You have held the initial casting session and brought in all of the actors to audition. Now it’s time to pick the cast.
What I find after a casting session is that many times I will realize that there was one actor or actress that stands out in my mind for the roll. Usually, when they walked in to the audition, I just had a feeling that they were the right one for the roll. They usually do a great job, too, whenever I get this feeling, and so the post-casting session decision is really easy.
If you don’t get that feeling and have trouble deciding, you may want to review the audition tape on more time. That can either help or make you more confused because you may start to consider additional actors that you didn’t remember from the live casting session.
You could always hold call-backs, but I don’t like to do this for short films, because that means more time and money and, quite frankly, it’s a short film. Even if you make a mistake and pick the worst actor from the group (which producers have done when I’m directing), you can fudge 5 minutes. Some people say, “We’ll fix it in post.” Others say, “You can’t really fix it in post.” I say, “Often, but not always, you CAN fix it in post.” Just don’t rely on that if you don’t have to.
Make your choices and call the actors you’ve selected. Confirm the dates that you need them AGAIN, and this time when they confirm that they are available this should lock them in. Now they’ve made the commitment, and if they back out at this point they’re lame and you shouldn’t be working with such unprofessional individuals anyway.
Even though you’ve confirmed a million times, I always send one more confirmation about 48 hours before the shoot day and request a confirmation email back. I do this with the entire cast and crew, though, to make sure there are no surprises on the day.
On feature films, the actors get deal memos to lock them into the schedule. They are breaking a contract if they don’t show and can be sued; so all this re-confirmation is not as necessary (though I do know of one producer that had a no-show actor who was a LEAD in her first feature, and the actor wasn’t a superstar or anything, so it even happens at the feature film level.)
Tell the actor about the details specific to his or her character – like wardrobe, character disposition, etc. All the general details of the shoot (location, call times, etc) can be handled in the logistical email you are going to send out before the shoot.
