How Can You Find Actors Who Respect You?

Alright so lets start out with some background. I am the "founder" of a small production company called Three Peak Productions. It is a group that is run almost completely by teens who take film very seriously. Our goal is to make films that really show what we see and what is in our minds. We figured out that we had some problems with casting. None of us are in college yet and we have a lot of parts for adults. A lot of adults think that we are just a group of kids doing a little project which is not the case. We all have a lot of experience in the film industry. Is there really a good way f=to make adult actors respect you and want to be in your film? Any help would be great! :)
 
You cannot find anyone to respect you. You must find people and earn their respect. Start by acting professional in all of your dealings with them and treating them with respect and courtesy. Tell everyone in no uncertain terms what you expect from them in the very beginning and have all of your people working to bring the collective vision to fruition. Once you have established yourselves as a group that treats cast and crew well, you will have the word of mouth recommendations of those you have worked with before. Best of luck.
 
A great start is to not expect people to respect you immediately. That's a way that a teenager expects the world to work. It often doesn't work like that in the real world.

That being said, you don't need the respect to be able to handle and use your authority to command adults to do what you need them to do. How to do that? That comes with experience.
 
A great start is to not expect people to respect you immediately. That's a way that a teenager expects the world to work. It often doesn't work like that in the real world.

I never just expect people to just respect me immediately. What I meant was that they respect me as a person enough to listen to me and hear what I have to say. I always act with professionalism in anything that I do related to my films and stuff.

What have you done, that has made these adults think this? :hmm:


Nothing. They all just think we are some kids who are working on a little project and that the are "too good" for us.
 
What have you done, that has made these adults think this? :hmm:

They're teens, that's what they've done.

Here in America, the younger generations are despised by the older populace. Particularly the younger adults. It may be a jealousy thing, or they've seen one too many movies with crazy teenagers.

It's especially bad in the area I live in, because it's boring as hell, so pranks and vandalism are very common.
 
As has been said, respect is earned. You earn that respect by acting in a professional manner. When it comes to film projects that means a complete and thorough preproduction. You've got the budget set, the preliminary shooting script completed, locations scouted and locked down, etc. In other words, you earn respect by being very good at what you do.

I started out as a musician. As a teenager (started at age 14 and did it until I was almost 20) I played piano and was the audio tech for a dance school, and at 16 years old I became the organist/choirmaster of a small church. It was a little uncomfortable for all concerned at the beginning, but I was a talented musician, knew my job (I had some great teachers and mentors) and I came completely prepared every single day. Once the older folks trusted me to do my job well they were willing to listen to what I had to say, and I still had my teachers and mentors to fall back upon when I had questions and problems.

Attitude is also very important. You need to be confident without being cocky, firm without being fresh or nasty. Again, this is only possible by being a thoroughgoing professional. But you don't have to be a know-it-all; as I was taught very early on, part of being a professional is knowing that there is always more to learn. Treat people with courtesy and respect, and expect the same in return.
 
I'm going to be honest. You're worried about your crew being viewed as young inexperienced kids and I find that worry legitimate. Mussonman is definitely right about how young people are viewed in America.

Although I am not young myself, I have to admit I look very young for my age. While some friends say it is a blessing, I find that in the business (film) world it is a curse. In the acting world, there seems to be a certain jealousy towards young new talent. In the directing world, I've found there to be a favoritism towards older artists. "He looks older and he's holding the camera, using his hands so much to explain something, he must be brilliant and experienced!"

For me, I've felt that people try to pull the wool over eyes. Take positions they feel like they're more suited to have. You ask them why and they have no reply. The fact that you're young and in the director's chair doesn't look right to them. It's not the painted picture of a director they have in their head.

Directing on some sets, during downtime, sometimes it slips out what my age is. They're all surprised at how old I am since I look so young. It's amazing and just sickening at how their attitude changes once they realize you're older. It's nice that they're giving me respect "now," but why? I'm directing and leading the same way as the beginning of the shoot, but because they know I'm older, suddenly they respect my ideas more? You should respect people based on their actions, not their look. Keyword there is "should," but many people still judge based on looks.

So my advice is to act as professionally as possible. When people doubt you, you have to over prepare. You gain more by erring on the side of professionalism than being too informal. Yes you can keep things friendly and light, just don't forget that you're trying to make it and you want this short/feature/episode to look as great as possible.

Hey you look old, then you can get away with goofing off a bit. But if you look like a teen and do something that gives them even a hint that you're goofing off...... you could trigger this subconsious thought in their head that "Oh I'm on one of these projects."

That doesn't mean to be a dictator or overly commanding. But just remember you have to impress them with what you know. Most people will tell you otherwise, but sad fact is that if you look young you're going to have show them how serious you are about making great films. Remember, you don't look like most directors they've worked with, so you have to do something to shake those preconceived notions out of their head and get them thinking "Oh wow, this is a serious production here." Basically do the research, take responsibility, be as professional as possible, and let your experience show.

