Casting Revealed, 2nd Edition

Casting Revealed, 2nd Edition

by Hester Schell
Released October 2016
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781317359173

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Book description

Casting is an essential component of any film or video project, but the core skill-set needed to cast effectively is little understood. Casting Revealed: A Guide for Film Directors is a straightforward manual on the art and craft of casting. Here, director Hester Schell offers her insider perspective on casting workflows, industry standards, finding actors, running auditions, what to look for in a performance, contracts, and making offers. This new edition has been updated with fresh interviews with casting directors, full color head shots, new information about online video submissions, and a companion website featuring forms, contracts, and sample scenes for auditions.

  • Gain a fuller understanding of the misunderstood art and craft of casting actors for film and video production.

  • Learn to find the right actors for any production, run auditions, interview actors, effectively judge performances and video submissions, evaluate suitability for a role, discover what it is you need from an actor, view headshots, draft contracts, make offers, and navigate current industry standards, unions, and procedures.

  • This new edition has been updated to include full color sample head shots, new content on online video submissions, listings of casting wesbites, film resources, and film commissions and a companion website featuring interviews with celebrated casting directors from New York, Portland, Boston and Austin, necessary forms, sign-in sheets, contracts, and sample scenes for auditions.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Table of Contents
  7. Acknowledgments to the Second Edition
  8. Hesters Perspective
  9. Something about Her
  10. Introduction to the Second Edition
  11. 1 Save Money—Do It Yourself (DIY)
    1. Film Production: Good for the Economy
      1. Tax Rebate Incentives: From the Legislators
    2. Independent Film and Market Share
      1. Delivery Evolves
      2. Shifting Audiences
    3. How This Book Will Save You Money
      1. Do It Yourself
      2. Collaborate or Die
      3. Anyone Can Make a Movie
      4. Yes, but Is It Worth Watching?
      5. Why So Many Films Don’t Make the Film Festivals
      6. Raise Your Standards
      7. All About Editing
      8. Inexperience Costs More Money
      9. The Best Actors Are the Right Actors
    4. Technology Has Changed Everything … Again!
      1. Prescreening Footage
      2. The Headshot Submission Process Has Gone Green
      3. Video Submissions
    5. Saving Money Recap
  12. 2 Your Directing Career
    1. Better Casting Impacts Your Long-Range Career Goals
      1. Shorts Are Your Stepping Stone
    2. Where to Connect with Actors
    3. Breaking Barriers: How to Talk to Actors
      1. Go Ahead: Blame the Media
  13. 3 An Overview of the Casting Process
    1. Why Do It Yourself?
    2. Casting Defined
      1. Principal Casting
      2. Background Casting
    3. What Are You Casting?
      1. Preliminary Considerations
      2. Professional Language
      3. Families and Lovers
    4. Types of Auditions
      1. Open Calls
      2. Appointments
      3. Script Readings and Cold Readings
      4. Improvisation
      5. Callbacks
    5. Casting Standards
      1. Above All, Keep It Professional
      2. Never Settle
      3. Actor Are Looking for You as Well
      4. Agents Are Looking for Projects for Their Clients
      5. New York City and Los Angeles: US Casting Centers
      6. It’s a Job Interview
      7. Casting Is Not About You
      8. Casting Is Not a Party
      9. Casting Is Not About Your Ego: Get Over Yourself
    6. To Union or Not
      1. Thoroughly Evaluate Your Decision
      2. One Member Makes A Union Shoot
      3. Experience Gets More Done
      4. The Less Experience, The Longer Your Day
      5. Questions for Group Discussion
    7. When to Start
      1. What Do Actors Look for When They Read Your Audition Announcement?
      2. Plan Ahead to Stay Ahead
    8. What You Need to Start
      1. You Need a Script
      2. You Need “Sides”
      3. Know the Window of Time You Plan to Shoot
      4. You’re Going to Need a Place to Hold Your Auditions
      5. You Need Your SAG/AFTRA Paperwork on File
      6. Reality Check
  14. 4 Industry Standards
    1. The Standards
    2. Actor Marketing Materials
      1. The Cover Letter
      2. Headshots
      3. What Makes a Good Headshot?
      4. Common Threads
      5. Resumés
      6. Reels
      7. Self-Submissions
      8. Warning Signs of the Less Experienced
    3. Why Look for These Standards?
  15. 5 Acting—What Is It?
    1. Acting Defined
    2. The Actor’s Toolbox: Voice, Body, Space
    3. Approaches to Craft
