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In the performing arts, casting is a vital
pre-production process for selecting a cast (a meaning of the word recorded
since 1631) of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or
recorded performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Casting process
2 See also
3 Compare
4 Sources and external links
[edit] Casting process
It sometimes involves a series of auditions before a casting panel, composed of
individuals such as the producer, director and/or choreographer. In the early
stages of the process, candidate performers often may present prepared audition
pieces such as monologues or songs. Later stages may involve groups of
candidates attempting material from the work under consideration in various
combinations; the casting panel considers both the talent of the individual
actors and the chemistry of their combination.
There are exceptions to this. When a Casting Director is working on a Print
Advertising or TV Commercial casting project, then the talent comes in and is
photographed or put on video with no one else in the casting session. The day's
work of all the talent is then viewed on a website by the clients. A choice can
occur that day or the next day with the production being only days away. There
is more of this type of casting (commercial/print) going on than any other type.
Depending on the prestige of the role, casting calls may go out to the public at
large (typical for community theatre), to professional and semi-professional
local actors (for supporting roles in theatre and film) or to specifically
selected actors (for leading roles, especially in films).
In the production of film and television, a similar process is followed.
However, especially for major productions, the process of selecting candidates
for sometimes hundreds of parts and possibly thousands of extras may often
require specialised staff; while the last word remains with the people in
artistic and production charge, a Casting director (and/or Casting Assistant,
Casting Associate) may be in charge of most of the daily work involved in this
recruiting process during pre-production; in addition the "CD" may also remain
as liaison between director, actors and their agents once the parts have been
cast. Some of them build an impressive career, e.g. working on numerous
ambitious Hollywood productions, such as Mary Jo Slater, Rick Pagana and Rick
Millikan. The significant organisation of professional screen - and theater
casting in the US is the Casting Society of America (CSA), but membership is
optional.
At least in the early stages and for extras, casting may be decentralized
geographically, often in conjunction with actual shooting planned in different
states, e.g. in Hollywood or New York (studio) and one or more exotic locations
(e.g. Hawaii, the Far East) and/or budget locations, e.g. Canada, Ireland.
Another reason may be tapping in to each home market in the case of an
international co-production. However for the top parts, the choice of one or
more celebrities, whose presence is of enormous commercial importance, may
rather follow strictly personal channels, e.g. direct contact with the director.
The resulting list of actors filling the parts is called a cast list.
The industry is contentious, with frequent discontent arising from charges of
nepotism, stereotyping and bigotry. The term Casting Couch emerged during the
so-called "Golden Age" of Hollwood, when would-be-stars often granted sexual
favours to directors and/or producers on prospective projects. Celebrated
Hollywood and Broadway director Elia Kazan in his autobiography described the
Golden Age casting process like this: "when it came to actresses, not Darryl [Zanuck],
not Harry Cohn, not Louis Mayer, not Sam Goldwyn needed consultation. They went
by a simple rule and a useful one: Do I want to fuck her? I believe this rule of
casting is not only inevitable but correct, and quite the best method for the
kind of films they made" (p. 229).
Current Daytime Drama Casting Directors
Mary Clay Boland As The World Turns
Christy Dooley The Bold & The Beautiful
Marnie Saitta Days of Our Lives
Mark Teschner General Hospital
Rob Decina Guiding Light
Karen Rea The Young And The Restless
[edit] See also
Stunt casting
Typecasting
Character actor
Stock character
Dramatis personae
Film
Opera
Theatre
[edit] Compare
Jury research
[edit] Sources and external links
StagePool.com: The European Audition & Casting Society, support, guides and
coaching.
CastingSociety.com: The Casting Society of America (CSA), the largest
professional association of Casting Directors in the world.
4Filmmaking.com's Guide to Casting: a step-by-step article for independent
filmmakers on how to find, audition, and cast actors.
IMDb's definition of "casting"
Career Guide: The Casting Director video interview with Jim Carnahan at American
Theatre Wing, 2002
The Casting Director Working in the Theatre video at American Theatre Wing, 2007
2007 Daytime Emmy Awards: Casting Nominees
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casting_%28performing_arts%29"
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