Week 12: Casting

Finding the right cast for your film is crucial to help you secure funding and then for the overall success of the film. To find that perfect cast it is important you have a good casting director. A casting director spends all their time watching actors perform and keeping an eye on their development over time. This is something a director just doesn't have the time to do themselves and should trust in their casting director to do for them.

When looking for cast members it is important to keep in mind you will need funding. Investors wont give money to a film if they don't know who your cast is because they don't believe an audience would watch a movie full of unknowns. So your best option is to find at least one big name actor for your cast and the rest can be known or unknown and you will be more likely to get the money to make your film.

It is good to give your casting director details of the type of actor you want but not so much the physical details rather than the type of emotion you want them to portray. Giving an in depth physical description of your perfect cast is going to limit the casting director and make it hard for them to find what you want. If you describe the characters emotional state, the casting director can find more actors that can portray the part better than just someone who looks like what you imagine for the role. You may also find someone that you never expected that blows you away, so keep an open mind when looking for your cast.

Some tips for during auditions to find the right cast members.

• It is a really good idea to keep the actors relaxed and happy because they could be really nervous and that could affect their performance.
• Try to test their range with different character objective so you get a better idea if they are right for the part.
• Get them to do an action how their character would do it. An example would be to have a rack of coats and tell them to pick out the one their character would pick. This shows their understanding of the character
• Always have someone to read lines with the actor. You get to see how they work off others and if they can create chemistry with other cast members.
• Try not to cast actors that are too similar to each other, this can create a one dimensional cast.
• It's not a bad thing for actors to challenge you. If you give them an objective and they suggest the character might do it in a different way, go with it, it might or might not work but it shows the actor is really thinking about the character and not just reading lines from a script.