Confessions of a Casting Director
Page 9
Wesley left Rock of Ages to perform on Broadway in The Addams Family. Despite the new gig, he missed collaborating with Mitch and Lauren, so they started a sketch show called Billy Green that became wildly popular. As a result, Wesley and Mitchell gained a fan base as people started following them on their YouTube channel.
After fifteen hundred performances of Rock of Ages for Mitchell and four hundred for Wesley in The Addams Family, they joined forces to create the successful Web series It Could Be Worse. Initially, creating their own Web series was a way to keep flexing their creative muscles. “We’re smart people creating work,” Wesley observed. “This comes from a place where you feel creatively stifled because you’re doing the same show over and over again. You feel like the industry is expecting only one thing from you. You know they always say New York is better than L.A. at not putting you in a box, but New York is also really bad at it.”
Mitchell and Wesley are a two-person crew. Mitchell bought a camera (a Canon EOS Rebel T3i), spray-painted two umbrellas white, and bought six floodlights to use for lighting their sets. He plugs a microphone into the camera, which other technicians laugh at him for. They coedit on Final Cut X, codirect, and cowrite each episode. Wesley is in charge of casting, scheduling, and location scouting. They often pay to use space, or opt to use a lot of friends’ apartments. They even managed to turn Mitchell’s apartment into an Asian brothel for one episode. Visit www.itcouldbeworse.tv to watch some of the episodes yourself!
Getting Cast in a Webisode
Many webisodes are self-generated work and the creators often don’t hire casting directors. If that’s the case, here’s how to get involved:
•Take an improv class. You’ll meet other creative people like yourself. In addition to having fun and learning valuable acting skills, you will network and make friends who could turn into potential future collaborators.
•Connect with improv people through social media. They will likely post or tweet if they are looking for actors.
•Volunteer to help out at a friend’s webisode shoot. You never know . . . you could end up getting a role!
What Makes a Webisode Popular?
Webisode viewers are loyal, just like regular television viewers. Your taste will dictate which webisodes you like to watch. When you like a series, tweet about it so more people will start to watch. Here’s where social media can work in a positive way!
There are some fantastic Web series out there, and if you’re interested in acting in your own, you should be familiar with the medium. For humor, I recommend checking out Submissions Only, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Jerry Seinfeld’s Web series), Dora the Explorer and the Destiny Medallion (starring Ariel Winter from Modern Family), and In Bed with Joan, starring Joan Rivers. For the hipster crowd, try High Maintenance.
The list goes on and on. The bottom line? Creative people are making interesting, new content and producing webisodes every day, and this trend will only continue. Fans stay loyal with webisodes that are honest, well written, and well shot. And since webisodes are short, it’s a perfect break in the middle of a hectic day. Plus, you can enjoy watching on your various devices while on the go.
Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo!, and Amazon Original Programming
In addition to television shows, Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo!, and Amazon are launching into production with scripted shows of their own. More media-scripted programming provides even more opportunities for actors. Rachel Resheff, age thirteen, was cast in an episode of Orange Is the New Black for Netflix. Her audition experience was just like a network audition for any other scripted programming. The pay and the filming were equivalent to what she’d been paid in regular network situations. And the set was similar to that of any network show, with a professional crew. Although the distribution for this type of content is vastly different than for a network series, these are still professionally produced shows and their producers will expect the same high standards from actors cast in them.
JEN’S LAST WORD
Yes, reality TV is here to stay. Proceed cautiously, and make sure you are ready for the realities of reality.
You too can be a YouTube sensation. But make sure you know what you want when you post a video. To gain more fans? To get discovered and experience potential fast fame? Make sure you are proud of your video before you upload it, because once it’s posted, it’s viral.
Webisodes are a great way to get experience in front of the camera. Just make sure that if you choose to donate your time and talents, the webisode is worth it and a positive experience. If you choose to make your own, be prepared to spend money (as much as $5,000 to $7,000 per episode) to make the finished product look great.
So go ahead. Go viral.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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MAKING MICKEY TALK
VOICE-OVER AND ANIMATION AUDITIONS
I’m ten years old and it’s my first voice-over audition for South Carolina National Bank. My only speaking line is: “Daddy, am I a deduction?” and the father says, “Yes, my favorite one.” The following afternoon, my manager calls and tells me they’re choosing between me and one other girl. She puts me on hold* for the voice-over recording date. I lie awake all night praying to God to please choose me for the voice.
The next day I find out that I didn’t get chosen for the South Carolina spot, but my managers are very impressed that I got so close. They assure me I’m a natural for voice-overs. The next year I book the voice of Beezus in a series of Ramona Quimby audiobooks.
