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Category: Casting (Page 2 of 7)

Team J Casting Notice: General Call for Student Films – Spring 2016

Just like last year, Team J has been approached to help cast some student films.

Therefore, we’re creating rosters of actors who are interested and available for student films during March, April, and May 2016.

You can learn more about Team J’s use of ‘actor rosters’ here.

While each project is different, we expect most of these films will be shot under a SAG-AFTRA Student Film agreement. Most films will have deferred pay. If actors are paid, it will probably be no more than $125 per 8-hour day. In other words, actors are doing this for what will hopefully be a great acting experience with a talented, aspiring filmmaker.

Team J is collecting actor submissions via Stonehenge Casting. Please create or update your actor profile (it’s free) and be sure to note any schedule conflicts you have for March, April, or May 2016. We expect most shooting to be done in March and early April.

Once your actor profile is updated, submit to one or more of the casting notices below:

General Call: Principal and Speaking Parts for Student Films, Union Agreement – Spring 2016

General Call: Principal and Speaking Parts for Student Films, No Union Agreement – Spring 2016

General Call: Background Performers for Student Films, Union Agreement – Spring 2016

General Call: Background Performers for Student Films, No Union Agreement – Spring 2016

Which casting notices should I submit for?
You can submit for one notice or all of them — depending on your interest. You’re basically pre-qualifying yourself as interested in this type of work (student films) for this period of time (March, April, May 2016).

What should I put in the “Roles” field?
Since we have not character breakdowns, we suggest some variant of your logline.

When will I hear back from Team J?
You might not hear from us at all — at least not until June 1st.

When we are casting a particular film, we may do a specific casting notice and ask you to submit for it — or we might just contact you and ask you to come in and audition.

But that’s all based on what roles the scripts call for and how well we think you fit said roles.

In Team J tradition, we will follow up with everyone who submitted at the end of the casting period whether or not they were cast (in this case, after May 31st).

Should I put these dates on ‘soft hold’?
Absolutely not.

By submitting to the notices above, you are not on hold, “first refusal,” or anything like that. Keep on looking for work as you see fit.

Team J creates these general calls to help us cast projects quicker by pre-qualifying actors who are interested and available. However, we haven’t offered you a job and you haven’t accepted. You’ve simply said you’d be up for this type of work for this time period. If something works out, great. If not, no worries.

What if you ask me to audition for a particular project and it’s not my thing?
Say no thanks.

By putting your virtual hat in the ring for these as-yet-undefined student films doesn’t mean you’re saying yes to appear in any of them.

Some scripts may not be your thing. We’re establishing the general type of work (student films), the general payscale ($100 to probably deferred for all eternity), and time period (March, April, May 2016).

What if my availability changes during March, April, or May 2016?
Please update your availability in your profile as soon as you know.

Note, we’d love you to keep your availability calendar up-to-date on Stonehenge Casting not just for this project, but for any project we or other filmmakers are casting.

If you are not available because you’ve actually heeded our advice sought work in addition to this general casting notice, congrats! Feel free to submit to future general calls.

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Other questions? Send them to casting@teamjabberwocky.com.

 

Why Team J uses Rosters for its Casting

Many of you know that Team J helps other people cast their stories. Indeed, Stonehenge Casting, Team J’s online casting service, is a tool we use for our own casting.

Starting in 2016, we’re going to be using Stonehenge Casting extensively to create rosters: folders of actors who may be interested and available for certain types of projects for a particular time period. For example, we’ll probably be helping cast student films this spring, indie features this summer, and political ads this Fall.

We have hundreds and hundred of actors in our database — and not all of them are interested and available for all of these projects.

Although Team J advocates filmmakers starting their casting well in advance of production, we often get contacted to help cast projects when the shoot date is imminent. At the same time, the ‘seasons’ of what types of projects we’re asked to cast is not as unusual. Student films often cast in the Spring. Political ads focus in the Fall and even the summers in presidential election years. You get the idea.

Why are we doing these general calls? Quite simple: it works.

You’ll see this in other industries. Government contractors, something familiar in the DC area, will often put out job notices for positions they might have to fill. They’ve put a bid on a contract that will require database administrators, business analysts, or project managers. People will send in their resumes. These people often get interviews. Then, if said contractor wins the contract, they can staff up faster.

