need advice for short

Tap Tap...This thing on?

1.) Actors will be applying, in some cases, for hundreds of roles a day. A lot of them therefore won't have time to read a script and think it's easier for them if they just turn up and work with what you give them. It's always a good sign if a busy actor actively seeks out a script.

2.) Anyone. Depends whether you have a casting director or you are casting yourself but just get a friend of crew member to read in. No need for them to be in character, a lot of directors/casting directors like to give as little back as possible to see how the actor reacts.

3.) Sounds about right. Remember to schedule in some turnover time whilst you write up notes get the camera ready. It doesn't hurt to double book slightly as some people are bound to be finished quicker, some people won't turn up and won't do any harm to see how an actor reacts to having to wait 5 mins. You don't want to be hanging around for half an hour waiting for your next audition.

4.) I can't really say. I would avoid make up in auditions, but it's up to you. I helped in the casting of a werewolf movie and we didnt do any make up in the audition for practical reasons and so that we could see how lupine the actors were without make up.

5.) A little secret I've picked up is that you can always offer actors tea or coffee and 99 times out of 100 they won't take you up on it. They don't like to see pushy and there's effort associated with brewing tea, but it makes you look good. Won't do any harm to have water with you but I doubt many will accept it. Some will bring water with them.

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Thanks Nick. Got another question. The central character doesn't have a tremendous amount of dialogue, lots of visual story telling. So today i wrote a monologue for her, but I don't plan to use the monologue in the film, however it's very much in character -- I wrote so the auditioners would have a little somthin somthin to sink their teeth into. Is this a bad idea?

20 minutes sounds like a long time for a first audition. I like to schedule 10 minutes apart and double book some of the spots. There's always someone that can't make it, so it works itself out. My very first audition I scheduled everyone 15 minutes apart across 7 hours and had enough no shows to make for tons of down time. Many auditions are held where people show up and sometimes wait a while (30-60 minutes) so if there's a 10 minute wait for them it's not a huge deal. I talked to a few actors about it during downtime on a set and they were happy with the experience... Of course, they did get the part haha.


Callbacks are different. You can schedule more time with each actor/actress and if you're really happy with one then try the makeup.

Are you renting an audition place or?

Good luck with them! Let us know how it goes.

I'm not renting a place, one of the actors put me in touch with castingdirector.com in N. Hollywood, they let you use their facility if you list your roles on their site (which is free also). I also have a few applicants in Ventura and it was suggested that I use the conference room in the Ventura public library to audition. It's also free, anyone done that? It's first come first serve.

About sides, I can understand that reading a 120 page screenplay might get old -- especially if it's an unpaid role. But a 15 page short takes about 12 minutes to read. And, it's a paid role. So I could write a character description, give sides, but that's almost as much reading as the script itself!

So if sides it is, I'm leaning towards this idea of crafting a monologue that probably won't be part of the finished product but is in character. This, i think, might work better for giving the actor a sense of who the character is. And I'm sorry actors, I don't know much about acting, but I know a lot about writing -- and dialogue requires context, and you don't get context unless you read the story. If your sides are giving backstory, context, plot, subtext, I'd question the quality of the writing. My favorite writer is Chekhov, and there's an amazing passage in "Lady With the Dog" that I used to have pasted on my refrigerator. I'd send that quote out to people on their birthdays, it was even on my Facebook. But I'd never read the story until a few years back, when I did, come to find out, it meant something completely different than I'd thought. finally knowing the context made the quote all the more fantastic, but point is, I was about 40 degrees off for a long time -- until I knew the story.