MID FEBRUARY UPDATE

(JDIFF Casting Symposium, Dublin. Frank Moiselle, Maureen Duff, Lucinda Syson, Nancy Bishop, Pippa Harrison, Ros+ John Hubbard)

I'm finally sitting at my desk again in Prague after a too busy February. As usual I didn't end up seeing any films at the Berlinale Festival, but it was a productive time for networking, and the Actor Web Marketing Seminar went really well, with a big turn out. I even managed to see some actors for The White Road with the Santana Bros. At the International Network of Casting Directors, we're working on instituting an award for casting at the Berlinale. Casting Directors are undervalued. (Is it because we're mostly women?) The Casting Directors Guild in UK is working on it as well. 

At the Dublin Film Festival I actually saw a film, Bronson, with the fantastically talented Tom Hardy. The Casting Symposium, with John+Ros Hubbard, Lucinda Syson, Frank Moiselle and Maureen Duff, sponsored by Spotlight, was also a success with about 250 actors in attendance. I am currently working on the transcript for that and some video clips that I will eventually post, so stay tuned.

I need to buckle down now and finish my book, Secrets from the Casting Couch. I'm hoping that Methuen Drama will release it late this summer. 

Most of all I'm gathering actors for RED TAILS. The breakdown has been posted, but frankly I'm rather frustrated that I'm getting so many submissions from actors who are clearly not right for the roles. I know there are many talented actors out there who want work, but please let me reiterate what I teach in my seminars. Read the breakdown carefully, and submit yourself for projects that you are appropriate for (and this goes for agents too). I need MALE ACTORS... I'm particularly interested in AFRICAN AMERICANS. If you are not American, but you can do an American accent, then please send me a video clip of you doing an American accent in either a scene or an introduction to camera. German actors sending in reels that are entirely in German are unhelpful for example. 

For you female actors out there... I know it's frustrating. This subject came up at the Dublin Casting Symposium. As long as men are running the entertainment industry, then there will be more roles and projects for men. We (women) need to get out there writing, producing and creating projects of interest to women. So amen to that!

-NB