How do I choose actors without having auditions set up?

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harmonica44

I have a short film script I would like to shoot soon and need to pic actors but I was not able to get the audition venue, I originally planned on. I can pick the actors according to their resumes, pictures, or how much they seem interested. But a lot of them do not have any footage of them acting to show me. So how should I pick if I cannot get auditions?

Thanks.
 
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Okay thanks. I can use the garage, it just might be cold. If I can't get anyone to leave the garage will work. Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to heat it up, and get water and coffee for people, when the date comes. I will tell everyone my place then. Thanks.
 
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I thought it would be creepy to ask them to come to a stranger's house, and that might scare them off but I will then.
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This is probably the best observation that I've seen come from you. Female actors (mostly) are worried about whether they'll be safe. I've seen a bunch of opinions from actors where they would and wouldn't go to someone's residence to audition. Some of it came down to the persons reputation.

I've held auditions in someone's house before. I don't think I'd do it again.

Which house should I tell the actors to go to?
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Neither. You still need a suitable location. Neither of these are suitable.
 
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K. Well every venue I have asked said they were booked for months. I think what I will do is book months in advance if I have to, then wait till a couple of months before the date, and then post the casting call. I would like to get something shot now though, and not have to wait till the next free venue date, which is next year. So I think I will just shoot it with friends, if no one will come to a garage to audition.

Also, the script I wrote has three female characters in and one male, so that's a lot of women to ask to come to a house unfortunately. However, two of them I can rewrite to be male, I suppose. I don't think that would effect how the audience sees it, but one I need to be female for sure, for the plot to work.
 
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Sweetie said:
This is probably the best observation that I've seen come from you. Female actors (mostly) are worried about whether they'll be safe. I've seen a bunch of opinions from actors where they would and wouldn't go to someone's residence to audition. Some of it came down to the persons reputation.

I've held auditions in someone's house before. I don't think I'd do it again.



Neither. You still need a suitable location. Neither of these are suitable.
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It's a lot more suitable than doing no auditions at all.
Put a space heater or two in the garage.

No one voiced any reservations to me when I told them the address for auditions. But I also posted a video that I've already done so that might have helped to make me look more legitimate
 
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Well since I have no finished videos to post right now much, I will go with that option and just tell them the garage. Or I can choose to hire them based on their headshots, not knowing anything about what their acting is like, and tell them they do not have to do an online audition, or come to my house and that I want them anyway.

Also if it ends up where I have to just use friends in the movie, I am wondering if there is anything I can do, to make it look more professional, even though your friends are not actors. I was told not to do this. The very friends I ask told me that out of all the short films I helped out on in the past, was because the filmmakers used their friends, and that's why they sucked. So why would I want to make their mistake, they asked me.

So if I have to make it friends, I would like to do my best and not make the same mistakes. Even on my first short film I used a friend, and we shot it together. I would be behind the camera, and shoot her saying her lines to my characters. Then she would go behind the camera and shoot me saying my lines to her character. I was told after posting it on here, that the eyelines did not match, nor did the reaction shots towards each other, since we were not playing off of each other, at the same time, while shooting. If I have to go down this road again, I would like to do it right, since the point of me making a second choice is to learn from my mistakes on the first one.
 
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Okay thanks. I was thinking of rewriting it so that it's a phone conversation, so that I can shoot myself and my friend individually without us having to interact. But would that make a difference since we are not talking to each other on the phone, and would not be able to play off of each other's reactions anyway? Would it still be the same thing, and cannot react without each other being there? Perhaps a phone call change will not help.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks. I was thinking of rewriting it so that it's a phone conversation, so that I can shoot myself and my friend individually without us having to interact. But would that make a difference since we are not talking to each other on the phone, and would not be able to play off of each other's reactions anyway? Would it still be the same thing, and cannot react without each other being there? Perhaps a phone call change will not help.
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If I had the option I would have the other actor standing there off camera so they could talk and have a real conversation, yes.
 
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Well I can't have the whole shorts be phone conversations, there is one scene where one character has to hand another something, and the character has to see it as it's passed to him. He cannot just recieve it in the mail or anything for the plot to make sense. So I would have to do that scene with two people for sure. I think I will just have to do it with a friend and we take turns, or I get actors, without auditioning, if they will still do it.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I have a short film script I would like to shoot soon and need to pic actors but I was not able to get the audition venue, I originally planned on. I can pick the actors according to their resumes, pictures, or how much they seem interested. But a lot of them do not have any footage of them acting to show me. So how should I pick if I cannot get auditions?

Thanks.
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you have to weight important roles with not as much. Audition important. Depends on how serious a filmmaker you are
 
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It's a lot more suitable than doing no auditions at all.
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I very much agree with this.

No one voiced any reservations to me when I told them the address for auditions.
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It's unlikely that they'll voice anything. They'll see your notice and do nothing.

But I also posted a video that I've already done so that might have helped to make me look more legitimate
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Yep. As I said, reputation can alter the perspective.

I am wondering if there is anything I can do, to make it look more professional, even though your friends are not actors.
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Yep. Be professional. Use actors.
 
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Yeah it's just that everyone keeps telling me to make something, something, no matter what, but I should at the same time wait to get real actors. That's why I wrote something with a two page short, with only four characters in, hoping friends can do it, if I don't get enough actors. I think what I will do is book a venue, months in advance if need be, and then just cast it later. I guess I just really want to get something made that is something of my own, directed by me, as oppose by someone else, and I was just helping out. I would like to get some directing experience of my own, for something I have permission to show on here, but I will wait for pros to work with and try not to get hasty.
 
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No one said WAIT to get real actors. We're just saying, get real actors. They can still be amateurs, preferably better amateurs, but actors. It'll make your job easier when it comes to production and post production.

I call bullshit if you're saying every suitable venue in your town (or surrounding areas) are booked for months. So you're saying there are no restaurants, clubs, businesses that have a meeting room, halls, hotels, theatre, or hell, anything that has a couple of spare rooms available for months?

It's better to shoot something poor than it is to not shoot at all. If your only option is to shoot something that's a little shoddy, spend a weekend doing it, along the way, gaining experience, some contacts etc. then do it. Don't spend months working towards something shoddy. Go out and shoot a one or two page something to get runs on the board and go from there.
 
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Hmm I could check restaurants, I haven't checked them yet. I just checked venues for that kind of thing specifically. I was told the library has rooms too I will check, if any are available, and will call them tomorrow. There is also the back room to a pub. Not sure if the pub is open during daytime opens but will check. I will call around, to places like that.
 
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About frigging time you dug your head out of the ground. Just find a solution and execute it. There is no reason for it to take this long to find a room suitable to hold an audition.

Hell in the time you've been on this thread, I could have sorted out a venue, advertised and already held the audition.
 
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Yeah I didn't tell them till after. Well I will go through every restaurant in the yellow pages and call. Also, none of the actors have gotten back to me after I asked them for an online recorded audition. I think that all scared them off, plus asking them to come to my house probably did not go good after either. I want to repost a new casting call, after I secure a venue. However, since I blew it with the casting call on craigslist and kijiji, are their any other sites to that are good for that?

I tried sites before like Mandy, which was recommended on here, and just checked it out again. They don't really have a lot of members where I live, Saskatchewan. I could use a site that has more people. Are there any that have more actors to choose from? I also tried the drama department at the University but it's been days and they still have not gotten back to me yet. Perhaps it's out of season right now.
 
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I think I might have found a venue. How big does the room have to be for it to be acceptable? It is only one room and not two, so the other actors will have to watch, since there is not where else to wait, I guess. But how big would such a room that is only one, have to be?
 
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