Confessions of a Casting Director

by Jen Rudin

  Here’s what some of my audition readers had to say after spending time as my reader during pilot season:

  Being a reader for Jen helped me learn about the importance of quick pacing in television auditions, simple outfit choices, and that not everything has to be small and introverted—especially for comedy. There is a fine line between being fun and conversational and taking up too much of the casting director’s time, and it’s extremely important to be aware of that. Jen would point out when people looked right for the part—they wore a blazer or they did their hair differently than usual—and how it really worked for the role for which they were auditioning. She also pointed out what didn’t work—hair and makeup should be simple, and too many accessories can be distracting. One of the most important things I learned is to stay close to the script. It’s appropriate to maybe add a bit of your own flair at the end of a scene, but don’t mess around with the writing. One person was very funny and had great comedic timing, but Jen couldn’t send her tape in because she wasn’t sticking to the script at all. The writer wrote those words for a reason, and he or she wants to hear you say them.

  —BECKY CHICOINE,

  www.beckychicoine.com

  An actor came in to read for a role. He looked great, he was lovely in the room, and he was clearly talented. However, his face was stuck in his sides during the audition. Jen gave him direction. He wasn’t able to take it because he was relying on the sides for his lines. When he left the room, Jen said how disappointed she was. She couldn’t post his tape, because his face was buried in his page. If he had been more prepared his tape would have been posted, and he would have had the opportunity to get called back. In that moment I learned a very valuable lesson. Even though it seems obvious, it is essential that you come into the room completely prepared with your material. It is literally the least you can do, and it may be the difference between getting a callback and then booking a job or not making it past your initial audition.

  —FELICIA BLUM,

  www.feliciablum.weebly.com

  You hear it all the time, but I really saw firsthand that so much of the casting process really IS out of our hands. So instead of worrying about “what they are looking for,” just do your job: bring the character to life! I never expected that Jen would ask me to audition for one of her projects, but she did, and that audition led to a callback for a series regular in an ABC pilot. Just goes to show, you never know!

  —HALLE MORSE,

  www.hallemorse.com

  AUDITION STORIES

  * * *

  The Audition That Changed My Life

  The audition that changed my life was for the film Exorcist III. I was in high school and it was filming in my hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. I had very little experience in any kind of acting and especially in film. I decided to go down to the casting office one afternoon and drop off a “head shot” (a Polaroid my mom had taken in the front yard) and try to get someone to hire me as an extra. After getting up the courage to go into the office, I made small talk with the receptionist, dropped off my picture, and turned to leave when I heard a voice from above me say, “What’s your name?” I thought he wasn’t talking to me, so I walked out of the office. Two minutes later the receptionist came running out and said that the director, William Peter Blatty, was the person calling me and he wanted to talk to me. I went back in, apologizing profusely. We spoke briefly and they gave me an audition for the next day. It was three lines, and I was so thrilled. I came back and read for him the next day and then didn’t hear anything for about a month. I was waiting tables for the summer when I got a call from casting saying that I had been hired. I showed up on set and went directly to the area marked as “Extras Holding,” assuming I had been hired as an extra. I had been there about twenty minutes when I heard the radios buzzing that they were looking for a missing actor named . . . Manley Pope! “Um, I’m Manley Pope,” I said to the PA, and they whisked me away to my own tiny shared honey wagon* trailer with my name written in Sharpie on the door. I had been booked as a day player for the week . . . with lines!!! From this one job I got my SAG card, worked in a scene with George C. Scott, and made fifteen hundred dollars. And the next day, I finally quit my job waiting tables.

  —MANLEY POPE

  After Your Audition

  I will take a strong position when I think an actor’s really right for a role. If the pilot’s writers and producers like the audition, we see if we can get it to the next step, which is a test deal. When this happens, the agent negotiates the terms of the contract in advance with a business and legal affairs representative from the studio or network. When the deal is closed, the actor (and parent, if it’s a young actor) will be flown to L.A. to test at the studio in front of a bunch of executives. If they are “approved” by the studio, the next step is to test in front of the network that same afternoon or the next day. This can be a life-changing twenty-four hours for the actor and the agent, or it can be very disappointing. Either way, testing for a pilot is a huge deal.

  When pilot season’s over, I often contract bronchitis from pure exhaustion. Or take long naps for a few days following the madness. If an actor did not book a pilot, this is also a good time for them to take that much-needed vacation to relax and recharge.

  AUDITION STORIES

  EPIC FAIL

  * * *

  You never want to walk into an audition room and see a man behind the table that you broke up with the week before. This is why I don’t date in the industry! I went to an audition for a new Broadway musical, not knowing that a guy I dumped was the producer. As soon as I walked in and saw him, my stomach dropped and I knew then and there I wasn’t going to get the part. I wanted so badly to just thank them and leave, but I sang and read my sides and as I suspected, didn’t get a callback. Moral of the story: DON’T SHIT WHERE YOU EAT!

  —RENA STROBER,

  www.renastrober.com

  TV AND FILM AUDITION DOS AND DON’TS

  DON’T come into the audition room and demand to sit if you’re asked to stand. Follow simple directions. My associate Bess Fifer sums it up perfectly: “If you were at someone’s house for a dinner party, would you walk in and immediately rearrange the furniture?”

