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February 2007 · Newsletter Archive

"Play what you haven't lived--it will help you with your life."
--Stella Adler

Improv & the Audition

Question: When is it okay to improvise at an audition or on a session?
Answer: Always!!

That said, the knife cuts both ways: you need to deliver the goods taken from the text by discerning what you think the writer is attempting to say. Once you determine the concept, you can then add your own improvised spin on the piece.

At Sound Advice, we really try to stress how important developing and flexing your improvisational muscle is to your auditions and overall performance--whether that be for voiceover or any other medium. In fact, this is yet another corollary here between commercial work and film, since both media tend to tap into your improvisational prowess.

The importance--and degree of difficulty--of employing Improv is illustrated further in these excerpts from a few recent articles in Back Stage:

"COMMERCIAL BREAK"
by Carolyne Berry, Feb. 1, 2007

Unscripted group scenes in commercial auditions present major challenges even for the best-trained actors. When improvising with other actors, so much is unpredictable. Such auditions can be problematic even when the actors involved are skilled improvisers.

"WHEN IMPROVISING AT AUDITIONS CROSSES THE LINE"
by Lauren Horwitch, Nov. 3, 2006

Every actor goes into an audition ready to improvise. The practice is so common, Back Stage recently ran a column about how to successfully use improv in commercial auditions ("'Improv' Your Audition," by Scott Wojcik, 10/19/06).

But when actors aren't given a script and are told to wing it, at what point are they no longer simply auditioning but starting to write the script? Back Stage spoke with [a number of] actors, all of whom agreed that being asked to improvise at auditions is standard. However, many are uncomfortable with the process and doubt they'd be compensated if a line they invented at an audition were used in the final commercial.

Casting directors often provided a list of possible lines for actors to read. "'Feel free to use these if you want, but we encourage you to either improvise or make up your own stuff,'" one actor recalled. "They wanted you to create a character and create a scenario and create your own dialogue to then arrive at one of those lines."

"It is true that in a commercial audition, sometimes during your first audition, they will do just sort of a personality test," she explained. "They're just seeing you be yourself."

"I know I've come up with some good stuff...and you wonder if some ad executive is sitting in his office in Chicago saying, 'Hey, that's a good idea,'" wrote another actor via email. "If I was truly paranoid about someone using my dialogue, I'd do these auditions saying nothing extra or nothing at all. I'd also not be working much."

Commercial casting director Jeff Gerrard pointed out that people often come up with the same ideas at the same time. "If one person came up with it, I can tell you that 60 have come up with it," he said. "As you're casting, you say, 'Hey, that was a really unique take on [the scene].' Then, around 10 or 12 people later, someone will come in and do the same take on it."

As president of the Commercial Casting Directors Association, Gerrard has often consulted SAG officials on using improv in auditions. In his opinion, everyone suffers when actors are restricted from improvising. "The minute you censor [actors] and say, 'Just stick to the dialogue,' is the minute you get a stiff performance.... Isn't that why people get into acting: to express themselves, to have freedom? You're allowing them to use their freedom to bring something to the mix," Gerrard said.

These days, according to a number of commercial casting directors, advertisers want to feature an actor's personality. They don't always give a script or sides at an audition, preferring to ask actors a series of in-depth questions to discover who they are. "You want to see who the actor is in that situation," explains commercial casting director Sheila Manning.

Actors shouldn't worry that casting directors or their employers are out to steal actors' improvised material, Gerrard added. "For the most part, the casting director is not there to screw the actor," he said. "They're there to make sure [actors] get a job and another job and another job."

According to their website, backstage.com:
"Back Stage: The Actor's Resource -- the sister publication of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Ross Reports -- publishes a national website and weekly print editions in New York City (Back Stage East) and Los Angeles (Back Stage West)."

If you're interested in flexing your Improvisational muscle in Chicago, Jimmy Carrane is offering a terrific one-day crash course this month, certain to whet your appetite for more. Contact Jimmy directly for more info (date, rate and location) at jcarrane@aol.com or call 773-528-0433.

