Something Special in the Air (cough)…

I am over-worked this week. My assistant is leaving for an executive casting job (I’ll miss you Gene) and I am going to be solo casting five (gulp) active films. All of them are shooting October 19^th. I expect a few to push, they always do. Two shoot in LA, one in Detroit, one in Iowa and one in Romania. Some have more work to do on them then others, but if I think of them all as one film, I think that it will be manageable. I will keep telling myself that.

Our new phone system is up and running. I can’t figure it out. Who has time to read 50 pages on how the frickin thing works? But if you call the office and are put on hold, I promise you will like the music - all songs with names of the people who work here in them or KCRW…

I have a cold. I hate working when I am sick; it is nearly impossible for me to concentrate.

I was in New York over the weekend and I was flying there on Wednesday and had to set up a session for Friday morning. I tried the new Wi-Fi service on American Airlines. It literally was the best thing ever! Setting up sessions at 35,000 feet was awesome. I was able to do so much work it was like I wasn’t out of the office.

 

I got a Kindle for my birthday. Now, I don’t have to schlep scripts home, I just forward the PDF to my kindle. I love it! I feel like I read faster on it and my back doesn’t hurt from carrying a bag full of scripts around. Oh yeah, I am saving the environment, less paper used, etc…

I have to say that “District 9” was a fantastic movie. Yes I am biased towards loving sci-fi, but this film is really worth it. It gets a little gory but as I had to remind my fella, Aliens are not real, so when they kill someone, it is not the same as watching a film with violence in it, right?

Call Me! Call Me Anytime. Call Me!

I often think that the hardest part about being a Casting Director is that aside from the main purpose of our job, finding cast for a film, we are also self-employed, small business owners. We have to pay the bills: rent, phone, internet, cleaning supplies, printing supplies, water, beverages, food, mail etc. We have to keep the office looking pretty, something we have yet to achieve. In my head it looks very glamorous but that is me in survival mode, I know the place could use a sprucing up and I also know that if we looked a little more together, maybe it would impress a producer or give us an edge in booking a job. Sometimes I feel like the “cool, indie casting office,” but I want to upgrade to “hip/wallpaper magazine inspired casting office…”

 

If you ever get a chance to walk into the Firefly Casting office (Rubin/Hicks) it is the wet-dream of a casting office in my humble opinion. It is very modern, cool, and Hollywood. They have all the latest equipment and tools. I cried when I went to visit them for lunch, well cried on the inside but became motivated to get to that place where I knew that one day, one day I too would own that thingy that did that thingy to the DVD that allows you to rip a scene form a copy written film onto a blank DVD and I too would have remote access to ALL of my files! But, not yet…nope…all I’ve got is a dream and the phone number of Richard Hick’s computer guy.

 

But today, that dream gets a little brighter and more hopeful. Today, we are installing a proper phone system with a BRAIN, four incoming lines and up to 20 extensions! I got an amazing deal on the phones and the system and our installer is doing it for a price that seemed fair. I am one small step closer to my casting empire – a real phone system! Now if I could just get rid of all of the dog hair in my office…

TWITTERGATE

This was bound to happen sooner then later, I just read this on another Casting Director’s blog

http://answersforactors.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/a-casting-directors-rude-behaviour/

It is in response to Daryl Eisenberg, a Casting Director (Stage), using Twitter during an audition. It’s being referred to as “Twittergate” because it has upset the confidentiality that actors feel they should have when being in an audition. I agree with this. It is very rare that I will share an audition or allow anyone besides the Producer or Director or those involved directly with the project to watch an audition. Ok, sometimes I show my Mother, BUT that is because she is my Mom and she likes to see what I do…I don’t Twitter, I think between this blog, facebook and my website, I have enough of an on-line presence, probably too much…

Twittering is something I would never do, seems like it could get you into a lot of trouble. HOWEVER, she did “tweet” some funny stuff like, “Your skirt makes me think you’re Wiccan…” & “Who is that person in your headshot? it is def not the person standing in front of me.” I cannot say I have never written similar things down on my personal notes, I just wouldn’t want to officially have them out in the open. My notes are in shorthand most of the time and reflect years of writing the same things over and over. In fact if I lost my audition notes, I would doubt that anyone besides myself would really understand what I was writing.

In response to the “scandal”, Daryl does say that she genuinely was doing it to educate actors. I think that is probably true, but again, as happened to me in the previous blog, you have to take on the full responsibility of what you write about and share with the public and if the perception is not what the intent is then maybe an apology is appropriate.  My concern is that in an audition, the focus is on the actor auditioning. How do you do that when you are also writing about them at the same time?

What sucks is that I have had, on many occasions, Producers paying more attention to their Blackberry then to the audition. This pisses me off and I am a pretty calm guy. Also, I hate when a Producer or Director comes to a session with food that smells up a room, but I have learned to live with that one, some battles are not worth the fight…

Dear Jack & Jason

Wow! I did not realize that I was perceived this way. I have to disagree with you on the fact that I don’t see everyone. I know I see a lot of people, my wrap sheets prove it to me! I will say that in some instances it does not make sense to see everyone, especially if I know that 20 actors are going to nail the audition for a particular role. I have never said “no”, when asked by a Producer or Director to dig deeper if they were not satisfied with what was being presented to them. I always make my own lists. It is rare that a Producer or Director hands me a list. One of the films I am currently on, “Legendary: The Shocate” the Producer did hand me a list of actors to check availabilities on, but I have to present them with more ideas. Especially ideas within our budget range!

