Unsolicited Audition Video

mckinise

mckinise

Question: Let's say an actor with no chance of getting a very high profile role created an audition video for that role, made it go viral online, and got the right people to see it. What is the worst that could happen?

I once heard a story about a guy that used nefarious means to grab attention. I can not remember what it was, but he was discovered and dismissed.

In this case, we would shoot the audition video. Promote the crap out of it to build a buzz. If we get that buzz we use the short term publicity to bring some notoriety to some of our other projects. Even if not, we still have the means to get it seen by people with pull.

Is it a mistake to:

A- Make the video at all?

B- Hype the video to the masses for publicity?

C- Solicit it to people in the loop?

Granted, this may just fizzle with no one being the wiser, but best/worst case scenario, this thing gets hot for a couple days creating a small buzz. If the latter is the case, does this have the potential to kill the careers of the actors involved before they even get started or is all press good press?
 
Depends on the quality of the vid.

If it's bad or in poor taste, it could badly backfire.

I prefer the route Brit Marling took. She was not getting much work and little to no offers of good roles, so she set out to write a script with the type of role she wanted.

That script was Another Earth.

It became an indie hit, went on to make a lot of money at the box office. She got huge exposure and multiple doors and opps have since opened for her.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1549572/?ref_=sr_2
 
When the announcement was made that Josh Whedon was selected to write and direct the big screen version of Wonder Woman, YouTube had a flood of audition videos by aspiring actresses with hopes Josh would notice them and call them in for an audition.

He never did. And, the movie project eventually collapsed.

Some of the videos were better than others.

They had to skate around copyright infringements with DC Comics to pull it off. There were some good examples in that lot. The actresses used the video description space for their cover letters to Josh.
 
Fun indeed. So far we are going a head with it. Will give me a chance to break in some new crew members too. Happy times.
 
I don't see any way it could hurt to do it. Most people will never see it, and it's not likely to land an actual audition, but it could be useful anyway for other productions. I'm always surprised by how little material most actors have online at the indie level - I think it's often the fault of the filmmakers who don't post their films or provide clips to the actors. So putting an audition tape like this can only help the actor unless they're really bad - in which case maybe it helps them see their own performance better and hopefully improve.
 
Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
When the announcement was made that Josh Whedon was selected to write and direct the big screen version of Wonder Woman, YouTube had a flood of audition videos by aspiring actresses with hopes Josh would notice them and call them in for an audition.

He never did. And, the movie project eventually collapsed.

Some of the videos were better than others.

They had to skate around copyright infringements with DC Comics to pull it off. There were some good examples in that lot. The actresses used the video description space for their cover letters to Josh.
Click to expand...

Is Josh Whedon related to Joss Whedon?
 
Josh Whedon is Joss Whedon's slightly less attractive and entirely unsuccessful older brother. He and Frank Stallone are currently in development on a boxing movie about a down-on-his-luck boxer from Detroit who's just looking for his big break, tentatively called 'Stoney' and, as with all of his projects, doomed to fail.
 
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