Tips for Voice-Over Auditions
There’s a perception that voice-over work is easy. Trust me, it’s not. Voice acting is a craft that requires practice and unique skills. A few lines of commercial copy can look deceptively easy, but a lot more work goes into perfectly voicing a line than meets the eye. Actors need to become familiar with voice-over booth logistics and how to use the microphone and headphones.
Here are a few basic tips:
•The microphone picks up all kinds of sounds when recording. You can hear everything: a dry mouth, a lisp, any speech issues. Make sure to drink lots of water before your audition.
•Nibble an apple. The juice from the apple helps to moisten your mouth so you won’t sound dry.
•Arrive a few minutes early to look over the commercial copy. Most of the time you will not receive scripts in advance.
•During your audition, play with your vocal highs and lows.
•Tell the story of the script with your voice.
•Keep your reads conversational.
•Think about pacing and pitch.
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Celebrity Casting for Voice-Over Campaigns
The voice-over market has drastically changed over the years since companies began hiring celebrities to voice major campaigns. Remember when Julia Roberts was the new voice for America Online? This was one of the early instances of celebrity voice-overs in advertising, and today there are fewer and fewer voice-over jobs left for noncelebrities. Listen closely the next time a car commercial airs on television. The male voice may be Kevin Spacey (Honda), Tim Allen (Chevrolet), Jon Hamm (Mercedes-Benz), or Jeff Bridges (Hyundai)—to name just a few.
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AGENT’S
CORNER
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How has the voice-over business changed since you started as an agent twenty years ago?
When I started out, an agent could not represent enough forty-to-sixty-year-old male announcers with deep “voice of God” sounds. Now advertisers are looking mainly for actors with a more casual, conversational, real delivery, as if the actor is just talking to the person on the other side of the television or radio.
When I listen to actors’ commercial voice samples, I am listening for range in their delivery and tone. The more an actor can vary his or her delivery, the more opportunities he or she will have to work. Show what you do best. Don’t overload your audition recording with too many samples that may not be y
our best work simply to show range.
—JEB BERNSTEIN,
commercial voice-over agent, Paradigm
Celebrity Casting in Animated Films
During my years at Disney Animation (2002 to 2007), the animation industry transitioned from traditional hand-drawn (2-D) animation to computer-generated (3-D) animation. This was a very hard time for many Disney animators. In addition to the switch from 2-D to 3-D, every other major studio (and some independent studios) began producing animated films. The market was soon saturated with animated films all competing at the box office. Celebrity casting became the norm, and Disney tried to keep up.
Before the celebrity casting trend began, most of the roles were voiced by voice-over and theater actors. If you look at the cast lists for legendary animated movies like The Lion King, Aladdin, Hercules, and Tarzan, you’ll see wonderful casts assembled with a few recognizable names from the theater world, but not many famous TV or film actors.
Animated feature celebrity casting began around 2000 and has continued ever since. In addition to casting celebrities, 3-D animated features were now faster, funnier, and more contemporary in music choices, bathroom humor, and overall tone.
During the early years of celebrity casting, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Jack Black, Renée Zellweger, and Angelina Jolie began voicing roles for some of the DreamWorks animated movies. Getting celebrities on a talk-show couch to promote the movies provided a boost to the weekly box office numbers. A celebrity seemed a necessity to help the movie survive the box office every weekend. We tried to keep up at Disney, and I often found myself chasing celebrities at various Hollywood events and comedy festivals.
I have mixed opinions on celebrity casting. On the plus side, it’s easier to schedule celebrities to do voice-over work than a live-action shoot, since we usually record just one actor at a time and don’t have to coordinate multiple actors’ availability. During my years at Disney, we could always find a four-hour session on a day off from their film shoot or their current TV series schedule. Interest from the celebrity, not availability, was a dictating factor. Over the years we recorded Billy Connolly from Malta, Steve Zahn from Africa, and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, from England, all through video conferencing. Many celebs love getting to show up at the recording studio in sweats without having to worry about hair and makeup.
Some celebrities are great at telling stories with their voices, while others lack texture and vocal highs and lows that make for an interesting voice. Many just aren’t natural at this genre. They need hair, makeup, and the camera in order to tell a story. And since most agents won’t let their famous clients audition, it’s hard to know whether or not a particular actor will be comfortable behind the microphone.
ASK THE
ACTOR
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Should a voice-over actor invest in a home studio?
Auditions and jobs can often come at the last minute. In today’s fast-paced market, every working voice actor needs some sort of home studio. It can be very simple and the cost is not high. You need a decent microphone (there are many good ones in the $300 range), a mic stand, a pre-amp that the mic is plugged into and then plugged into your laptop, and a quiet closet or small room. Should cost $500 to $1,000 total for a very good booth. I used a company called Sweetwater to make my choices and turned my coat closet into my recording booth.
—JASON HARRIS,
busy voice-over actor; voice director; and dubbing coordinator, owner, and operator of www.theloopingdivision.com
ASK THE
DIRECTOR
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What do you listen for when directing voice actors?
