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You’ve Got the Role!

thBy Marci Liroff

What’s the best part of my job? That’s easy: telling actors they got the role. Some agents and managers are generous enough to include me when sharing the news with their clients. It’s beyond exciting. All our hard work paid off and I end up jumping up and down with them from my office.

On the film “Vampire Academy,” our producer Deepak Nayar came up with a unique and classy way of telling Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry that we’d chosen them to play our leads. After a lengthy testing process of auditions, callbacks, and, ultimately, chemistry screen tests with different pairings of female actors, he asked me to invite the two to a meeting at a restaurant with the pretense they had one more hoop to jump through. The creative team had already signed off on the casting, but we wanted to be a part of delivering the news. I told their agents that we needed one more meeting with them and all the filmmakers. Their agents and managers were extremely leery of letting their clients go on yet another meeting when they had already tested: “Haven’t they done enough? What more do you want?” I asked them all to trust me. Our long-standing relationships came into play.

I arrived at the restaurant to find our writer, executive producer, director, and Deepak. He had instructed me not to tell anyone at the table that the girls would be joining us. Frankly, they were quite surprised when the actors showed up to our celebratory lunch. First Zoey arrived, and our director inadvertently leaked that we were celebrating their casting.

Then Lucy joined the luncheon and still had no idea why she was there. Deepak finally got to deliver the good news and she was, as expected, quite stunned. Luckily we managed to capture both their reactions on film, which you can watch on my YouTube channel. It still gives me the chills to watch these videos.

 

It’s so thrilling to find the right actor for the role, work with her on it, shepherd her through the process, and then finally get all the filmmakers and the studio executives to agree. Telling actors they’ve got the role is the icing on the cake.

It’s lovely when actors acknowledge our hard work and send a thank-you. I’ve received everything from a phone call expressing gratitude to milk and cookies from Carla Gugino—plus some more extreme gifts. After casting Kelly Preston in four movies (on one of them she met her husband, John Travolta), I jokingly said, “Jeez, Kelly. After all of this I think you owe me a houseboat at the very least!” The next day, her assistant arrived at my office with a very large box. I opened it to find Barbie’s Dream Home Houseboat. Hilarious!

Make sure to check out my new online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

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WHY ACTORS NEED TO UNDERSTAND SOCIAL MEDIA

By Marci Liroff

I’ve been encouraging actors to get involved in social media for the last several years. Seems that they’ve been heeding my call! I’ve noticed droves of actors taking to Twitter lately. Some do it well, some—not so much.

While working on the feature film “Vampire Academy: BloodSisters,” based on the best-selling series of six young-adult paranormal romance novels, I noticed some really bad behavior by a few actors; they were tweeting about coming in for auditions, and how they did on said audition. One actor simply tweeted, “Christian Ozera” (the name of one of the very exciting male characters in the book series) and the Internet went wild with rumor mongering.
To put things into perspective, this book series has a HUGE fanbase. The Facebook fanpage for the movie—which hasn’t even been made yet!—has more than 250,000 fans.
I got an email from one of my producers who asked that all casting news come from the production and that what goes on behind the scenes (i.e. who’s auditioning) should be controlled by us. The producer added that any further “leaks” would compromise an actor’s potential for being hired.
The Facebook fanpage and Twitter blew up with speculation and thousands of fans were hysterically talking about whether the actor who tweeted about auditioning for Christian was going to get the part. I had to call his representatives and suggest that this was perhaps not the most professional approach to getting the role. I knew in my heart that he had tweeted this in an innocent way, not realizing what trouble would ensue from his simple tweet.
Another actor on Twitter and Facebook who wanted one of the lead roles so badly would fan the flames of speculation and neither deny or confirm that he was being offered the part. He even created a Facebook Fanpage for his mission.
Because IMDb is actually a fan site much like Wikipedia, anyone can enter information. We hope and depend that the site actually vets the information, but an actor who was “rumored” to be in the mix, who actually wasn’t, was listed as “rumored” to be playing the role. This added to even more confusion.
I’ve seen actors fired from commercials for tweeting things like, “Hey, I just booked a (fill-in-the-blank) commercial!” Same goes for television shows. The producers, networks, studios see this sort of thing as a leak of information.  This news should ONLY come from the production if and when they see fit and in the venue that they want it to come from. If after reading this you still feel compelled to share this kind of information, you should clear it with the producers first.

Kevin Brockman, Executive Vice President, Global Communications, Disney/ABC Television Group spoke to me about this topic. He said, “We are very actively involved in guiding our actors and productions in the social media space.  At ABC and ABC Family, after series are greenlit and before production begins, our social media and PR teams walk the actors and producers through a social media 101 that points out the potential positives and negatives in these arenas. Series spoilers are a large part of the discussion and our rule of thumb is, ask your executive producer or Publicity team before posting anything that may be a problem. Our actors, especially on our shows with mystery elements, like ‘Scandal’, ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and ‘Twisted,’ are very cognizant of this, as they don’t want to hurt the viewing experience for their fans.” 

