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The casting call is an imperfect way to cast a play. You can glean only so much from listening to an audition. Some actors cannot audition well; others perform well only at auditions. Matters such as professionalism, depth, range, versatility and compatibility with you can only be hinted at during a call. Get around the community of talent available to you. Patronize the theater in your town. Note the actors you admire. Invite them to audition for you. Familiarize yourself with the casting protocols of your community; they vary from place to place. How do you best reach the talent: through their agents, unions, or personal contact? How do you let people know you are looking for talent?Learn Your Talent Pool
By far, the most effective way to cast is to invite the actors you want to play the roles you need. Only when you have the most thorough knowledge of the talent base available to you, can you do this wisely.
Casting agents do not actually cast, they filter. They supposedly have the knowledge and structure to create breakdowns, contact talent reps, and schedule a general call. They weed through the pix and resumés agents have submitted, choose likely candidates, and schedule audition appointments. They often conduct and record the auditions, which you may or may not attend. After you and your producer review the recordings, they schedule any call-backs you require, and make necessary contractual arrangements with agents for the actors you’ve cast.
You as producer and/or director may be your own casting director; or you may have one or more casting persons on staff, or may out-source a casting pro for this production. You may think it best to engage a casting agent when recruiting star talent from outside the local area. Different protocols obtain in different communities. Whatever they may be where you live, nothing beats having your own well-researched talent rolodex. Even if you hold an "open" call (a casting call open to all comers), your rolodex provides back-up. I have usually tried to cast a mix of my reliables and actors who are new to me. In this way I continue to build my personal talent pool, while relying on stalwarts whom I know can cut the mustard.
Do everything you can to reduce stress for the auditioning talent. Actors cannot do their best when overly anxious and tryouts wrack their nerves more than anything else in the business. You and everyone under your supervision whom you involve in the process should exhibit respect for the performers and the highest level of efficiency, courtesy and professionalism. Be prepared for stress yourself. Auditions tax you and your staff as well as the talent. In my career, I've had to deflect importunate actors who have tried to wheedle into auditions, call the cops to get a deranged auditionee out of my office, and tell more than a few that I, not they, are in charge.
You will find times when formal auditions are impractical, when you have to cast from your rolodex and/or recommendations, when you must invite actors to play roles without auditioning them. I've auditioned actors in their homes, in hospital rooms, and backstage. You may even have held formal calls only to find that you have to hunt for talent because of last minute cancellations. It is therefore important for you always to leave time for contingencies between casting and production. You shouldn't cast too far ahead of production. Indeed, it's best to cast as close to production as safely possible. The more time between the audition and the production, the more things can go awry. Yet, a contingency leeway is always advised.
Rarely is it a good idea to hire actors with status higher than your own. They will know it and throw their weight around, if you're not careful. Still, talent with "marquee value" can lend your efforts instant prestige and credibility. Stars do not necessarily add to the quality of your production. Stars become stars for many reasons other than talent. Therefore, if you employ name talent, do so judiciously.
Be advised that the actors you see most often as guest stars on television have little marquee value, though employing them may gain you some credibility in industry circles. The public may recognize their faces, but will not know their names. There are two types of marquee names that do you good — the TV actors who star as regulars on popular TV shows and A List movie stars. As a rule of thumb, the more a star is perceived to be aloof and unattainable, the more good the name will do you.
How do you recruit such people? They all have agents and many have managers. You have many resources available to you for finding out who represents whom. Samuel French's Theatrical Bookstores (Hollywood, New York, London, and on-line) have several publications listing agents in their catalogue. The Hollywood Reporter has an annual issue listing celebrities and their reps. But the best way to reach star talent is by personal contact.
Good luck finding talent agents who will cooperate with you. As a rule, reps only care about money. If you do not pay enough to make it worth their time, they’ll blow you off. The actor may be receptive to you while his agent is not. If you’re lucky, some agents may play ball if they represent voice actors who have expressed interest in this kind of work; keeping clients happy in this way keeps clients from seeking representation elsewhere. If you must go through agents, make sure you go to the right ones. Many professional actors have separate agents for voice work and for all other work. Some have different agents on each coast and sometimes in the middle, too. Some have personal managers (often a lawyer or publicist) as well as licensed agents. If you don’t have to deal with agents, don’t do it. Personal contact with the desired actors always works best.
Breakdowns and Casting Notices
The breakdown for a production contains the following information:
a list of the roles available with thumbnail descriptions
the times, dates, places of auditions
how and when to make audition appointments (usually the number to call and the dates and hours audition appointments will be taken)
name of production and author
names of producer or production company, casting director, director
union auspices (AFTRA or non-union)
pay scale (if there's no pay, you should mention it)
restrictions, if any (I have always restricted casting to members of AFTRA, SAG, and Equity, and have had P.A.s check union cards at the door)
Breakdowns are particularly useful when casting through talent agents. The agents consult your breakdown and send you pictures and resumes of clients they think will fit the roles. You look these over to pick the actors who interest you and schedule their audition appointments with the agent. Breakdowns also form the basis of casting press releases, or may be sent to local pro media instead of or along with press releases.
