Many times, in speaking with actors, I find an appropriate answer to common questions is, “Think like a producer. Then that decision makes sense.” Actors want to know why one actor gets cast over another actor. They want to understand the value placed on a “name” actor over an equally talented, brilliantly prepared up-and-coming actor. We all want to know why runaway production exists. The bottom line tends to be, well, the bottom line! If you think like a producer, you’ll understand a lot more about the way things work in this industry (and hopefully you’ll take none of it personally).
Producers make a seemingly infinite number of decisions during the course of production. They’re thinking about issues that most people won’t even know exist. What may be an investment of a few days or months on a project to someone in any other job has actually been years for a producer. By the time casting is going on, a ton of money has already been committed and every bit of savings is going to count. The reason it’s important for actors to at least understand the producer’s POV is because doing so will help remove some of the Actor Mind Taffy issues actors may face. And anything that can remove an obstacle between you and the role you hope to book is worth looking into!
Why didn’t the breakdown go out to actors via Actors Access? Why is it only being put out to subscribing agents and managers through Breakdown Services? (Or, even more exclusively, why is the casting director only faxing the breakdown to a short list of a dozen key agents?) The producer isn’t interested in non-name actors. The producer needs to attach name actors to particular roles in order for this project to get distribution and recoup any of its production costs. Is it fair to the non-name status actor who might be perfect for the role and whose performance could be exactly what this project needs to really take off? Nope. But nowhere in the job description of “producer” is the word “fair”.
A producer is defined (by the IMDb) as the chief of staff of a movie production in all matters save the creative efforts of the director, who is head of the line. A producer is responsible for raising funding, hiring key personnel, and arranging for distributors. So, you may think someone creative like the director has the option of overriding the producer’s decision (and, certainly, in some cases–like say with Spielberg, Soderbergh, Scorsese, Lucas, Coppola, Stone, Lee, Howard, Jackson, or any other of the big guys–that is absolutely the case), but in the vast majority of projects you’re looking to be a part of, the producer is going to have veto power over just about anyone. It’s an issue of money. What can I say?
Why didn’t the casting director allow you to come in a day later than your scheduled audition appointment? (You know, the one you couldn’t make due to a booked day on another set.) That’d be because the producer wasn’t going to pay to staff sessions a second day. And there were dozens of other actors the CD could choose from, once you said you weren’t available for that original slot. Sure, you’re at the top of the casting director’s list, but the producer wants tape at close of business on that one day you’re not available. Tough. Rock beats scissors and producer beats casting director. Every time.
Why is this particular film casting in Los Angeles but shooting out of the country, where the non-stars will all be hired locally? It’s cheaper. There are financial incentives for films and TV series to shoot all over the world (and in cities all over the US outside of Hollywood), and even if the talent pool in Hungary is not as densely filled with professional actors, there are coaches to take along for the shoot who will do whatever it takes to get those actors looking and sounding just as good as the more expensive Hollywood-based actors. Yes, even the expense of importing dialect experts, acting coaches, and creative consultants comes out to less money than a producer would lay out to take a bunch of SAG day-players out of the country to shoot a film. And why would a producer choose to shoot locally when the savings can be outrageously significant if they just pack up some of the crew and head out of town? Absolutely, there are producers who will stand firm about shooting locally and hiring locally (and we love these producers and all line up to work with them), but for every diehard union-label type there are another dozen producers who just want to save a buck and make money on a movie, geography and loyalty be damned.
Why was the most beautiful scene cut from the finished film? There was too much “clean up” that would be needed, in the mind of the producer. Cut it, let it go, and move on.
What did they mean that this actor was “more commercial” and therefore a better choice? More commercial means more money. Think like a producer. Are producers more likely to know what will be commercially successful than non-producers? Well, successful producers are! That’s how they become successful producers: They predict correctly more often than incorrectly what will sell.
One of the best ways to really get the mind of the producer is to watch shows like Sunday Morning Shootout and read books like The Independent Film Producer’s Survival Guide. I also recommend taking a look at interviews with producer types, whenever they happen to run online or in print. For example, a great 2003 Ed Colley interview with John Brownlow includes information like this:
As a producer, you have to take ultimate responsibility for the fate of the film. You can fire the director in extreme circumstances. You have to find the money, and you have to make judgments about the commercial viability of projects. You have to be able to problem-solve, and you have to be able to make people do things they really don’t want to. You have to be willing to make the shitty phone call that nobody else wants to make. What people never realize is that producers have ultimate responsibility but almost no power. It’s a recipe for stress-related illness. I have literally watched films I produced transmit on TV from a hospital bed because of stomach cramps brought on by stress. It’s a fundamentally important role to understand. If you cannot understand why a producer might object to that scene where your hero tortures a small animal, or wants you to change a part that is so specifically written that only one A-list actor can play him/her, you are going to have problems in Hollywood.
As for what you can do, once you’re thinking like a producer, to help maximize your chances of getting cast, that’d include things like making yourself look bankable, being all about the professional mindset (and never about bitterness or personal drama), and maintaining industry relationships in which you can all help one another. Appear like someone who isn’t a big risk. Read scripts, look at your audition clothing, choose your headshots with a producer hat on. What’s going to sell? What’s going to make a producer more inclined to take a chance on you? What quality makes you a good investment (and how can that quality be obvious to those with the money to invest)?
Yes, you’re an artist. Yes, you’re creative and passionate. But to navigate a business in which those juices inside you that allow you to create fictional worlds so beautifully are safe from the cutthroat decisions made here every day, you need to at least be able to think like a producer (even if you only do it from time to time, just for the sake of perspective).
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000458.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.