You’ll actually see this in the film and theater community as well. Guess what the Stonehenge Auditions and various other mass auditions are? We’re building up our roster of performers we might call in for various work.

Building rosters of potential hires is something you do when you employ free agents who work only on a given contract. And even if they get to work with the same theater or production company a lot, actors are pretty much free agents these days.

So we decided to use the power of Stonehenge Casting and its availability calendar to help us and help you.

When we know we have been or will be asked for a general type of project for a specific time period, we’re going to put out a general call to actors. If you’re interested in that type of work during that particular time period, you can put yourself higher on our radar.

Sure, we’d like to give you a greater lead time about a specific project. But we’ve found that doesn’t always work out.

FAQs about Rosters aka General Calls

Which casting notices should I submit for?
You can submit for one notice or all of them — depending on your interest. You’re basically pre-qualifying yourself as interested in a particular type of project with a certain pay range for a specific period of time.

When will I hear back from Team J?
You might not hear from us at all.

When we are casting a particular film, we may do a specific casting notice and ask you to submit for it — or we might just contact you and ask you to come in and audition.

But that’s all based on what roles the scripts call for and how well we think you fit said roles.

In Team J tradition, we will follow up with everyone who submitted at the end of the casting period whether or not they were cast.

Should I put these dates on ‘soft hold’?
Absolutely not.

By submitting to the notices above, you are not on hold, “first refusal,” or anything like that. Keep on looking for work as you see fit.

Team J creates these general calls to help us cast projects quicker by pre-qualifying actors who are interested and available. However, we haven’t offered you a job and you haven’t accepted. You’ve simply said you’d be up for this type of work for this time period. If something works out, great. If not, no worries.

What if you ask me to audition for a particular project and it’s not my thing?
Say no thanks.

By putting your virtual hat in the ring for these as-yet-undefined projects doesn’t mean you’re saying yes to audition or appear in any of them.

Some scripts may not be your thing. We’re establishing the general type of work, the general payscale, and specific time period.

What if my availability changes?
Please update your availability in your profile as soon as you know.

Note, we’d love you to keep your availability calendar up-to-date on Stonehenge Casting not just for this project, but for any project we or other producers are casting.

If you are not available because you’ve actually heeded our advice sought work in addition to this general casting notice, congrats! Feel free to submit to future general calls.

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That’s it. We know it’s going to help us find the right actors for projects faster. We’re sure it’s going to help some of you.

P.S. Some casting directors will also hold “generals” where actors can come in for a one-on-one talk and audition with said casting directors. Team J absolutely plans to do this in the future, but in the meantime, we’re using our site, Stonehenge Casting, to its maximum potential.

Actors: Stonehenge 14 Registration About to Close!

If you’re an actor looking for more film and video work, the fourteenth edition of Stonehenge Auditions will be on Monday, September 28th at the Source Theater in Washington, DC.

120 actors deliver 90-second monologues to dozens of commercial filmmakers, indie filmmakers, casting directors, and talent agents over the course of the day.

We’ve had multiple actors tell us just one appearance at Stonehenge Auditions and the resulting video on our YouTube channel has meant auditions and gigs for years to come.

But if you want a chance to audition, you need to register by this Saturday, September 12. (There are no walk-ins.)

Remember: because it’s a lottery system, you can register now and have an equal shot at auditioning. Because of conscientious actors like yourself who cancel, the 43rd person on the waitlist sometimes auditions.

To register, you need to create and complete your free profile on StonehengeCasting.com and submit to “Stonehenge XIV Actor Registration.”

To help actors out, we’ve a created a How-To article for submitting. (Many actors blew past the instructions on the submission page).

For way more information about the event, including exhaustive FAQs for actors and producers, visit Stonehenge14.info.

We hope to see you at the Henge!

 

Stonehenge Registration: Don’t Forget to Follow the Directions

Actor registration opened up for Stonehenge XIV last week and we’ve had a bunch of actors register.

But so far, less than half have followed the submission directions — which means, in most cases, that those actors won’t get to audition!

(We’re hoping all of you actors caught that last bit.)

There’s still time for you to register for the Stonehenge Audition OR to correct your submission. We want all of you to have a chance to be seen.

