Actor’s get all the glory, man.

There are so many steps before an actor comes on the set. There are so many steps before an actor comes on the set. There are so many - okay, you get it. First, someone had to write a script with roles for the actor to play. Then, the sets are built and costumes are designed and shots are blocked and insurance is bought and travel is arranged and food is prepped and then finally, down the line, it’s time for ACTION!

But, you know what? If after ACTION! that actor’s not right … damn if it doesn’t tarnish the whole product. We’re talking about a lead actor here, who’s going to guide the audience for an extended time, though, even a misplaced supporting actor can toss a stick in the spokes. And this isn’t to disparage all the incredibly hard work of the craft and production teams or even the extensive preparation done by the actor, but no matter how beautiful the background or how smooth the schedule or how well studied the actor, if, in the end, the audience is watching a subpar (or worse) character within that background and on that schedule, it does take away from it all.

… On the other hand, if you can get a great performance and a parallel presence, a project has the opportunity to be elevated, beyond just satisfaction. The truth is, of all the hundreds of elements, big and small, that go into filmmaking, it’s character and performance which can most elevate. And so, here am I, with no money and/or standard filmmaking resources, starting early on casting an ensemble for a theoretical television series, all because I believe big-time in one thing: Actors bring all the glory, man.

Over the past few months, I’ve gone deep into the casting sites, combing through thousands of photos, profiles and reels and coming out on the other side with 256 actors (or, a top 32 per the eight, main cast roles). I researched sites independently and also went back through old casting calls I’d posted for So Far Bound in the past (mainly at the start of 2020, before COVID hit).

The plan is to spend likely the next six months (January-June) interviewing and auditioning actors from that 256 until there’s roughly a top four per main cast role, and then, I hope to finalize the main ensemble by the end of Summer. Getting to the top 256 today was tedious; but also, it was so illuminating. Here’s how I got there:

STEP 1: Who are you and who can you be?

This ain’t my first rodeo. I’ve been in the casting weeds before, both for a version of this project, as mentioned above, and also on other, smaller projects. This time, I wanted to be more thorough than ever. Whereas in the past, I would look at the first names generated and once a handful a were determined suitable for the role, I’d more or less close up shop, send the rest of the line home and just work from the initial batch of candidates. This time, though, I wanted to meet everyone in the line, both from new casting calls posted this year and the old ones from years prior.

On any casting site, a row of applicants are laid out like the above with a sortable number of performers. I’d usually go for about 50 per page. And then, left-to-right / top-to-bottom, I’d just say a figurative “nice meet to you” to everyone on the page. I’d look at each actor’s head shot, right in the eye, say their name under my breath and most importantly, hold for a two-or-three Mississippi count and picture them with different looks and in different scenes in my head.

And that was that. Sometimes in marathons, sometimes in sprints, I’d go through all the applicants from casting calls and all the actor’s from independent site searches and from a “look” (that ambiguous, unfair but undeniable factor) I got it down from a few thousand to a few hundred actors per role.

NOTE — Something that proved really helpful was having established, clothing styles in mind. Along the way, I’d crafted different “character guides” in which you define the basics of a character like persona and a catalyst and maybe a career but I’d also researched different kinds of fashions to attribute to each character, helping them become more distinct in my mind’s eye. I’m damn sure not a fashionable person myself but that previous, quick study in styles helped me better project different looks - and thus possibilities - on an actor as I went down the line.

STEP 2: Are you talking at me or with me?

Before we get to who’s talking to who, there was another sub-filter that came first. At this stage, it was time to click through on those selected head shots and go deeper into an actor’s profile and work, and it was decided that if an actor didn’t have a reel or self-tapes anywhere on the internet (sometimes they’d be on different sites), they’d be filtered out. Even if the actor had an awesome profile or wrote a really thoughtful note, for now, they’d be set aside in another folder. Right now, I needed to see how people talk.

After a quick perusal of a profile, it was on to the reels which started slow and ended fast. At first, I would take more time and watch something all the way through, but, after picking up the patterns, I’d soon skip around a video and look for one, main thing: are they talking at the person or with the person? What you want is “with the person.” That means it feels like they’re having a conversation rather than reciting lines back at someone. It means the performance is more natural than unnatural, whether the scene is dramatic, funny, weird, quiet or even “action” (which can be inherently wooden). An actor who could “talk with” was the bare minimum. And it’s all I needed for now.

NOTE — At this point, maybe I could have filtered out a lot more people. There's definitely submissions out there with accomplished tapes in which people show real skill in performance, but, I didn’t want to shut the door on people with less accomplished video who had intriguing looks or notes or natural performances (though raw) in their own right. … That’s because I’m the latter. I’m also raw, though assured, in my abilities today and more importantly in my capacity and willingness to learn. I don’t want to be overlooked for someone or something that’s shinier right now, but could ultimately be less so, in comparison, later. So, I held on to people longer.

STEP 2B: HOW CAN YOU TALK?

Long story short, one of the main reasons I keep wanting to try this project is because I love geography in both its social and physical forms. Thus, the main characters are made up of people from different parts of the world, or at least, people with intrinsic connections to different parts of the world. That way, in writing and crafting the series, I get to go back to school in a way and learn about cool places and cultures.