The director is listening for a performance that comes completely through the voice. If the director isn’t watching your performance, no worries. They want to hear what the actor is saying and not be swayed by what the actor is doing. On Toy Story 2, I remember having to force myself to not watch Tom Hanks while directing him from the booth—many times he would do something that was visually hilarious, but it wasn’t always there on the sound track.
—ASH BRANNON,
director, Surf’s Up, and codirector, Toy Story 2
The Princess and the Frog: Casting Disney’s First African American Princess
I’m very proud of the animated feature films I cast during my five years as director of casting at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California. The talking animal movies include Brother Bear (2003), Chicken Little (2005), and The Wild (2006). Talking superheroes, robots, and royalty include The Incredibles (2004), Meet the Robinsons (2006), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Frankenweenie (2012).
The Princess and the Frog brought Disney back to traditional hand-drawn 2-D animation and the animated musical—what Disney does best. The most crucial role to cast was Princess Tiana, Disney’s first African American princess. In 2004, Anika Noni Rose won a Tony Award* for her performance in the critically acclaimed Broadway show Caroline, or Change. Later that year, Anika reprised her role at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
During that trip, Anika came by the animation studio to meet with me. At the time there was one beautiful drawing of an African American princess upstairs on the development floor. After she signed my Caroline, or Change CD, I casually mentioned that if we ever had a role for an African American princess, she’d be perfect. (Years later, when the movie came out, Anika mentioned this conversation in an interview for People magazine.)
Fast-forward to November 2006: Legendary animation directors Ron Clements and John Musker (Hercules, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas) developed a full script for The Princess and the Frog, set in New Orleans in the 1920s. Randy Newman came on board as the composer. Disney green-lit* the movie. My phone started to ring off the hook.
Beyoncé, Tyra Banks, and Alicia Keys all wanted to play this coveted role. I started to set up auditions in Los Angeles, New York, and New Orleans. Anika was the very first actress that I brought in to audition for Ron, John, and producer Peter Del Vecho. Anika sang three contrasting songs that showed her incredible vocal range and competitive notes (the high notes!) and then performed the audition scenes. We all agreed that her voice sounded completely believable as a girl living in New Orleans in the 1920s. I knew deep down that Anika was perfect for this role.
We continued to audition actresses in New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. A month after Anika’s initial audition, the movie version of Dreamgirls opened, starring Anika, Beyoncé, and a former American Idol contestant named Jennifer Hudson. Beyoncé’s agent kept calling me to campaign for the Princess and the Frog role, but insisted she was “offer only,” which meant we would have to offer her the role without her coming in to audition. Dreamgirls was a big hit, and newcomer Jennifer Hudson walked off with all the awards. We went through the process of scheduling Jennifer’s audition, which took several months, since she was busy recording a new album. Alicia Keys auditioned three times and even worked with a dialect coach to perfect a New Orleans accent. Throughout all this, Anika waited patiently as we worked through our casting process.
AUDITION STORIES
EPIC FAIL
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On my very first audition I got a horrible bloody nose on the way, but I was a four-year-old little trouper and ended up getting on hold for the commercial. But my second audition was a huge fail. My agents had told my dad to tell me to say I was five, so when they asked me how old I was I said: “Well, I’m four years old, but my daddy told me to say that I’m five.” Out the door!
—KIRRILEE BERGER,
age thirteen
Making the Final Casting Decision for Princess Tiana
We were five months into our casting process. My close friend and colleague Tim Curtis, now a partner at WME Entertainment, was the agent who represented Anika Noni Rose, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Hudson. We’d talk every day during these final weeks of the casting process, trying to predict which actress would win the coveted role. Alicia had an overall talent deal w
ith Disney, so casting her would have made sense politically. But while her smoky sound and vocal texture were amazing, I just didn’t believe her voice belonged to a princess who lived in New Orleans in the 1920s. Jennifer was the “it” girl at the time, but I still believed that Anika was the best actress to voice the role. Tim mused, “When this casting process is over, I’m going to have one thrilled client and two heartbroken ones.”
At the final hour, Jennifer fell out of the casting mix and a New York actress named Montego Glover took a top spot. Our editors took audition voice samples from Anika, Alicia, and Montego and cut the auditions against images of Princess Tiana. John, Ron, Peter, and I sat in a casting meeting with our executives. We closed our eyes and listened to the three voices. Before coming to a consensus, we asked the age-old question: “Is this the right voice to come out of the character?” This was to be a historic casting decision, not only because it was a major movie in the very competitive arena of animation, but also because we were choosing the voice for Disney’s first African American princess. In the end, we chose Anika!
Anika Noni Rose looked stunning on the red carpet for The Princess and the Frog’s premiere in 2009.
Here’s why I love this casting story: