After my Intensive with Erica I was very excited about my next Workshop which was two weeks with two different Casting Director's from the same Casting Office. The CD's I had targeted this month were for Drama and I felt it was good for me to change it up and try something different.
The first week was with Marlo Tiede who is currently casting Grimm. She has also cast Necessary Roughness, Ghost Whisperer, the new Beverly Hills 90210, and Castle. After doing an initial Q&A she talked about the Casting process for Grimm. She looks for mostly guys because it is a more men-heavy show and also character actors since most of the roles transition from human to animal throughout the episode. She paired us with a scene partner and assigned us scenes that we were able to rehearse for about 10 minutes. I liked my scene but my scene partner proved a little bit difficult because I couldn't connect with her and felt like we were on opposite pages. The scene was from Grimm and there was some major crazy terminology but my scene partner was trying to memorize and changing the lines every time she did them so I couldn't be off script because she wasn't consistent. She was playing the mother role and I was the younger daughter-in-law role and as soon as we performed and were finished the CD had said there was no connection or chemistry with us. I couldn't have agreed with her more! She also said we weren't listening and made the wrong choices; I needed to play my side more sympathetic and understanding while she needed to come off more over-bearing and bitchy. I made my adjustments but my partner read almost exactly the same way she read the first time so I just listened and responded as best I could. I felt defeated when we were finished. I knew I did the best I could and made the changes she had asked for (which she did notice) but I couldn't help but feel frustrated with the whole situation.
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| The face and smile of Determination! |
Last week Monday was my workshop with Kendra Castleberry who currently casts Castle but has also cast for Wildfire, October Road, Life on Mars, and The O.C.
She was very direct and said she was looking for someone who could bring
it on the first read or audition. She treated the Workshop like an
audition and we had one opportunity to impress her. Kendra had sent out
scenes to the class a week earlier so I had chosen one from Ghost Whisperer that gave me the opportunity to play a bunch of emotions.
I'm glad I had my scene memorized since she had mentioned it was
important to come to auditions prepared and since we were given a week
to do so, the class really had no excuse. We all performed only once
but she did give feedback to each of us and mine was that I gave it too
much, the scene was more subtle, and didn't need all the emotion. That
surprised me since I had rehearsed the scene with Kristina and Neil, and
both had thought the scene was emotionally full and gave me the ability
to portray so many emotions. We could have been completely wrong but I
would rather hear I gave too much rather than not enough, because it's
that much harder to bring it than to tone it down. Once again, I felt a
little disappointed but proud in my decision to play the role the way I
thought it was written and didn't waiver. I made a choice and even if it was wrong, I stuck to it.
You can't create chemistry, nor can you make someone listen to you (in real life or acting), or even be exactly what the casting director is looking for because you just don't know. But you can be open to the process, positive and understanding in receiving feedback, and hard-working and determined with the material. Every Workshop is a lesson and practice for an audition, day on set, or real-life experience and you just need to make strong choices and be optimistic in your life. If you gave your all just know the only thing you need to be is the best version of yourself :)
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