AUDITION RECAP

So today I spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to ustream. I finally got the stream, working around 10:30 and I got dressed and head out to the audition location.  Luckily the night before Dianne Ashford let me print out some of my forms and paperwork for the casting since I don't have my own printer yet. My friend Noree Victoria emailed me some sign in sheets and forms that she used for previous castings and what a life saver they were. 

I got to the spot around 11:30 and got a lay of the land.  My contact there was very helpful in setting me up with a dope spot to hold the casting and to have a holding area. Maybe when I get more established I can get someone else to do this type of stuff for me but for now it was cool setting up. Yolanda and Ivan came through at 12p to assist me with everything.  SHOUT OUT TO NOREE VICTORIA FOR PREPPING THEM AND HAVING THEM HELP ME OUT. COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT NV!!! I wanted to make sure that if anything that these auditions were professional. In production what can go wrong will go wrong but I like to not cause my own problems.  We also emailed back several hundred people and I was not sure how many people were going to actually show up.  The weather was really bad and a lot of folks cancelled because they didn't feel comfortable driving.  I respect the decision and maybe we'll catch you on the next one but if I can make it...

Anyway my casting director Binti Lee was in Houston, my producer Liberty Madison was in Dallas and my writer and star of the film Reagan Gomez was in LA.  THANK GOD FOR USTREAM. Thanks to that technology they were all able to view the casting in Atlanta all from the comfort of their own home.  It also is apart of my brand because I pride myself in being transparent and open with my process. Hell I'm learning too and your comments and feedback allow me to continue doing what works and stop doing what doesn't.

I am proud to say that we started the auditions at 1P sharp. Take that Color People Time and luckily we had some actresses come in early and they were ready when we were. We had a wide range of ladies auditioning and it was great to see everyone in person. We had some funny moments with some people (If you saw the ustream you know what I'm talking about) but we also lucked up and found some really talented people. 

It was good to know that some of the ladies took my advice about auditioning and submitting for projects. I could tell. There were a couple people who gave me sexy modeling type head shots and then there were a couple of people who didn't have head shots at all. NEVER come to an audition without a head shot. It shows that you're not professional regardless of how good an actor you might be.

I asked the ladies to tell me something about themselves before we did anything and I did this to loosen them up and make them not feel quite as nervous. Auditioning sucks and is a nerve wrecking experience but the way you describe yourself tells a  lot about your personality. Some people came across as bragging with their personal descriptions and always know that humble is always the best policy.

One thing that really stood out to me in the ladies auditions is that one of the girls, I think her name was Paris, wore an actual bridesmaid dress for the audition. Dressing for the part will NEVER work against you. It's been 6 hours since we had our auditions and I remember her most vividly. Not saying that you have to but it helps if you play it right and have the resources to do so.

We saw the fellas around 3 and me and Ivan had some miscommunication. I told him to have all the fellas read for Dre and he had them read for Malcolm. The first guy came in and auditioned and I thought he made that choice himself. His audition suffered because of it and once I found out what happened I tried to call him back to correct the situation. He never returned but I tried. It still bothers me.  I know how serious this is and I hate to not give someone the same chance everyone else had.

After that initial snag I can honestly say that the fellas brought it. They were definitely prepared and it showed. Not many of them read from the script and most had the lines memorized. Always a good thing!!!  

A lot of them had great energy and made the character their own. No one wants to see a dry audition where you are just reading lines. Say it like how you would say it if you were in that position. If you can't lose yourself in front of 2 people in a room then how can you expect to do so on set with a hundred person crew staring at you.

We had some characters. One dude stood out "Barefoot" Motherfucking Bill. This white dude came to our audition with no shoes on and painted blue toenails. I swear I cannot make this stuff up.  He read for "Malcolm" who is obviously a black character but he did his thing and told me that he has booked roles before when he didn't fit the character descriptions and I believed him. As crazy as he was, I remember him. I may use him as an extra but if I had another project I might have used him. He was funny as hell.

I also have to say that I was reading everyone chat room comments during the streaming and I must say that you guys are hilarious and entertaining yourselves. It was great to see immediate feedback like that with peoples auditions. It was like screening the movie before we even casted it. Thanks for the feedback and for checking it out.

All in all I think we saw over 80 people I definitely think we can fill the rest of our movie from what I saw today. Reagan sent me a text every time she liked somebody so it felt like a reality show for real.

I really want to thank everyone that came out today and auditioned for our project. It takes a lot of courage to get in front of people and make yourself vulnerable like that so I commend you all. For everyone who hit me asking me to be apart of the project but then didn't audition, sorry, I don't work like that. Nobody gave me anything and I will not give you anything, you have to earn like I have to earn it.

We will have www.thistimeshortfilm.com up and running as a fully functioning website sometime next week and we will post our main cast there at that time.  Just because we didn't give you lines doesn't mean we won't use you. We have a wedding scene to create, a bridal room to fill up and club scene to fill out with many featured roles with guaranteed screen time so look for Binti Lee to send you an email letting you know in what capacity we will be using you.

Thanks for the read my long blog. I had a long day to go with it.  I took Yolanda and Ivan to Red Lobster to thank them for their help after the casting. Cheddar Biscuits are just as good as money in my book :)

Director: Cherry

"This Time I Want It All"