Casting Session Callbacks

PaulGriffith

PaulGriffith

Hey everyone. We had our first actual casting session for a project yesterday and it went really well. Nice to move past our usual pool of friends that work in our projects haha.

One question, what's the rule for the people that didn't get the part. Is it normal to call them and let them know they didn't get it, or not call them and they figure it out that way.

I have no problem calling them, but I'd feel bad if it's not the normal thing to do and getting a call gets their hopes up.

Thanks for your help!
 
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The polite thing to do is to let them know that you have settled on an actor for the part, and thank them for auditioning. If nothing else they'll remember you as the one in five hundred that bothered to let them know.
 
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Coming from a professional actor's perspective: We usually do not hear from whoever is casting...on bigger projects our agents will let us know occasionally esp if we were a the top of any lists. On independent stuff....once in a while a director will call or email to say that they went in another direction but that if its ok they'd like to keep you in mind for future projects.
 
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I don't have that much experience, but in the past I didn't let them know personally *unless* it was after callbacks, or they were friends. Put yourself in their shoes (did they drive a long way, were they called personally to show up?, etc.) and go with your conscience. If you decide to call or email everyone, you can always split up the task with the production team to lighten the load. I also like the reasoning with Alcove's suggestion.
 
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Thanks everyone for the feedback. I don't mind being the bearer of bad news, I just wanted to make sure that notification was actually the more polite option of the two before going about it.
 
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Be careful with the auto reply.

A casting agency sent me an auto rejection for a part that I had not gone to the audtion for. So I sent them back an email pretending i was distraught and quitting acting. There followed a whole series of emails of them trying to reconcile me and me getting more and more upset, before I finally explained and said that I was teaching them a lesson. I got no further reply.

That wasted both of our time. But I proved my point. Kind of.

Anyhow, the moral of the story is................ make sure you only send it to people who auditioned!
 
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As an actor, I never get the "bad news".

When casting, I never contact anyone but the callbacks.

It almost sounds morbid, having to wait around for some kind of negative notification.

(It also makes last-minute emergency replacements difficult) :lol:
 
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