However, you have to complete your submission by this Saturday, September 12 to be eligible for the lottery.

(Just like all but the first Stonehenge Auditions, actors get assigned timeslots per random lottery).

So we’re going to repeat some of the information on the project submission page, the Stonehenge Casting FAQ and elsewhere here. If you’re an actor, these are the steps you need to take to be sure to be in the lottery for Stonehenge XIV:

Create a profile on Stonehenge Casting
It’s free and it’s required. Several producers will only be viewing your headshot and resume electronically at the Auditions, which leads us to:

Make sure your profile is 100% Complete
This is a requirement to be eligible for the Stonehenge Auditions lottery and the one most actors are missing.

There’s a handy bar that displays at the right of each page of the actor/performer profile.

Completion Percentage

The completion percentage is different from the required fields and does not mean you need to fill out every last field in the profile.

As mentioned in the submission instructions, the Stonehenge Casting FAQ about Completion percentage lists all the fields you need to fill out to make your profile 100%. Again, those are:

Basic Information

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Screen/Stage Name (Yes OR No)

Projects and Preferences

  • Logline
  • Types of Work
  • Types of Compensation

Contact Information

  • Email
  • Telephone
  • Telephone Type
  • ZIP code
  • State
  • City

Appearance

  • Height
  • Weight
  • Hair Color
  • Eye Color
  • Races or Ethnicities
  • Age Range
  • ALL Measurements (put N/A in any that don’t apply to you)

Vocal & Language Skills

  • Not required for completion percentage

Physical & Athletic Skills

  • Not required for completion percentage

Union Status & Availability

  • Willing to work background (Yes OR No)

Special Information

  • Car available for background (Yes OR No)
  • Dog available for background (Yes OR No) Special Skills (Yes OR No)

(Can you tell producers sometimes use our site for background performers?)

Attachments and Links

  • Headshot
  • Resume
  • Demo Reel (Yes OR No)

The two sections actors seem to be missing the most are their logline (which has a how-to article) and their measurements: ALL TWELVE of their measurements.

Confirm your headshot and resume are showing up
You can do this by looking at your profile page how producers will see it. We also have a how-to article on uploading your headshot and resume in case you run into trouble as well as a how-to article on re-sizing your headshot.

You can always email us if you get stuck and need help troubleshooting, but no, we’re not uploading the files for you.

Submit to the Stonehenge XIV project
Just in case you thought all you needed to do was create your Stonehenge Casting profile and making sure it was complete: NOPE. You need to do more. There’s several thousand actors on Stonehenge Casting, many not in the DC area. While we have had actors travel from afar to audition, we’re not assuming that. That’s why you submit to Stonehenge XIV like you would any other project on Stonehenge Casting. This should be simple, because if you go to the project tab this week, it’s the only one.

Indicate any conflicts or preferences in the “Roles” field
Instead of roles, which is meaningless since you don’t know what the producers are casting, list any conflicts or preferences for your timeslot (auditions run from 10am to 5:45pm with various breaks). If you have no conflicts, put “N/A”

Leave the audition video field blank
Only put something in there if you want to show you can’t follow directions. The producers like to know about those people and we oblige.

Click ‘Submit’ and wait for Lottery Results by Monday, 9/14
You’ll be notified regardless of whether you have a guaranteed slot, standby slot, waitlist, or were not selected. Want to know more about how that works? Check out the exhaustive Stonehenge Auditions Actor FAQ.

Thanks for reading and we hope to see many of you at the Henge!

Stonehenge XIV: Actor Registration Now Open!

If you’re on the Team J mailing list, you already know this, but for everyone else: Stonehenge XIV (or 14, if you prefer) will be on Monday, September 28th at the Source Theater in Washington, DC — and actor registration is now open!

This year, Team J is partnering with Women in Film and Video (WIFV) to bring this in-person event back. They’re handling the producer registration, so feel free to direct producer friends that way.

120 actors will audition to dozens of producers in this popular mass audition. Do you want to be one of them?

If you’re an actor who wants to attend, you’ll need to create a free profile on Stonehenge Casting. Not only that, your profile must be 100% complete to be eligible.

