Over on the 2amtheatre blog, Travis Bedard has thrown out a challenge - what season would you program?
I've weighed in in the comments, and you can too.
Take a look here.
Showing posts with label casting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label casting. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Likeable female protagonists & Patton Oswalt on gamechangers
Must Read #1:
Stealing the Herd by playwright Carolyn Gage over on Howlround is about 'likeability' of protagonists in Broadway musicals, and it's fantastic.
Here's a few quotes:
And:
Fantastic - go read it!
Must Read #2:
Patton Oswalt delivered the keynote at Montreal's Just for Laughs in Montreal a week or so ago. If you haven't seen this yet, it's got some great thoughts for any creative art maker - just substitute what you do any time he uses the word 'comedian'
He writes 2 letters, one to the 'comedian in 2012', and one to the 'gatekeepers':
Highly inspiring - check it out
Stealing the Herd by playwright Carolyn Gage over on Howlround is about 'likeability' of protagonists in Broadway musicals, and it's fantastic.
Here's a few quotes:
It would appear that there exists a significant double standard for what is deemed acceptable behavior for male protagonists and female ones.
And:
What they know, and what I am learning, is that “likeable” means feminine. Even if the protagonist is the world’s greatest sharpshooter, she must still throw a match to get her man and take a number that says “I enjoy being a girl.
Fantastic - go read it!
Must Read #2:
Patton Oswalt delivered the keynote at Montreal's Just for Laughs in Montreal a week or so ago. If you haven't seen this yet, it's got some great thoughts for any creative art maker - just substitute what you do any time he uses the word 'comedian'
He writes 2 letters, one to the 'comedian in 2012', and one to the 'gatekeepers':
I need to decide more career stuff for myself and make it happen for myself, and I need to stop waiting to luck out and be given. I need to unlearn those muscles.
Our careers don’t hinge on somebody in a plush office deciding to aim a little luck in our direction. There are no gates. They’re gone.
Highly inspiring - check it out
Friday, July 13, 2012
Roundtables from the Hollywood Reporter
For a while now, the Hollywood Reporter has been putting up group video interviews of actors during awards season. Since Emmy noms are soon, they've just done a set with tv actors. There are four interviews, roughly an hour each in length, separated into comedy and drama and men and women.
I found gems in each of these interviews - ranging from Juliana Margulies' recommendation of an app for script work to Johnny Galecki reminiscing about the Roseanne set to Martha Plimpton and the comedy women talking about the intersection of female and comedy to the overall humility coming off of Kiefer Sutherland.
You can watch them at these links:
Comedy Women Roundtable
Comedy Men Roundtable
Drama Women Roundtable
Drama Men Roundtable
Let me know what you think! (I first found this via the website/blog Daily Actor)
I found gems in each of these interviews - ranging from Juliana Margulies' recommendation of an app for script work to Johnny Galecki reminiscing about the Roseanne set to Martha Plimpton and the comedy women talking about the intersection of female and comedy to the overall humility coming off of Kiefer Sutherland.
You can watch them at these links:
Comedy Women Roundtable
Comedy Men Roundtable
Drama Women Roundtable
Drama Men Roundtable
Let me know what you think! (I first found this via the website/blog Daily Actor)
Friday, May 18, 2012
#TBACON takeaways
Due to my usual juggling of jobs, I wasn't able to get to the conference until after the keynote speaker had finished, and I didn't get to stay for any programming after 4pm. The TBA Chatterbox blog has a post with several different perspectives on the conference, and comments on many things that I wasn't able to attend.
The first thing I was able to attend was the Season Selection and Local Acting Landscape panel. I wasn't sure what this would really address, but it turned out to be a glimpse into the mind of people who make casting decisions. There was some terrific discussion around how they all talk to each other ALL THE TIME. They are constantly having conversations about 'do you know any actors who fit this specific type that I should be seeing?'. My take-away - always go to the audition, and focus on the relationship you're building over time, not just whether or not you got this part this one time. The other topic they really delved into was when actors are dealing with multiple offers. My take-away here was - be as honest as you can, and involve the casting director in the conversation as early as possible. It's much worse to drop a show when it's already in rehearsal than it is to leave prior to rehearsals starting. Also, they're dealing with this conflicting set of emotions - some frustration and hurt because you've created more work for them in having to recast, but also a lot of excitement for the actor who is making a big leap with his or her career. Two more takeaways - make a facebook connection to casting directors, and keep letting them know what you're doing. Your headshot and resume may be on file in their book, but their book isn't their brain - connecting w/casting directors will keep you in their brain.
