auditions start with headshots. my casting notice has been online on nowcasting.com for a couple days, and i’ve gotten about 50 submissions for the guy character, and 50 for the girl character. nowcasting gives you 3 checkboxes under each headshot to help you make piles and filter through all the submissions: yes, no, and maybe.
first i’ll go by looks, and click no for anyone who looks nothing like how i imagine the role to be. in this instance, i’m making a horror movie, so actresses who looks to cutesy won’t work. guys that look too goofy won’t work either. they get no’s.
also, i clearly state in my casting notice that my short is non-union only, and yet i always get a ton of SAG actors sending me headshots. i click no for all of those actors too.
if someone has a great photo with an interesting look, then i’ll click on their headshot and look at their other pictures. i want to see what other looks and expressions they have. sometimes actors have pictures where they all look the same. what’s the point? show some versatility and range in style and emotion.
if i like the other headshots, then i’ll click on their resume to see how much experience they have. i won’t not call in an actor to audition just because they don’t have a lot of experience. if they show up for the audition on time and do a good job, i’ll be just as likely to pick that actor as one who’s worked on features and tv.
experience and training are different things though. i do like to see training, usually theater and acting classes. i don’t want wannabe actors who haven’t worked hard to learn their craft.   if i’m doing comedy, i like to see some improv training on their resume. for my last martial arts one, i was looking for people who had martial arts or stunts experience.
i’ll constantly look over these separate piles to see if there’s anyone i overlooked, or if there’s someone who isn’t as interesting as i thought. i’ll also look to see which actors might look good together on screen. once i get a good selection of possible actors in the yes pile, i’ll schedule them to come in for an audition.
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