The audition slots will be selected by lottery as in years past, because historically 300-400 actors are trying to get the 120 guaranteed slots (when we did it first-come, first-served, slots filled up in 8 minutes or less).

Don’t delay: Actor Registration closes by Saturday, September 12th and the actor profile is thorough.

For more information, including a completely revised FAQ, pop over to the Stonehenge 14 information page… and when you’re ready go over to Stonehenge Casting and register.

Stonehenge XIV: Producer Registration Now Open!

Stonehenge XIV (or 14, if you prefer) will be on Monday, September 28th at the Source Theater in Washington, DC.

Dozens of producers will attend: will you be one of them?

Mass auditions are a common event in the theater world: it’s a way to see a lot of actors in a short time and learn if you’d like to call them in for your own auditions. Instead of “speed-dating,” you can think of it as “speed-casting.”

This year, Team J is partnering with Women in Film and Video (WIFV) to bring this in-person event back. They’ll be handling the producer registration, while actors will be able to register via Stonehenge Casting next week. Both producers and actors must pre-register to attend as there are no walk-ins.

If you’ve attended a Stonehenge Audition before, please spread the word even if you won’t be able to join us this year. Much like The Matrix, we find that many film and TV producers are unfamiliar with the mass audition format, but every single attendee we’ve talked to after a Henge has found actors they’ll use.

Producers get two free months’ worth of access to Stonehenge Casting as part of the registration fee, which means they can also view the headshots and resumes –and even take notes– electronically during the event.

For more information, including a completely revised FAQ, pop over to the Stonehenge 14 information page… and when you’re ready, go over to the registration page on the WIFV site.

DC-based Web Series Seeks Union/Non-Union Actors (paid)

Note: don’t contact us. We’re putting this here because these fine people are using Stonehenge Casting, Team J’s online casting tool. Contact info and site for submissions below.

Aboveboard Productions is seeking actors for East Coast Grow, a comedy web series about DC’s marijuana industry. The series follows a group of industry professionals as they attempt to navigate DC’s landscape of medical cultivation and broader legalization with well-intentioned enthusiasm, which often results in more trouble than they expect. The first episodes will be shot in DC this fall, with rehearsals beginning in late September.

We will be operating under a SAG New Media Entertainment Contract, so both union and non-union talent are encouraged to apply.

Auditions will take place in DC on Wednesday, August 26th, Saturday, August 29th and Sunday, August 30th, with callbacks on Sunday, September 13th. Actors will prepare sides provided beforehand. All roles are paid.

If interested, submit via Stonehenge Casting (you can create a free profile if you do not already have one). Visit our website at http://aboveboardproductions.com/casting.html for more details about the project and available roles. Questions can be directed to casting@aboveboardproductions.com.

Casting Notes #15: Don’t Mind Me – Casting Background Performers (For Filmmakers)

This 20-part series, written by Team J’s Bjorn Munson, covers the lessons learned during the casting of The Broken Continent web series pilot in 2012. You can find the full Table of Contents in Part 1.

This series is meant to help other independent filmmakers, primarily those who are casting a large ensemble (10+ speaking parts, multiple background actors, etc.). Individual articles may be useful to production companies looking to cast other work such as commercials. There are also a number of articles specifically for actors on how to better submit for auditions, do the auditions, and deal with the statistically inevitable rejections.

The lessons learned have been applied to Team J’s Stonehenge Casting service, an online tool for producers to find actors and actors to find work.


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Don’t Mind Me – Casting Background Performers

Just as with the fight auditions, not every project –even an indie feature or web series– is going to have background performers (aka “Extras”)[1].  The good news is that most of what you’ve read so far about getting the casting notice out and processing the submissions holds true for casting background performers.

Good background performers know how to re-create their actions precisely, take after take, as well as take direction just like the speaking roles you’re casting. This is not to say that you shouldn’t pack an audience scene with friends and family. Indie projects by their nature have a small budget and may need bodies for crowd scenes. Just remember that you do get what you pay for and the allure of “working on a film” can make the bodies of those friends and family restless as you press on into hour four of the shoot.

Here are some things to consider when casting background performers.