After lunch, I went to the Diversity on Purpose panel, I'll confess to a combo of nerves about my upcoming panel and a little bit of the post-lunch spaciness. I didn't get a lot out of this panel. Diversity is a huuuuge topic for one hour, but the points here about diversifying the audience, not just the actors on stage was well taken. Also, the many forms of diversity that exist - not just ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, but what about age, political affiliation, religion.
My last event of the day was my personal MAIN EVENT - the Gender Parity panel. Panelists AJ Baker playwright and founder of 3 Girls Theater, Rebecca Ennals of San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, also an independent director and Marilyn Langbehn, another independent director who also works in the Cal Shakes marketing department were all fantastic, and I'm so grateful to them for their contributions. After about 30 minutes, we began a group discussion with the 30-40 women and 3-4 men who were in the room.
Some takeaways for me: How to change the perceptions in the general population so that women's stories become human stories is a big one. Also I was surprised that a lot of people who were there weren't familiar with things like the Bechdel test and who the Guerilla Girls are. Rebecca Ennals spoke about her experience of watching women audition at the TBA generals with monologues along the lines of 'why doesn't he like me?' or 'how can I get him to notice me?' and coming out of that with an idea to create a monologue database of empowered female characters. Marilyn spoke about creating change from within - coming to a company as a freelancer, and then suggesting to that company plays by women and/or roles for women for future productions.
Mostly I was struck by the fact that we can all be agents for change. We need to read women's writing, get to know the plays with roles for women, and the women directors and women actors so that moving forward we can advocate for each other when the opportunity arises.
The first thing I was able to attend was the Season Selection and Local Acting Landscape panel. I wasn't sure what this would really address, but it turned out to be a glimpse into the mind of people who make casting decisions. There was some terrific discussion around how they all talk to each other ALL THE TIME. They are constantly having conversations about 'do you know any actors who fit this specific type that I should be seeing?'. My take-away - always go to the audition, and focus on the relationship you're building over time, not just whether or not you got this part this one time. The other topic they really delved into was when actors are dealing with multiple offers. My take-away here was - be as honest as you can, and involve the casting director in the conversation as early as possible. It's much worse to drop a show when it's already in rehearsal than it is to leave prior to rehearsals starting. Also, they're dealing with this conflicting set of emotions - some frustration and hurt because you've created more work for them in having to recast, but also a lot of excitement for the actor who is making a big leap with his or her career. Two more takeaways - make a facebook connection to casting directors, and keep letting them know what you're doing. Your headshot and resume may be on file in their book, but their book isn't their brain - connecting w/casting directors will keep you in their brain.
After lunch, I went to the Diversity on Purpose panel, I'll confess to a combo of nerves about my upcoming panel and a little bit of the post-lunch spaciness. I didn't get a lot out of this panel. Diversity is a huuuuge topic for one hour, but the points here about diversifying the audience, not just the actors on stage was well taken. Also, the many forms of diversity that exist - not just ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, but what about age, political affiliation, religion.
My last event of the day was my personal MAIN EVENT - the Gender Parity panel. Panelists AJ Baker playwright and founder of 3 Girls Theater, Rebecca Ennals of San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, also an independent director and Marilyn Langbehn, another independent director who also works in the Cal Shakes marketing department were all fantastic, and I'm so grateful to them for their contributions. After about 30 minutes, we began a group discussion with the 30-40 women and 3-4 men who were in the room.
Some takeaways for me: How to change the perceptions in the general population so that women's stories become human stories is a big one. Also I was surprised that a lot of people who were there weren't familiar with things like the Bechdel test and who the Guerilla Girls are. Rebecca Ennals spoke about her experience of watching women audition at the TBA generals with monologues along the lines of 'why doesn't he like me?' or 'how can I get him to notice me?' and coming out of that with an idea to create a monologue database of empowered female characters. Marilyn spoke about creating change from within - coming to a company as a freelancer, and then suggesting to that company plays by women and/or roles for women for future productions.
Mostly I was struck by the fact that we can all be agents for change. We need to read women's writing, get to know the plays with roles for women, and the women directors and women actors so that moving forward we can advocate for each other when the opportunity arises.
Friday, May 20, 2011
2011 Pilot Report: Read it!
The Pilot Report is a document that the president of Premier Talent Group (an LA based talent agency)sends to the actors they represent.
It's basically an age/gender demographic breakdown of all the roles cast in this year's pilot season, with an emphasis on what was cast with name or known actors vs. unknowns.
Read it here, and let me know what you think.
Also, thanks to The Struggling Actress for pointing it out.
It's basically an age/gender demographic breakdown of all the roles cast in this year's pilot season, with an emphasis on what was cast with name or known actors vs. unknowns.
Read it here, and let me know what you think.
Also, thanks to The Struggling Actress for pointing it out.
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