped them, they (the actors and their representatives) had the good sense to let the talent read the script and make the decisions together. They read the scripts and decided if they like the material or not. Not letting actors read a script because of what an agent may or may not think of the film and letting me know that this is the case is - annoying. Like I said, I would rather not know that this is the case, please tell me that your client is “respectfully passing on material or the project.” I can respect and deal with that.

BUT, I didn’t write this email, because at the end of the day, the right actor will come in because he or she wants to and if an actor doesn’t come in because their agent or manager didn’t send them the script, I have to assume that if I forced the issue and put pressure on the actor to come in and the director liked him, then the negotiation would be more hellish then usual and in the end put a bad taste in the mouth of the producer and director when dealing with the actor in the future. So, I go with the Great Casting Universe on this one and trust the Casting Gods that all will fall into place as it should be and that my film will get cast with not only who should be in it, but who wants to be in it. That is the formula for great work and harmony on set.

I was finished with this blog but then a couple of hours later I received this email from the manager:

Dear Matthew,

I don’t think “TOP 5 AGENCY IN LA” will take him (Arthur) out of circulation for that long. His price has gone way up since he was cast in “BIG MOVIE THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET” and “ANOTHER BIG MOVIE SEQUEL THAT HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET”. So, I guess we’ll need to cancel him. 3 consecutive weeks could work for Ann but I doubt if they would take her out this far in advance when she is up for so many other things that would be a priority to them for her to do. Please understand that I like to work these things out for my clients who would work for nothing if “TOP 5 AGENCY IN LA” would let them. They just want to work but sometimes I can’t fight city hall, if you know what I mean. I can almost always swing it for a relatively short, get in and out in a week or so role but tying him up for 5 weeks at scale is another story. I could swing 3 weeks for both of them if shooting began next week and they were free, which does happen but this is too long a commitment to make this far in advance. I hope you forgive me for not thinking this through more carefully before I submitted for this. I don’t think there is another actress in the business right now that can touch Ann. However, I have several other up and comers who are hot on her heels and not yet in her price range who would be happy to work for scale and stay in a tent. I have submitted them to you last night on the breakdowns. Please check them out. You know I have a great eye. Rebeca has been shooting “TELEVISION SERIES THAT NOBODY WATCHES” all last week and is up for the lead in a series. Different than Ann but still will blow you away too. She is booked on Monday but could come another day.

Thanks for listening.

I wrote back: “Ok.”

I am now exhausted from reading this. Why can’t she just say, “They respectfully pass?” Attention actors: When you are sitting at home, wondering why you are not working, maybe, just maybe your manager or agent is obsessing about how fabulous you are (which you may certainly be) and not giving you the opportunity to decide for yourself if you want to explore the mere possibility of auditioning or even just meeting with the director on a film. There are a lot of financed independent feature films in production and this means that there are plenty of scripts for you to be reading while you are not auditioning for studio films that are in limbo because there may or may not be an actor’s strike.

By the way, I love Ann & Arthur. But, seriously, they do not warrant this much of my time. Managers and agents (producers or casting directors for that matter) show their true colors is when they pontificate and say too much (oi, am I?); they let the “cat-out-of-the-bag” sort-of-speak, by which I mean that talking too much shows how much they do not really understand about what they are doing. My advice: short, complete sentences that start with “please” and end with “thank you” are the way to go…

LOVE, CRY, BITCH, MOAN, LOVE…

Attention Actors: I can tell when you are full of crap and have no idea what you are saying or doing and you think you can get by on charm and looks. This is Los Angeles, there are many charming, good looking actors who DO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AT AN AUDITION and if you think you are going to waltz in and floor me with your amazing bullshit – it isn’t going to happen. Read the script, be prepared and know what and whom you are auditioning for or do not come in and waste my time with your half-arsed (for all you Brits) lame audition.

I feel like I repeat myself over and over with actors. Casting directors WANT the actor to walk through the door and nail the audition. If that doesn’t happen, we at least want to be able to figure out what part you COULD be right for in the current project or upcoming films, or even films that my friends who are casting directors are casting. Yes, we casting folk talk to each other, a lot. I get emails or calls nearly every other day from colleagues who want to bounce an idea off of me, or need some help with lists.

I have mentioned before how it feels like I work in a bubble. Casting directors love to talk to each other. We especially love to moan and bitch to each other because no one else understands what we do or how we operate on a film day to day. There is an art to putting a film together. Managing personalities, expectations, agents, managers, producers, actors and information is complicated and fragile. I have worked on films that have fallen apart because the expectation of the producer did not meet the understanding of a director. The politics of film making a very real and only experience can spot the red flags or potential problems in the pipeline.

I just finished casting a film, and it was a great experience. The producer cast many films on his own but this time the cast was too large for a producer to cast and I was lucky enough to get the job. My taste matched the director and the producer and over the course of the casting period, a bond of trust developed where I was left to do my job – cast the film! I was not micromanaged. I am very proud of the work on the film, it felt collaborative and at the same time I feel that I put a personal “style-stamp” on the film. “Style-stamp” I just made that up…

This week I have had some interesting phone conversations. I was on the phone with a manager for over an hour talking about work, the business, actors, etc… It was nice to connect to someone whom I talk to all of the time but never really got a chance to know. Talking on the phone as much as I do to people who couldn’t point me out in a police line up, but feeling like I know them, is a weird sensation. It was kind of like we were on a date. We talked about work, then it went to family and some personal stuff, but not too personal. I guess we felt that after talking to each other for the past 10 years, it was time to get to know more about each other. I have to say, it felt nice. I mean I wouldn’t step in front of a bullet for her, but I did feel like we knew more about each other than in an average working relationship.

