quote:

The biggest mistake is to cast your friends, because friends usually cant act

I disagree with this, to some extent. I think friends are better able to understand your directing style if they know your personality and are around you all the time, and will know better what you want. This is how it's been in my experience, anyway. I've done so many short movies with my friends that have failed, that they have actually transformed themselves into passable actors (and one of them great, IMO). I love working with them, they always deliver what I ask of them.

Once you work with real actors you'll never go back, Mark

I've tried working with "real" actors, and I find it impossible to convey what I want. I am infinitely more comfortable working with friends -- actually, only two of them -- but that's because we've been working together for more than five years now.

I think it depends greatly on the personality and methods of the director when deciding between a close friend and an experienced actor.

Plus, if we're doing a short, and it's not turning out so well, I don't feel obligated to push on and finish it on time. With friends, it's much easier to rewrite, recast, reshoot or just scrap it altogether. When you have real actors, they tend to get frustrated when you tell them that all the work they've done for the past week has been for nothing. And I can't blame them.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Evan Kubota:
There are barely any good stage actors, though.
[QUOTE]

poop.

Anyway, one shouldn't be intimidated by the casting process. Family and freinds are great, but using actors is a step everyone must evetually have the balls to undertake, because Aunt Linda no longer wants to "expand and explore" her horizons by being a lesbian vampire hunter in your next 10 min short about a hitman with a heart of gold.

Actors are your freinds, as long as you feed them and don't treat them like puppets.

Hear hear!

Mark, the thing with working with pro-actors is that you need to speak their language. Your friends already understand yours, but if you put in the effort and are open minded you can adapt your method of approaching the actor within a few hours of working with them.

And REDking - please... we only feed SAGactors. Gawd! ;-)

Had been an actor myself I can see both sides of the fence when it comes to using actors in film. In my experiences I have found stage actors can adapt from stage to film with no real hassle. The last film I did. Almost the entire cast came from theatre groups and it worked really well. The director sat down with the actors and the rest of the team and ran us through the script, the storyboards and what he wanted. He then asked for suggestions and opinions from us. We told him what we thought he could change or keep and came to agreements. Everyone felt like they had an input and that way when it came to shooting everyone was happy. Don’t always knock an idea that an actor puts to you. Remember you can take as many takes as you like and you can always edit, edit and edit some more.

The biggest thing I've had to conquer is the acting thing. Acting is the whole point of a film. Actors need good direction from the director or it simply won't turn out the way you want it to.

I'm a shy guy. I always stumbled over my words before when telling my actors what to do, because I hate being bossy. But eventually I establish a connection with my actors that I need to be straightforward with "you're doing it wrong" or "no, like this" and that they need to take it as an actor/actress and not personally.

So, in summary, you need to work with what you have and be bossy or else you'll just be kicking yourself for not doing so when you're sitting in the comfort of your own editing chair reviewing footage of a lousy performance.

(That Ben kid's weird--who owns an "editing chair?" Is he on drugs or something?)

Everyone worth their salt (and who is nowadays, anyway?) owns an editing chair.

I find that it's a lot easier to tell professional actors to change their performance than it is with friends. The professionals not only can handle it, but they expect it. If you don't shape their performances, they'll be uncomfortable. They need to work with you.

The number 1 reason to have a casting call instead of casting people you know:

Committment. A person who replies to a flyer and comes in for an audition obviously wants to participate and will more than likely not stand you up the day of a shoot, as has happened to us all.

I think this fact is a lot more important than acting ability.

Yes, your friends may be able to understand you better, but I personally think that it's good to give aspiring actors the opportunity to show their talent (whether they have it or not is a different story). They want to prove something, and an actor that isn't there is worse than an actor that is there, but can't act.

I don't care WHO it is, I always have trouble with actors, let them be from theatre, film or just friends.

Problem: They dislike working "long hours". You can buy them tons of food to shut them up for a bit, but the instant it's gone, they whine and whine and WHINE some more!

I have had one casting call. It went decently. We held it in a manner that was more fun for us as producers then anyone else.

I had my two producers wearing suits and acting and looking very professional, while I on the other hand got all "sexed" up and acted somewhat like I was too powerful or important to warrant a suit.
Well, that's what we decided we wanted to convey, and oddly enough it worked!

Audtions are fun is what it comes down to. Next time I don't play on being so... laise-fare (no idea how to spell that).

I agree with Stars. Also, NYC is big in stage acting. Lot of theater and broadway shows going on, not too much film.

I allso believe that most good stage actors will have tremendous fun doing a small film with a good director who lets them explore the fact that the lens is a microscope and all they have to do is feel the part and it will show on screen without the more expressive acting on stage (if this makes any sense, i dont know how to put it in words). Also, some studentfilms go to big festivals like sundance or cannes and win prices and I am sure, even if you are a seasoned actor, this must be something beautiful to be part of.

