Confessions of a Casting Director
Page 17
* The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known informally as the Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theater. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, with one award given for regional theatre. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, cofounder of the American Theatre Wing.
* To green-light is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project.
* Residuals are payments made to union actors when their performance is used multiple times. There are different pay scales for different types of work (TV, film, commercials), which are dictated by different contracts (low budget, made for cable, feature films, national network usage, etc.).
* An actor’s slate is a spoken on-camera introduction with the actor’s name, age (if under eighteen years old), height, and sometimes agency or hometown. The actor talks to the camera and introduces him-or herself with these important details.
* Coogan accounts (a.k.a. blocked trust accounts) are required for child actors by the states of California, New York, Louisiana, and New Mexico. In most instances, you will have to supply proof of a trust account prior to receiving a work permit. The employer must withhold 15 percent of the minor’s gross wages and deposit them into the Coogan account within fifteen days of employment. The parent must supply the Coogan account number to the employer.
† Company managers in a theater or a traveling company coordinate all of the traveling, accommodation, and day-to-day needs of the acting, design, and technical company members. In regional theater their job often includes renting apartments and hotel rooms, booking plane tickets, orchestrating furnishings and cleanings for rented apartments, and dealing with any special needs and requests. Company managers will also often schedule and oversee auditions and aid in contracting actors and creatives.
‡ Stage managers typically provide practical and organizational support to the director, actors, designers, stage crew, and technicians during the production process.
* Call time is the time at which an individual actor is expected to be at the theater. Call times vary based on the amount of time required to do the actor’s makeup and may be staggered among smaller roles to allow for dressing room space and/or makeup artists.
* The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s website, at www.mta.info, provides maps and route information.
* Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is a prominent entertainment and sports agency headquartered in Los Angeles. It is well known as Hollywood’s leading talent agency and it has numerous celebrity clients.