MY AMAZING JOB…

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?