On the other side, being on 90% of studentfilms means Chaos, bad food, no respect for the actor, bad treatment and what not I am always surprised why good actors come to us for free

Me too! And they're always excited to work on these student films, even though so many turn into disasters. I can't, for the life of me, understand how the crew and director can ever mistreat an actor, and handle the situation so unprofessionally, but I've heard lots of stories.

've tried working with "real" actors, and I find it impossible to convey what I want. I am infinitely more comfortable working with friends -- actually, only two of them -- but that's because we've been working together for more than five years now.


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A good actor does not need your directions as much as you think he does. When I get actors I will analyze the scrpt with them and they will answer tons of questions to which i BETTER have a good asnwer to or else they lloose trust in me as a Director. Then they usually come up with their own backstory and i dont even want and need to know about it. I dont need to tell them to act "angry" if the character is an angry person in the script. they SHOULD know that and if they dont, I give them hints.

I also read a comment that it is best to tell an actor "no, this is wrong". I feel this is not a good approach. Most actors are very insecure and look at you almost like a father figure. I ALWAYS let them know that it was good, even if they sucked. BBUT I also let them know that we should try it differently this time, with an other approach because what they did was very interesting but a different direction to what I had in mind. They tremendously appreciate this kind of treatment because it shows them how much I as the director appreciate their work and input. Directing is all about psychology, If the actor likes you and feels confortable in your hands he WILL perform well. If he is insecure and scared of you, he wont do a good job most likely.

A good story to show this point happened on my last film (my NYU thesis). My actor did not perform well at all in the first 2-3 takes and I wasted so much money on film already. He was a pro and acted in over 100 plays BUT he was very insecure about himself. Affter the fifth take that was terrible I took him aside from the whole crew and told him that his last take was ****ing great and thhat is all I wanted and he did a great job. I even told him the DP whispered to me how touching his performance was. Of course all of it was a lie, he really sucked.

Then I told him that I got some rolls of film left and he has a chance now to let loose and do everything he wants. I just want to see if something new comes out of it and if not, no big deal, I got my take before. Guess what, his next take was brilliant and I got what I wanted. It wasnt his acting that blocked him, it was his nervousness to perform well, his fear to fail. After he was sure he did well, he relaxed and became natural.

Telling him he did a bad job and I needed something else would have completely destroyed him at that point.


Of course there are different routes to go depending on the actor. In the last scene of that film, the lead, a 8 year old child, had to cry. He was a great actor but he just didnt have the skills and education yet to cry on command and I did not really know HOW to get him there because of my lack of knowledge. However,m I knew one thing: he really really liked me as I was his best friend during the past and really difficult week of shooting (I also played tons of videogames (well cellphone games) with him while my crew was setting up the lights and shots. I also knew that he really wanted to become a "hollywood star". Therefore, failing was no option for him and dissapointing me even less.

So the camera was rolling and i was telling him all kind of stuff to make him cry but alll it did was that the child got upset. Then I started to act like I was really upset and I shoutet at him that he was a huge dissapointment and that he did not perform well at all. And he would never been famous and his parents will be dissapointed at him after I telll them what happened tonight (I Know, cruel...). He started crying and gave such a heartbreaking performance, that some people on the set cried too and a girl was so upset at me that she left for a while. Of course we all told him afterwards how great he was and calmed him down.

A total different approach that worked but only because he was a child and lacked the experience.

You do that to a real actor and you might be in trouble.

I guess the moral of the story is that psychology, careful approach and often simple trust in the actors intelligence is often the way to get a good performance out of an actor. be short, precise and tell them how great of a job they are doing.

But then again, I am a novice myself so do not take everything for granted that I just wrote down. It is more just my personal experience

"If he is insecure and scared of you, he wont do a good job most likely."

If you want him to act insecure and scared, that's perfect. Tarkovsky constantly told Kolya Burlyaev in Ivan's Childhood that he was very unhappy with his work, and instructed the crew members to insinuate that he might be fired mid-shoot.

I also am a novice, but I’ve picked up a few things that help.

There is nothing wrong with casting friends if you hang out with the right kind of people. My friends are cool, but starting out we were all miserable actors. We had nothing going for us; we forgot lines, could not keep a straight face, two of us had speech impediments. But we were determined and we took our time.

Years later, we all are passable actors, and some of us are actually very convincing. If you take your time, work with people, and persist, you can turn most willing people into passable actors.

On the subject of attitude and psychology, it really depends on who you’re working with. With people you know well, don’t bother to act really professional; they know it’s an act. Laugh, joke, and hang out with them. They will be more comfortable.

With people you don’t know as well, act busy. Always be checking things or people, or set things up. Talk with people about their performances, make them comfortable, but seem like you have a crucial agenda.

Most important of all is dealing with people, whether you know them or not. Most people are insecure about criticism, actors or not, so always say “That was good, but this time try…” Lead them towards things; be firm but don’t be an ass.

Ultimately the real trick is know who you’re dealing with and how to deal with them.

Hoeks, those stories are amazing. I really think there should be a class after "Directing the Actor" called "Deceiving the Actor."