I guess I am writing about this, because, well, it can be very lonely working in my world. Freelance work is dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest kind of stuff, and having allies is important. It is to me at least. I guess actors see casting directors as allies in their journey too success and in some ways, I see agents and managers in the same way. I need them; I need access to them in order to get the films I cast the best possible cast. Ultimately, actors decide what they want to do but having talent representation on your team certainly helps and access to amazing talent impresses my bosses – the producers.

It is also important to me to have allies in casting. I have a few casting directors whom I look up to (whether they know it or not) and their opinion matters to me. I like being able to call on them for advise, because like in therapy, whatever I am going through has been gone through before by someone else, maybe not in the same way, but pretty darn close and having a shoulder to lean on, or sometimes cry on, is a comfort to me. Of course, after the good cry, bitch or moan, you move on, because if you don’t, there will be someone else who will and well, we just can’t be dealing with that….

One more thing: my relationship with actors is very important to me. I respect hard working, prepared, talented actors. I always have and always will. Those actors, who know me personally, know that I champion them and want them to get hired. I say this because re-reading what I wrote at the top of this blog, I really want to emphasize that I am trying to give actors the opportunities that I never had as an actor. I wish someone told it to me like it is but also came from a place of understanding of the creative process and the art of acting. I do understand all of this, believe me, I do, or I wouldn’t be doing what I was doing or writing this blog…

IS THAT A LUMP IN YOUR PANTS OR ARE YOU JUST HAPPY TO SEE ME?

I love casting. But what is the saying that actors have? “Never work with children or animals.” Now, I cast a lot of young actors. This seems to be the basis of a lot of my work, but this week, this week I had to cast toddlers. I needed to find children, male or female to play the role of a son or daughter of a character in the film I am casting. The kid, of course, had to be cute. In addition to cuteness, the kid has to be able to say the following lines on cue: “Hi!” and “Me!”

We cast an amazing Latina actress for the mom, so I figured I could audition any kid who wasn’t Caucasian but didn’t look too Asian (Chinese, Japanese, etc…). Then the Producer said that he would prefer for us to hire twins in order to allow the work hours to be doubled.

Here is the truth: I was not excited about this audition. Parents with their twins, sitting outside of my office waiting to audition, seemed like a recipe for disaster to me. How the hell was I going to get a two year old (the preferred age of the director) to act on cue? What if the parents were nightmares, what if the kids were still in diapers? I am not child friendly, I mean I love and adore my nieces and nephews but after an hour or two, I’m like that character in A CHORUS LINE, “Can the adults please smoke?” I don’t smoke (anymore) but the thought of auditioning toddlers almost brought me to the nearest pack of Meritt Ultra Lights.

The director wanted me to get the kids to act on cue and have them run around the office screaming, as well as just film them as they are and interact with them, have them do an activity, like pick up paper or color. Seriously, is this an episode of candid camera? – Kill me now!

So, I go through my choices and schedule the kids and their parents to come in for me. As expected the kids arrive and they are all anxious or loud or well, just being kids. The boys were rowdier then the girls and the girls were more responsive and polite than the boys. One pair of twins practically destroyed a lighting unit in the office and drew in magic marker on my sofa and wall. The parents all seemed very nice, but I still contend that there is something creepy about parents who allow their children to act, but it’s a necessary evil of this business.

In general one twin was always stronger than their brother or sister. Inevitably a set of twins would not be able to follow commands or perform as they rehearsed with their parents (no Seaworld for you young man – seriously – I kind of felt bad for the kids!). But in the end I found the strongest choice, a pair of brothers who were almost four, but looked two. Thank God they didn’t have diapers like the two year olds I saw, which smelled up the office with their pooey smells and baby lotion.

Just another day at the office…

IF YOU PAY PEANUTS, YOU GET MONKIES

Well, it’s tough times out there. More and more producers are calling me up for a job saying, “We would love to hire you but we have no money.” As you can imagine, this is not something I like to hear, because what this usually means is that there is an expectation to do the same amount of work for a lower fee. After a while, it becomes nearly impossible to make a profit and cast a film properly.

It takes time to cast an independent film. Usually, I advise that the agreement between the producer and myself is based on ten weeks of work. However, lately I have been working on agreements based on five weeks of work in order to accommodate the budget and my fee. It just depends on how big the job is. If I have to cast 30 roles, five weeks is enough time, but if some of those roles require A-list talent or recognizable names, five weeks of work may not bring on the results that are required of the producer. The other side of the coin is that I recently cast a film and the start date got pushed over two months from the original agreed upon contractual start date. One of the roles required a named actor. The expectation from the producer is that I find the actor and cast him, but this requires a significant amount of work on my part that technically I am no longer getting paid to do. It is as if it is expected of me to continue to work even though it was the productions actions that moved the start date after 99% of the cast was in place, confirmed and negotiated. I am not responsible for the late start and I don’t think it is fair to expect that I will work on something indefinitely with out payment. Am I wrong?

When making a low budget film, a producer must commit to a start date. There are financial consequences to moving an agreed upon start date and one of those consequences is the fee associated with casting. The days of working for free are no more, and I know I am not alone in this. I speak to a lot of my casting colleagues and we are all in agreement about this issue.

Attention producers: invest in the casting process or else you are going to get what you pay for…