Casting Aspersions

If you have a good agent whom you trust and who works well for you, one of the benefits of finishing a long piece of work, such as the 7 weeks I've just done on "Him and Her" series 4, will be that in the 1st week after finishing work you'll be plunged back into the  world of castings.

As actors we do hundreds of what are essentially job interviews. My partner has probably done three job interviews  in the whole of his working life (He got all three jobs I have to point out), and for many people job interviews are a source of great stress and tension and worry. This can also be the case for actors. Having sat on both sides of the desk hours as actor and as director casting my own productions, I have seen people so desperate for the work that no vestige of a real personality transmits itself. It's difficult. You want the job, and yet you don't want to appear as though you're in the last chance saloon.

The best time to go for interviews is when you're already working. If that's not possible, then just after finishing a job is probably a close second. This week I went up for an interview for a role in a television comedy, and I went for a commercial casting. Next week I am up for a soap opera, but more of that later.

Many actors think that casting directors can be a bit of a nightmare. These are usually actors who don't get many interviews and think that casting directors are a barrier between them and the job. The good casting director course is a necessary conduit. Every actor thinks they can do every job. I've advertised jobs on casting services in the past where I specified that it was absolutely essential that the actor for the part was 6'2" blonde (Personal reasons there, of course). It is no word of a lie to say that I received responses beginning with "Although I am brown haired and 5 foot 6, I believe I am absolutely right for this part." You have to admire the chutzpah,  but it's time-consuming to weed out all these unsuitable suggestions. That's where the casting director comes in. They make sure that the director meets people who are very  viable casting for the role full. That is, of course, if the director knows what they want.

On one occasion this week I felt the director had no idea of what they wanted for the role. The casting director concerned worked her proverbial balls off as she sang my virtues and got me to read the role in several different ways to show off my variety and virtuosity. She was an absolute darling, but I'm not sure that the somewhat inexperienced director had any more idea of what they wanted and whether what they wanted was me by the end of the 15 minutes than they had at the start.

 The second casting of the week was for a commercial. Actors are asked to do very funny things with commercial castings. I've had to disco dance on a dinner table (I got that job) and then had to wipe my bottom with soft and hard toilet paper (I didn't get that one!). This ad was about a girl eating cheese whose boss catches her in the office. (!) The interpretation of a corporate boss in this commercial brief was a man who shouts, so as I waited outside with a couple of other actors, we heard various people in the room next door shouting. Loudly. Maniacally.  Throat bruisingly awfully. 

 I resolved that I'd find a more imaginative way of showing a displeased corporate boss when I got in there. The casting director was charming. He did his job exceptionally well, and at the moment the cameras rolled, I shouted. Mercifully I managed to find a way of shouting that was humorous and had the casting director and the cameraman in fits of giggles. I'm not sure what it was that I did, I'm not sure that I will be able to repeat it if I get the inevitable recall.

Next weeks offering is a corrupt police officer in a soap opera.  I'm not sure that I'm allowed to say which soap opera, but it might point you in the right direction to know that the cast seem to be very pretty and have an average age of 19.  Bit of a challenge for me there then!