The Search for Actors

NathanPresley

NathanPresley

Well-known member
Im gonna be holding a audition In FEB and I want to have many actors
to choose from.

what do you recommend ? any websites that can help ?

thanks
 
From your signature, I assume that you are looking for actors that might be willing to attend an audition in Oklahoma. Break Down Services, the largest and best known website for posting of audition notices should be able to help.

Go to www.breakdownservices.com and follow the link to Breakdown Express. There you will be able to send an inquiry and start an account with them (no cost).

You could also consider working with a casting director in your area. You might want to go to the CSA site to see who might be available to work on your project. http://www.castingsociety.com/

One strong suggestion, don't hold an "open call". Real actors will look at this as a sign of a novice casting and may avoid submitting for your project. Always have time specific appointments and be certain to provide the per audition materials (sides, character breakdown) well in advance.

There are also a number of good books on the subject, including one written by Bonnie Gillespie (a friend who is a CD) that I would recommend.

Best of luck on your project.
 
I know you posted a similar response to someone from Oklahoma a while back but I couldn't find it. That's the info he needs, Kevin.
 
imageonepictures said:
Open calls are really that bad?
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Only if you want professional actors!

Consider that an audition is a job interview of sorts, however, unless you are a producer with experience, shooting under a standard guild contract, you are also being evaluated by the actor.

A professional actor will likely have much more experience when it comes to auditions than nearly any producer as they can easily attend 5 - 25 auditions a month. Now if they have been auditioning for years, they could have easily attended hundreds to thousands of auditions so they know what is normal and what is not. Real auditions, those conducted by real casting directors never have open calls.

Why would they?

The normal process is that a breakdown is sent out to agents/managers and/or talent through any of the standard channels. The agents/managers go through these daily and submit their clients based upon the applicability of the person for the role. This saves the producer from the wasted time of getting someone in that is simply wrong for the role (wrong gender, wrong ethnicity, wrong age, wrong skills, etc). If you hold an open call, you are likely to get non professionals that are poorly preselected for the roles that you are trying to cast.

On the talent side, by asking for them to attend an open call, it can be a big waste of their time (remember, they may have many other auditions to attend that day and scheduling is everything). A professional is going to be suspicious of anything that is outside of the normal. If you are doing your own casting, you are already not following the normal process so that is strike one against you, if you hold open calls you are giving away that you either don't know or don't care about the normal process, strike two. In many cases, a professional isn't going to even consider your project worth their time with two strikes against you before they even arrive at the audition.

Other things to consider are how you write your audition notice. Follow the normal process and create a well written breakdown and have the sides for the roles posted on the normal sites that provide these to actors. Make certain that your sides appear to be professionally generated, there is a format and if you don't know it, learn it and use it. Again, you want to appear to be a professional and to do that you need to behave as one and that includes following the normal practices of the industry.

Professional actors are very experienced at auditioning, they do this type of work more than they do anything else (including acting on camera) in their career. Auditioning is different than acting for a job (and most professional actors will tell you that getting the job is more difficult than doing the work) and has its own skills associated with it. Don't make a mistake up front that will preclude getting the best actors to consider your project.
 
This is almost an absolute true statement. I read the Breakdowns daily and believe me, professional castings are not open calls!

I have a number of friends that are working CDs and none have held an open audition for years. In stage, not theatrical, open auditions are a bit more common (at least for lesser roles) but for theatrical, it almost never happens.
 
Open calls for film or television roles are usually put on as a publicity stunt, to gather interest in the project. I remember, years ago, that they held an open audition for "Sunset Beach" all over the country, which I went for. As it turns out his own daughter and son got the parts they were casting for...
 
I guess , as we have to do often on this site, is distinguish between the independent filmmaker and the industry standard. True for film and television in the system, there are hardly ever open calls because you can afford experience professionals and they have representation that have relationships with casting directors. Open calls also exposes you to non SAG and if it is a union shoot it can be a waste of time.

However, independent films have open calls all of the time. It doesn't mean that you will not get experienced actors, just not as commercially successful. You may find great actors, especially on the east and west coast. In Oklahoma, I would search the theater scene and if not, cast people that are a lot like the characters in the screenplay and can be natural. Post something that has the actors in the community provide a resume and headshot, send them the sides to prepare. You can then schedule each for a time slot, I was able to bang out 5 or 6 auditions/hour this way.
 
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I'm not just guessing about open calls.

But maybe we're not talking about the same thing?

If you mean cattle calls, no...not so much.

But of course open calls are common. Maybe not for the "leads", but certainly the rest. (And I don't mean extras).

Otherwise, we would have run out of actors years ago. Generally speaking, you can't just go knock on an agent's door and say "I wanna be an actor. Will you represent me?"

So you go to open calls, get some experience, join the guild (yecch), get repped, and not worry about opne calls anymore.

Until your agent stops sending you out...
 
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It is my understanding that breakdown services is free to producers, or may require a deposit to verify that the film is actually financed. (refundable)


Worth checking out at least -- cold call auditions are never ideal, but what are you gonna do, not make your movie?


