Casting Notes at LA IMIS 2012

Casting the Light

This weekend I had the chance to participate in a wonderful conference: Jadar Entertainment's first ever LA IMIS (indie music and film industry summit).  It was a marvelous event that had to compete with some other really great film events that were also happening downtown, but for those of us who had the chance to attend, it was a unique opportunity to see what collaboration and a passion for talent can really produce.  And because the attendance was lower than expected, it made for a rare opportunity to get very intimate with some of Hollywood's most treasured 'behind the scene-ers'.

I appeared on a panel on breaking into Hollywood: Lights, Camera, Action Take Two with notable pillars of stardom actor Richard Lawson and TV director Oz Scott, as well as performer and now manager Sabina Cabe. There was a music panel which followed quickly after, a panel on marketing and publicity with Deborah Hayter of Deborah Hayter Publicity, Linda Jones of The Mass Appeal, and Gina Smith of SPMG Media. All were excellent panels with the panelists lovingly sharing as many tidbits as they could about how to break into the industry, but the panel which most stood out to me was the casting panel with casting director notables (gorgeous too) Robi Reed, Leah Daniels, and Tracy "Twinkie" Byrd who was deliciously bohemian and Brooklyn.  With honesty that was more refreshing and direct than I'd heard in a long time, they shared a lot of great insights for actors that I wanted to share here.

Here are some great recommendations (and pet peeves) they shared for all the aspiring actors out there; and since many of these talented people are my friends, I thought I'd put this out there:

Do your Research - they all complained that many actors come in either unprepared, without having done their research or BOTH! One told a story about an actor (African American at that) who was working with Forrest Whitaker in a more recent film, and asked him if he had ever directed a film. SCRATCH @#!

Be Ready… To ask questions, to be thrown a curve ball, to do the scene differently,  to answer questions about the scene, and to stop and start again.  They all told stories about actors who show up with any number of excuses for not being prepared or familiar with the material

Bring a PIC - Even though everything is done online these days, they all liked to have a physical picture in hand. One even gave away a secret: send her a postcard with a picture as a way of getting an audition. Postcards are easy to keep on a desk if they see something they like

Don't Bring an IPAD - Come in with lines prepared and don't read from an IPAD. It's distracting and gets handled like a prop in the scene.

Don't Crash Auditions - At least one of the casting directors said that she disliked this 

Be On TIME - which for at least one of the casting directors meant: BE EARLY

Don't Make Excuses - They all moaned woefully about the number of excuses they hear on a daily basis and claimed to have heard them all.  If you have an excuse, forget about it--you've been scratched.

Don't Go to the End - If you mess up a line in the beginning or have a false start, stop and ask to start again. By the time you muddle through lines you've already messed up, you have used up the time you reserved for yourself and you've demonstrated nothing more than your capacity to plow through a bad take which in a film world means the loss of a lot of time and money.

Get a Harassing Agent - They all admitted that the persistent agent is the one who gets the actor in. If your agent isn't doing that for you, it's time to SCRATCH them!

Stand out - One of the casting directors desperately bemoaned how alike everyone in LA looks. Don't be afraid to stand out and go the extra mile.

Finally I want to add my small two cents as a writer/director to the actors that I love:

Don't be afraid to completely fill the room with who you are. Why be small when you can be big?
Don't be afraid to make a mistake or do something unexpected.  That's the stuff of grand filmmaking!
And don't be afraid to take a risk.  This is why we love actors.  Because they are capable of taking the emotional risks that most of us would never dare to... and they do it ONSCREEN for all to see!

Jadar entertainment The Mass Appeal Deborah Hayter Publicist SPMG Media

Diego Velasco's La Hora Cero

I just came from LALIFF, a very small and locally supported film festival that is heralded by none other than the Edward James Olmos. I saw my dear friend and classmate's first feature film, La Hora Cero and I was filled with so much love and pride for his first effort, I decided that this would be my first venture into blogging.

It's a terrific film that opens with an amazing sequence that is reminiscent of Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men. There's a long winding road on a mountain with grand views of a beautiful Latin country (Venezuela), a bloody car, a pregnant woman and a cloud guilt (and questions) that fills the screen. It's a grand opening for a tightly shot and edited story that pushes the viewer ever deeper into the film. It's a also an impressive sequence for a first time feature director; it's enough to handle just making your first film and having everything make sense, but Diego tells a very personal story in this action packed beginning.

We visit a lot of characters in a very short amount of time, and I personally tend to dislike those movies because it never gives me the time to really "settle" on a character and who they are, what they want, and why they're in this movie. I like to make personal connections with my characters even if I never meet them in real life, and here I was given the opportunity.

A crew of gangster villains are set against the backdrop of a tumultuous Venezuelan community where the haves and have nots are revealed not through their homes or their jobs or cars but through their relationships with the hospitals there: the treated and the untreated and the people who treat them. It's a new approach that I later learned comes from Diego's own personal upbringing--both his parents are doctors. What's also new about this approach, is that there is a courageous lack of exposition in the story. Yet nothing feels superfluous or omitted--the questions we have are what drive the story forward and keep the momentum flowing.

As the story progresses there is a lovely unfolding like a flower of the many relationships in the film and the characters. It allows us to go deeper into the story and into these characters' lives and desires. We come to understand the characters motives without it being spelled out for us any point. It's a wonderful balance of plot truly driven by its characters journeys, a delicate motion that Diego succeeds in achieving. It's a wonderful grand film with strong and truthful (my favorite is the police commissioner) performances that should launch Diego's career in the studio system or with independents. He's in a fantastic space with this first feature and hopes to gain distribution soon.

I love watching these kinds of films. It reminds me of the infinite capacity we have to create and to have love in our creation. I hope it reminds those execs making the 5th version of the same movie to take a chance on new talent and see what can grow.