Unfortunately, the woman who played David Faustino's mother in the pilot of "Star-ving" has moved to Florida and is not available for the series. Patty Maloney, a very funny lady, did a great job, but we have to replace her. Finding a Little Person actress in that age category (50-60) is not easy!
Additionally, we have some pretty racy stuff for this character to do - so that knocks out some people. So, I am looking for a funny, very small woman who can play David's mother. Let me know if you have any ideas.....
Actor of the week: Toby Jones. Starring in "W" as Karl Rove, you may recognize his as the voice of Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter movies - he also played Truman Capote in the 2006 film "Infamous". He's got a funny face and great acting chops.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
It's been a while...
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We've been busy casting the webseries "Star-ving" and it's been a lot of fun. We've got 43 roles to cast and so far, I think we've chosen about 30 actors. We are just waiting on a shooting schedule to hire them.
The best part has been having David Faustino in the room when we were casting. He improv'd with the actors - which for some of them worked well, and for others, it threw them off a bit. This series is largely improv, so it was great to find the actors who could just go with the flow and also who could create something other than just the words on the page.
I generally think improvisational skills are extraordinarily difficult unless you have a natural talent. The ability to instantaneously come up with material (funny material) isn't something that you can really be taught - although you can certainly improve your existing natural ability. We have great improv groups in Los Angeles - the Groundlings - which has spawned a large number of Saturday Night Live alumni (including Larraine Newman, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Ana Gastayer, Maya Rudolph and many others) and the Upright Citizens Brigade - the New York group which brought us Amy Poehler. These are both great places for us Casting Directors to find fresh and funny talent. I try and see performances of these groups a few times a year to make sure I know all of the talented people that are performing with these groups.
The best part has been having David Faustino in the room when we were casting. He improv'd with the actors - which for some of them worked well, and for others, it threw them off a bit. This series is largely improv, so it was great to find the actors who could just go with the flow and also who could create something other than just the words on the page.
I generally think improvisational skills are extraordinarily difficult unless you have a natural talent. The ability to instantaneously come up with material (funny material) isn't something that you can really be taught - although you can certainly improve your existing natural ability. We have great improv groups in Los Angeles - the Groundlings - which has spawned a large number of Saturday Night Live alumni (including Larraine Newman, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Ana Gastayer, Maya Rudolph and many others) and the Upright Citizens Brigade - the New York group which brought us Amy Poehler. These are both great places for us Casting Directors to find fresh and funny talent. I try and see performances of these groups a few times a year to make sure I know all of the talented people that are performing with these groups.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Trying something new...
For this fun webseries that we are casting, "Star-ving", I am trying something new. In addition to using Breakdown Services, I've posted some of the available roles on AreUaStar.com. This will allow people to submit their photos for potential auditions through the site. I hadn't originally thought that the site would offer actual auditions, rather I had planned on using the site as a tool for people to really discover if they have star potential, but then thought this might reach a different audience, and that I could discover some interesting new talent.
So, I've listed 4 or 5 available roles on the site under "Your Chance to Audition for a David Faustino Webseries". Be sure to check it out and see if there is a role that you are right for.
In other casting news, we are still waiting on our friend Chris Duddy's film "American Ghosting" to get up and running. This funny, dark horror comedy has laughs and screams, blood and ghosts and should be a lot of fun to work on. Chris is hoping that we'll start before the end of the year, so stay tuned on that. Chris and his wife Joely Fisher just adopted a baby girl. She joins their 4 other kids! Mazel Tov, Chris!
So, I've listed 4 or 5 available roles on the site under "Your Chance to Audition for a David Faustino Webseries". Be sure to check it out and see if there is a role that you are right for.
In other casting news, we are still waiting on our friend Chris Duddy's film "American Ghosting" to get up and running. This funny, dark horror comedy has laughs and screams, blood and ghosts and should be a lot of fun to work on. Chris is hoping that we'll start before the end of the year, so stay tuned on that. Chris and his wife Joely Fisher just adopted a baby girl. She joins their 4 other kids! Mazel Tov, Chris!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
What the heck is "soft-scripted"??
I had a meeting yesterday with the executive producers of "Star-ving", the new webseries that we are doing. They kept referring to the series as "soft-scripted" which is a term I had not heard of before. It seems to be a cross between a scripted and improved series, which means that they have created an outline of sorts - it describes scenes and has some dialogue pre-written, but then it's up to the actors to improvise the rest of the dialogue. I guess you have to have a great director and editor to assemble the whole thing.
This should be lots of fun. There are over 40 roles in the 13 episodes and we have to have them all cast by the end of October, so the next few weeks should be keeping us busy.
On the Kent State front, we had our director, Karen Slade, in from New York last week and we had some really great meetings with talent. One of my favorite actresses, Brittany Snow has agreed to be attached. She loves the era and the role - of a Kent state student who becomes an anti-war activist. Brittany is an incredible talent, having starred in the wonderful NBC series "American Dreams", the film "Hairspray" and most recently in the horror film "Prom Night". We'll be making an offer on the lead male role very soon. Stay tuned for progress reports.
On the non-casting front - I was in D.C. this past weekend and got to see two incredible exhibits at the Smithsonian. In the Museum of Natural History, the recently opened Sant Oceanic Hall has some amazing things about sea life and it's evolution, and there was a biosphere of live butterflies that was like walking around in "Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Truly amazing. I flew on the wonderful Virgin America and watched 3 movies.... the Martin Scorsese documentary about the Rolling Stones; "Smart People" with Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker and another one that I can't remember. Think I will travel with them again.
This should be lots of fun. There are over 40 roles in the 13 episodes and we have to have them all cast by the end of October, so the next few weeks should be keeping us busy.
On the Kent State front, we had our director, Karen Slade, in from New York last week and we had some really great meetings with talent. One of my favorite actresses, Brittany Snow has agreed to be attached. She loves the era and the role - of a Kent state student who becomes an anti-war activist. Brittany is an incredible talent, having starred in the wonderful NBC series "American Dreams", the film "Hairspray" and most recently in the horror film "Prom Night". We'll be making an offer on the lead male role very soon. Stay tuned for progress reports.
On the non-casting front - I was in D.C. this past weekend and got to see two incredible exhibits at the Smithsonian. In the Museum of Natural History, the recently opened Sant Oceanic Hall has some amazing things about sea life and it's evolution, and there was a biosphere of live butterflies that was like walking around in "Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Truly amazing. I flew on the wonderful Virgin America and watched 3 movies.... the Martin Scorsese documentary about the Rolling Stones; "Smart People" with Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker and another one that I can't remember. Think I will travel with them again.
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