Consider always having some background performers
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but background performers are a great way to expand the cinematic world you’re creating. Just as I always advocate having a variety of ages, body types, and so on in the cast (like you have in the real world), the real world is full of people in the background. [2]

Even when the world you’re portraying is far from real, you often want people in the background. For The Broken Continent, we had committed to some form of “epic” fantasy. Having a couple people with swords on camera wouldn’t do. Wherever it made sense, we wanted to have additional soldiers, advisers, or denizens in the background to fully realize the world.

Even in an indie project set in modern times, you may have characters in offices and stores or walking in hallways or sidewalks. Unless it’s apocalyptic setting, there might always be one or two people in the background (and even in apocalyptic settings, c’mon: zombies!). [3]

Getting the word out for background performers
The method for getting the word out for background performers is essentially the same as for your regular cast. In fact, you might find some potential background performers among the actors submitting for regular roles (more on that below). So when you’re crafting your casting notice for background performers, try and find a way to make them want to come and stand around for hours at a time. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Can you describe the background role as exciting? (“We need background performers to portray a crack SWAT team.”)
  • Can you describe the scene where the background activity is exciting? (“We need 20+ background performers to be mystified, befuddled, and ultimately entertained by a street performance by our two female leads.”)
  • Can you evoke memorable, archetypal crowd scenes from other movies?  (“Be part of the frightened masses fleeing mutant snakehead fish as they emerge from the Potomac River!”) [4]

You will not have an enticing hook for every project and every type of background performer. In some cases, you might honestly just want to make sure this office or that street corner isn’t completely deserted. But you don’t lead with that. Remember, in part 4 of the Casting Notes series, we talked a lot about crafting your casting notice with a mind to woo the performer. Don’t stop wooing when it comes to seeking out background performers.

Create a separate casting notice for background performers
Now, using Stonehenge, I would both create a different casting notice for background performers and make sure to note whether or not the performers had checked the box on the site that they were open for background work.[5] To explain that reasoning, I should explain what we did for The Broken Continent.

For that series, we created one omnibus casting notice. At the bottom, after the 20-some roles, there were clearly plenty of opportunities for background performers listed.

Then, during the auditions, we checked in with people at the end of the audition to see if they would be at all interested in background work. Our director, Francis, cheerfully noted that we were asking this of everyone (which was true) and we would perfectly understand an answer of “Hell, no!” (which was also true). This question was asked with what I thought was about as light a touch as could be done. And we did have a good reason to ask people whom we were calling in for principle roles. As we explained, we fully hoped the pilot would lead to a regular web series — and so it would be wonderful to cast someone as one of the king’s advisers in the pilot who then could be revealed to be a key supporting role in a later episode as if we had planned it all along.

Many of the people we wound up casting were excellent actors, and we had every intention of doing exactly what we said because we knew they had the acting chops to rise to the challenge. That Woman of the Wood you saw in the opening? She could strategize with one of the leads at the eve of a later battle. That courtier looming behind King Eadwyn? He was in league with the scheming Barda to consolidate power. Even some of the refugees were capable of popping up in later episode to add to the epic story. The background actors were a combination of people whom auditioned for us along with some people who we did not initially call in, but had indicated they were up for background work.

Nevertheless, in retrospect, there were a few instances that, despite Francis’ light touch, the actor was surprised and probably a bit uncomfortable at the question. For that reason, in the future, I would do the separate casting notice as mentioned above — and also check the Stonehenge tool to see who was up for background work. However, I would make sure that the check-in staff informed all the actors that their Stonehenge profile was up-to-date in terms of their availability and interest in background work (“Make sure it’s not checked if you don’t want it and make sure it is checked if you do.”)

Consider budgeting for background performers
One thing I would not change with what we did with the Broken Continent was to pay all the actors, including the background performers.

Time and again, I hear from fellow filmmakers who’ve had no end of trouble getting even 10 people to come out and be background for free. That’s because the mystique of filmmaking quickly loses its allure to many a newcomer when they realize just how much hurry-up-and-wait is involved. [6] Background actors hurry up and wait even more than most.

Consider that you could ask for 4 hours’ time for a background performer, pay them $40 and they’d be making well above current minimum wage. [7]

For the Broken Continent, we didn’t pay that much, but we did follow state and federal minimum wage laws — and we paid overtime if actors were hurrying up and waiting for more than 8 hours (like you’re supposed to). We did this, in part, because we knew we needed to make costumes for these actors and, in part, because we knew our shoot days could be long and would be somewhat remote. We wanted the actors to commit to being there.