A scaled-down version serves as a casting notice. Restricted to one 8˝" x 11" page, these fliers go to places where actors hang out — playhouses, recording studios, pubs, AFTRA offices, etc. — where they can be posted on bulletin boards. Fold them into self-mailers for the actors on your talent rolodex. Word-of-mouth travels fast in the theater community. So getting notices directly to actors will net you the best results, for the performers who see them will inform others.
Sides
Sides (always referred to in the plural) are abbreviated scripts you prepare specially for casting purposes. They include only the pages you want hopefuls to audition from. I like to have two sets, one that actors can read prior to the reading and one they must sight-read without preparation. For general calls (see below), choose sections of about two minutes in length. Sides for call-backs should be long enough to demonstrate the actors' ability to develop a scene. Sides of dialogue between two characters work better than sides of soliloquies or long speeches.
Actors may or may not choose to audition for specific characters. Therefore, sides for general auditions should be chosen to demonstrate actors' general abilities.
Calendars, Sign-in Sheets
You'll need a calendar to log in audition appointments and sign-in sheets for the audition dates. When making a calendar, allow yourself five-minute breaks every 20 minutes or so. Tryouts are grueling for auditioners as well as auditionees.
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Pictures and Resumes
Professional actors provide 8" x 10" head-shots stapled to resumes for submissions and auditioning purposes. In some communities, non professionals may also. I find them handy. The pictures help my memory. I make casting notes in the blank spaces of the resumes. They fit compactly in the talent drawer of the file cabinet.
When announcing auditions, I instruct interested actors and their agents to submit pictures and resumes. I review the submissions pretty much the way any prospective employer analyzes resumes to determine the extent of the applicant's relevant experience:
Number of credits shows breadth of experience;
Titles of the works tell you if the actor has performed in anything resembling the play(s) you are casting for;
Names of the characters played reveal how prominent the actor's roles have been and if they've been similar to the parts you have open;
Names of the producers, directors and theaters that actor has worked for will tell you how professional the applicant's experience is;
Actors list special skills, such as accents, that you may be looking for;
Union affiliation indicates a degree of professional standing.
Demos
Actors may have voice demos on cassette or CD containing brief excerpts from their radio spots, narrations and air checks. You can use them to gauge voice quality and maybe proficiency with accents or funny voices, but very little about acting chops. For that you need to call talent in to audition.
Handle formal auditions in two steps: generals and call-backs. I recommend that you hold both in a sound studio where they can be recorded. You should also have a waiting area where talent can sign in and look over the sides before they audition. The waiting area should have ample seating, sign-in sheets, and copies of the sides and breakdowns. In the inner chamber where the players actually audition, no extraneous personnel should be present. You will need a P.A. (production assistant) to usher actors in and out and read against them, an engineer and whoever's in charge (casting director and/or producer and director). The larger the group observing the talent as they audition, the more stressed the hopeful becomes.
As mentioned above, you should record tryouts on professional equipment, preferably in the studio you will use to record the play. The actors slate their own takes — that is, before they begin reading, they should announce their name. If you are recording on conventional audio tape, an electronic slate tone should precede each reading; if recording on DAT, an electronic ID should precede them; if on a hard drive, the start time should be noted. Thus you can easily locate the track you want at a later time. In addition, the P.A. should note in order who's auditioning for what role in what play.
Generals
The general or "cattle" call allows you to single out suitable candidates and eliminate unsuitable ones. When actors call to schedule appointments, they are asked to prepare a two-minute speech, complimentary in period and style to the play you are producing — if your play is a contemporary comedy, ask them to prepare a speech from a contemporary comedy of their choice; if it's a period drama, ask them to prepare a speech from one. Let them know that they do not have to memorize their prepared speech; unless you so inform them, some will go to the trouble of memorizing something. Tell actors that they will also read from your script and that they should show up a little early to look over the sides.
(Some directors, particularly in the non-union arenas, choose to hold a general call in which hopefuls may show up any time between given hours on one or several audition days. This method saves you prep time at the expense of the talent. Actors have to sit around until you get around to seeing them. You waste their time and humiliate them in one stroke. I don't recommend it.)
Audition appointments
Schedule appointments to leave enough time for actors to read from the material they bring and from your sides. Allow time to usher them in and out. You can see one actor every ten minutes. The more you see, the more choices you have. Therefore, you want to keep chit-chat to a minimum. This may be difficult. Some actors feel that schmoozing during a casting appointment is good strategy. It isn't, and you should politely but firmly discourage it.