Brockman added, “At Disney Channels Worldwide, we host Talent Orientation programs that provide new actors information on what to expect from their colleagues on the Production team and from their colleagues at Disney Channel, and what’s expected of them.  During the Orientation, we cover the subject of social media and reiterate to our actors and their parents that what they say and do on social media, or when communicating directly to their fans, should done with care.  We remind them to “think before they tweet or post” anything, and ask them to appreciate that millions of young fans may look up to them.”

I also spoke to Dan Berendsen, writer/producer/creator of ABC Family’s hit tv show “Baby Daddy”. He said, All five of my cast members have a significant internet presence (twitter, instagram) and are an integral part of the show’s marketing. They are the source of the show’s real social media. We acknowledge that and promote it – they are partners in the successful marketing of the show. Consequently, we talk about what information is best for them to give out and what’s not. To make it work, the actors have to be completely onboard with what you’re trying to accomplish.

Historically, “leaks” and “spoilers” are more likely to come from the studio audience and the extras. There is almost no way to shut that down on a show that’s filmed in front of a live audience – other than to ask people not to ruin the surprise for everyone else.”
 
Of course, I understand the feeling we all have these days to share news within our community of followers on Facebook and Twitter along with your website. I suggest you share it after the project is completed and only when it’s about to air. Another thing to do so that you feel connected is to say something benign like “Auditions went GREAT today! I was so prepared!” That way, nobody gets hurt! 
I’d love to hear your stories about your experiences with Social Media and your interactions. It’s always good to share with the community.
Glad you’re here!
 
Marci
 
 

THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN’

By Marci Liroff
I’m going to give you the secret to really feeling your character when you’re on stage, on a set, or in an audition. It’s so simple you’ll kick yourself that you didn’t think of it. Shoes. Yes, shoes! The right shoes will plant you so deeply in your character; it’ll be hard to walk away. The wrong shoes will screw you up so badly you’ll fall on your face – literally!
Recently, I was casting the leads in a feature film, “Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters”, and the scene we chose had the character in a training session. She was sparring with her teacher. Most of the actresses who came in really “got it” and wore either sneakers or flat boots with no heel. Some, inexplicably, came in wearing thigh-high boots with platforms and 6” heels. One poor gal tried a kickboxing inspired move and landed on her ass. We changed the appointment sheet to instruct actresses NOT wear high heels or any kind of heels. Still, several actresses still came in wearing the thing we specifically told them not to wear. What does this signal to us? Unfortunately it shows us that you are not able to take simple direction and aren’t thinking. It’s such a small thing, I know, but if you aren’t paying attention to the small details you can’t grasp the bigger stuff. I take great pains to help you so that when you come in for an audition for me you’re prepared, informed and there’s one less thing you have to worry about.
Los Angeles actor and teacher Jeffrey Marcus says, “Taking the time to choose a pair of shoes that my character would wear usually sets off a domino effect of conscious and unconscious revelations and discoveries that further enhance the characters’ life for me. Shoes tell a lot about the man (or woman) and assist me in moving into the walk, talk and backstory. As an exercise, observe the shoes of those around you, and create a detailed biography. Shoes tell more about a person than any other article of clothing. The Native Americans say to “Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.” Since actor rule #1 is “don’t judge your character”, I take that literally and believe that by putting on a special pair of shoes, you can enter into an imaginary world with compassion. Don’t forget the appropriate socks!”
The same is true for wearing the right clothes for an audition. Years ago I was casting the film “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” – which largely took place at a rehearsal dinner and a wedding. Most actresses were so smart and came in wearing cocktail dresses and heels, and the men in suits and ties. I was shocked when a couple of actresses came in wearing jeans shorts and flip flops – for one of the leads in the film – to read for the director and myself. What does that tell me? How an actor dresses for an audition indicates to us how you’re thinking. Now I’m not saying you have to get “costumey” – far from it. Remember, we take these audition videos to our filmmaking team who isn’t in the room. If you already look like the part because you’re dressed so convincingly, half the battle is won.

Hot tip for the ladies: Because our casting office may be on one side of the lot and the parking lot may be miles away sometimes  – bring a pair of flip flops or flats with you so you can make the hike to our office and not hurt your feet!! Also, batting your eyelashes and flirting with the guy on the golf cart and asking for a ride is totally acceptable!!
Do you have any questions for me? Feel free to ask them here!

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

 Glad you’re here!
Marci