Now many filmmakers reading this might be running numbers in their head. They might reasonably calculate how they could add 10-20 extras at that $10-per-hour rate and quickly add $400 to $800 of cost. If you wanted a modest throng of people over a couple days, you’d quickly add thousands of dollars to your budget.

It’s fine if background performers are where you want to cut costs. Just don’t pretend that “being in a film” is that big a motivator, especially because you’re asking someone to hang out and not do much of anything — and often they need to be near set and quite quiet. For isolated needs, where you need people for less than a four-hour chunk –and ideally a less-than-one-hour chunk– many family and friends can probably be relied on again and again. If some of your friends are actors or creatives –and the background performers have something moderately interesting to do– you’ve just given creative people an opportunity to play. You can safely bet on an extra hour or so. But if you really want people to commit to being background not simply state that they “should be available,” money should be one of your tactics.

Remember, you’re spending the money on background performers to add production value. Not every shot is a crane shot or needs a Steadicam. Not every set or costume needs to pop. But sometimes, having one of those elements is that special ingredient you want to spice up a shot. Feel free to cut those ingredients from the budget if you don’t need that spice, but plan on adding that to the budget if not having the background performers will visibly lessen the production value or take an audience away from what they expect.[8]

Storyboard the shots with background in mind
Do you need to do this step before casting? Not absolutely. But you do want to do it before the day you’re shooting with background performers. Otherwise, you run the risk of looking at your set, looking at your limited amount of extras, and realizing things won’t look good.

Storyboarding with a realistic notion of the final number of background performers you’ll have therefore becomes critical to ensuring that you’re maximizing your production value — and also not looking too cheap in key shots. In general, you want enough extras so that they can fill out the edges of the frame indicating further people off camera. Sometimes they’re integral to establish motion and activity of a location by cutting in front of the camera or passing in back of the main action. You can do a lot with just a few background actors and careful framing.

I counsel many indie filmmakers to take a look at television shows, especially those from more modestly budgeted days of yore. Nowadays, TV shows may have show-stopping cinematic setpieces with a lot of background performers (though some of them might be CGI). Modern TV directors also know that they can get away with more cinematic compositions because of both expectation and the rise of huge home theater screens. But older TV shows wanted to give the impression of bustling Western towns, hospitals, space stations, and police precincts without having anything close to a blockbuster budget or epic-sized audience expectations. The camera framing and number of background performers in these shows reflect those constraints. [9]

Regardless of how average or ambitious your shot list may be, you want to take the time to know how you’ll use background actors to your best advantage. Depending on what location you wind up with and the number of extras you get, you may need to adjust your framing.

Have at least one crew member manage the background performers
This may come as an absolute shock to some industry folks, but not every production has a Second Assistant Director, let alone a Second Second Assistant Director or Third Assistant Director. Heck, many an indie production I’ve been on hasn’t had any assistant director. That’s okay. [10] However your crew is organized, make sure someone on the crew is responsible for (and knows beforehand they’re responsible for) checking in and checking out the background performers including all their paperwork especially their release.

Ideally, you not only have a crew member to do the organizing and get the all-important release, but all the crew who might interact with them, from the production assistants to craft services, can be pleasant, but firm as necessary. Remember, for many background performers on an indie production, this is their first exposure to a film set. You need everyone who interacts with background actors know they need to helps them remember such boring but vital things like:

  • Where to stand and not stand
  • Who to talk to and who is going to be busy [11]
  • What activities are fine for hanging out and waiting… and waiting  (book-reading yes, beat-boxing no).
  • Who will bring them to set and what to do at the end of the day

In other words: don’t assume your background performers know “the rules.” On an indie set, “the rules” may vary (and that’s okay). But even if everyone on your set knows what “the rules” are for this set and can communicate those rules to extras in a firm, but friendly manner, having a point-of-contact that the background performers report to is a good idea.

In Conclusion
Whether you’re paying background performers to populate your web series world or you’re trying to get people to volunteer their time for short, student film, you want it to be easy for potential extras to say, “Yes!”