Casting Color Blind

In the spirit of Black History Month, the question arises: "Do most casting directors 'cast blind'?" That is to say, do most casting directors cast for commercials, film and television without regard to color? You'd think that'd be a no-brainer for voiceover. I mean, isn't voiceover the leveler of all levelers? Casting blind isn't just an option when it comes to voiceover--it comes standard, right? Well, that is the case here at Big House Casting & Audio. However, this seems to be something of an anomaly in the industry, according to at least one article that raises some very profound issues regarding race, voiceover and an entertainment industry that's only recently begun to embrace a broader notion of what America truly sounds like to Americans.

There's a reason we cast using a broader palette racially: the work demands it. Today, if you saw a commercial that had nothing but a homogenized cast--wouldn't it seem odd and unreal to you? It certainly would to me.

That said...there's always room for growth.

"STUDY: WHITES GET MAJORITY OF ACTING JOBS; MINORITIES LEFT OUT OF 80% OF CASTING"
by Greg Hernandez, Dec. 1, 2006, Los Angeles Daily News

Ethnic minorities were not cast in about 80 percent of first-, second- and third-billed leading roles in Hollywood films last year, according to a recently released study. This level of representation of Latino, black, Asian-American and American Indian actors is based on a review of the 171 commercially released films in 2005 that reported a gross of at least $1 million.

(The study's) findings were not surprising to the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which releases its annual report card on diversity in television casting next week.

Jane Jenkins, a casting director on such films as The Da Vinci Code, Friday Night Lights, Apollo 13, and When Harry Met Sally, said an "enlightened" casting director will work to diversify a cast in parts that are not specified as being a specific ethnic type or gender. "As a casting director, you are directed to cast by the nature of what is written," Jenkins said. "I do believe the majority of the casting directors I know try to open up to as much a variety of the film population as possible. But it is so dictated by what is written." She cites recent films Babel and Half Nelson as two examples of ethnically diverse casts.

Robinson surveyed casting announcements, or "breakdowns," from Breakdown Services, a communication network and casting system for the period June 1 through Aug. 31 (2005). He challenges the legality of race-specific casting announcements and believes that in many instances, taking race and sex into account for acting roles violates Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination. Robinson said there are many exceptions that permit the government to regulate certain speech in certain ways. "I argue that Title VII's regulation of casting announcements falls into an exception," he said, adding that he didn't believe that complying with Title VII would entail using quotas but rather would require the consideration of actors of color and women for many more roles. He recommends banning the use of race/sex classification in casting breakdowns except where casting an actor of a specific race or sex is truly integral to the narrative. "All you have to do is go to the movies and look at who's on the screen and look through the titles," observed Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the group.

The entire study can be found at www.chicano.ucla.edu/press/briefs/current.asp.

Again, this study covered 2005, rather than 2006--where, personally, I witnessed advances in every aspect of production including using more diverse casting, employing more women and more of us 40+ types than I've ever seen--ever. It's not just me. That's a fact.
Case in point, at the end of this month, the 79th Academy Awards will honor more African American actors than it ever has in a single year, in both lead and supporting roles.
It's long overdue. 79 years too long, in fact. However, I'd look for an improvement in that 80% stat this year.
Oscar ballots are available at www.oscar.com/nominees. Vote early and vote often!

Pop Quiz

"Is it okay to audition for the same job through more than one agent?"

NOPE.

"I should only pursue representation for talent agents once a year."

WHO the heck told you that? Nope.

"I can't promote my demo until I have an agent, right?"

WRONG-O, Boy-o. Get moving! The fact is you must promote to the agents until you have a handful of agents that you are pleased with, who are auditioning you with some regularity--this takes time and persistence. And you must continually make yourself known to those who hire talent (producers and casting directors) with great tenacity. Otherwise, you will surely fall into oblivion--and we can't have that!

"My agent should and will advise me on how to promote myself. It's an agent's responsibility to shape me and tell me what to do professionally."

Uh-uh. You're off by a long shot. You're actually expected to arrive FULLY REALIZED and CONFIDENT (whether you are or not.) This is YOUR career. You need to OWN it--not your agent. The agent is merely the liaison between you and the work.