    4. Script Analysis: If It Ain’t on the Page, It Ain’t on the Stage
      1. Given Circumstances
      2. The Moment Before
      3. What’s My Motivation?
    5. Character Types
    6. Acting 101 for Directors: The Guts
      1. How You Feel Is a Result of What You Do
      2. The Magic Verb
      3. Understanding the Craft: Where to Go for Help
  16. 6 Timelines—When to Start and What to Do Before Jumping in
    1. Announcements, Auditions, Callbacks and Contracts (AACC)
    2. Where to Hold Auditions
      1. Keeping it Professional: First Impressions Count
    3. The Casting Timeline Explained
    4. Working Backwards: Schedules
      1. Two Weeks from First Shoot Date: Rehearsals
      2. One Month from First Shoot Date: Contracts
      3. Six Weeks from First Shoot Date: Callbacks
      4. Two Months from First Shoot Date: Auditions
      5. Ten Weeks from First Shoot Date: Distributing Audition Information
      6. Three Months from First Shoot Date: Preproduction Breakdown
      7. The Producer Is There to Help You
      8. Union Preparation Recap
  17. 7 The Casting Breakdown—Spreading the Word
    1. Breakdown Elements
    2. Sample Breakdowns
    3. Breakdown Distribution
      1. National Outreach
      2. Local and Regional
      3. Social Networking
      4. Flyers: Other Places to Put Your Breakdown
      5. Press Releases
      6. Physical Geography
    4. Contacting Agents
      1. Who You Gonna Call: Who Represents Whom
  18. 8 Staying Organized
    1. Workflow
      1. Who Can Follow Instructions
      2. Turn on Your “Flake Radar”
    2. Managing Files
      1. Confirming Auditions
    3. Handling Rejections
    4. Other Files
      1. Creating Script Sides from Your Screenplay
      2. Sign-In Sheets
    5. Master Spreadsheet
  19. 9 The First Round—What You Need and Where You Need It
    1. Preparations and Procedures
      1. Provide Scripts in Advance
      2. Make a Schedule
      3. Allow Enough Time for Each Actor
      4. Setting up
      5. Information Form
      6. Keep Secrets
    2. How Many Actors Do I See for Each Role?
    3. Who Do I Cast First?
      1. Cast Your Leading Actors First
      2. Supporting Actors
      3. Background Extras
    4. Inside the Session
      1. Controlling the Room
      2. Casting Sessions Are Job Interviews
      3. Casting Sessions Are Private
      4. Memorized Sides
      5. Using a Reader and Where Everybody Sits
      6. Recording the Casting Session
      7. Adjustments and Direction: When You Have Something to Say
      8. Do Expect Actors to Be Prepared and on Time
    5. More Basic Dos and Don’ts
      1. Do Expect Actors to Arrive with a Headshot and Resumé
      2. Nudity, Scars, and Tattoos
      3. Don’t Ask Actors to Sign a Release Form for Audition Footage
      4. Keep Track
      5. Keep an Open Mind to All Potential and Opportunity
      6. Ending the Session
      7. Sorting the Session: Do You Need More Options?
  20. 10 The Second Round—Callbacks
    1. Confirming Your Choices
      1. Callback for Sure
      2. Callback Maybe
      3. Not Getting a Callback
    2. Callback Procedures
      1. Set Callback Appointments
      2. Test Your Communication and Directing Approach
      3. Put on Your “Poker Face”
      4. Sleep on Your Decisions
  21. 11 Offers and Contracts
    1. What Happens Next? The Offer and the Art of Negotiation
    2. Unpaid Projects
    3. Paid Projects (Union or Not)
    4. The Contract: Get It in Writing
    5. Union Contracts
    6. Local Hires Only
    7. State Production Incentives
      1. A Word from the SAG-AFTRA Office
  22. 12 Don’t Take My Word for It—Friends Chime In
    1. Fast, Cheap, Good—Pick Two
    2. A Little Help from Our Friends
      1. Actors Do a Shout Out
      2. Directors Do a Shout Out
  23. 13 Casting Directors—Do You Need One?
    1. The Job Defined: Potential Meets Opportunity
    2. Types of Casting Directors
    3. The Interview and Checking Credentials
    4. Job Tasks and Responsibilities: What Will They Do for You?
    5. When in Doubt, Get Help: Hire a Professional
    6. What’s It Going to Cost?
    7. Other Resources
  24. 14 So You Want to Be a Casting Director
    1. Loving Actors
    2. Outreach and Marketing
      1. Industry Connections
      2. Getting Started
    3. Interviews
      1. Michael Druck, Austin, Texas
      2. Ken Lazer, New York City, New York
      3. Sarah Kliban, San Francisco, California
  25. Glossary of Common Film Terms
  26. The Parts of Speech and Common Phrases
  27. Web Resources
  28. Bibliography and Resources
  29. Recommended Reading
  30. Sample Course Outline—Syllabus
  31. Index
  32. About the Author
  33. Color plates can be found between pages 48 and 49

Product information

  • Title: Casting Revealed, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Hester Schell
  • Release date: October 2016
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781317359173