Some Quick Thoughts in a New Year (a Little Late)

I recently read somewhat that a doctor at a university in England came up with a formula that found January 24th to be the most depressing day of the year. It had something to do with its distance from the holidays, lousy weather, and the fact that most people's resolutions are beginning to fade right around now. I'm smart enough and old enough to not bother with resolutions, the weather here in L.A. is in fact lousy right now, and even though I don't find this time of year particularly depressing, I do regret that here we are a few weeks into a new year and I haven't gotten around to writing a post.

What can I say? Some people galvanize themselves at the very beginning of a new year, I take three or four weeks.

So, before I left to travel to Brazil for Christmas (my partner and I had an amazing time), I had some thoughts about the direction I might want this blog to take. I was talking to one of my assistants and found myself saying "you know, I'd like actors to let me know what questions THEY have for a casting director." I'm so on my own end of the process that I can lose track of what the concerns might be on the actor's end. While I was away, one of my friends in New York put the question to a young actor she knew, who I've brought in for a number of roles. The question he had for me was how did I feel about agents calling me up after auditions to get feedback on their clients? He wanted to know whether that was a hassle for me.

In a word, yes. While I'm sympathetic to actors wanting to improve their auditioning skills, you're going to KNOW how you did after you audition for me. Also, if I'm auditioning you, I expect you to come in, do a great job, leave. We're both in that room to get a job done, and hand-holding isn't a part of either one of our job descriptions. The issue isn't whether you're talented or not. That's a given if you're reading for me. It's whether you're right for a role, whether all the variables that go into a casting choice line up correctly. We work at top speed in my office, with all of us juggling several different things at once at any given time in our work day. It comes down to my really not having the time to pause and offer feedback to agents. That's not to say that if an agent needs to hear how a particularly young or new actor did, that I'm unwilling to take their call. (I've maintained all along that casting is a collaborative process.) It's just that the feedback issue is not at the top of my list of priorities.

In any event, it IS a new year, and every year brings with it its own challenges and surprises, accomplishments and defeats (plus a few additional pounds, right?). Speaking of surprises, it looks like I'm going to be casting a TV pilot next. I'll tell you all about it in my next post.