Television Development

by Bob Levy

  The first step in prep is usually casting. Casting a pilot is an arduous process and, of all the steps of pilot prep, it usually takes the longest and therefore is the first to be initiated. Additionally, all the broadcast network pilots enter prep at the same time so there are literally dozens and dozens of pilots competing for the same finite pool of top acting talent. If you’re a producer and your pilot gets picked up, you want to dive into casting and get first dibs on the best available actors as soon as possible before other pilots come along and snap them up.

  The first step of the casting process is hiring a casting director who will spearhead the casting process. The casting director doesn’t make the casting decisions, as is sometimes assumed, but rather the casting director’s jobs are to 1) organize and manage the entire casting process on behalf of the producers, 2) serve as the primary liaison between the pilot and the acting talent community within the industry (agents, managers and actors themselves), 3) interface on behalf of the pilot with the network and studio casting departments, and 4) share her taste, expertise and inside knowledge with the producers and director about the best possible actor choices for each role in the pilot.

  The networks and studios have casting departments that employ full-time casting executives. The network and studio casting execs serve as the point people at those companies throughout the casting process, circulating information and opinions among their development execs and president, monitoring day-to-day (and frequently moment-by-moment) progress, and relaying a steady stream of info and opinions (often multiple times a day) to the casting director.

  As soon as a pilot is picked up to production, network and studio casting execs make recommendations to pilot producers about which casting directors they like and think would be suitable for the pilot. The producers consider the network and studio recommendations and meet or speak by phone with various candidates, or they might have a long-term professional relationship with a casting director of their own preference. After careful (but quick) consideration of the options, the producers select a casting director for their pilot, request approval of their choice by the network and studio casting departments, and the studio quickly negotiates a short-term contract to hire the chosen casting director for the duration of the pilot, with an option on their services should the pilot go to series. (Casting-director deals typically allow ten weeks to cast a pilot.)

  Once a casting director is on board, the first step of the process is usually a “casting concept call.” The casting director organizes a conference call with the pilot producers and network and studio casting executives to discuss each lead role of the pilot. The producers lead this conversation and articulate their vision for the types of actors they think are most appropriate for each character and the specific qualities they’re looking for. “This character needs to be played by a beautiful actress, but she also needs to have enormous warmth and likability,” one of the producers might say, or “The most important quality of this character is his cunning; we need an actor whose wheels are always turning behind his eyes.”

  The casting concept call is one of the many steps of the pilot production process that helps to unify a large group of people and keep them all focused on one consistent vision. If the network and studio casting execs have questions or concerns about how the producers see a role, this is a chance to air those concerns and get everyone back on the same page. One of the producers’ jobs throughout the entire pilot production process is keeping all their many partners and creative collaborators aiming at the same creative target.

  After the casting concept call the casting director writes short descriptions of all the roles and runs them by the producers for their approval. These character descriptions are then disseminated to the entire industry via the Breakdown Service (a private company the entire industry uses). Talent agents who represent actors subscribe to the Breakdown Service and read new postings on its (password-protected) website each morning so they know which roles are being cast, and they consider which actor clients could be right for those jobs. During “pilot season,” the time of year when all the broadcast networks’ pilots prep and shoot (I’ll spell out exactly when that is later in this chapter), there’s a frantic flurry of activity at talent agencies as they scramble to match their clients with roles that could change the clients’ lives and potentially earn the actors huge fortunes (and the agency commensurately large commissions). The talent agents read the Breakdown Service, read all the pilot scripts (which all the talent agencies in LA and New York get their hands on the moment pilots are greenlighted), and then agents meet within their agencies to discuss which of their many clients are best suited for each available role. One agent at each agency is typically then deployed to call the pilot’s casting director and submit a handful of the agency’s clients for each role.

  The casting director on the other end of this process fields calls from dozens of agents pitching their clients. She keeps lists of all the agency actor submissions, and also creates lists of her own ideas of possible actors for each role. Creating and updating these lists is one of a casting director’s primary responsibilities. These lists of hundreds of possible actors for each role are based on more general lists that the casting director keeps and updates on an ongoing basis year-round. She’ll keep one running list of “ingénue” actresses, a running list of “mom” actresses, a running list of “male comedic leads,” etc. Maintaining a constant eye on the entire acting talent labor pool is one of a casting director’s fundamental tasks, as it is of the casting departments at networks and studios.

  Development executives at networks, studios and production companies keep the same kind of running lists of writers, typically divided by writers’ specializations, like comedy versus drama. Hollywood companies of all kinds, talent agencies, networks, studios and production companies, keep constant track of talent (writers, directors and actors), and place bets on who’s got potential, who’s on the rise, who’s ready to break out and become a star. Evaluating talent, assessing potential and keeping tabs on hundreds (or thousands) of working writers, directors and actors are among the most important facets of the role of development professionals and their casting director colleagues.

