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Auditions and Casting


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Hello. I am planning to shoot my first drama short. I have shot documentary projects in the past but this will be the first real drama I have produced.

 

My question is regarding auditions for roles. I have never done casting before and will be looking to get actors from my University. How exactly does an audition process go for a no/lo budget short film?

 

Lets say I stick a few posters around and send off a few emails. I get replies from interested parties. Do I just tell them a time to come to a room, hand them a script with a few highlighted lines and watch them?

 

Also I don't want people to audition only for certain parts as some characters have only small roles. Would it be ok to get them to read lines of each character and then judging by performance I can divvy out roles?

 

I'm not quite sure what route to take with this. I think there are 6 male roles in the films and 1 female role.

 

Any tips?

 

Thanks.

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Audition in a comfortable, quiet place. Provide coffee, soft drinks, water, and snacks. Regular and diet drinks with and without caffeine, healthy snacks, junk food snacks, etc. When they arrive welcome them and THANK them for coming in (and thank them after they've read, even if you hated it). The absolutely most critical thing is to provide an atmosphere where the actors auditioning will be able to relax and feel safe, they do their best work that way. Don't give them line readings, often your best casting will be surprises, an actor will come in and read something in a way that surprises you and helps you to see the script in a new way.

 

When you start to make your final decisions, keep in mind that cast chemistry is vitally important in most movies. Plan to explore that chemistry with your call backs. For instance: If an actor and actress are supposed to be romantically involved in the script, you might want to have them read together to see if there's natural chemistry between them.

 

It's good that you're concerned about the audition process. Good movies start with good casts. Some really great Directors have been quoted as saying they make their movies when they cast them, the rest is just the mechanics of recording the show.

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Also a lot of the time, even if you don't ask, an actor will have a monologue prepared. You can ask them to say their monologue and then give them some direction and see how well- or to your liking- they change up their monologue.

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