We're doing a Web Series....

My old friend David Faustino called last week to see if we would do the casting on a new project he is producing. It's a web series based on a fictionalized version of himself. You remember David as "Bud Bundy" from "Married... with Children". I watched the pilot, which he already made, and it is hilarious. There is a special appearance by Ed O'Neill (Al Bundy) and the series is going to be lots of fun. There are some pretty outrageous characters. We'll be doing it on a shoestring budget, but I think we will enjoy the process. Also playing a prominent role is Corin Nemec - who you might remember from "Parker Lewis can't Lose". He is one of David's best friends in real life, and plays himself in the series.

We may open up the audition process on the AreUaStar website to allow actors to submit themselves for available roles. Stay tuned for more on that idea.

I'll have some updates as to the positives and the challenges of casting a web series once we begin.

Had a hard time getting into the series premiere of "Heroes" - once my very favorite show. Hopefully I can get swept back up into it. Any reaction out there on new series premieres?

Wanted to let you know that the membership of the Casting Union (Teamsters Local 399) overwhelmingly voted to ratify the contract for a 3 year term. Phew, guess this means we can all keep working.... oh, wait a minute.. there's still a pseudo SAG strike clogging everything up. Well, hopefully that will be over soon and we can all get back to full steam. Kudos to the rest of the Union Steering Committee for all their hard work on making gains and helping Casting Directors to get pension and health benefits.

Actor of the week: Sara Swain. Sara stars in a short movie that I cast called "Boutonniere". I saw a screening of it last week and all the cast was great. Congrats to writer/director Coley Sohn! Speaking of "Heroes", one of the people making a cameo appearance in this short is Zach Quinto, who plays Siler the villian in "Heroes". He plays an effeminite dress shop owner in our short. Here is Sara's info: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1565066/

Look who won an EMMY!

So happy for two of our good friends, Bryan Cranston and Jean Smart - both of whom earned Emmys last night. Bryan won Outstanding Lead Actor for "Breaking Bad" and Jean won Outstanding Supporting Actress for "Samantha Who", which I cast her in. Very pleased about that.

Bryan Cranston is a talented actor - who has really gotten an opportunity to stretch with this cool role in "Breaking Bad"... so many people know him from "Malcolm in the Middle", but this is totally different. He also happens to be a neighbor and friend. You can hear what Bryan has to say about star quality and being an actor in Hollywood on the AreUaStar.com site.

Ok - let's talk about the Emmys. Other than a nice shot of Ron Leavitt in the memorial section, I thought the evening was a disaster. The writing was awful, the use of the 5 reality hosts fell flat. Were those first 8 minutes not the most painful you have ever witnessed in television?

If I were a viewer with no stake in the TV biz, I would never tune in to that show again. But happy with the wins for our peeps. On a down side, came into my office this am to find that someone had broken in and stolen our video cameras. What a drag. As you can imagine, video cameras are a necessity in running a casting office. So, we'll just have to make sure we don't leave any of those kind of things at the office anymore.... or get better insurance.

Have an emmylicious week. Congrats Bryan and Jean!!

"9 to 5", the Musical

I saw "9 to 5" last night. It's a fun show, based pretty closely on the movie which starred Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton. This show stars Allison Janey, Stephanie J. Block and Megan Hilty. Megan Hilty, who starred in "Wicked" was just terrific. What a voice! The whole show was fun, but not great. I thought that Allison Janney did a nice job with the acting, but doesn't have the vocal chops of the other two ladies. There is a lot of movement on stage, set changes and some great costumes. I thought the breakout was Kathy Fitzgerald - playing the role of Roz. She has a show stopping number at the act break that was fun and unexpected.

Actor of the week: Maia Nkenge Wilson. In every scene she was in in 9 to 5, she held my attention and popped. She is fun to watch! Mostly theater credits.

The Emmys - Casting Directors win awards!

Congrats go out to the Emmy winning Casting Directors who received their awards at this past weekend's Creative Arts ceremony. This is the evening where they honor those awards that are deemed not important enough to be part of the televised ceremony. The exception to that is Best Guest Actor/Actress - and those people are usually brought out to present at the televised portion which airs this upcoming weekend.

In the category of Comedy Series, the Emmy went to Jennifer McNamara Shroff for "30 Rock". Drama Series went to "Damages" (Julie Tucker, Ross Meyerson & Avy Kaufman) and the winning Casting for Miniseries, Movie or Special went to Kathleen Chopin, Nina Gold and Tracy Kilpatrick for "John Adams".