  Typically, the casting director creates two lists for each lead role, an “offer-only” list and a “to-read” list. The offer-only list is the list of the biggest star actors who might be appropriate for a role but who won’t audition. Stars typically won’t audition. They and their reps believe the star’s body of work speaks for itself, and any producer or executive can easily imagine the star’s unique talents applied to a given character. Most stars who won’t audition will only consider a pilot, will literally only even take the time to read a pilot script, if they are made a firm, exclusive financial offer to play a role. Because the number of star actors is quite limited, the names of the same stars show up on offer-only lists for numerous characters at numerous networks and studios during pilot season, and these top actors have their choice of the best pilot roles.

  The second list the casting director makes for each role are the to-read lists, the lists of actors who will audition who might be right for a role. An offer-only list might include the top 10–20 ideal actor candidates for each role, and the to-read list might include hundreds and hundreds of actors who could potentially be appropriate. (Needless to say, most actors on the “to-read” lists aspire to be “offer-only” actors as soon as possible.)

  The initial casting concept call might include discussion of a small number of stars at the top of the offer-only list or who might be on the producers’ own mental offer-only list. The writer may have actually written a role with an ideal actor in mind and dreamed throughout the entire development process of that actor in her pilot. The writer/showrunner might bring that up on the casting concept call, and the group will discuss the possibility of pursuing that star first or, at the very least, consider that actor as a prototype for the character. If the parties on the casting concept call agree t
hat a specific star is ideal for a role, the network and studio casting execs might need to get approval from their bosses, the network or studio president, before authorizing an offer, but in most cases the casting execs will know their bosses’ tastes and opinions and make a determination on their behalf. Casting execs and casting directors will also usually know which stars are “open to TV” (as opposed to only willing to consider feature film acting work) and which stars are available. There are few things sadder for a writer than dreaming of a star throughout the lengthy development process and then learning that the star of their dreams is in rehearsal on Broadway or off shooting a feature in Madagascar during the exact dates of pilot production and isn’t available.

  Once all the pilot’s roles are posted on the Breakdown Service and actor submissions are pouring in from agencies and the casting concept call has happened, the casting director begins the audition process with “pre-reads,” casting sessions for each role that only the casting director attends (typically along with a casting assistant who operates a video camera to record each audition). Actors come in and audition with “sides,” the script pages for just the two or three scenes of the pilot script that the casting director and producers have selected as the best audition scenes for each role, and the casting director reads the character opposite the auditioning actor. The casting director uses the pre-read phase of auditions to cull actors who in theory might have been appropriate for a role, but in actuality aren’t right enough or good enough to make it to the next round of the casting process. The pre-reads might run concurrently (as a backup) while the casting director puts offers out to stars on the offer-only list (typically one at a time) as agreed upon via constant phone and email communication with the producers, and network and studio casting departments.

  The next phase of the casting process is the “producer sessions” where the pilot producers join the casting director to audition actors who have survived the pre-read round. Again, the casting director typically reads the character opposite the actor auditioning and a casting assistant records the audition on video, while the producers watch the audition and interact with the actor. Typically both the pre-reads and the producer sessions are held in a room at the casting director’s offices. (Zane/Pillsbury Casting, the casting company that cast the pilot and series run of Pretty Little Liars, rents a converted bungalow in an old neighborhood of Los Angeles and holds their auditions in what used to be a back bedroom of the old house, an odd but surprisingly friendly place to hold auditions.)

  A casting director might pre-read hundreds, possibly a thousand, actors for each role. The producers typically audition anywhere from 60–100 actors for each role. Sometimes more, sometimes fewer.

  Meanwhile, other facets of prep commence. As the casting director gets to work, the studio’s physical production department makes line producer recommendations to the producers. The showrunner is ultimately responsible for delivering the pilot on budget and on schedule, but the line producer manages those facets of the production on a day-to-day basis so the showrunner and other EPs can spend most of their energy focusing on creative issues.

  The producers meet with a handful of line producer candidates, hear their thoughts about the feasibility of production and ideas to address any production challenges the pilot script presents, and the EPs select a line producer. The studio’s physical production department then hires the line producer for the run of the pilot. The network development execs generally like to be FYI’d on who the line producer is, but physical production isn’t their domain so that decision isn’t a priority for them. If the pilot comes in over-budget, the money comes out of the studio’s pocket, not that of the network, which has a closed license fee deal.

