Confessions of a Casting Director
Page 3
DON’T be cheap and print copies at Walgreens. You’re a professional actor. Be classy. Spend money where it matters.
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Formatting Your Résumé
You need to take a résumé as well as a head shot to each audition. Your résumé should include the following four sections (in this sequence):
1.Header (includes name, contact info, physical description, and union affiliations)
2.Experience
3.Training
4.Skills
Clearly label each of these sections (except the header) on your résumé.
Check out the sample résumés on the following pages for format and content. Use them as guides as you work on your own. Note the clear, organized listing of all their credits.
RÉSUMÉ DOS AND DON’TS
DO include a mobile contact number. Record a clear and professional outgoing voice mail message. Treat your cell phone as your work phone number. This is not the place to be cute or funny.
DO include an e-mail address and/or website information. Use a Gmail address that’s clear and simple. CuteGirlz431@aol.com is NOT a professional e-mail address. If you have a complicated last name like Camadeco, keep it simple, like LaurenCo212@gmail.com.
DO staple your résumé to the back of your photo. This is a universal rule in casting. I can’t tell you how many times an actor has offered me a photo and a résumé not stapled. If you can’t follow this simple direction, how are you going to manage intricate rules on a movie set?
DON’T include your home address, home phone number, or social security information on your résumé. Maybe it’s because I watch too much Law and Order, but your home address shouldn’t be floating around for anyone to potentially see. If you book the role, the production can reach you or your agent via cell or e-mail to obtain your home address and phone number.
DON’T lie about ANYTHING—your height or weight, training, roles you have played, or directors you’ve worked with. Everyone knows everyone in this industry, and you WILL get caught.
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Remember, every audition is a job interview. Your résumé must be professional, organized, and perfectly formatted. There’s no excuse for sloppiness!
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STAGE MOMS’
CORNER
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Photos and Résumés
Photographers often charge less for children. And since children change and grow quickly, you may have to budget for new head shots every few years or so. Make sure the photo looks like your child—young, happy, and smiling. DON’T go crazy with hair and makeup. Save that for Toddlers & Tiaras. When crafting a résumé for your child, keep the following points in mind:
•Keep the résumé simple. Less is more, especially when your child is just starting out. Local roles in school, church, and community theater productions are perfectly legitimate credits.
•Be careful not to put anything indicating where you live. Instead of listing your child’s school, just list the auditorium’s name. This is just a safety precaution in case the résumé ends up in the wrong hands.
•List acting, voice, and dance teachers. Casting directors can easily pick up the phone to call a reputable acting teacher on the résumé and ask if your child is focused and disciplined (or not).
•Don’t lie about height, weight, or special skills.
AUDITION STORIES
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My First Audition
My first audition was for a commercial. They were looking for a “Sexy Woman.” I put on a brand-new, very tight skirt and marched out the door. Needless to say, an integral part of the audition was to strut my stuff “runway-model style,” and unfortunately, all I could do was wobble like a penguin in that overly tight skirt. And no, I did not get the part.
—ANNA LAKOMY,
www.annalakomy.org
How to Find Out About Auditions
When we are ready to begin casting, casting directors will release a casting breakdown that lists all open roles for the project. Here’s a sample casting breakdown so you can familiarize yourself with the format:
Agents and managers subscribe to Breakdown Services, which, in the old days, delivered physical copies of the breakdowns to the offices of agents and managers each morning. The agents and managers would go through all the projects actively casting and type a cover letter to the casting director suggesting various clients for each role. They’d messenger over a package with the submission letter and photos and résumés to the casting office. Today, breakdowns and submissions are all done digitally. Agents can easily click through and submit clients for parts all day as the breakdowns come out.
There are also many online audition and casting resources available directly to actors, such as Actors Access,* Backstage.com, or Casting Networks.† Google these sites, sign up for an account, then create your actor profile. The fees are manageable. Once your profile’s complete, you’ll begin to receive casting notices. You can click and submit yourself for posted projects. Many films and theater projects will be for nonpaying or tiny-stipend nonunion jobs. But they can provide valuable experience, especially when you’re just starting out.
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Traveling for Auditions
If you don’t live in New York City or Los Angeles, you’ll have to travel for auditions. Remember to add in the cost of flights, hotel rooms, food, taxicabs, subways, gas, parking, and bridge and tunnel tolls to your initial budget estimate. We’ll go over more specifics of New York versus L.A. in chapter 11.
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Consider a Flexible Job
A corporate job deserves your attention, just like an acting career. You can’t have it both ways. Find a job that’s flexible so you can be available to audition. Make sure to tell your employers that you’re an actor so there’s no surprise when you need to run out of the workplace for a last-minute commercial audition.