"Once on the session I will be told precisely what is needed and wanted from me. They should know exactly what they want and will feed me each little utterance, every turn of a phrase and expression just exactly how they want it--right? I am clay--they will mold me to their will."

Uh...At the risk of sounding incredibly negative...don't hold your breath. It will only turn you blue. Fact is, we talent are expected to self-direct from the get-go. You have no other choice when they email you the audition. Then when you're on the session, if you actually do get any input, you are expected to apply that direction immediately and without hesitation.

The Super Bowl of Advertising?

"ADS ALSO FALL SHORT OF GOAL"
by Phil Rosenthal, Feb. 6, 2007, Chicago Tribune

Madison Avenue did about as well on Super Sunday as Rex Grossman.

Both had trouble hitting their targets, and got soaked.

In return for a record $5.2 million per minute for commercial time during Grossman and the Bears' soggy 29-17 Super Bowl XLI loss to the Indianapolis Colts, CBS delivered an average of 93 million viewers. It was the third-largest audience for a U.S. TV show.

But there's more to selling than being seen. Like the defeated Bears quarterback, the ads got to appear on the big stage, but was anyone truly impressed with how they played? Was anyone wowed?

"There were a lot more misses than hits," said John Greening, an associate professor of advertising at Northwestern University and a former worldwide account director for Anheuser-Busch at DDB Chicago. "This is the premier event that you spend all year planning for, yet there were some of them that were just downright awful. ... Too many people were trying too hard. It was a circus without a purpose."

The most effective spot ran a scant 10 seconds--or more than $850,000 at CBS' prices--as Colts fan David Letterman spoke of his love for Bears fan Oprah Winfrey while they cuddled, only to have her scold him about talking with his mouth full, in a bit for CBS "Late Show." It was over so fast you didn't see it coming.

But we've gone from Mean Joe Greene tossing his Pittsburgh Steelers jersey at a kid in exchange for a Coke to some guy tossing a rock at a pal to swipe a Bud Light, which was a very funny pratfall unless you considered, you know, his cracked skull.

"I thought [the commercials] were subpar, and beyond that comment I found it hard to even engage in water-cooler conversations. It was that underwhelming," said Steffan Postaer, chairman and chief creative officer of Euro RSCG Worldwide-Chicago.

"Putting an ad on the Super Bowl has become a strategy in lieu of a strategy," Postaer said. "Instead of doing something provocative for the client's business, we're doing something provocative, period. It's shock for shock's sake, and the irony is the American public isn't all that shocked."

Many ads have gone beyond formulaic. "We've got to get a celebrity," Postaer said. "We've got to get an animal. We've got to get a song. We've got to get a director. We've got to be outlandish. We've got to push the envelope. We have to be indecent. For every $85,000 second these people pay, they're trying to knock off that punch list."

Maybe it's the formula that's gotten old, not the event. Ad agencies may be paying too much attention to what twentysomethings consider cool when everyone everywhere is watching their work.

"They went overboard in trying to attract attention and forgot that it needs to be relevant attention that builds brands," Greening said.

FedEx was on the moon and ended with a guy getting zapped. At more than $80,000 per second, it's almost as if the ad agency has to justify each tick of the clock, so it throws in a meteorite for a kicker.

Super Bowl ads are "kind of like standing on your head and taking your clothes off," Greening said. "Do I get attention for doing that? I might, but to what end? There were a lot of people who may have gotten noticed but made no investment in building their brand."

Say what you will about Rex Grossman. He kept his clothes on.

I must concur. Except on one point--this was Rex's first season and he went all the way to the Super Bowl. Can't fault him for that. Next year--management better back the guy up with a couple more decent QBs and then...maybe then...we can talk about 'which Rex arrived on the field today.'

Happy Valentine's!

As we do every year...consider this a small valentine to all of you steadfast Sound Advicers! We think the world of you (we wouldn't have taken you on if we didn't) and always look forward to your on-going success.
In fact, we want to make sure we can get a hold of you at a moment's notice should we have a call for you in upcoming castings and such. Therefore, we ask you to visit www.soundadviceclients.com/contact.php to update your contact info, union status, talent agent info and so forth.
Wishing you the best...always! (Keep warm.) -Kate & crew