Figure out ways to woo your background performers from the casting notice, onward. Knowing that the extras will be doing something interesting or dressing up in costume can often entice people to spend some time hurrying up and waiting.

If you determine that you really need background performers in certain shots to sell the story, consider paying people as one of your tactics to make them commit.

Know what your “rules” will be on set, make sure the crew knows them, and make sure you have a designated point-of-contact for the background performers on set. [12]

Just as with your casting speaking roles, the effort you put in here will pay dividends. I have yet to have a standard guideline for how many people you should expect to reach out to in order to get a minimum number of background performers. Assuming you are paying less than SAG-AFTRA scale, you need to rely on the wooing indicated above and perhaps some novelty for the novice background performers involved — and it doesn’t hurt if you’re shooting in their backyard (proverbially if not literally). Searching by ZIP code isn’t a bad idea (and something you can do via Stonehenge). If you want 10 background actors on the shoot, reach out to 50… unless you can reach out to 100. I have yet to meet a director or D.P. who doesn’t find a use for the right background people (remember Footnote # 2).

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FOOTNOTE #1: Because people can take umbrage about anything and everything, it probably comes as no surprise that some actors object to the term “extras.” However, before you dismiss using the term “background performers,” as actors being overly sensitive, bear in mind you’re asking people to do, in some cases, precise repeatable actions take after take — that is, if you like your editor and continuity. Moreover, these actors are being asked to be this precise for the sake of being unobtrusive “moving scenery.” Just like we mention to actors: when you have a choice that won’t hurt you and might help you, choose to not hurt yourself. (At the same time, any background performer who freaks out or goes into a tirade upon being referred to as an ‘extra’ on set may need to consult a medical professional.)


FOOTNOTE #2: The needs of the story prevail. If you’re shooting a project like “The Wire” and your setting is the proverbial “mean streets,” it’s best that your extras don’t look like they’re about to go yachting. That’s not the problem I see. The problem I see time and again in indie projects is what I call “20-something White Guy Syndrome” where a film has characters and background that is very, very narrow and takes you out of any reality the film is trying to establish.


FOOTNOTE #3: Or mutants. Or Triffids. Or mutant Triffid zombies.


FOOTNOTE #4: Okay, that’s a bit of a dated reference for denizens of the DMV only. As it happens, someone made a snakehead horror film. I have no idea if they had a great pitch to entice people to be an extra in the film, but rest assured, if Team J ever does a creature feature, we absolutely will.


FOOTNOTE #5: I have seen other projects where they do the same thing on the paper form they have actors fill out upon checking into the audition. As has been alluded to elsewhere in this series, we don’t advocate doing on paper what can be done easier and more effectively online. Part of the Stonehenge profile actors fill out is whether they’re interested in background work. Yeah, you can have that checkbox on a whole bunch of paper forms, but this way, you can tally up the actors with a couple mouse clicks. (The results of actors suddenly deciding, no no, they meant “interested in background on the latest Hollywood-budgeted feature” are the same as the paper method, though.)


FOOTNOTE #6: One of my favorite stories to illustrate how quickly the cinematic glamour fades was when one roommate wanted to come out and be on set for the day during one of our shoots. I had no objection, but said he should bring his own car. He looked at me confused and more than a bit annoyed. What sense did that make? We were heading to the same place and it wasn’t like I was hauling a lot of gear. Moreover, this was going to be in the city and parking would be a pain. I insisted and he begrudgingly went along with it.

After about four hours of incremental camera set-ups in a less-than sweet-smelling alleyway, he pulled me aside and mentioned he’d be heading out and, hey, best of luck with the rest of the shoot.


FOOTNOTE #7: At least, the Federal minimum wage as of April 2015.


FOOTNOTE #8: The idea here is that viewers expect some shots to have “spice.” Offices and shops usually have other people in them. Streets have cars and pedestrians. We are used to seeing this in both film and TV. A great example of this was when I was working on a web series which had a series of episodes set at a gym. Part of the script called for a comic scene in a gym class. Even though he knew he could rely on some gym rats to be game to hang out and participate in some of the shots, the director enlisted the help of one of the staff to corral a group of gym goers and they were all paid $20 to participate in a brief scene and ensure the gym class was full. He was thrifty on budgeting the whole series, but this was where he knew for the sequence to work, it couldn’t take the viewer out of the location (or the joke) by having a sparsely attended gym class.