I once had to leave a temp assignment at Citibank to rush downtown for a callback for a national Cascade commercial. As I ran out of the office applying my lipstick, the senior vice president of global asset management screamed, “Fire her! Fire the temp agency!”
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Flexible Jobs 101
•Waitress, bartender, hostess at a restaurant, barista
•Childcare: nanny or babysitter
•Teaching: tutor, acting instructor in schools
•Fitness: front-desk attendant at a gym or yoga studio (bonus: you might even get a free membership!)
•Tour guide, personal assistant, theater usher, box office salesperson
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So now you know what you need to get started. Here’s a more detailed look at a sample budget:
•Professional head shots with a professional photographer: $700 and up. For kids, somewhere around $400.
•Professional head shot prints and postcards: fifty prints for $99.50 (head shots) and $89.00 for postcards. Prices may change but that’s the rate at the time of this publication.
•Acting lessons—group or private coaching: private coaching runs about $100 to $200 per hour; group classes may charge monthly or semester fees depending on location and instructors.
•Workshops to meet agents and casting directors: prices start around $25 per workshop and go up depending on class size and length of workshop.
•Audition Bootcamp/Master Class Intensives: weekend workshop prices vary (anywhere from $200 to $1,000) depending on city and instructors.
•Vocal coaching: between $50 and $200 per hour.
•Dance classes: single classes are typically around $16, and a ten-class card is about $160 on average at places like Broadway Dance Center* and STEPS.† These are both New York–based studios; dance class costs can vary greatly from city to city.
•Subscriptions to audition listings (Backstage newspaper, Actors Access, Casting Networks): $50 per year. Playbill.com has a casting and jobs link that’s free.
•Transportation (bus, train, subway, gas, parking, toll) costs to travel t
o and from auditions: prices will vary by city, but in New York expect parking and tolls to cost $50 a day and in L.A., around $10 for valet parking or $5 to $10 for public parking after the first two hours (which are usually free with parking validation). A single ride on a New York City bus or subway is $2.75 at the time of this publication (though there are discounts when you buy a multiride pass). A bus or Metro Rail ride in L.A. costs $1.50, but most people drive.
Extra money for that Starbucks latte before the audition: $4 to $5.
TOTAL START-UP COSTS: $1,000 and up
JEN’S LAST WORD
It’s better to pad your budget and overestimate your costs so you won’t find yourself running out of money. Update your budget frequently and move money allocations from one budget line to another depending on your needs and where you notice yourself spending more or less. Costs will change depending on what your current needs are. Once you see the numbers all lined up and start sticking to a set budget, you’ll feel more in control of your spending and ready to get out there and audition!
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CHAPTER TWO
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AGENTS AND MANAGERS 101
In 1982 I was discovered by Jean Fox and Adrienne Albert when they saw me in a Stagedoor Manor production of Free to Be . . . You and Me. Jean and Adrienne had recently partnered to form a management company called Kids & Company, which later became Fox Albert Management. Over the years, Jean and Adrienne launched the careers of Mira Sorvino, Josh Charles, Lacey Chabert, Timothy Olyphant, and many more. They represented me for eight years, until I went to college.
You don’t necessarily need an agent or a manager when you’re first starting to audition. But in the long run, obtaining representation should be a goal for all actors who want to seriously pursue this career.
Meeting Agents, Managers, and Casting Directors
Show business is like any other profession: networking is key. Sometimes you need to pay to network. For a reasonable fee, you can meet agents, managers, and casting directors at places like One on One,* Actors Connection,† and TVI Actors Studio.‡ These career networking companies are great resources for actors, especially if you’re brand new to New York or Los Angeles. Visit their websites. For young actors, check out The Broadway Workshop* for musical theater classes and ACTeen† for TV and film training. They often have agents, managers, and casting directors attend showcases or final performances.
The Million-Dollar Question: How to Get an Agent
This is the most commonly asked question, and the answer is different for every actor. In the pre-Internet days, Ross Reports published a list of contacts that was updated frequently and contained mailing labels for agents and casting directors. Today you can start by researching talent agencies in major cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Nashville, Dallas, or Denver. Each agency will note its submission requirements on its website, and some sites list the names of specific agents who work there. Make sure to read through all the requirements. Some agencies accept e-mail submissions while others may ask for a cover letter and hard copy of your photo and résumé. Every agency will be different. Remember to always proofread your cover letters. There’s nothing more unprofessional and insulting then typing the wrong name or agency in the letter because you were too lazy to double-check when you cut and pasted. I’ve gotten so many letters over the years that either had my name misspelled or were addressed to the wrong company. One day at Disney, I got so fed up that I asked my intern to contact each actor who wrote an incorrect letter to point out their mistake. I figured we were doing them a favor in the long run.