Other cheat sheets are equipment, budget, how you write the audition notices, way you dress, and body langage and ettiquette. I'll try to explain these. Any of these you can do will help you out with appearing more professional. If the equipment looks professional, instead of "wonky" it builds a sense of professionalism. There are many DIY tutorials on the internet for camera rigs and other accessories. After the completion of each rig they mention optional things you can do, like spray painting it to one solid color, to bolt down every part so theres no risk of it coming apart, etc. For good reason. You don't want pieces falling off, or a boom pole that looks like a broken broom handle. Present yourself and your equipment professionally. You dont brag, but they'll be seeing the equipment a lot anyway. If you were 40 years old, they wouldn't second guess your rig coming apart and might just laugh it off as a would-be out take or blooper. You're young and your boom pole falls apart and they're painting a picture about the production already. I remember when one of our actors got to our set. He was so surprised at how professional it looked. I think he thought it was going to be a wonky unprofessional low budget film. It was low budget, but it showed him it wasn't going to be a wonky production. It wasn't until a few days later that during lunch he found out my age and was dead surprised. Just put "equipment" in the category of keeping things professional and letting them see it naturally on set.

For budget, there's a lot that falls into this category. If they get the sense that the production has a decent budget they tend to take it seriously. You don't need to have a lot of money, but having an impressive set, equipment, props, wardrobe, and such can remind them of how seriously you're taking this and the amount of preparation you put. I'm not sure if you're paying them anything, but they've probably been on a few sets that weren't paying anything that just ended up being shoddy productions. Keep your equipment, your sets, clean and organized. It can make a $0 budget production look like amazing demoreel material for your actors.

The way you dress can help them to see you as "older" and professional. I've seen older directors come to sets dressed in what looks like pajamas! Barefoot and all. Maybe they get away with it because they look older (maybe they don't because it's such an extreme example.) When you wear something that looks professional, it starts to say the right things about you to the actors and crew. You're young and they're expecting you to wear something a typical teen would wear on a day out. Suprise them and wear something that rings, "professional." When you wear something like that, it also carries through in your body language and you carry yourself a bit different as well. I mentioned body langage and ettiquette above. You don't have to be too meticulous about this or think too much into it. I had an acquaintance on set who was very serious about film. However, his body language said otherwise. I think he was overly lax and would just kick up and put his feet on everything. He would use so much slang and the actors didn't know what he meant half the time. Remember how you speak and how unprofessional cursing and some slang can sound when you look so young. (Well younger than what they've been working with.) Just remember not to slouch and not invade people's personal space by throwing your feet practically on their lap. I think sometimes teens have a different sense of humor than the older crowd. I worked with a few young people on set, and the types of jokes they made just seemed offensive and insulting to the actors even though they were probably just trying to entertain and make them laugh. Don't let them see you as filmmaking teens that don't take this seriously. Take care of them and ask if they need anything. It's just something that happens on professional sets and makes them want to work with you again (Not only do you have your directing game down, you have it much so, that you have extra clarity to ask them and take care of their needs.)

The last is the most important in my opinion. The casting call that you put out is a great way for them to get the right idea about you from the get-go. It's amazing how I've seen audition notices from professional casting agents starting with "Casting for a feature-film directed by an Emmy nominated name director." And the rest of the audition notice looked like it was typed by someone who got back from work, had a few drinks, forgot to type that last audition notice, ran home, and typed the first things that came to mind. It really did start with "Casting for a feature film directed by an Emmy nominated name" but the rest.... let's just say spelling and grammar were the least of the worries. It's obvious it wasn't the actual director placing the notice, but I think most directors would want that changed. Most of us aren't Oscar or Emmy nominated, so we cannot afford to try to get away with poor casting notices. Look through a few audition notices and look for the most professional of the bunch. Study it a bit before making your own. The audition notice is a great way for the actors to check YOU out as the director. Besides selling your short or film as something worthwhile, you also might want to mention your company or a link of previous work. If you mention your company name, most actors that are interested will want to google it and see what kind of director they're working with. It doesn't have to be a perfect audition notice, but you want to make it sound more professional instead of too informal. Be honest, but let it be a chance for you to make an good early impression with them. When they DON'T see you as part of the same category as the other naive, unprepared, young filmmakers (that they've surely auditioned and worked with before) it leads to good things happening on set. And don't freak out with so much of these points, since they may have worked with a very young crew before and walked away with great experiences or getting possibly their favorite material of their demo reel!