FOOTNOTE #9: I suggest this because many indie filmmakers have great ambitions for the look and feel of their films. I have no problems with this. Personally, I try and mix some Kurosawan elements into anything I shoot. However, we generally don’t have the budget for Rashomon, let alone Ran, so I find it’s good to eat a slice of cinematic humble pie and see what people with constrained budgets did. At the same time, I don’t advocate necessarily looking at indie films or web series. Why? Because network shows of yore, even though they had producers and network execs trying to figure out endless ways to do things on the cheap, they still didn’t want to look cheap compared to all the other shows on at the same hour. Trying to keep your show on the air for several seasons is more peer pressure than trying to get your low-budget movie into some sort of distribution.


FOOTNOTE #10: Assuming you can maintain high amounts of on-set safety and low amounts of sleep deprivation with the reduced crew. Small crews are fine, but remember: background performers, especially on an indie production, can be some of the most inexperienced people on set. Having someone make sure they’re safe and they’re not endangering the safety of others by galumphing into a power cable or messing with rigging is important.


FOOTNOTE #11: I know this varies on indie sets and the prohibition of extras talking to the lead actors or director may not be as strict. But  know what your version of “the rules” may be. For example, your director might be happy to talk to the extras and not be as distant. Just make sure when she needs to focus and huddle with her assistant director and cinematographer, she can.


FOOTNOTE #12: And don’t forget: if you’re shooting under a SAG-AFTRA agreement, there are certain rules you absolutely must follow in order to not violate the terms of your agreement. Luckily, this mainly means being detail-oriented and actually doing your paperwork… which is an unsexy behavior real filmmakers have accepted for some time.

Casting Background Performers for “The Arboretum” (SAG-AFTRA Student Film)

The Arboretum is a short drama being shot in Maryland under a SAG-AFTRA Student Film Agreement.

We are looking for about 20 background performers to serve as nightclub patrons on Monday, March 30th from 3pm to 8pm in Edgewater, Maryland (near Annapolis).

Note: To match the setting to the 20-something leads and their story, we’re skewing younger with the nightclub patrons, so we’re looking for 20s to mid-30s. We realize this precludes The Most Interesting Man in the World, but there it is.

We are offering credit and copy.

If interested, please submit via Stonehenge Casting: http://www.stonehengecasting.com/project_details.aspx?project_id=7

(If you don’t already have a profile, registration is free for actors).

Casting two women for “The Arboretum” (SAG-AFTRA Student Film) PAID

[Note: Team J is supporting this casting, we only list casting notices on our website that we ourselves are working on.]

Account 24 Productions is looking for two women for a short drama, The Arboretum, being shot under a SAG-AFTRA Student Film agreement (union and non-union may apply).

Synopsis
Sarah is a woman full of regrets about her life unaware she is already dead. In a kind of purgatory, she is confronted by Emily, a shadowy side of her consciousness, as she comes to terms with her actions, which may include the accidental death of her boyfriend.

Roles:

Sarah (Caucasian, female, mid-to-late 20s)
Attractive “girl next door.” Sweet, but with a wild side. She has grown up privileged and now deals with being on her own as an adult for the first time. She likes to place blame for her misfortunes on others and adopt a “woe is me” attitude. Smart, but stubborn, she loves drama, but not the aftermath that comes with it.

Emily (Caucasian female, mid-to-late 20s)
Emily is an imagined character: the embodiment of everything bad that Sarah has wanted to do. Emily is an enabler, and in a sense, Sarah’s voice for everything Sarah wants to hear, but cannot admit to herself, whether out of anger or happiness.

Compensation: $100/day plus credit and copy.

Auditions will be by appointment Sunday, March 8th at American University in Washington, DC.

The shoot will be two days: Sunday, March 22nd and another day TBD — both in Baltimore, MD.

Links to demo reels and sample clips optional, but highly recommended.

For consideration, submit your headshot and resume by Wednesday, March 4th at 5pm via Stonehenge Casting at: http://www.stonehengecasting.com/project_details.aspx?project_id=6

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