4/2

"Hunting For FOX: Final Day"

We've seen some really good people over the past week and we've also had some more mishaps. Here are a few more pointers:

1. Don't submit yourself if you are pregnant. We checked out this girl's reel and she was interesting so we called her in. When she arrived she was 6 months pregnant which is a problem casting wise. We couldn't show her to the producers even if we wanted to. This made her look unprofessional and deceptive. 

2. Know the name of your agent/manager.

3. Know how to spell the casting directors' names. 

4. Please adhere to the time constraints that were given in the breakdown (3-4 mins) and which were re-iterated on signs in the waiting room. Don't give us attitude and mutter "that's weird and not ok".  

3/30-4/1

"Hunting For FOX: Days 2, 3 and 4"

The past 2 days have been quite interesting. We have seen about 80 people in the past 2 days and out of those people we have sent 12 to be viewed by our Los Angeles counterpart. It's not easy casting for sketch comedy. We have seen many talented actors but alas many have not been able to handle sketch. It's a tough aspect of comedy hence we have been leaning towards calling in actors who have taken classes at Upright Citizens Brigade and places like that. 

I want to dedicate the rest of this entry to illuminating some more audition no-no's. Some of tips have to do with auditioning for sketch comedy and others are all-inclusive in terms of auditioning in general. There have been quite a few in the past 2 days. 

1. Don't clear your nose in the middle of an audition aka inhale really deeply when congested. 

2. Don't stop and say you're sorry or have a meltdown if you mess up. You must keep going and handle it as you would if you were on stage. 

3. Don't pull out an index card with your lines or character choices and start talking to yourself aka "hmmm....what should I do next?"

4. Choose one headshot to give us instead of asking us which one we want and showing us an assortment.  

5. Have a good disposition. If we ask you how you are doing or try to lighten the mood, go with it. Let us do the leading. Don't stare at the floor and look miserable and unhappy to be at the audition. 

6. For some reason we had quite a few actors choose to do characters that were incredibly loud. It seemed that they thought that volume equals humor which is not necessarily the case. If you want to do a loud character, do one, not three. Make other choices and show range. If spoofing a song, don't sing the whole song. Choose an excerpt. 

7. We had an actor who we rescheduled 3x due to his schedule and when he finally showed up, he became insecure and told my assistant he was running to the MUNI meter and never came back. I understand that his nerves took over but communicate with the casting director vrs disrespecting their time and lying. 

8. We ask actors not to submit via email as they often do not resize their attached photo like the woman whose email we received today. We happened to have opened up the email and It crashed our computer as the photo was 3 megabytes. We also tell actors to just include a post-it note on their pic with the role/project they are submitting for. Keep it simple. We had an actress tell us her life story and include a quote from Marianne Williamson, a self help writer. This kind of stuff drastically lessens an actor's credibility and level of professionalism.  

and finally....

We had another crasher today. When we asked him who he was and told him that he didn't have an appointment, he became belligerent and demanded that we see him. We tried to be nice and told him he wasn't even what we were looking for but he told us we were wrong and said he could do anything. He also told us he was a sketch writer and wanted us to submit his work to the producers of the show. We tried to talk to him and get him to understand that he was out of line but he wouldn't listen. He grabbed his headshot/resume and started "acting" and doing a threatening character and was yelling in the waiting room. We asked him to please leave and he started shaking and crying and begging us to let him audition. He then became angry and went back and forth between that and repeatedly saying he was sorry. This went on for about 10 minutes until he finally left. It was not only inappropriate but very scary. 

We are empathetic about how hard it must be to be an actor and the emotions that go along with it.  We understand very well and are incredibly supportive and go out of our way to make people feel comfortable and respected. It is important though that actors remember it is a two way street, keep things professional and handle an audition situation like a job interview. Sometimes I feel like actors forget that it is a joint effort, that we are on their side and want them to do well. We really do. :)

Jen

3/29/10

"Hunting For FOX: Day 1"

Today was our first day casting The Untitled FOX Primetime Sketch Show. It's going to be a more urban Saturday Night Live from the creators of MAD TV and Executive Producer, Jamie Foxx. 

We saw about 50 people today. Out of the 50, 8 made it onto our video server to be viewed by our Los Angeles counterpart. Out of the 8 people, 5 were represented by agents/managers and the other 3 were actors that I knew in a personal capacity.  I tell actors all the time how important it is to know casting directors and to be at the tippity top of their game. This is why. We have one week to hopefully find 3 series regulars for this show. We have had over 500 submissions from agents and managers and 1000 from unrepresented actors who we don't know. This is just in the first 48 hours since we released the breakdown. We will open all the mail eventually and I will scan people's headshots and resumes for anything that catches my eye. My priority goes towards seeing the actors who are represented by the agents and managers I trust, however, and to the actors whose work I know and love. Time is of the essence and I don't have much time to spare. This is often the case with casting directors and their work schedule.

The day on a whole was awesome. Canedy Knowles (who both works for The Actor's Green Room and is a loyal class attendee and who is part of Chicago City Limits), Michael Aranov (who I saw in his amazing one-man show MANIGMA) and Juliet Jeske (who is a staple as a host/comedienne in the NY burlesque scene and who I adore) were a few of the people who wowed us. Hilarious, professional and utterly prepared, they exemplified just how "ready" people need to be. There is a certain level that truly catches the attention of casting directors and that bypass the rest. What is that level? One knows what it is when they get called in time and again and are in the "zone". I truly believe that many actors possess that seed, that creative, special trait that if nurtured properly and with patience, can blossom into something that sends a chill up a casting director's spine in the best way possible. I've seen it happen. I've worked with actors who have that raw, undeveloped or rough talent and have helped them find their wings. They morph into the kind of actors that succeed and take flight, often to Los Angeles to test for and later book a pilot. It's one of the things that makes my job so rewarding. 

On a more serious note there were a few things that happened today that weren't so cool. One of my biggest pet peeves. We had one actor crash the audition which is a big no-no. He said that he was in the neighborhood and thought he'd drop by and audition. Most casting directors would have called security or black-listed the poor guy from their office for having been told bad advice by a fellow actor but I nicely schooled him in audition etiquette and sent him on his way. To make matters worse, the guy didn't have any real comedic experience either. So an important note: don't crash an audition and if you realllllllly insist on doing so, make sure you are really qualified and ready to rock. 

More tomorrow on Day 2!

Jen