Although this seems like many steps, or like a very specific tutorial, it's more me trying to reverse-engineer certain things I've done throughout the years to let them realize I'm not as young and informed as they think. Much of this will probably come naturally to you through out the years. Anyone that starts out young and wants to work with older talent will tend to go through this.
 
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We all have a lot of experience in the film industry.
My suggestion is to use your experience in the film industry to impress adult
actors. Show them you have done and will do exactly what you say you will
do. You have a lot of experience in the film industry so set up professional
auditions. That first impression will go a long way to earning respect. Since
you have a lot of experience in the film industry I don't need to tell you what
you need to have on hand when you approach adult actors - you already
know that.


Is there really a good way f=to make adult actors respect you and want to be in your film?
No. You really can't make anyone respect you. You need to earn that respect.
You can do that by using your experience in the film industry and presenting
a full, clear, complete package to the adult actors you want to work with. I can't
help but wondering why with your experience in the film industry you are
having such troubles. Most adult actors I know would be thrilled to work with
a group with as much experience as you have.

I have a very different understanding on how the younger generations or young
people are viewed in America. When a young person doesn't try to "make" older
people respect them, but works hard to earn respect, older people are very willing
to help. What I see more often is younger people who are impatient and demanding
of respect and think all adults think they are "too good" for them. It's a two way
street - in so many cases young people do not yet fully understand how to earn
respect. Of course there are older people who are jerks, but in my experience most
older people are very willing and happy to help out younger people.

It pains me to know some of you feel that in general older people despise younger
people. I'm sad you have never met an older people who is willing to help you.
 
They're teens, that's what they've done.

Here in America, the younger generations are despised by the older populace. Particularly the younger adults. It may be a jealousy thing, or they've seen one too many movies with crazy teenagers.

It's especially bad in the area I live in, because it's boring as hell, so pranks and vandalism are very common.

So what you are saying is that because the area you live in is boring that it is okay for teenagers to pull pranks and engage in vandalism?! That is probably why this "older populace" you speak of "despises" these individuals. You can be bored and not engage in vandalism. I guess we're just jealous? :hmm:
 
It'll vary from person to person and place to place but, so long as you do shit properly, this won't be a problem.

I shot a movie with Phil Arntz this summer (PhilArntz.com) and, whilst we're both young, it was clear that we were aiming to produce something at a professional level. We're both smart and personable and we never had a problem where the actors weren't respecting us. Actors want to work with talented filmmakers, regardless of age- jealousy doesn't come into it for them, because they're not competing with a director or a cinematographer. If you're producing a movie that looks great and gives an attractive platform for their acting, they'll come onboard straight away.
 
So what you are saying is that because the area you live in is boring that it is okay for teenagers to pull pranks and engage in vandalism?! That is probably why this "older populace" you speak of "despises" these individuals. You can be bored and not engage in vandalism. I guess we're just jealous? :hmm:

No, my comment specifically stated that it's even worse in the area I live in.

Generally, the younger generations are despised, not because of vandalism, but some strange bias akin to racism. But in MY area, it's just a little worse, because when I was in high school, one or two kids decided to put a dead deer in the road... which OBVIOUSLY means, every single young person is an evil, satanic tyrant
 
Question 1 is: do you have a portfolio or showreel?

That's step 1 to respect.

Second:
make your castings calls very precise.
"Looking for actors for a cool project." doesn't help, whatever age you are ;) (unless you are a 'big name').
Show that you have thought of details and be honest about being young, but serious and ambitious.
 
We're on the same boat. I'm a young film maker and I just finished a couple of short films. I worked with experienced actors and crew and had the same worries but I'd share some things that I did to earn their respect. I'm 21, didn't go to a film school and had only 2 workshops under my belt. My DP is also a director and he got into a very prestigious festival in my country. It's kinda hard to get the respect of someone of his stature but luckily, I pulled it off. I didn't have a reel so I resorted into these things:

1. Show them that you are passionate. When you pitch, show them that you really love what you are doing and you're enthusiastic about it. Look at how Tarantino talks, overflowing with excitement. I'm a marketing major so I had an easy time convincing them.

2. Show them that you are knowledgeable. You'll be asked to explain a lot. Throw in a few classic movie/director references won't harm.

3. Be professional. Don't be late, look presentable and be ready to answer their questions. Be prepared for meetings.

4. Be a collaborator, not a dictator. Being a dictator is bad enough, but when a teenager decides to go on hitler mode, that's just stupid and laughable. I almost did this because I was so stressed. Thank god I didn't haha

5. Make them comfortable. The usual stuff, provide food, breaks and engage in small talks.

6. Show them that you are willing to learn. At our stage, we don't have a lot of experience to count on. But the willingness to learn may inspire people in your crew to perform better.

7. Respect them and you will earn their respect.

Hopefully these tips will be useful for you. I was able to do OK on my first couple of shorts and I wish you all the best!
 
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