So, after filtering out natural vs. unnatural deliveries, I added another sub-filter: languages, and whether or not a person was fluent or advanced in a second one. It’s as simple as this: if a person is fluent in another language, it means they are either native to that place or, at the least, they grew up in an environment in which a particular place and culture were prevalent. In such cases, that actor can bring attributes - both social and material - to a role more readily as opposed to someone who can pass as if they’re from a certain place but in reality they have no connection to it.

NOTE 1 — Some people believe any actor should be able to play any role, and I agree with that. Some people also believe any actor can play any role, and I don’t agree with that. I think acting (or “inhabiting”) can only take you so far, but that you’re still going to show who you are as a person in some way. That goes not only for personality types but cultural types as well. If you’re a born and bred Londoner with English roots, you’re never going to be a Romanian figure as effectively as any other Romanian, or hell, even as effectively as any Ukrainian or Serbian would play a Romanian.

NOTE 2 — To be clear, I didn’t totally discard good candidates without a language skill. I’ve just set them aside as I pursue actor’s with that qualification first. Also, you may have noticed that Step 2B should have come before Step 2A to save time. — Yes, yes it should have. And that right there is trial and error, baby.

STEP 3: What’s that thing you do?

Or, how do you contrast? Now that we have a “look” and an acting/delivery style, it’s time for the “bells and whistles.” What’s that thing you do or have that we like and that we remember? — Here’s where the battles royale began. Please excuse the way I’m going to frame this step - as a sort of sports tournament. I mean no disrespect to the people out there trying make a way, but, on my end, I had to gamify things to keep locked in through the long process.

Once I’d filtered through looks, reels and cultural qualities, I’d end up with 100-ish candidates, per role. Now, from the extensive, previous search, I probably could have come up with a top 20-ish per role already, but remember, I wanted to be more thorough than ever this time. So, in a way, I’d make myself prove that those who stood out on the first pass were justified with head-to-head match ups in this step.

If I had 100 actors, I’d randomly sort the candidates and then go row by row (which were in groups of four as above), and pick two actors from each row to move on until I had 50. Then I’d do it again down to 25, then I’d go again and then across casting sites, until there were 32 people total, across all sites, per role. … Along the way, I’d re-discover actors or I’d re-interpret something they did. Some of those who stood out initially would fall and some I’d not noticed as much before would rise.

Different people moved on for different reasons. It could be just skill; it could be just presence; it could be a little of both. It could be that they fell short of performing some complex sequence but I liked that they tried. In a few cases, it could be that they’d thoroughly outlined the ways in which they can prosper personally and within the So Far Bound story. — It could be a lot of things that can lead to something or to nothing at all.

Now, after three months of work, the interviews and auditions can begin. And in some way, I’m sure, the above process will probably repeat all over again with new people and information as I share the project more openly. It will be tedious and discouraging, and yet, because of what’s on the other side - the characters - I can’t wait!

NOTE — I don’t know that I’ll talk too much more about the casting going forward. In this article, I wanted to shed a little light on the shape of the process, but I don’t want to overshare. Hell, this whole website is an exercise in how much to pull back the curtain versus how much to keep it closed. Honestly, if I didn’t feel the need to offer some insight, in exchange for this campaign, I wouldn’t post a damn thing about the process.

So, any writing on casting and other aspects of the project will likely be more abstract, in order to keep the final series product fresh. *

Stray thoughts.

— If this endeavor fizzles and I go back to the other side of the casting call, as an actor, I’ll do so with a new understanding. Here’s a few opinions and observations gained:

  1. Don’t start your submission note by saying you have 100k+ followers on Tik Tok. Go ahead and backspace that. If I need a dance or a prank video, I’ll call you.

  2. Surprisingly, it doesn’t do much good to say you were in an award-winning short or feature film. First, a lot of people claim it (though I’m sure at least a quarter are lying). Second, no disrespect to people out there taking action, but it also seems like anyone can get it - there’s the Fresno Short Film Festival winner, the Louisiana Festival winner, the New York City Asian American Festival and so on and so on.

  3. I’m not sure highlighting an acting school matters either, even if it’s prestigious. Or at least, don’t position it as the thing that should set you apart. It’s awesome if you got to study and spend time with something you love, but you can’t teach presence, which is ultimately what matters in the end.

    • Well, maybe you can teach presence to a degree. Rather, you can cultivate it in someone. The point still stands that in acting, presence > skill.

  4. Self-tapes are better than show reels. Listen, if you’re submitting to an independent project like Bound, it likely means you haven’t been in a ton of super “professional” settings. Again, shout out to people taking action, but, some of these settings don’t do an actor justice. I often had to judge actors with their scene partners and surroundings in mind. Like, how would this or that tool they have be in a better project? With self-tapes, though, you can better control how you want to present.

  5. Tell a good joke or anecdote, whether in notes or slate. I just really appreciated those through the slog and would hold onto that person, just a little longer.

  6. Say your real age range. Everyone goes down five, sometimes ten years. If you’re 35, your listed range shouldn’t be 18-30. It’s important to me, because, like I said with personalities and cultures, I also think your actual (experienced) age is going to ultimately show in performance, even if you look younger or older.

  7. Finally, less is so much more. You don’t need 10 videos; just a couple of your best work. Also, you don’t need to list that badminton, cycling, running and twenty other random things are your skills. It dilutes a person. Just pick a few things that paint a picture, like: Oh, this guy has two, solid self-tapes of material he loves; he can ballroom dance, speaks German and wrote a nice note about an event that influenced him. That’s cool. If we have teach him badminton later, so be it.

“22,631 FACES”