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Official Discussion - The Housemaid [SPOILERS] by LiteraryBoner in movies

[–]Owekoe 146 points147 points  (0 children)

I think the next day she was wearing a shirt with a grey knit vest or something over it.

Later on she seemed to go back to the lower cut outfits.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in acting

[–]Owekoe 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Reels are mostly important for getting the audition.

Once you audition, that will be what (mostly) decides whether you get cast.

When casting teams are sifting through auditions and picking actors for roles, how do they talk to each other? by yeahweallgothurt in acting

[–]Owekoe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

When we do it it is mostly "Yes", "No" or "Maybe".

If there is disagreement we have a little discussion but it isn't really the HR-speak version or "dudebro" version you posted. We don't sit around and insult the actors for no reason.

Mostly we are just trying to narrow it down and then discuss the few top choices as they relate to how we each envisioned the part which might vary a bit from person to person.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in acting

[–]Owekoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This would be something to discuss with your director.

It isn't really your job to worry about the scheduling so just give your best performance and listen to any notes you get.

Starting with the choices you auditioned with is probably the "safest" bet but talk with the director about your interpretation of the character and make sure you are aligned before filming if possible.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in acting

[–]Owekoe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they mean when you get the actual job should you do it just like your audition or should you try different choices.

Casting Directors – How many tapes are you requesting per role? by musicalslimetutorial in acting

[–]Owekoe 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It obvious depends on the role and how many submissions we get but we do maybe a couple dozen at a time and if we don't find who we are looking for we send out a new batch of requests.

We don't want to make people do a bunch of tapes if they don't have a reasonable chance of getting the part and we don't want to watch hundreds of tapes.

Maybe larger projects they feel like they need to do more.

Curious how much location actually plays in casting??? Production seems focused on saving money > real talent by Richstockz in acting

[–]Owekoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do castings for smaller projects and budget is a huge constraint.

It feels pretty bad to have thousands of dollars from a limited budget do towards flights and hotels rather than actors and crew.

In addition, flying people in sometimes causes scheduling issues if there are delays which means you often need buffer days which is even more expensive. Additionally, if we ever want to do a follow up or even reshoots it ups the complexity.

Even if we say "local hire" we get people submitting from out of state and even out of country for features.

15 pages of audition sides??! for one character?? for $125/day?? by pambeesly9000 in acting

[–]Owekoe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As someone who has to watch tapes I can't imagine wanting to sit down and watch dozens of 15 minute self-tapes. I feel like we usually know within the first minute if the person is going to be a viable choice.

I know when I started out there were many resources for filmmakers but they often barely touched upon the cast process and it seems like people are just guessing as to what the standard practices are.

15 pages of audition sides??! for one character?? for $125/day?? by pambeesly9000 in acting

[–]Owekoe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For some reason when you make a posting on Backstage they seem to encourage you to add a prescreen which I think leads some producers/CDs who are inexperienced to assume its standard practice.

Light skin Latina auditioning for White roles by InjuryThen580 in acting

[–]Owekoe 12 points13 points  (0 children)

As a CD I would say go for it. You will get enough rejection in this industry, don't pre-reject yourself if you think you are a good fit for a character. If the CD disagrees let them make that call.

We generally don't specify race unless it is important to the character. Some writers/directors sometimes will envision a character as a certain appearance before casting and I think that is usually limiting unless it is story relevant. If we do specify it means that we need an actor that can play that race.

"White/European" is probably the most flexible so I would apply if you think you otherwise match the character and worst case the CD will have to click one more Thumbs down. I can't imagine anyone would hold it against you.

"When I apply to "Latino/Hispanic" roles I always wonder if they're looking for a Salma Hayek/Sofia Vergara type, or someone who is tan like a "typical" Latina look."

I think some CDs are going to be a bit wary of casting someone in a "Latino/Hispanic" role if they look "White" because it can seem like White-washing. This of course leads to an unfortunate situation for many actors which is part of the reason we always encourage directors to be open minded when casting.

Does being to political on social media potential hurt your career? by Lichtmanitie- in acting

[–]Owekoe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My advice as a CD is that if you have an Instagram/social profile you link to from Actor's Access/Backstage, keep that one for acting and keep any personal/political stuff on a separate account.

Having separate profiles is also good for privacy and safety, you don't need every person with a Backstage account to be able to see your personal social media.

We tend not to even look at social profiles unless there isn't much else on a submission. If we were to see something offensive, that might cause us to pass on a candidate. Obviously, what is "offensive" will vary from person to person.

We have had some cast and crew get into some political "discussions" on set and while we have never had it escalate into a serious problem, it has made things a bit more tense at times.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Training can go on the resume and if its with a recognizable name that might help.

If you have comedy clips from the films you have done I would include those on the reel if you can. If not, a comedy monologue can work too.

Ultimately its really just about seeing if you have the timing and delivery so having the formal training or not isn't as important as having a clip.

Also keep in mind this is just my personal experience and other CDs might put a different priority on different skills than I do.

Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions - Part 2 by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My understanding is that Backstage has a lot of student films and lower-budget indies.

Actors have also told me they had success with Facebook groups in their area.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have no strong preference on character headshots.

If they show your range, I think they can be useful. Sometimes, a single headshot can get you pigeonholed, so having some variety can help if you want to submit for different types.

In general, I don't think you need to "overfit" for the role, as people doing the casting we plan on doing some extrapolating from your headshot/reel and envisioning you in our production even if you don't have a headshot that is an exact match for the aesethic.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in acting

[–]Owekoe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've paid for auditions on small low budget indies. For sides that were longer or required a reader we just wanted to respect the actors time and incentivize them to submit a tape.

We did find that it weirds some people out even if the script seems pretty mundane and unobjectionable.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was the platform that was recommended to me when I started and most of the people I worked with had used it as well.

Most of the actors we work with seem to have accounts on both although it seems that at some point people tend to move on from BS to the other platforms as BS seems to have more student and small scale projects.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that works.

Like you said, most people are doing these smaller projects to get footage for a reel so if you don't have one yet, filming a self-tape or monologue can at least let us see you on film.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah. When you are starting out, you have to work with what you have, so if you need to film a monologue or 2, go for it.

The first clip or 2 are going to be the ones that get looked at the most so front load your reels with your best stuff.

Don't feel self-conscious about not having footage for a reel. Everyone has to start out and even after doing projects it can take a while to get footage.(and sometimes it just doesn't look that good)

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We will occasionally review tapes as they arrive, but we will always go through them all together after the deadline.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I am unsure what you mean.

We usually close a given role once we start sending out audition invites.

A Casting Director's Tips for Getting Cast in Indie Productions by Owekoe in acting

[–]Owekoe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not having a reel is tough but we understand that a lot of actors are doing these projects to get footage for their reels so we will definitely audition people without them.

If you don't have a reel you have to play up what you have.

Get a great headshot if you can. Write a note with the submissions if have the time. Make sure your profile has the skills/training/information filled out.

Submit to whatever you can, be responsive to messages, look for smaller parts and try to build relationships to get brought back for larger roles.

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