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March 23, 2003
Free Casting Director Panel
More updates to come, but for now... a press release:
March 26th, Wed., 7:30pm
Take One Film Books, 11516 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd floor
Featuring:
Robin Nassif, CSA (of Nassif Baca Casting, having cast LA Law: The Movie, Gentle Ben, Halloween: Resurrection, and oversaw casting of over 250 pilots while at ABC);
Cathy Kalmenson (of Kalmenson & Kalmenson Voice Casting, having cast the Budweiser Frogs, auditioned over 21,000 actors in one year, former voice over agent for Abrams Rubaloff, Tisherman, and Special Artists); and
Mark Sikes (casting director for LA Heat on TNT, dozens of Roger Corman's films, 30 films for PM Entertainment, and master teacher)
moderated by Bonnie Gillespie, owner of Cricket Feet Management, author of Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews and the forthcoming Self-Management for Actors: Getting Down to (Show) Business, fresh off her four-week stint as casting coordinator for Fox's Mr. Personality.
RSVP: Take One
Woo hooooooooo! Bring headshots and resumés and show up early!
See y'all there!
More later...
Posted by bonnie at 9:32 PM
March 16, 2003
Who Wants To Cast a Reality Show?
Is it still "casting" if we're doing reality? Yes. Most definitely. There are Polaroids tacked to the wall for all to see... compatability checks... chemistry checks... height issues... availability issues... geographical issues to consider.
But, what exists in a reality show's construction that doesn't factor into populating a scripted show is risk management. My job, for the last couple of weeks anyway, has included a lot of paperwork. For every candidate in whom we're interested, there are complete background investigations, medical exams, psychological exams, and mounds and mounds of paperwork. In addition to producer callbacks, which actors endure when they're close to network, these fine folks also have their lives uncovered prior to hitting the set. One guy asked me whether he'd be disqualified if I discovered he is a psychopath.
"Heck no!" I insisted. "Fox just wants to know about it up front. That's all."
Hee hee.
I'm having a good time. I have my favorite candidates and I see who the producers favor. I'm happy when that matches up. When it doesn't... well... I have to remember that I'm not the target market for this type of show and that these execs got where they are by making unpopular but highly-rated choices more often than failing at that task.
The other day, I figured that anyone watching our office from the parking lot would think, "Wow. They must do something really important in there. They show up early, stay really late, don't take days off or lunch breaks whatsoever, and they're always stressed out and running around. I bet they're working to cure cancer!"
And it's just television.
Reality television.
For the Fox network, for cryin' out loud.
And I'm laughing all the way to the bank. Or... will be when I get some time off to go there. LOL
Posted by bonnie at 2:20 PM
March 15, 2003
Here's what I have to say...
Hardly a damn thing.
My non-disclosure agreement with the Fox network prevents me from saying publically all the things I want to say about what's happening in the world of casting Mr. Personality. Let's just say there are some front-runners from Georgia and I am way the happy gal.
Beyond that, I got a whole lotta nothing. I'm working 14-16 hour days, seven days a week, and we start shooting in ten days. So, I should be retired from this li'l job soon and ready to decompress at least a little bit.
'Til then, my favorite Hotlanta candidate swore he'd bring me a Chick-fil-A and then called the casting office to say he wouldn't be able to do so. That right there should get him cut from any callback list. Tee hee.
Thinking we may go visit the boys tomorrow at the hotel where callbacks are taking place... just to say hey. We'll see.
Meanwhile... having a blast, glad the thing will be cast soon, and ready to go back to my life of working for myself. For now. But MAN... the offers are dayum enticing.
Posted by bonnie at 9:45 PM
March 7, 2003
What a wonderful night!
Thank you everyone!! The inaugural Hollywood Happy Hour was a smashing success and we are just so very proud!
Huge huge huge big thanks to Uncle Bob and Aunt Diana for the audio tech; to Brasserie des Artistes for the locale (and the $85 gift certificate); to Showfax and Breakdown Services for the best actor gifts of the night; to Actor's Bone, Pampered People, Aqua Hooks, Back Stage West, and most especially E! Online for all the awesome goodies in the goodie bags; and to our amazing assistants: Heather and Keith for their tireless efforts in pulling this together.
Thank you to our guests: Cindy Margolis and Michael Donovan. And of course, I must thank my lovely co-hosts and cohorts Nelson Aspen and Kris Burtt for being such total rock stars and dear friends.
Great time, great people, great info, and just all around great experiences for us all!
Glad to have our first event behind us, and happy to have shared it with you all.
Next up: Craig Tomasoff from US Weekly and Stacy Kumagai from Braingasm.com. April 3rd, 6pm. See you there!!
Look for updates on the website soon. I know that some of our guests will be writing up reviews on the night's events and we'll feature a few audio clips courtesy of our awesome audio tech friends!! Have I said thanks to Uncle Bob yet??
Cheers, everyone! And thanks for joining in this first Hollywood Happy Hour!
--
Bon
The Book Is Here!
"The fact that Susan and Sean were drinking Pepsi leads me to believe that there was at least one person trying to annoy another. On the positive side, it wasn't in Ottawa." - David's brilliance in SpyNotebook, Oct. 2002
Posted by bonnie at 11:13 PM
March 2, 2003
At Today's Open Call...
we put about 50 people on tape after prescreening a bunch more. We'll call back about 1/3 of this group we taped. Tomorrow, the tapes start coming in from Las Vegas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Tampa. In another day or so, they'll be in from five more cities. And so on. Wow.
Today, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and Extra all visited the open call. I wasn't interviewed, but you should be able to spot me checking people in, taking Polariods, and prescreening applicants' paperwork.
A good day. A hard day. Tomorrow is Keith's birthday. Tell him Happy Birthday for me. I'm not sure we'll run into each other during the day. *sniffle*
Posted by bonnie at 7:35 PM