  DON’T ask if you can walk into the scene or walk out of the scene. We’re not shooting a movie, just trying to get you the job.

  DON’T come in with too many props. This can work for a theater audition but not for film and TV. I’ve had actors insist on eating food, which ends up leaving crumbs on the floor and a lingering stinky smell in the room. Not cool.

  DON’T stage your audition scene. This is not a theater rehearsal. The camera frames you close up. For now, keep it simple and make a great audition tape. I’m not a director of photography, and there’s limited framing with the cameras we use for auditions.

  DON’T change the order of the scenes. Always perform them in the order they were given to you.

  DON’T argue. If you’re given a note, take it and make the adjustment.

  DON’T come in unprepared. You must memorize your scenes, or at least be as “off-book” as possible. Why? Because the camera is on you and we want to see your eyes and a full performance. The moment you look down to your script, you’ve dropped out of the scene and we’ve lost you. It’s hard enough to get your tape watched by the L.A. casting directors and producers. You’ve got to know your lines, otherwise you’ve already blown your chance.

  DON’T forget to staple your photo to your résumé. Even if I have a stapler close by, why waste two minutes talking about how you didn’t staple your picture and résumé together when we could have been discussing the scene?

  DO come in prepared with your scenes—ideally, have them memorized.

  DO download an iPhone app such as LineLearner, Rehearsal, or Scene Study to help memorize scripts.

  DO bring your script into the room with you. Even if you hold it in your hands, you want to show us that you’re flexible and not a fully finished prod
uct. Show us that you’re malleable and open to direction.

  DO listen and think. You should always be listening to the other person in the scene and thinking about something, even if it’s your shopping list or what you’re going to cook for dinner.

  DO know your colors and what works for your skin tone.

  DO come in wearing a solid color for the camera. Most backdrops are blue or gray and you will be filmed in front of them, so that should help when choosing your wardrobe. Find your go-to audition outfit and keep wearing it! Last pilot season two women wore the same blue dress from Brooklyn Industries. The blue made their eyes pop. I liked the dress so much I bought the same one a few days later.

  DO apply basic makeup if you’re a woman. Eyes tend to look beady or small if you skip the eyeliner or mascara. Remember your framing: from the shoulders up, and maybe closer. You don’t want to come in with theatrical makeup on, but you also don’t want to be washed out. My mother always said, “Just a little lipstick, please,” and she’s right. If you need advice, visit a MAC store or the makeup counter at Bloomingdale’s, or watch a YouTube video on how to apply makeup.

  DO your hair. Spend the money on a professional blowout if it’s right for your character. You can shop around to find a decent price for a quick blow-dry. It makes a big difference. And consider a curling wand. Ricky’s sells them. Throw it in your bag, plug it in for a quick touch-up, and you’re set.

  DO steam or iron your clothing. Remember, any audition is a job interview, so you want to make sure you look your best. Last I checked, a steam iron was under $30 at any drugstore.

  * * *

  JEN’S LAST WORD

  You have one chance to make a good first impression. This applies to most things in life, but it’s especially true during pilot season. Make a great first impression, and I’ll keep bringing you in to audition. Maybe one day you’ll get lucky and get your big break in a show like Growing Pains!

  * * *

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  SOMEDAY I’LL BE PART OF YOUR WORLD

  AUDITIONING FOR BROADWAY AND THEATER

  For my ninth birthday, my parents give me the Annie original cast album. I spend hours after school every day blasting the record on my parents’ stereo, mouthing the words to “Tomorrow” in front of their bedroom mirror. No wonder my sister ignores me to read comic books and watch The Bionic Woman. I write a letter to the Broadway theater where Annie is playing and ask them to please contact me the next time there’s an audition. I’m so obsessed with the show that in fifth grade, I adapt, produce, cast, and direct my own production starring yours truly in the title role. My stuffed bulldog Boubi plays Sandy. We run for two performances in front of the entire school and everyone’s parents.

  That production of Annie taught me a few lessons. Number one: your friends will definitely stop speaking to you when you fire them (like I did) and decide to recast for creative reasons. Number two: I actually can’t really sing.

  But don’t despair, dear reader. What I lacked in vocal range, I sure made up for in ego.

  Disney on Broadway

  I often joke that it’s easier to book a role on a television show then it is to get cast in a Broadway show. Actors are required not only to sing, act, and dance (thus, the expression triple threat), but also to prove they possess the stamina to perform eight times a week. Musical theater auditions take place in numerous sessions over a period of time, sometimes encompassing six months or even several years. Actors may audition multiple times for a Broadway show and still end up getting cut from the audition or kept in the DTL (“down the line”) files for later. Sometimes a role will become available and you will get cast years after your first audition. As with most auditions in this business, timing and patience are key.

