The Family Is Growing (Maggie Meyer - Casting Director)

Maggie Meyer

Welcome Maggie Meyer to the team everyone.

Maggie has approached us to serve as casting director for "Good With Words".  After sitting down with her for a long while today, we agree that she shares our vision of the characters and has the experience needed to get the job done.

Maggie recently worked as the casting director for the Perth-Based horror film, "Infected Paradise.

Please direct any casting related questions to Maggie by contacting her at casting@AangryAardvark.com

Welcome aboard, Maggie.

Early in the Morning, Doubts and Comfort

It's 5:00am on Saturday morning.  My wife is asleep beside me in bed after we had both been up tending to a suck child.  It's these early hours that the three daemons of failure visit me, like Scrooge. Say good morning to my traveling companions:

• Fear
• Uncertainty 
• Doubt

This morning I suffer from concerns about the final scene in the dog park.  June is one of the rainiest months in Perth.  What if it rains in the day of the shoot?  I will have to reschedule crew, 50+ extras, and catering... and DOG CATERING!

Ugh.... And that gets the worry ball rolling....

The positive thing about my worry gene kicking into high gear is that I can think through and solve problems long before they become problems.  And I have always had fabulous luck with the weather... Touch wood.

My wife has, unbeknownst to me, been awake, looking over my shoulder and reading me write this on my mobile.  She startled me by saying in my ear "you're awesome.  I believe in you.  You'll do fine."

Yes... But because I worry, not in spite of it.

What Makes a Good CV

We've looked through a lot of CVs this week.  We are up to 262 individual HUMAN applicants (plus a few dogs - actual canines).  Some of these people either asked to be considered for multiple parts or they didn't specify at all, and we tagged them as interested in one or more roles based n their appearances and experience.  That makes 437 applications (when you count multiple roles).

That's a LOT of paperwork (and one REALLY big spreadsheet).

One thing we've become adapt at is what makes a good CV and what makes a bad CV.  Here's some of the things that we like:

• Pictures embedded in the CV, not sent as separate files.  This is because we end up having to save multiple files and it makes it difficult to match a face with a CV.
• URLs to ShowReels.
• Multiple pictures.  At least a face and a body shot.  
• Untouched photos.  Some people have gone hog wild with photoshop plugins.  How does that help us know what you look like?  We know that you know photoshop... but... that's not what we're looking for.
• When you tell us the roles in which you're interested.  It helps us narrow it down.
• Personal information - like that you speak Farsi or were a firefighter.  We like that.  It has put some people on a short list when they otherwise would not have been.  (Stage fighting did this on two occasions.)
• Directors that you worked with in the CV - that's cool.  We talk.  Knowing who to ask helps.
• PDF files, not word documents.  Word sucks.  I can't view them on my tablet or mobile phone either (where I do half my work).

For agents - 

• Consistent formatting is huge!  If you're going to send us ten CVs, it makes it easier on us if they are all in the same format.
• One applicant per e-mail.  When you send us three in one e-mail, it makes sorting more difficult.
• Help us narrow it down - if you have three people who are your best leading ladies, highlight them.

Do you know what your CV looks like?  Make sure that you know what your agent is sending.  We've seen some real horse fritters.  Bad formatting, spelling mistakes, horrid pictures, missing information (like a phone number)... ugh.

We REALLY REALLY like StarNow.  It gives us consistent formatting, it is somewhat searchable, and allows us to tag people in roles.  If you are intimidated by creating a CV, go with StarNow.

To Bring on a Casting Director

In my post about the casting tsunami, I winged a little about how much work it is to do all the leg work on casting.  Poor me (first world problems... at least I have clean drinking water... no clean cups in my cupboard, but the tap water is safe).

So, a nice young lady presented herself to me today as a Casting Director.  Hmm... I had never thought about it.  Up until now I had, at most, 50 people on a shoot (most of them extras) and I only did casting for maybe four to five stars.

We have 24+ speaking roles and spots for (literally) 150 extras.

Yeah.... I think that I need the help.  We're meeting on Sunday for a cuppa.  If things work out, I may be able to concentrate more on the fund raising.

Tax Invoices!

Yay!  Tax Invoices!  Woo Hoo!

There's a business side to film making and it involves tracking the dollars.

Our standard contract includes the stipulation that you invoice us using a tax invoice.  I assume that your average hobbiest actor doesn't deal with this a lot.  So, based on the Australian Tax Office's guidelines, I produced a Sample Tax Invoice that you can download and use.

Ain't I a sweetie?

Here's how I would work with this:

1. Go to the sample tax invoice
2. If you have a Google Account, copy it to your own Google Drive by clicking on "File" and then "Move to Folder" and pick a place on your Google Drive to store it.
3. If you don't have a Google Account, download it as a PDF or Excel Spreadsheet by clicking "File" and then "Download As..." 

When submitting your invoices, please send them to "accounts_payable@aangryAardvark.com" (should that be "aacounts_payable"?)

It's not as sexy as yelling "ACTION" for the first time, but it's part of the process.

We Have a Recruited a Technical Expert

We had a good meeting today with a technical advisor for the project.  He has a similar story to the character Gabe, in that he suffered a spinal injury as as young man and went through many of the things that Gabe has.

We have a verbal agreement for him to assist as a technical advisor on the project and act as a coach for Gabe, teaching him how to use a chair properly.

He has also agreed to do a script read-through for us, to make certain that we have no BS in there.

Overall he gave the script a thumbs up with minor caveats.

Casting Tsunami

We are now at over 355 applicants for roles.  That's a lot of head shots.

We finally have everyone in a big spreadsheet to make it easier to track things.  Of those 355, 227 are on the "sorry" list and 128 are on the "possible" list.  We want to get the auditions down to no more than six for the lead roles (Gabe, Evan, Daria), no more than four for the supporting roles (Maria, Jessica, Richard Price), and no more than three for the featured roles (Robbie, Dr. Shomberg, Drunk Kid etc.)

Of the 128 still in the running, we want to willow that down to 60-70.

We are going to keep shuffling things around, so we're not ready to tell people that they're out or still in the running.

Even with only 60, with a fifteen minute audition, that's two solid days of auditioning.

Thanks, everyone, for all of your interest.  We really wish that we could provide everyone with a speaking role, but it would then be a nonsensical twelve hour marathon.  There is room for just about everyone in a background role, plus a few other featured extra roles that we didn't list.

Let us know if you have any questions.