INCA CASTING

I’m back from my two-week, amazing, re-energizing vacation to Peru and Bolivia. I cannot recommend highly enough the importance of visiting this sacred and amazing land full of ancient energy and fabulous people and food! I ate – a lot.

So here I sit a new refreshed me. A lot has happened to me over the past few weeks. I have split with my casting partner and moved into the other office next to hers, which some would say could be awkward, but moving is a pain and I liked the office, so it makes sense to me. I think we can remain friends and that is the most important thing, when these things happen.

As predicted, all of the films I am working on are still in the same place they were when I left. The funny thing is that the film that was hardest to cast, and is still not cast, is now less of a drama for me because the producer had to pick up where I left off. Before I left, I was being accused of being negative because I told the producer my opinions on whether I thought they would be able to secure talent they wanted or not. If it was bad news, to them, I was negative. I’m just the messenger, don’t shoot me! I gave my opinions and educated guesses because that is all I’ve got to go on; experience. If the producer doesn’t want that or want to listen to me, fine, but don’t call me negative, I’m on your team and trying to get the film cast!

Well, two weeks away completely changed the tune of this producer and although I know she would never admit in a hundred thousand zillion years that maybe, just maybe, I was being more helpful then negative, I could tell that after a lot of calling around to the same agents and managers that I talk to daily, she finally caught on to the reality of the situation and was in fact, a little deflated.

But, they have a great cast coming together and when the final shot happens on the last day of shooting, I expect them to say, “Wow, what a great cast, Matt was right!” At least I hope they say that!

I learned that the Inca’s language does not use future or past tense. If you are walking somewhere you walk there, you do not think about walking or have walked, you are just doing, being, going, you are in the present. Maybe, that is what it takes to be successful at casting. Be in the moment, don’t worry about the past or what could be, what you are presented with is your answer, what you are given is your gift of an amazing cast as it is presented to you.