Actor x Casting Director: Your First 10 Minutes On Set
A blog about what to do after you’re cast in a show.
After months of auditioning, you’ve finally booked the job. You’ll be on set within the week. What do you do?
For most actors, this is a question that goes unanswered. We are so focused on the booking itself that we forget to think about what happens next. How should we prepare for our first day? Are there certain things we need to know and do before we arrive? If only there was an article or two out there that could help us navigate this uncertain period…
Oh wait, I wrote one! And it’s right here!
So without further ado, here are my 7 tips for your first 10 minutes on set:
Actor x Casting Director: Your First 10 Minutes On Set
A blog about what to do after you’re cast in a show.
21 Jan 2016 – My First Casting Directors Meeting
I got a call from my agent earlier this week, telling me that I had been invited to a meeting with some casting directors. I wasn’t sure what to expect and was quite nervous.
The meeting went much better than I had expected it would and it was a very informative experience. There were five of us in the room, the casting director, an assistant and three actors (myself included). The other two actors were both very experienced and had lots of great tips to share with me.
I will include some top tips that I learned from the session below:
Do your research on each of the people who will be in the room with you at the meeting. If you know where they have worked before or what their interests are then you can talk about them with them at the meeting and hopefully make a good impression.
Make sure that you know something about their current projects, even if it is just the title of a show or something small like that. It shows that you are interested in their work and want to find out more about what they are working on at the moment
Actor x Casting Director is a blog about what to do after you’re cast in a show.
Most actors know how to rehearse and how to audition, but few are prepared for their first day on set. This blog focuses on the professional requirements of being an actor once booked in the room.
Actor x Casting Director is written by Kaitlin McCarthy, an assistant casting director with Star Casting in Toronto and a former actor herself.
So, you’ve been cast in a show! Yay! First, take a moment to celebrate. You got the part! Then, take a moment to panic. Now what?
In this blog we’ll talk about what happens after the casting director says “you’re hired” and how you can be prepared for that moment.
Actors are used to being told what to do by the casting director when they’re auditioning. But there is much less information out there about what actors should do once they’ve been cast in a show. If you’re lucky enough to get cast, here are some things to think about before your first day on set:
So you’ve booked a show! Congratulations. Here are your first steps.
Before the day of the first table read, you should read the script. If it’s your first show, then you should read it twice. It’s ok to not know all of it by heart on the first day, but you should be familiar enough with the text that when someone asks you what a line means or which page it’s on, you can answer quickly and confidently.
If there is no table read before production starts (this happens sometimes!), then your prep time is even more important. Being familiar with the script and having questions prepared shows the director that they can rely on you to be on top of things.
When you arrive on set, introduce yourself to every department head right away, including the director(s), cinematographer, production designer and art director, wardrobe supervisor, 1st AD, hair and makeup lead, sound mixer, key grip & gaffer (if they’re not already talking to each other). They’re likely very busy and can’t always come find you, so take initiative and go introduce yourself. Remember their names – this may seem like a daunting task but don’t worry if you forget them; most people will forgive a slip up or two.
On the first day of shooting, you’ll feel a lot of excitement. You’ll be nervous too, but there will be a lot of other people around who are just as nervous as you are, so it won’t be so bad.
Once you arrive on set, there are a few things that you should do before the director says “action.”
First, make sure that your luggage is with you. If the producers have asked you to leave your luggage in your car while they get your hotel room ready, do so. Your luggage will probably be safer in your car than it will be in your hotel room.
The second thing is to make sure that you have some money with you so that you can buy snacks and coffee while you’re waiting for the call time. Unless it’s really early in the morning and there aren’t any breakfast places open yet, or unless it’s really late at night and all the restaurants are closed, I almost always go out for breakfast the morning of my first day of shooting on a new project. It’s usually a good way to meet other people who are working on the same film or TV show as I am.
The third thing is to make sure that you have something to read while you’re waiting for the call time
[Actor] has been in the business for ten years and he’s going to teach you about how to be a professional.
Casting director: We work with agents, we work with people who submit online, we also work with personal managers. Other casting directors also have relationships with their personal managers.
[Story of an actor’s first day on set]
So [actor], what did you learn?
[Actor]: This is a professional business, so you better come to the set prepared. You’ll be remembered if you’re not professional.
Casting Director: …The thing that I think is most important, especially as a young actor working on a studio film is being able to take direction.
[Actor]: If you can’t take direction, then they’re going to replace you.
