Casting Revealed

A Guide for Film Directors

Hester Schell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317359173
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Casting is an essential component of any film or video project, but the core skill-set needed to cast effectively is little understood. Casting Revealed: A Guide for Film Directors is a straightforward manual on the art and craft of casting. Here, director Hester Schell offers her insider perspective on casting workflows, industry standards, finding actors, running auditions, what to look for in a performance, contracts, and making offers. This new edition has been updated with fresh interviews with casting directors, full color head shots, new information about online video submissions, and a companion website featuring forms, contracts, and sample scenes for auditions.

• Gain a fuller understanding of the misunderstood art and craft of casting actors for film and video production.
  
  
• Learn to find the right actors for any production, run auditions, interview actors, effectively judge performances and video submissions, evaluate suitability for a role, discover what it is you need from an actor, view headshots, draft contracts, make offers, and navigate current industry standards, unions, and procedures.
  
  
• This new edition has been updated to include full color sample head shots, new content on online video submissions, listings of casting wesbites, film resources, and film commissions and a companion website featuring interviews with celebrated casting directors from New York, Portland, Boston and Austin, necessary forms, sign-in sheets, contracts, and sample scenes for auditions.

1 Save Money—Do It Yourself (DIY)

“It’s an entirely new paradigm where a film made for $15,000 can co-exist as a theatrical feature alongside one made for over $300 million.”

—DAVID WORTH on Paranormal Activity and Avatar

“I let the actors work out their ideas before shooting, then tell them what attitudes I want. If a scene isn’t honest, it stands out like a sore thumb.”

—DAVID LYNCH

Directors Speak: In Session

“A casting often comes down to the most minute of details. If the leading woman I want most needs to be X inches shorter than our leading man, my decision is almost made for me. Does one actor seem easier to work with? Does one actor have more experience? How much will I have to direct this person? Does this person take direction?”

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“Being ’right for the role’ is how you get the part. Always. And that doesn’t just mean looking and sounding like an archetype for the character you’d be playing. It means that all of the factors a director considers, even the superficial ones, work in your favor—in the subjective opinion of the director. That is what makes you ’right’ for the role, and that is why you would land it. Casting is 90% of a director’s work, and if you have the right cast, most of your job is done. If the director has cast people who are right for each role, the production will be successful, and the majority of people will agree with the casting. Casting your brother’s nephew because he is your brother’s nephew is obviously one of those factors a director should not be considering, for if your brother’s nephew is right for the role because of his familial ties, most people will probably see that, and it will come back to haunt you.”

Film Production: Good for the Economy

Film production is a huge economic engine and one of the United States’ largest exports. Filmmaking is extremely good for the global economy. Blockbusters keep getting bigger. For example, George Lucas’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens raked in $528 million worldwide on its historic opening in December 2015. Investors want in.

Besides managing movie ratings, advocating free speech and copyright protection, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) collects data on film production and its economic impact for both domestic and international markets. According to the MPAA, the US entertainment industry generates over $104 billion in wages, $14 billion in international exports, and nearly $17 billion in public revenue. A sum of $14 billion represents a lot of export money for the United States, generating a lot of payroll taxes, stays in hotel rooms, and tips to workers taking care of us on location. And now a new milestone appeared: China became the first international market to generate over $4 billion in box office revenue.

Table 1.1 shows the top production states.

Table 1.1 Top production states

	Direct Jobs	Wages	Production-related Jobs
Oregon	6,897	$256 million	2,708
Arizona	8,838	$340 million	1,857
Texas	38,993	$1.6 billion	10,136
New York	94,957	$9.9 billion	53,898
California	188,404	$18.1 billion	132,627
Illinois	20,346	$1 billion	6,756
Louisiana	11,469	$468.8 million	6,942
Georgia	24,161	$1.68 billion	9,291
Massachusetts	10,386	$560.6 million	3,927

Source: MPAA, Motion Picture Association of America.

“Movie theaters continue to draw more people than all theme parks and US sports combined.”

—MPAA, Motion Picture Association of America, 2009

Figure 1.1 State by state, filmmakers definitely impact local economies

Used with permission, IFTA, Independent Film and Television Association

Tax Rebate Incentives: From the Legislators

“Can my low-budget film get a rebate in my state?” “How do I qualify?” “How much money do I have to spend to get the rebates?”

As an early career filmmaker, it is best to keep asking such questions and more. The short answer: unless you are spending millions, you’re probably not eligible for much of the state-sponsored tax rebates and production incentives. Since “low budget” by Los Angeles standards can be anything under $10 million, your 30 minute short costing $5K to $20K probably isn’t going to qualify for rebates. However, you need to understand how powerful these tax incentives are because, eventually, your career will lead you to into budget meetings where discussions about location become intrinsically linked to your state’s current rebate program. Let’s jump in.

