Auditions, location and how many?

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
We are getting ready to hold auditions.

We have a few locations in mind, but are having some issues with costs involved. We don't want to waste our entire budget renting some rooms for auditions. But, we expect a high amount of people showing up.. so we need to be able accomodate on a budget. What types of places do low budget movies typical hold casting?

Also, we had talked about doing 2 different days so it would provide an option for those who may not be able to make it one day.

Is this a good idea? Or any other suggestions?
 
Any space large or small that will comfortably hold you, your camera and your actors is fine. You should have good lighting of course. No outside sound interference is also a big thing to look for. I am an actor/filmmaker. I have worked on Broadway, TV, film and the size of the audition spaces runs the gamut from tiny to huge.

2 things to keep in mind are make sure its a quiet place so you get clean sound even thought its an audition. Also, as much as possible cast from what you see on screen not from what your seeing in person. The difference can be large or small but what's actually on the audition tape as far as what an actor looks like and the actors qualities only a camera picks up is very important.

All the best,
JJ
 
I think the thing I am worried about is with crowd control.

Nothing ever happens like this here, so its created somewhat of a buzz. I can't guarantee it, but we had planned on doing "open" cattle call type auditions. The problem with this is, it means we could have TONS of people showing up.. most of which we won't even be able to use for the parts we are casting for.

Which got me to thinking, that maybe we shouldn't have open cattle call auditions, and actually have people who are interested contact us beforehand and schedule the auditions. Then it really doesn't matter how big or small the place is.
 
Azmyth said:
We are getting ready to hold auditions.

We have a few locations in mind, but are having some issues with costs involved. We don't want to waste our entire budget renting some rooms for auditions. But, we expect a high amount of people showing up.. so we need to be able accomodate on a budget. What types of places do low budget movies typical hold casting?
Click to expand...

More than one hotel in a town will have a small conference room where you can set up the camera and tables and chairs for directors and producers to sit and watch. And because the hotels all have some type of lobby, they don't fret about lines of people sitting around waiting. Some conference rooms can go from as little as $75 for the day to upwards of $150-500. Call around.

If that does not work, contact a community college in your area and see if they will allow you to rent or use space for free. Some Community Arts Centers will also rent rooms for free and have large lobbies.


Azmyth said:
Also, we had talked about doing 2 different days so it would provide an option for those who may not be able to make it one day.
Click to expand...

For the most impact and bang for your buck...do Friday and Saturday but don't start at dawn, start just before lunch time and plan on going until after 6 or 7 so you can see actors who have day or night jobs!

Azmyth said:
Is this a good idea? Or any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Try to set up time slots for your actors and stay as close to on time as possible. Depending an the role they are reading for you may need 2 minutes per actor for 1 page sides...to 5 minutes for 2-3 pages...and so on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top