Jason, I would like to know which film and client you are talking about? For example for ‘Polish Bar’, I saw everyone I thought was right for the roles and were within our budget. For ‘Labor Pains’ I know I saw as many actors in 4 weeks as humanly possible. For ‘After.Life’ I saw actors in LA and NYC and I often get comments from Agents and Managers about my openness in finding new talent. ‘Deadgirl’ was all about finding new talent! The fact that I saw your client and then did not see your client when you were managing them doesn’t prove anything towards your argument. I saw your client once before, maybe they weren’t right for the role the next time around?

When casting young talent I feel like I am seeing everyone who is represented! I will admit that I have an affinity to certain Agents and Managers out of relationships that I have developed over the years, but that is to be expected. I know I saw more actors in Oahu for ‘One Kine Day’ then most local casting directors in Hawaii would have, in fact I did this on purpose because I wanted to see what kind of talent was available in Hawaii. I think the count of the number of actors I saw on that film was around 300. Keep in mind that there are only 600-ish SAG actors in Hawaii!
Most of the films I cast are low budget, so I have to see as many actors as possible. I also make it a policy to return every phone call. I think there is a perception that I have a huge staff, but most of the time it is just me and if things fall through the cracks I am sorry about that, but I do my best to service everyone’s needs. I think it is the nature of this business that I can’t see everyone (I don’t have endless amounts of time to!) and by the way it goes both ways, there are numerous times where I request to see an actor and I am told they are “offer only” or they will only meet with the Director or I don’t or can’t get an Agent or Manager on the phone to answer a question.

Jason, as far as this being a vanity piece, well, this is your perception. I can see how that may come across, but if it was truly a vanity piece, I would have been more current with my weekly blogs; in fact I have been lazy about writing anything because I didn’t feel like I had anything important to say. You changed that! Truthfully, I don’t think of this blog as a vanity piece or self-promotion. If it did get me more work, that would be great for me, wouldn’t it?

When I teach a workshop, I encourage actors to read the blog in order to get to know me better – If they want to! I encourage actors to join my facebook casting page. This allows me to keep in touch with as many people as possible. The feedback I get from actors, in general, is that I am very easy to talk to, reach out to and audition for.  As far as this being a “promotional blog,” I was asked to do this blog and agreed because I wanted to show a little bit about what goes on in my world.

I have worked for casting directors before I became a CD and I like to think I have my own style and way of doing things, but I think I am as open and good-natured as possible. When I worked at a studio, it is true we saw fewer actors for a role but this was more the nature of the beast of the studio and I was more likely answering to my superiors then having a say in the way I would do things, which is probably why I don’t work for anyone and like to do things my way.

What I will say is that I have many Directors and Producers who have been very happy with me working for them and very satisfied with the talent I have brought to them. I have tried to be very open and professional when writing this blog. Jason, feel free to email me directly (lessallcasting@gmail.com) or call my office (323-965-2104) I would be happy to understand more of why you feel this way.

Jack, yes, it is true; sometimes it feels like we are glorified secretaries! I can tell you from personal experience that it is not a nice feeling when it is happening. One day you wake up and realize that you are on a film and the Director or Producer isn’t fully utilizing you the way that you think that you could best service the project. For me, I have had that happen and I hated when it was happening, but overall I have been lucky enough to be part of a team; a team that finds talent. I have stated this over and over in this blog, putting a cast together is a team effort! I think, on the films I have worked on, especially ‘Mean Creek’ and ‘Rocket Science’ I was not a glorified secretary. Those films were journeys to find those kids. More exciting then any films I have ever worked on!  I will see talent if an Agent or Manager is passionate about them. It happens all of the time! I do generals with talent several times a month and I am always asking Agents and Managers about new talent that they are representing. I look at reels, go to showcases, go to the theater, films, teach, coach, etc… I do not feel that I need to defend myself, but, I will say I am qualified to do what I do, I do think I have an eye for talent and I do need to let you know that I take what I do very seriously and I try to do the best that I can on every job that I work on.

I hope that with this blog I have been able to illuminate the challenges of independent film casting. I want the readers of this blog understand what I do and get a sense about what it is like to do the job. There are a lot of Directors who love working with a Casting Director. I have formed some good relationships with many of the Directors and Producers I have worked with. I love what I do, I hope that comes across in the blog.
Jack & Jason, as far as your opinions on Casting Director you like or do not like, I will not comment on this. I respect all of them. In fact, I admire them for having longevity in this business and being able to keep the films and television shows they work on fresh and exciting. You are allowed your opinion, I respect that, but try to put yourself in other people shoes, try to keep an open mind. We (Casting Directors) try every day to keep an open mind, we really do. Nobody is perfect…

Thank you for reading and commenting on the blog. I appreciate your criticism and look forward to your thoughts in the future.

Sincerely,

Matthew