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for their great work. And good luck to all our nominated friends for this upcoming weekend, especially Christina Applegate, Jean Smart and Arlene Sanford!

Nice Review of our movie "Pedro"

Glad to see that today's Variety gave "Pedro" a nice review. Jason Wood, with whom I cast the film went up to Toronto for the film festival to see the premiere and there seemed to be a nice buzz. It's an interesting process when you not only have to cast talented actors, but you have to make sure that they look the the people that the character are based on. Because "The Real World" had so many viewers - everyone knew what Pedro and Puck and Pam and Judd looked like. This was a nice project to work on - very emotional for those of us who have had friends die from AIDS.

Please let me know if you see any nice reviews of the movie in your local papers.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938361.html?categoryid=2863&cs=1

Casting Directors reach agreement with AMPTP

So, the good news is that we were able to come to a tentative agreement last night with the AMPTP. I can't yet discuss the deal terms, because we have to present them to the Casting Directors and Associates for ratification. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of weeks. Glad to be putting the negotiations behind us and moving forward. We really appreciate the support of our Teamster brothers & sisters. I know it sounds corny, but they are so awesome and behind us, and alongside us all the way.

It's a little frustrating, of course, because we only got pension, health and welfare a couple of years ago. While those of us who have been doing this for a long time won't have a substantial pension when we retire, we are so happy for the younger Casting Directors and associates for whom this is now a career that will provide them with lifetime medical and pension benefits. That is a good thing!

We hope to start another small feature in the next few weeks. It's a horror comedy, small budget film being directed by a friend. I'll talk more about it once we start working on it, but it's a fun script and I'm looking forward to doing it.

I'm enjoying the new season of Project Runway. Was sorry to see Blayne go. He's fun. I am also enjoying Top Design. Is it wrong for a Casting Director who depends on scripted series for her livelihood to love these reality shows so much?

Casting Director Union Negotiation days

I'm on the Casting Directors Union steering committee.  We are Teamsters Local 399 - which also represents drivers, location directors and animal wranglers.  Our contract is expiring at the end of the month, so today we are at the offices of the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) to hammer out a new deal.  The AMPTP represents all the major studios and networks - so we spend a lot of the day sitting across tables from the representatives from Labor Affairs departments of the studios and networks.

While I can't comment on the proceedings of the day, it's a very interesting process.  The Casting Directors were without union representation until only 2 1/2 years ago, when the Teamsters organized us and we became Teamsters.  Before that time, we had no health benefits or pension benefits!  We love the Teamsters as they helped us achieve what we could not do individually.  

Shout outs to our union leaders:  Leo T. Reed, Tony Cusimano, Steve Dayan and Tom O'Donnell along with our attorneys for leading the charge.

Actor of the week:  Andy Buckley.  I just saw Andy on a repeat of "The Office" and I am reminded that he is a good looking, funny guy.  Hard to find that combination.  You wouldn't think it would be difficult, but as the great casting dame Barbara Miller used to say "God does not give with both hands"

Kent State - the movie

We are finally moving forward on the Kent State film that I talked about quite some time ago. It's a $5 Million dollar budget and looks to start shooting in February. Our job right now is to attach some name talent to the movie. There are a few great male roles and a couple of strong female roles that we'll be working on right away, then we'll get into the other supporting roles as we go.

Also, some great news for FOT (friends of Tammy). JoAnn Alfano has just been named the Executive Vice President of Lifetime Television. She'll be overseeing Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Networks. JoAnn and I are friends and have worked together on a variety of projects in the past including a series for NBC, a pilot for USA networks and most recently the Dove Webisodes. JoAnn was one of the Executive Producers of "30 Rock" and has a long, impressive career in network TV. This is a great job for her and she is going to do really exciting things at Lifetime. Congrats, JoAnn!

Also, announced that Casting Director extraordinaire Meg Liberman is going to head up the Casting department at Paramount Television. Meg was one of my first bosses in television - when we worked together on "Facts of Life"!! She's one of the most highly regarded (and honored) Casting Directors and Paramount is lucky to have convinced her to take the post.

The AreUaStar.com site is going really well. We just added a guest star video of CD Jason Wood talking about getting cast in smaller markets and audition advice. Make sure you check that out, and if you haven't gotten your AreUaStar Evaluation yet - be sure to visit the site to get some real, honest feedback on YOUR star potential.

Actor of the week: Jaime Murray. British actress who came on the scene here in the U.S. in Dexter, playing Lila and now is starring in the new CW show "Valentine".