On the other hand, I think it important to give each auditionee the full time allotted. You often can tell a bad actor within seconds of his/her first utterance. Nonetheless, tryouts are stressful enough for actors without cutting someone short and thereby adding humiliation to the mix. I don't mind stopping someone who goes over the allotted time or who wants to schmooze or who otherwise acts unprofessionally. But unless they overstep the bounds, my assistants and I maintain a polite, good-humored distance, which minimizes actor stress without encouraging inappropriate familiarity.
Restrictions
Operating under an AFTRA agreement, I allow only union members to audition. My P.A.s check their membership cards at the door. When not working under union auspices, you should impose some sort of restrictions about who you will welcome at your tryouts. That's because anybody can wake up in the morning, decide to be an actor today, and book an appointment. Without a weeding process of some type, you will see 20 psychos, losers, and boobs for every decent performer.
What to Listen for
From the speeches the auditionees bring in, you can get a fairly good idea how well they do when given a chance to prepare. From the sides you provide, you can learn how they deal with fresh material and the play at hand. After years of experience, I have become able to assess, from the varying quality of the prepared reading and the reading of my sides, how much direction the actor will need from me.
In the four or five minutes you give talent during generals, answer these questions for yourself:
Does the talent read with understanding, technique, personality, and an appreciation of style?
Does the talent sound convincing, believable, real?
Does the talent display microphone experience?
Is the talent's voice easy on the ears? or does the talent possess grating qualities such as descending or monotonous cadences, speech impediments, stridency, mike fright, mannerisms, adenoids?
Does the talent seem appropriate for one or more of the roles for which you are casting?
Does the talent behave in a professional and cooperative manner?
It is usual to designate your P.A. to "read against" the auditionees — that is, to read the other role or roles in the sides, to "feed the cues" to the auditionee. I will often read against the actor myself. Doing so tells me how much or how little the actor gives to fellow actors in performance. When an actor gives to you, you can feel it.
Call-backs
After the generals, assess the relative merits of the auditionees. You can probably eliminate at once the actors who are no good. Of the remainder, you have to determine who seem to be 1) the best and 2) most suitable for the roles you have to fill. After eliminating those who do not seem appropriate for the roles, call back the rest.
Call-backs are looser and longer than generals. You may take an hour or more with each actor. You may even schedule all the people you wish to see for the same date and time. You'll make new, longer sides. You will read actors together and may have actors read scenes together in various combinations. Whatever you need to do to make your choices.
I make call-back sides that allow me to hear two or more actors at once. Say Character A has scenes with Character B. Ideally, you want each actor you're considering for Character A to read with every Character B person. I may be considering an actor for more than one role and will have that person read for each in various combinations with the other talent whom I've called back.
Once or twice while they read from your sides, you will interrupt the actors and ask for an adjustment. "Could you try that again, angrier?" "Try to make her more ingratiating. Start again from where you left off and go on." Et cetera. In this way you can get an idea of how well the talent takes direction.
What to Listen for
You will further test the qualities you were assessing during the generals. In addition, you want to learn:
Which actors are most effective playing which characters?
How well does the actor develop during the course of the scene? Does the actor play all on one level? Understand the character's intent?
Does the actor make hackneyed choices or fresh, imaginative ones?
How do the voices balance? Voices must complement and be easily distinguished from each other, otherwise the listener won't be able to tell who's who.
How well do the actors respond to direction?
Review
Presumably you will have made notes during auditions to review along with the recordings you have made. Final casting decisions, though based on the criteria mentioned above, are totally subjective. Trust your own taste, training, and experience. However, in weighing these criteria, give most weight to three factors: believability, balance and personality. And of those three, a strong, memorable vocal personality consonant with the character's trumps everything else.
Sometimes the decisions aren't yours alone to make. Sometimes the writer, director, and producer all have input. While the director's opinion should carry the most weight, ultimately, the producer has final say. In my own experience, I have most frequently had to make casting decisions alone. Occasions on which I have had consultation with a colleague or shared casting responsibility have always proven good experiences.
I rarely call an actor back more than once. It's not necessary in most circumstances. Besides, at the pittance I pay, I do not wish to impose overmuch on the talent.
Follow-up
After most auditions, only the actors cast are notified. However, I recommend my method as a courtesy to all talent who have taken the time to tryout.
Notify the actors you have cast by telephone.
Notify the others by mail, and be sure to thank them for showing up.
Actors whom you did not cast, but who impressed you favorably, ought to receive a personal note encouraging them to return at your next open call.
Actors gripe that they never get any feedback after an audition. Except as noted above, do NOT give feedback to actors you haven't cast. In spite of their complaints, they will not appreciate your telling them honestly why you did not hire them. Your honest appraisals, however constructive in tone, will only hurt feelings and give you a bad reputation around the acting community.
Contents •
Intro •Gimme a break! •Overview •Management •The P.A. •The Text •MS Formats •Mike Acting •Casting •Stereo •Directing •Production •Foley •Appendices •Author's Bio • NATF home page