For the most part, film production is sustainable, has a relatively low impact on the environment, creates jobs, and boosts local economies.¹ Year by year, state by state, filmmakers and artists rally their legislatures to renew tax rebates. Elected leaders argue about whether the tax rebates—what they are giving back to “those movie people”—is worth what the state takes in from payroll taxes, permits, fees, and sales taxes generated by money spent locally on support services. Sadly, a few, stubborn lawmakers just don’t understand and don’t want films shot in their neighborhoods. It’s a NIMBY (not in my back yard) perspective. Naturally, if one state doesn’t offer rebates, production companies will go to a state that does, taking the jobs, the payroll and sales taxes, and the hotel revenue with them. The MPAA does a wonderful job collecting data, state by state, about just how beneficial film production is for local economies—from restaurants to taxies, hair cuts to hotel bills.²

From California to Maine, film producers follow tax incentives state by state, along with the weather. When California legislators let their film incentive program lapse, production went up in Oregon, Washington, and Louisiana. When the legislature in Louisiana dropped its film rebate program, production in Texas took an upswing. Texas nearly dropped its rebate program in 2014, then immediately put it back when the legislature heard a large sucking sound at the border as the grip trucks started heading back to Los Angeles. Undoubtedly, then, film revenue really does add up.

In the spring of 2015, California re-instated its incentives and boom! Overnight, crews geared up for a healthy and robust summer shooting season. During July 2015, so many features were in production around the San Francisco Bay Area that producers and department heads had a hard time filling crew jobs with experienced, qualified local crews. The best and most experienced locals were booked early on. While these expenses boost the local economy, it costs producers more in hotel rooms, airfare, and car rentals to bring crew in from out of state. Producers prefer and need to hire crew and production assistants locally. When they can’t hire locally, the incentives can outweigh the crew payroll and hotel bill.

Our neighbors to the north in Vancouver, BC, continue to benefit from traveling productions. This has more to do with the strength of the US dollar and exchange rates. For example, a $1.5 million low-budget feature in the USA can be stretched to a $2.0 million picture in Canada, depending on the daily exchange rate fluctuations. In other words, your US dollar goes further in Canada. However, check current exchange rates before deciding to head across the border. The Canadian government also provides “free” production assistants who are earning college credit in government-supported training programs. Without qualified labor, they know they can’t attract the US productions to come to Canada. So, they offer training and include on-the-job experience in their programs. Everyone benefits.

Independent Film and Market Share

According to Amy Lemisch, director of the California Film Commission, “California’s world share of studio films (i.e., those made by the six biggest studios) dropped from 66% in 2003 to 35% in 2008” (The Economist, March 13–19, 2010, p. 33).

Independent movies are becoming the bulk of the film industry. Looking at box office receipts, the studios and big distributors remain top money dogs. However, if you look at the total number of films made and accepted into festivals, you will find every one jammed with independent films crazily vying to do anything to garner attention (“buzz”) and move up the food chain toward distribution deals. Studio executives scour the festivals in search of the next moneymakers, and they find them. Great writing, great casting, great direction and camerawork bring success.

So, sell a screenplay to a studio. Or, make it yourself. The power lies with you now that the independent market is your share. With your budget in place, it’s time to get your actors in place. No doubt you’ve been doing a bit of both.

Independent features are made on “speculation” today, similar to how a real-estate broker, a builder, and an architect build “spec” houses, recouping costs at the time of sale for their return on investment (ROI). You raise your budget funds and hope to earn some of it back in distribution. When the studios find a formula that works, they will squeeze every dollar they can from movie fans with sequels, merchandising tie-ins, and T-shirt sales.

Moviemaking is extremely hard work and casting is just one more preproduction hurdle to overcome. So let’s get started. You have a story to tell. You have a vision you think is original: one which no one else has done yet—well, not exactly the way you see it. Always remember that: the way you see it. And you want to have a good time making it. And, of course, g...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments to the Second Edition
• Hesters Perspective
• Something about Her
• Introduction to the Second Edition
• 1 Save Money—Do It Yourself (DIY)
• 2 Your Directing Career
• 3 An Overview of the Casting Process
• 4 Industry Standards
• 5 Acting—What Is It?
• 6 Timelines—When to Start and What to Do Before Jumping in
• 7 The Casting Breakdown—Spreading the Word
• 8 Staying Organized
• 9 The First Round—What You Need and Where You Need It
• 10 The Second Round—Callbacks
• 11 Offers and Contracts
• 12 Don’t Take My Word for It—Friends Chime In
• 13 Casting Directors—Do You Need One?
• 14 So You Want to Be a Casting Director
• Glossary of Common Film Terms
• The Parts of Speech and Common Phrases
• Web Resources
• Bibliography and Resources
• Recommended Reading
• Sample Course Outline—Syllabus
• Index
• About the Author
• Color plates can be found between pages 48 and 49