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Blog: An Open Casting

Olivia — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:52:46 +0000

So since I last introduced myself I had my first experience of running some open auditions as a casting assistant. Now, you may know how open castings is thanks to the What Is An Open Casting? post, but since the last time I edited it (I was probably 17 when I wrote it!) it is in serious need of a re-write.

A really great read for anyone about to attend some open auditions is The Stage’s extract from the Actors’ Yearbook. It really breaks it down everything you need to know so definitely check it out.

If you’re reading this I’ll assume you are under the age of 21 and you are just getting started with acting. You are probably looking for more experiences and open auditions are a good way to meet industry professionals – even if it is only for 3 minutes!

In general open castings and auditions are held when the casting team want to see new faces, anyone they may have ‘missed’, or if they are after a specific type of person that they haven’t found through agencies. It doesn’t really matter if you haven’t got any acting experience – if it mattered that their actor had experience or not, they wouldn’t be holding an open casting!

For this particular open casting we rang schools to let them know we were holding the casting and said anyone interested should come along. I phoned and emailed various youth theatres, drama clubs and posted the call in various places online.

If you’re looking for open casting, notices can be put out in plenty of places where they think the person they are looking for might read them. For example;

Your local Newspaper
The Metro/Evening Standard
The Guardian or other newspapers
The Stage (in print and online). Online is free to register to see all the audition listings!
Community notice boards
ScreenTerrier.com
PCR – Production & Casting Report

If there is a casting brief sometimes the casting team will use the following websites. In all honesty, rarely would some of these sites get used for big film or television projects, but in some cases, the casting team use these websites for finding child actors or again, anyone they may have ‘missed’.

So what are the casting team looking for? Well, read what they specify. Are they looking for someone who IS aged 16 or who LOOKS 16? There’s a huge difference. For example this is the casting call we put out;

FEATURE FILM – LEAD ROLE – MALE, WHITE AGED 16.

He is interesting and otherworldly. Young looking 17 year olds may be suitable.

Not a lot of information there, and you will probably find that there won’t be huge amounts of information about the project. A lot of the time this is because you’d rather not/are not allowed to put the name of the project out as a lot of the info is confidential.

The actual casting day itself was extremely interesting. I can see how easily a casting call can sometimes become a ‘cattle call’ with members of the casting team desperately trying to remember everyone that walks into meet them as well as trying to ensure everyone is seen as quickly as possible, thus avoiding anyone waiting too long! This is where the stickers with numbers come out – as much as I hate calling actors by their ‘numbers’ it is sometimes unavoidable when you just want to keep organised!

Ultimately, only turn up when you fit the brief. At this particular casting anyone who turned up who didn’t fit the brief we saw them anyway to make note of for future projects – but be warned, in most cases you will likely be turned away.

That’s it for now and as always, if you’ve any thoughts or questions do comment below!

24 Hour Plays Review

Olivia — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:30:32 +0000

Never has an audience been buzzing with so much anticipation before a show! Who wouldn’t feel the nerves of the 52 fresh actors, writers, director and producers performing 7 plays created from scratch in 24 hours to a packed audience at the famous Old Vic Theatre? This is The 24 Hour Plays, a theatrical event with an impressive alumni.

This year the standout pieces from the 7 plays performed included ‘Zombie Nation’ by Alex Oates, directed by Ed Stambollouian and produced by Tom Harland and ‘Oh, What A Super-Injunction!’ by Gregory Skulnick, directed by Tom Attenborough and produced by David Sloan. Some brilliant acting from Nicola Kill, Jude Monk McGowan, Jonathan Smith, Liam Mansfield, Rebecca Humphries and Bethan Witcomb.

Some staggeringly good writing considering the deadline to beat all deadlines and the best platform for the next generation of theatre directors and up and coming actors. Almost 2000 young people applied to be a part of this year’s 24 Hour Plays. If you’re aged 18 – 25, this is one of the best ways to launch your career and you should certainly look into being involved with the project next year.

‘Bypass’ Feature Film Auditions

Olivia — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:48:43 +0000

Hubbard Casting is looking for actors for Duane Hopkins next feature ‘Bypass‘. They are looking for a 19/20 year old boy for the lead character.

Lead role Tim is around19/20 years old. Thin frame, pale, waxen skin, he bears certain markings of a life in poverty. Striking, interesting, unusual look. From South of England (no further North than Manchester). Pensive and thoughtful by nature, Tim’s sensitivity is at odds with the world he has to inhabit – a world of petty crime in which his guard must always be up. Has a sense of pessimism/foreboding that is impossible to shake off.

To apply please send photo and contact details to Amy Hubbard by emailing simon@hubbardcasting.com .

Casting applicants from all kinds of backgrounds have also been asked to register their interest in the project, and you can check out more info over at Facebook!

