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You’ve Got the Role!

thBy Marci Liroff

What’s the best part of my job? That’s easy: telling actors they got the role. Some agents and managers are generous enough to include me when sharing the news with their clients. It’s beyond exciting. All our hard work paid off and I end up jumping up and down with them from my office.

On the film “Vampire Academy,” our producer Deepak Nayar came up with a unique and classy way of telling Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry that we’d chosen them to play our leads. After a lengthy testing process of auditions, callbacks, and, ultimately, chemistry screen tests with different pairings of female actors, he asked me to invite the two to a meeting at a restaurant with the pretense they had one more hoop to jump through. The creative team had already signed off on the casting, but we wanted to be a part of delivering the news. I told their agents that we needed one more meeting with them and all the filmmakers. Their agents and managers were extremely leery of letting their clients go on yet another meeting when they had already tested: “Haven’t they done enough? What more do you want?” I asked them all to trust me. Our long-standing relationships came into play.

I arrived at the restaurant to find our writer, executive producer, director, and Deepak. He had instructed me not to tell anyone at the table that the girls would be joining us. Frankly, they were quite surprised when the actors showed up to our celebratory lunch. First Zoey arrived, and our director inadvertently leaked that we were celebrating their casting.

Then Lucy joined the luncheon and still had no idea why she was there. Deepak finally got to deliver the good news and she was, as expected, quite stunned. Luckily we managed to capture both their reactions on film, which you can watch on my YouTube channel. It still gives me the chills to watch these videos.

 

It’s so thrilling to find the right actor for the role, work with her on it, shepherd her through the process, and then finally get all the filmmakers and the studio executives to agree. Telling actors they’ve got the role is the icing on the cake.

It’s lovely when actors acknowledge our hard work and send a thank-you. I’ve received everything from a phone call expressing gratitude to milk and cookies from Carla Gugino—plus some more extreme gifts. After casting Kelly Preston in four movies (on one of them she met her husband, John Travolta), I jokingly said, “Jeez, Kelly. After all of this I think you owe me a houseboat at the very least!” The next day, her assistant arrived at my office with a very large box. I opened it to find Barbie’s Dream Home Houseboat. Hilarious!

Make sure to check out my new online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

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Is There One Way To Become Successful?

By Marci Liroff

Is Backstage Magazine schizo? After going through the “Experts” advice along with the regular columnists’ articles (such as myself, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Secret Agent Man) I’ve noticed a huge discrepancy from one writer to the next. We are actually contradicting each other week after week. I imagine this is confusing to the reader.

Some examples I’ve noticed in the last few weeks:

  • Don’t bring headshots to auditions; no one uses them anymore. Or, even worse, “I don’t bring headshots to auditions anymore, I’ve outgrown that.”/ ALWAYS bring headshots because the CDs need the hardcopy for your audition.
  • Don’t connect with your reader – you should be able to act on your own because CDs and their associates don’t really give you what you need anyway / You need to connect with your reader to give a fully realized performance.
  • Don’t memorize the dialogue word for word. Put your own spin on it. /Honor the writer and do not change the dialogue as it will make the show creator (who is usually the writer) furious.
  • Take Casting Director workshops because it’ll help you network with the gate-keeper / Don’t ever pay for what amounts to an audition. CD workshops are not an educational experience – you’re just paying for access to a casting office.

It seems that everybody wants the answer. Everybody wants the magic pill. How do I do it? How do I get there?

I’m here to tell you that there is no one answer.

There are many ways to get from point A to stardom – or better yet, to be a successful working actor.

I’m often asked for referrals to acting classes or head shot photographers. I send actors, managers and agents my well thought-out lists. These are my suggestions of acting classes that I’ve actually sat in through the years so that I know, first-hand, what the classes are like. Yet, I still get responses like, “Well, which ones do you like? Which are the best?” I’m sending you the ones that I like on a narrowed down list. You now have to do the research to find out which acting coach or photographer clicks with you. Finding the right teacher or photographer can be like finding the right shrink. Only you know which one you’re going to let in. By auditing classes and going through photographer’s websites and meeting them, you need to use your gut to find the person who you can trust and who will inspire and push you. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. There is no “best”. It’s not “one size fits all”. There is no right answer here.

The takeaway here is that our articles are all opinions and points of view based on years of experience in this field. There is no “industry standard” on the right way to attack your acting career. Take it all in, continue to do your research, and use your instincts to figure out which advice is best for you.

Make sure to check out my new online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

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How To Prep For The Fall TV Season

By Marci Liroff

If you’ve read my columns, you can probably tell I’m definitely a type A personality. I write a lot about doing research and diligent preparation for your upcoming auditions and jobs. In my article “How Keeping a Diary Can Help You Book the Job,” I talked about how noting your auditions and meetings in your diary–journal–Excel spreadsheet will help you keep track of all the folks you’ve met and see your career trajectory through the years in black and white.

Now that the fall TV season is upon us and it’s time to buckle down and start doing your research again. In order to get ahead of your competition, you need to see at least one or two episodes of every TV show that’s out there—including the new season.

When you get a last-minute audition, it would be smart to have already done your research on the show so that you can understand the world they’re creating, the tone of the show, and how you will fit into it. This way you can spend 100 percent of your time concentrating on the scenes you need to learn rather than catching up on episodes of the show.

I spoke to actor Jen Levin, who has a very precise way of doing her research.

“My process is to research like crazy! I print out the fall premiere dates (I almost always use TVLine). Then I see where I have room on my DVR to record those first few episodes of each new show. I also use Hulu to help out with watching all the new shows.

“When I’m watching a new show, I have a notebook or my iPad to take notes. I make notes on the major characters and their relationships to each other; what the tone of the show is like; the locations of the show (both the city and what sets seem to be used a lot); and finally, I use IMDb to make notes on the producers, directors, and casting directors. I keep those notes so if I get an audition for one of those new shows, I have a lot of my research already done. I also go through my contacts to see if I have met any of the team connected with the show. If I have, I typically send a little congrats note to them, saying how much I enjoyed their new show.

“I try to watch at least two episodes of each new show since many things can change from the pilot to the second episode. I just update my notes as I go along. And for any shows that become a part of my regular viewing, I’ll update those notes from time to time as well.

“I keep the notes on each show until the show is canceled. I’ve found these notes extremely helpful, especially when I have last-minute auditions. I think being prepared has helped me to stay calm at my auditions and focus on making the best impression that I can. This is a smart way for actors to prepare for the unknown. I’ve had same-day auditions where I’ve had an hour to get to the casting office. That isn’t enough time to Google a show and figure out the plot, characters, and tone.”

What about you? How do you research the new fall shows?

Make sure to check out my new online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

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