  During my time as director of casting and talent development at the Walt Disney Company, I was charged by Disney Theatrical Productions president Thomas Schumacher to unify the talent across all the Disney Broadway shows and tours and to focus specifically on children’s casting for Mary Poppins, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. I conducted open calls* across the country for the highly coveted roles of Jane and Michael Banks in Mary Poppins and Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Before I’d leave for a talent search, my boss would remind me that I was the public face of the Walt Disney Company, and that I should make sure that everyone had a positive experience at the audition. I aspired to practice kindness and hoped for no tears.

  Easier said than done. At a children’s open call for Mary Poppins in Atlanta, fifty children stood in a semicircle. Each child wore a “Hello, My Name Is” name tag, with a number written on it instead of their name. I jotted numbers down for the ones I’d ask to stay. By this point, the show had been on Broadway for over a year, so we had very clear ideas on the age, height, and look for Jane and Michael Banks. After I made my way around the circle, the excited children waited for me to read the numbers for who would stay to work on scenes and music.

  Reading the numbers in the casting elimination process is always a dramatic moment in the open call process. I read ten numbers. When I was finished, a freckled redheaded girl burst into loud, hysterical sobs because her number had not been called. I was shocked. We quickly found her mother in the waiting room and she took her sobbing daughter home. I felt bad for making her cry, but just because you cry doesn’t mean you get to stay.

  The image of that crying girl in Atlanta stayed with me. From then on, at all future open calls, I always called the parents into the room just before I made the cuts. I would announce that I was cutting a number of the children because they might be too tall or too short or just not quite the right look for Victorian England. And though at that moment their child may not quite be ready for Broadway, I urged everyone to feel encouraged by this audition process and continue to study voice, dance, and acting.

  * * *

  Big Stars’ Big Breaks

  While I was a casting executive at the Walt Disney Studios, we cast many young people in their first feature films: Anne Hathaway, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Adams, Abigail Breslin, Kellan Lutz, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Anna Faris, Chris Pine, Rachel McAdams, Megan Fox, Jennifer Garner, and Heath Ledger, to name a few.

  Perhaps one of the most memorable audition processes for me was when Rachel McAdams auditioned for Rob Schneider’s Hot Chick. She lived in Toronto and had recently graduated from theater school. She had also skated competitively. She was put on tape by the local CD and it was my job to view the tapes. I was immediately drawn to her reading. Even on a crappy tape she shined. She was prepared, honest, and in the moment, and she had a natural charm and charisma that were immediately captivating. We flew her to L.A. to audition for us, and she exuded natural grace and confidence despite the fact that she had just gotten off a plane. She never lagged during the entire process. We had her read a number of scenes, finally culminating with having to be Rob Schneider in a woman’s body doing a pole dance. She had to play two characters in this movie and be pretty outrageous, but Rachel went for it without any hesitation or self-consciousness. Rob Schneider was bowled over. During the screen test, her physicality, humor, and sheer fearlessness were awe inspiring. She didn’t shrink or judge herself in what was a pretty silly, albeit fun concept. She also had a great time playing this role of the “hot chick.” I believe competing in skating coupled with her theater training had prepared her for this experience.

  For the second Princess Diaries, we had to find a suitable prince for Anne Hathaway. He had to be charming, handsome, likable, and able to do physical comedy. We saw many actors for the part and were shocked at how many hadn’t even bothered to see the first Princess Diaries movie. My colleague Marcia Ross and I read a young man who had worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival the summer before. He embodied all the qualities we were looking for and had an ease and modesty about him despite his charm and good looks. He also had the acting chops, having trained and performed quite a bit onstage. We couldn’t wait to introduce this young
man to Garry Marshall. His name was Chris Pine.

  The young actor who most embodied confidence, charisma, and a complete lack of fear was young Heath Ledger. At nineteen, he was already somewhat of a star in Australia. He was completely prepared, and he owned the room. His natural exuberance and charm were overpowering. Gil Junger, our director, remarked afterward that he would have wanted to be Heath Ledger in high school. Heath was also completely engaging and friendly. He seemed to be in on a cosmic joke and had an air of mystery about him. We all couldn’t help but be won over by both his performance and his personality. He didn’t display any self-consciousness or self-doubt. After seeing him read and test, we knew he was destined for great things.

  All of these actors were fearless and had fun. They owned the audition process while they were there. They were prepared but could also be spontaneous, and they all put the filmmakers at ease with their confidence that they could play the part. They executed their ideas without self-consciousness or self-doubt.

  —DONNA MORONG,

  casting director and co-owner of

  Aquila Morong Studio in Los Angeles

  (www.aquilamorongstudio.com)

  * * *

  The $110 Ticket

  At Disney Theatrical Productions, we’d narrow down our casting choices, then ask ourselves: “Does this actor give me a performance worth the $110 ticket price? Will the actor’s performance communicate clearly to the folks in the last row in the balcony?” If someone in the audience is blind or deaf, they should still be able to enjoy your performance. The stakes are high. You’d better be able to hit that high note every night, eight performances a week, or someone will want their money back. When a theatergoer adds in the costs of a babysitter, gas, parking, tolls, dinner, and dessert, going to see a Broadway show becomes one very expensive night. Our job is to make sure the experience is worth the cost by casting the right talent in every role, making it an unforgettable night for theatergoers.