Goodluck


Dean
 
GenJerDan said:
I'm not just guessing about open calls.

But maybe we're not talking about the same thing?

If you mean cattle calls, no...not so much.

But of course open calls are common. Maybe not for the "leads", but certainly the rest. (And I don't mean extras).

Otherwise, we would have run out of actors years ago. Generally speaking, you can't just go knock on an agent's door and say "I wanna be an actor. Will you represent me?"

So you go to open calls, get some experience, join the guild (yecch), get repped, and not worry about opne calls anymore.

Until your agent stops sending you out...
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In the frame of reference that I am familiar with (specifically, Hollywood commercial & theatrical) an open call is a an audition notice where the submission / audition notice process is bypassed. Perhaps this has been an argument over semantics, I can't be certain.

Here is how it is typically done here:

1) A producer hires a casting director to "cast" their project.

2) The CD writes a break down of the project and characters and posts these audition notices to one of the sites used (Breakdown Services, LA Casting, Now Casting, etc).

3) If it is an actor accessible site (like Breakdown Services Actor Access) then actors are welcome to "self submit" if it is not, then agents or managers submit the actors to the CD.

4) The CD selects from the "submissions" those that they wish to "bring in" for an audition. The notifications go either to the agent/manager or talent depending upon who submitted. The auditions are time specific.

An "open call" is a different process, one where the CD posts an audition notice that is "open to all that arrive at the appointed location between the appointed times".

I just surveyed Breakdown Services, going back some 200+ auditions, and there were no "open call" audition notices among the listing of episodic, short, feature and pilot audition notices (some student films that have no idea what they are doing might have an open call, but any more, most of the better student films use CDs and do it right). This is not to say that they never occur, but they are extremely rare in Hollywood.

Obviously, not all producers hire CDs to cast their projects. Many are familiar with the process and they exercise the same steps themselves, but again, "open calls" are neither the norm nor do they do much to accomplish the goal of getting the best talent to work on a given project as you get whomever shows up.

With no presorting at all you will end up getting all the under-qualified and unrepresented talent out there, you would have a much tougher job finding appropriate talent and worse yet, the best talent will "avoid" your notice becusae you have revealed yourself to be inexperienced in the casting process by offer an "open call".
 
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Dean Bull said:
It is my understanding that breakdown services is free to producers, or may require a deposit to verify that the film is actually financed. (refundable)


Worth checking out at least -- cold call auditions are never ideal, but what are you gonna do, not make your movie?


Goodluck


Dean
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Not exactly correct. "Breakdown Express", the part of Breakdown Services that serves CDs (Casting Directors) has a fee schedule for all casting notices that are available to representation only. The notices that are submitted to the actor accessible portion, known as "Actors Access" has no fee associated with the audition posting.

The term you use "cold call auditions" seems to be a hybrid of a "cold read" (where no sides were sent the talent in advance) and some other term and isn't really clear.

I am involved in the casting process on a nearly daily basis and and very familiar with the norm in Hollywood. I am certain that there are different practices in other parts of the world, but around here, there is a very well defined process that is understood and pretty rigid in its individual steps.
 
OK. Just a terminology difference then, because open <> cattle in my lexicon.

Open just means non-repped folks are ok. (Basically doing the CD stuff yourself. "Wanted: Male, Caucasian, 25-30. Must play harmonica."

And then the actors send in the headshots and resumes to you.

Not 300 people showing up at some location for an audition.
 
Great to learn, just an argument over semantics.

The terminology that is used in Hollywood for non represented talent would be "self submit". The choice to open up an audition notice to "self submit" is the CD's / Producer's prerogative.

The basic talent hiring process follows a pretty well established food chain.

1st tier - At the top of the list are "offer only" talent where you present them with a firm offer of a role (including a salary offer) for them to even consider reading the script. There are but a few that are in this category and even then, not many stay there for long.

2nd tier - Where the producer / director offers roles to those that they want to have in their project. This is what is often referred to as "A list actors".

3rd tier - Where the CD offers roles to actors that are "in their files". This is about the best that most working actors can hope for. A CDs reputation is on the line so they are much more willing to offer a role to someone that they know.

4th tier - Agent/Manager audition notices. This is where the bulk of commercial, pilot, episodic guest start and smaller roles are cast. This is the "working actors" bread and butter.

5th tier - Actor accessible or "self submit OK" notices are posted. Often these are for lesser roles or where highly specific physical or special skill roles are needed.

By the time that an actor that is in the "self submit" category sees notices for a project they have already been pretty picked over as all the higher tiers have had their shot at the roles.
 
kevin is right. not too many good veteran actors would go to an open call (actually none). also you don't have to be represented by an agent to get an audition. i submit myself all the time. i once had an audition and we had set a time and i showed up and it was an open call? i was so pissed off at these peeons, because i had other audition times scheduled. i guarantee that movie bombed.
 
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