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Miley’s Big Break
Mitchell Gossett, senior vice president at CESD Talent Agency in New York and Los Angeles, met Miley Cyrus when she was ten years old. At the time, Mitchell was working with another actor in Nashville, Tennessee, which boasts a huge Christian music scene. He had earned respect within the tight-knit Nashville community, and he got a call about meeting with Billy Ray Cyrus’s daughter. Mitchell was invited to dinner at a Cyrus family friend’s house, where Billy Ray wanted to feel him out. Once Mitchell and Billy Ray connected, Billy Ray called for ten-year-old Miley to come into the room and sing. Mitchell thought, That’s a very unusual voice. He recalls that she sounded like a cabaret singer, as if she’d been singing in the clubs for a decade. Mitchell started to work with Miley, and he recalls, “Miley taped her Hannah Montana audition with her acting coach in Nashville three times. When I watched her final audition tape, my mouth dropped open. In that audition I saw a transformation that I couldn’t explain. She was able to surprise even herself in the audition. Miley didn’t just come in and create. She came in and reinvented. I knew this would be a game changer. When you surprise yourself as an actor, your audience is also surprised.” Miley got cast in the lead role of Disney’s Hannah Montana, and the rest, as they say, is history.
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What Does an Agent Do?
Think of your talent agent as an employment agency. His or her job is to get you acting work. An agent also defends, supports, and promotes your interests. To do this, a talent agent must be familiar with you, to know what kind of work you can and cannot do in order to match you with various jobs.
Agencies commission 10 percent of whatever money the actor earns. Sometimes an agency will start out by freelancing with you. Then, if you book a job, they may offer you a standard one-year contract with an option to renew. A contract protects the agent by ensuring that you aren’t going to go off to try to find another agent. Plus, the contract agreement means that the agency is entitled to collect the 10 percent of your earnings on any job you booked while represented by them.
A year is a very short amount of time to have a contract with an agency. Some agents don’t expect an actor to book a job in the first year. They’re looking at you as developmental at this point in time. Agents never get paid any money up front, so if any agent asks for upfront money, do not work with them or the agency. Whether an agent asks you to sign a contract or wants to freelance, you should feel encouraged. You’re building relationships, and a freelance relationship is often the first step in acquiring representation.
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STAGE MOMS’
CORNER
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Finding an Agent for Your Child
If you’re looking for a talent agent for your child, often a professional head shot isn’t necessary and a school photograph will do. If you have a résumé to accompany the photo and cover letter, send it, though it’s not necessary at this beginning stage. If you’re mailing in a cover letter with your child’s photograph, be sure to include your child’s name, date of birth, hair and eye color, height, weight, and any special skills. Be honest about their skills. Often talent agents who represent young actors don’t require you to sign a contract. Instead they operate on a “verbal exclusive.” They expect you to honor the verbal agreement and not seek representation elsewhere while they are working for you.
When an Agent Says “Let’s Keep in Touch . . .”
An agent or manager might not be able to sign an actor for any of several reasons; for instance, if the agent already has other clients in the same age category, or if the agency is simply not signing anyone new. But if they ask the actor to keep in touch, they mean it. Often an agent will want to follow or keep track of an actor over a few years. If the actor starts to generate some buzz from a play or a Sundance film that’s garnered some attention, the agent may then be interested in signing.
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ASK THE
ACTOR
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How did you get your agent, and how long have you worked together?
I met my agents at a presentation evening set up by my graduate school program at the University of California, San Diego. I was hoping to get a few interviews with agents after the presentation, but I got very lucky that evening and managed to get interest from more than twenty! So I was in the unusual position of inter
viewing agents as opposed to them interviewing me. After many meetings, the agents I chose were the Gage Group in New York. They were relaxed, interested in my life as well as my career, and they really got me. That was 1990. I am still with the same agency and I am still as sure of my decision as I was when I first met them.
—DANNY BURSTEIN,
four-time Tony-nominated actor
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH AGENTS, MANAGERS, AND CASTING DIRECTORS: DOS AND DON’TS
DO write when you have something to say. Share some good news: You’ve just completed Yale University’s MFA program. You booked a Charmin commercial. You’re costarring in an upcoming episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Be specific when you write.
DON’T be overly creative in your letters. Less is more.
DON’T stalk an agent or casting director’s e-mail inbox by sending repetitive e-mails.
DON’T send Facebook messages to a casting director.
DON’T call an agent or casting director. You know the old saying “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”? It’s true. Our days are very busy. Use mail and e-mail for correspondence. We’ll call you when there’s an audition for you. Be patient!