Need some Chicago info...

B

baquajim

Well-known member
Not the band, the city.

I want to cast my film out of there. But I am on a low budget, real low, and I heard Chicago is expensive.

Does anyone know of some place where you could rent it for a week to hold auditions? Some place that is cheap?

What about a cheap place to stay?

Any opinions on actors in Chicago (quantity? quality?)

NYC and LA are real expensive, I am figuring Chicago is my next best bet, but I don't know anyone there.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
i know "nsfilms" is from chicago. send him a PM, i am sure he'd help a brutha out with some info...

there's gotta be others on here from chi town too...

i was going to film my last movie partially in chicago (ended up doing it all locally) and contacted the film commission there for help, they are nice people, could try them to, this is who i talked to by phone and email:

Kathy Byrne
Project Coordinator
Chicago Film Office
 
Contact the Chicago Film Office...they're dynamite; top drawer.
Reach them at www.cityofchicago.org/filmoffice.
Used them last summer in regards to a film permit on the South Side---bad area of town. They provided a police car and officer for the four hours we filmed as "protection". I remember them also having the inside scoop on discounted this and that--didn't need it, merely drove in with van, unloaded on street corner at 9AM (And the cop was on time!), filmed, packed up and left town!
Oh, there is a $25 per day permit fee, but they also posted no parking signs on the street surrounding where we filmed (very nice) and we WERE NOT charged for the officer. (On the site they list fee schedules for police etc., but where we we shooting, let's just say the equipment was a tempting target to the unemployed 18-40 y.o males arpund there.) They need liability insurance, but I beleive it is waivable under certain conditions (?) I used my biz umbrella policy and that was sufficient for them.
Sorry, can't find my contact persons info...
 
Yeah, I grew up in Chicago and return frequently to visit family and friends. It's a tremendous place to shoot with a ton of good locations, but it's no bargain! It's a big independent theatre (like Steppenwolf) and improv (like Second City) town so getting top notch no-pay actors is definitely not a problem. Chicago used to be a pretty big feature production city, but when the Canadian dollar dropped, a lot of the feature production headed north. Gradually, they've been getting some of it back.

I'll be back there on Thursday, so I can probably find you a cheap audition space. One of my best friends is in IATSE and he's got a lot of contacts, so he should have some suggestions (and don't worry, you don't need to be a union production). Chicago hotels are expensive, so maybe try Craig's list for some crash space. Maybe also contact Chicago Filmmakers (an indie film group) for some guidance.

http://www.chicagofilmmakers.org/


Also, you can contact the Chicago Film Office if you're going to go the permit/bigger production route.

www.cityofchicago.org/filmoffice

Brian's got some good points, you could always set your film in Chicago and just do a weekend run to shoot establishing and some key exterior shots.
 
Thanks to all. I will be shooting my movie in Memphis, the problem is getting actors. Not a big selection here.

The idea is to put out a casting notice for Chicago actors. And then rent a space where I can have auditions. I was not planning on having a cattle call, so everybody would have a scheduled time.

But I wanted a whole week to do it. It is crucial I get quality actors.

Barry S. - If your friend can come up with any place to hold auditions, I would appreciate the info.

In the meantime, I will check the other links and info everybody left. Thank you.
 
I don't know how spartan you prefer your living quarters, but the Arlington House is a clean and cheap hostel located in a very nice area of Lincoln Park. If you can handle the hosel vibe, it's in a good location and is likely the cheapest place to stay in the city.

http://www.arlingtonhouse.com/
 
Ok, no problem, we'll find you some space, but do you have some more specific information like:

How many consecutive days do you need?

What hours?

Range of dates that work for you.

How much can you afford for the space?


baquajim said:
Thanks to all. I will be shooting my movie in Memphis, the problem is getting actors. Not a big selection here.

The idea is to put out a casting notice for Chicago actors. And then rent a space where I can have auditions. I was not planning on having a cattle call, so everybody would have a scheduled time.

But I wanted a whole week to do it. It is crucial I get quality actors.

Barry S. - If your friend can come up with any place to hold auditions, I would appreciate the info.

In the meantime, I will check the other links and info everybody left. Thank you.
Click to expand...
 
If you are looking for rooms to stay at on the cheap; check out the hotels in the outlying suburbs. Either south or west burbs; it really isn't that far away from the city. And the south side does have nice areas; like Hyde park, chatam, pill hill, (contrary to what Focusthis said).

Hey, I have to rep my part of town.
 
Chicago actors...

Chicago actors...

Don't know what you're looking for but I can also recommend an actor from the Chicago area: Rodney Simba Masarirambi

trevor1.jpg


I will PM you more details...
 
Barry_S said:
Ok, no problem, we'll find you some space, but do you have some more specific information like:

How many consecutive days do you need?

What hours?

Range of dates that work for you.

How much can you afford for the space?
Click to expand...

Not sure of dates yet, but I was thinking at least five consecutive days for probably 5 hours a day.

I was figuring that it would probably be a place that is used for something else at night, so I could get it during the day. Or vice versa.

I am pretty open to whatever.

I didn't want to spend a couple of thousand for it, if I could get it for that, even under a thousand, that would be nice.

Like I said, I am not planning on having a cattle call, I am just looking for a small area where I can audition/videotape actors and then do callbacks as the week goes on.

Dates: I am shooting for this fall, don't have anything specific yet as I am still location scouting for the next couple weeks.

If you could send me a PM with any info, I would appreciate it.

Thanks Barry.
 
jkc123 and dustino, I will check out that hostel and some of the other areas. Thank you for the info.
 
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