  Once a line producer is on board, the line producer and studio physical production department strategize on where to shoot the pilot. Most pilot production occurs in places that offer tax incentives for movie and TV production to reduce the studio’s costs (and hedge their investment in the pilot). These cities tend to attract and keep the skilled labor that’s needed for production. Favorite cities for pilot and series production these days include Vancouver, Toronto, Atlanta, New York City, New Orleans and of course LA. The line producer and studio execs try to find a locale that offers the best financial opportunities, the best native crew and equipment, and that also offers the right look for the pilot. Once the line producer and studio agree on a locale for production, the line producer advises the creative producers of the choice, and the producers sign off or ask for other options. Once the production locale is agreed upon, the line producer relocates to that city and begins local prep, hiring a unit production manager, location scout and other key local crew, and making deals for equipment, transportation, catering and the long list of production requirements.

  The producers, meanwhile, remain back in LA, continuing the casting process and beginning the next phase of prep, which is selecting the pilot director. As soon as the pilot is greenlighted and talent agencies receive the pilot script, agents who rep TV directors comb through their lists of clients to consider which clients might be right, in the same way that actor reps begin thinking of their clients for each of the pilot’s roles. Agents then send the script to their director clients, the directors read the script and let their agents know if they respond to a script and are interested in being “put up” for the pilot. Agents then call the producers and pitch the director clients that responded to the script. Producers keep a running list of director names, ideas of their own based on their experience producing episodes of other series, or directors whose work they’ve seen and admired, and directors who are pitched for the pilot by the network and studio development execs. The producers discuss director candidates among themselves, then with their network and studio development execs, and then cull the list to the top handful of director candidates. They’ll then meet with the top handful of director candidates.

  In these meetings the producers focus on three main questions: 1) Is the director fundamentally in sync with the producers’ vision for the pilot, 2) has the director come to the meeting with interesting and original ideas – e.g., visual, thematic or interpretive ideas – that elevate the project, and 3) does the director feel like a personality the producers can work well with in the heat of battle?

  When the two co-creators of The Vampire Diaries and I met with one top pilot director candidate he spoke excitedly about ideas to make the pilot as scary as possible, but he never brought up an element we producers thought was the single most important creative quality of the pilot (and series), the romance among the three lead characters. When we asked him about it, he said, “Oh, yes, romance is important too.” But we knew his heart wasn’t in the romance. Another director candidate walked in the door and the first thing he brought up was how romantic the pilot was and how that was the most important quality to realize during production, and we knew we’d found our director. We guessed right and that director, Marcos Siega, nailed it, getting all the romance as well as the scares and other qualities we hoped for.

  Once the producers agree on their director choice, they call their network and studio development execs to request their approval (remember, the network and studio have contractual approval of the pilot director). Chances are the producers have already cleared the director names and received pre-approval before meeting with candidates so as not to waste anybody’s time, but once they come to a final decision they call to get a final sign off and ask the studio to make an offer.

  A studio business affairs exec reaches out to the director’s agent to make a deal for the director’s services, and the director dives into prep, typically first joining the producers in the ongoing casting process.

  The director and producers then work in consultation with their line producer and studio physical production and post-production departments to staff key department heads for the pilot, hiring a director of photography, a production designer and an editor.

  Once the producers, director and c
asting director have found their top handful of actor choices for each series regular role, they alert the network and studio casting departments that they are ready to bring actors in for “tests.” The “studio test” followed by the “network test” are the last two rounds of the casting process. The producers, director and casting director bring their top four to six favorite actors for each series regular role to the studio test, where the studio president, studio development executives and studio casting executives gather in a large office or conference room and watch the top actor choices come in and audition live, one by one. Typically, two or three different roles test at a studio on a given day, and the same team regroups again several times to test actors for the next batch of two or three of the pilot’s lead roles.

  As with the pre-reads and producer sessions, the casting director sits opposite the auditioning actor who stands before the studio execs, producers and director and auditions. When an actress finishes her test, the studio president thanks her, she leaves and the next actress enters the room. When the last actress testing exits and the door has swung shut behind her, the studio president typically turns to the producers and director and says, “Who do you like?” The producers and director articulate their preferences and a conversation about the various choices for the role ensues, culminating with the studio president making a final decision to choose the best two or three actresses out of the four to six actresses who tested.

  This process is then repeated at the network test where the producers, director, casting director, studio president, studio development execs and studio casting execs join the network president, network development execs and network casting execs to watch the studio’s top two or three actor choices for each role test at the network. After the last actor has finished his audition and the door has swung shut behind him, it’s now the network president’s turn to ask the producers and director, “Who do you like?” A conversation among this now very large group ensues, at the end of which the network president makes the final decision about which one actor actually, finally gets the part. Sometimes there’s disagreement and the network president agrees to hold off making a final decision until further thought and discussion can happen. Sometimes a decision is made and producers or a studio exec follows up immediately after the group separates and tries to persuade the network president to change her mind. Sometimes, surprisingly not infrequently, the network execs patiently watch a network test and then tell their assembled guests, “We don’t like anybody you brought us, start over,” and no one is approved.