House of Anubis Male Role Auditions

Olivia — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:58:46 +0000

The Nickelodeon kids TV show ‘House of Anubis’ is looking for a new actor to play the role of Giles in 3 episodes of the show. Newcastle upon Tyne based screen acting company for kids Act 2 Cam are receiving suggestions for the role.

Giles is a 15/16 year old posh and sporty jock. He’s very good looking and has a cocky, competitive streak. Must have an RP accent.

All suggestions must be at least 16 years old and have completed their GCSE year of school, or be older and realistically be able to play down to 16.

Please email suggestions with photographs and contact telephone numbers to steve@act2cam.com by 12 noon this Wednesday 5th October.

Open Auditions for Feature Film

Olivia — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:46:40 +0000

SATURDAY 8^TH OCTOBER 2011

At RADA

(Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)

Address: 18 – 22 Chenies Street,

London, WC1E 6ED.

Map on www.rada.ac.uk click ‘contact us’

Nearest Tubes: Goodge St and Warren St

Please arrive between 11am – 1pm.

CASTING FOR 2 ROLES

LEAD ROLE – MALE, WHITE AGED 16.

He is interesting and otherworldly. Young looking 17 year olds may be suitable. Please only apply if you are AGED 16 or 17!

LEAD ROLE – MALE, ARABIC/ENGLISH SPEAKING, MIDDLE EASTERN, AGED 10 – 12.

Must be able to speak both Arabic and English.

There are currently no female parts for these projects. No previous experience is necessary!

Amelia Hashemi is a casting director for feature film, TV and commercial. For more details check out her IMDB.

Question: Drama School Audition Monologues

Olivia — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:04:46 +0000

I’d like to apply for drama school, but I’m an international student and I’m not sure where I can find modern plays to choose monologues from. I’ve looked online but most are from unknown authors and I’m not sure if those would be accepted. Do you know of a good site?

This question was asked over at Formspring and I thought it was a good question to look at. You can see my original answer here.

Every drama school will all have their own rules regarding audition monologues. Some drama schools even have a list of classic speeches to chose from and you’re not allowed to use any others! So it’s crucial you check and double check which schools allow what. Each drama school will specify these on their websites or in their prospectus’.

As for finding a good audition monologue? It takes time and effort. I can guarantee you would not get into drama school if you chose the first speech you found after a quick Google search!

As great as the internet is, get offline for your research. Put some effort into it by spending a day in your local library reading some plays. Great speeches come from plays and the simple answer is you have to read them to find them! To do a speech and character justice you must have full knowledge of the events of the play it comes from. Lifting a speech from a play you have never read is not only lazy but will completely backfire when you’re asked questions about the play by the audition panel. Cover yourself by researching thoroughly.

As I am not an experienced auditionee of drama schools, nor have I much knowledge about being on an audition panel for these schools, here are some incredibly useful links from those who know their stuff.

Mark Westbrook is an experienced acting coach who trains students for drama school auditions. His posts are gold dust to any drama school auditionees! A few of my favourite posts from his blog include;

Lenka is an actress and blogger who created the insightful Inside Drama School Auditions blog. The website is a collection of various actors’ drama school audition experiences with an aim to prepare future auditionees.

Alice is an actress in training who has also blogged about her drama school audition experiences over at Knowing Alice. There are also plenty of other drama school bloggers which you can check out at the Brilliant Blogs Toolkit!

Blog: Casting Assistant Introduction!

Olivia — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:43:41 +0000

First, a brief introduction.

I am a casting assistant and I’ve just moved to London having graduated from film school. This website is, well, just something on the side and since things have really started to pick up work-wise (hurrah!) the site has suffered at the same time (boo!).

I’m sure this is all fairly obvious but since this is my first blog post I want to point these basic facts out.

Yes! This is, in fact, a blog post. I have come to the conclusion that what I’m learning in my first year in the ‘real world’ as an assistant is not only vital for me and worth evidencing, but perhaps useful to anyone researching the world of acting. And thus, my experiences are worth sharing on the internet!

Whilst I was thinking about starting a blog on Straight From School, I also questioned whether starting a blog anonymously would allow more freedom to be honest about the industry and the people who work in it. That said, I’m already pretty open about the nature of the industry and my old blog wasn’t anonymous in the slightest. A mere google of my name has lead friends to that old blog as well as this site – something I still get embarrassed about. I ensure my friends never discover this site or the YouTube channel.

If you want to visit my old blog do go ahead. I was 18 when I wrote most of the posts, discussing filmmaking at university, meeting actors at auditions as well as my first interview with a casting director. Of course, a few of my opinions on certain issues I talk about have changed since then and please ignore any childish posts whining about Facebook…

Anyway, let’s crack on. To break the ice I’m going to talk about my day today.

After nearly getting run over at one of the crossroads on Shaftesbury Avenue (it was a complete mistake to try out my new heels this morning!), I finally found the Club where I was meeting the casting director I was working for today. There are plenty of ‘clubs’ around London where paying members are allowed to use the venue to meet work mates, meet up for drinks or just lounge using the space. Plenty are used specifically for media creatives and even today, as we spread out our laptops and workbooks in a nice corner of the lounge, I spotted plenty of apple Macs and production company creatives nattering away.

Just to point out, I’d say around 80 % of those working in this industry are freelancers, meaning they are not fixed to a company which would pay them regularly. Just like actors, those that work behind the camera have no guarantee of a job and even I never know exactly what I’m doing until the day before, and sometimes I won’t until the morning. You just have to be ready to go with the flow and ensure you are flexible enough to drop everything if you are needed for a job. As a casting assistant I work in the office booking in actors for auditions, or I am a ‘session runner’ – running the casting session and getting the actors on tape for the director and producer. I could one day be running auditions for one casting director on a commercial and the next working in a different casting director’s office doing availability checks for a feature. It’s always different. And I love that.

Anyway I discovered today that one of the regular, fairly cheapish venues we use to hold open auditions now refuses to let casting directors run open auditions on a Saturday. As you can imagine, that’s pretty useless when most children we need to invite to an open casting have school during the week. The admin was explaining they’d experienced a bit of a horror after their last open audition went wrong… I was intrigued, but unfortunately no details were given! Since most venues with large spaces to hire are halls or churches they have to be spotless for Sunday visitors. That’s completely understandable of course because casting directors just don’t know the kind of numbers that will turn up. I’ve still got to finalise a venue for this open casting, and hopefully will confirm it tomorrow.

In the afternoon I headed over to Soho to do reception on a small job at the casting studio. Ok, so let me explain this one.

Casting studios work on a room hire basis. Casting studios are not to be confused with casting offices, where casting directors actually work. The casting directors/production companies use casting studios as an audition venue on what ever project they’re working on. The majority of jobs that are cast in London in Soho casting studios are commercials because the hire of space in Soho is rather expensive!

My job as a receptionist in one of these studios is like a bread-and-butter job. It pays the bills! Not only does it let me meet lots of different casting directors and producers that come in to use the space, but it pays rather well too – much more than a casting assistant job anyhow.

Being a casting studio does cause some confusion, much to my amusement. A couple of times actors have strayed in and sidled up to the desk. ‘Erm… this a casting place right?’ No matter how much I insist that there is no point leaving a CV or headshot, they are still very persistent to leave one for an imaginary casting director in residence. It’s only until I point out that it will literally go in the bin – as I notion to the bin behind me – that they leave! Never turn up to a casting studio or audition venue without an appointment.

So I ended the day with a wander around Oxford Circus and then dragged myself on to the tube (sweaty, crowded, and way too hot for autumn) and found a spot on my kitchen table where I am sitting now typing this.

I hope to continue blogging about working as a casting assistant, so we’ll see where this goes. If I’ve given you the blogging-bug do head over to the Toolkit to find some more brilliant blogs. If you’ve been inspired enough to start your own blog about being part of the entertainment industry do let me know to add it to the list!

And, as always, you’ve any thoughts or questions do comment below!

Aiming for Fame

Olivia — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:35:25 +0000

A shocking new survey has revealed that children aged 9 to 11 now hold ‘fame’ as their number one value (It ranked 15th in 1997). The study, published in the Journal of Psychology Research on Cyberspace reveals that the lure of stardom is every child’s dream – above financial success and physical fitness.

Dr. Patricia Greenfield, from the Department of Psychology at UCLA and co-author of the study, said:

“(Tweens) are unrealistic about what they have to do to become famous. They may give up on actually preparing for careers and realistic goals.”

Yalda Uhls, the lead author of the study, went further to say:

“With Internet celebrities and reality TV stars everywhere, the pathway for nearly anyone to become famous, without a connection to hard work and skill, may seem easier than ever. When being famous and rich is much more important than being kind to others, what will happen to kids as they form their values and their identities?”

This study, posted on Perez Hilton’s website, makes a stark comment on the younger generation’s goals and really implies the negative effects that shows like X-Factor or Britain’s got talent create on children waiting to be ‘discovered’. Hopefully kids can learn that ‘fame’ is something that is rarely ever obtained through a career in performance, but working hard at what you love can make more of a difference to your life than a television screen!

Free Acting for Camera Workshops

Olivia — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:24:09 +0000

Act 2 Cam is a company based in Newcastle upon Tyne giving young people a chance to gain experience in acting for film. The drama school specializes in film-making and screen – a great introduction into the film industry!

For August and September they are introducing free drama workshops for aspiring performers aged 8 – 18 years old. Places are available to the first 500 people to book using their online contact form so check it out at their website where they have a full list of centres all over the North of England.

Good luck!

Brilliant Blogs

Olivia — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:11:13 +0000

Some of the best advice and words of wisdom come straight from those who are part of the industry already or even those still auditioning for drama school. What better than to hear straight from the horse’s mouth? So, here is a list of blogging actors, casting directors and agents. This list is no where near complete so if you know any not listed here let us know!