DIRECTIONS UNIT: ACTORS CASTED

After putting up the advert for the 2 characters, Shaun and Ed, on Casting Call Pro, I only received 3 applications for Shaun and received 0 for Ed. So I then began searching for actors myself through the website. I narrowed down my search my looking for male actors, who could act between 25-35 and lived in Kent, since I can only afford to cover the travel for my actors it would be helpful if they lived around the same area as me.

ED



I first found Thomas Jacob-Ewles. Thomas doesn't have a huge amount on his CV and annoyingly didn't have a CV, But in his interests explained he was interested in Comedy and Student Films as well as having a Undergraduate Masters degree in Drama and Theatre from the University of Kent. I tried to contact him to ask for some work he'd done however after emailing and calling I couldn't seem to get hold of him.





Next I found Michael Speller. He is an actor based in Kent and his show reel on Casting Call Pro caught my attention. He's good at bringing a character to life as well as bringing comedy to his acting with quick punch lines and enthusiasm. His experiences are short but from his show reel I was very impressed and he could clearly act. As well his interests are Comedy and student films along with short and action films in his interests. I called him after getting his contact details from Casting Call Pro and discussed the project and he sounded very enthusiastic, however, because of he works Monday-Friday he is unable to help with the shoot since my shooting days are on a Monday or Tuesday.





I widened my search and tried London and found an actor called Peter Tyrrell. Peter has already been in a short film based around a Zombie Apocalypse and has worked on student films before. His show reel shows that he is a confident actor and that he has an interest in comedy. However when I got in contact with him he informed me that he's currently working on a feature film and wasn't able to help with the project.




Finally I found an actor called Jacob Sheerwood. Jacob's CV was very impressive, he's a very experienced actor having done theatre, TV and done 3 feature films. I called Jacob and spoke with him about his show real (very impressive with a broad range of his acting roles) we discussed the project and he said he was very interested. When I explained that the project was a student film and that I couldn't afford to give him payment for the project he was hesitant at first as he's just finished another feature film which was fully paid. Although when I offered to pay for his travel he agreed to help with the project. I went on to explain the filming dates and that this was my own interpretation of the film and that it is only a few of the scenes. We also talked about the locations and travel cost. Overall he seemed very happy with the project and is looking forward to it.


SHAUN
I had 3 actors apply for the role of Shaun, however, two of the actors also applied for my last project and explained that they would only be interested in the project if it was a fully paid role, which I can't afford. So I took a look at the other actor which applied.

Kit O'Donnell is an actor based in London, He's had 2 roles in Theatre and 2 roles in short films. He doesn't have a show reel on his casting call pro page but he did say he would be interested in coming for an audition. I sent him an email with the script asking him to do a read through as the character Shaun as he thinks he would be portrayed, I wanted to get an idea of how he feels the character would act. I asked him to record it and send it to me. However, 5 days past and I never got a reply and due to the short amount of time, I had to look else where.





I started to struggle with an actor for Shaun so I contacted my cousin Chris Thomas who is a Writer and Director based in London. He did Film Production at UCA a few years back and told me to take a look at an actor called Jamie Terry, who has done acting work with UCA a few times. I found him on Casting Call Pro and was very impressed. He's had a wide range of experience as an actor in TV, Student and Short films. He has also done one feature film. He looks the right age and is based in Kent. When I contacted him he was very interested in the project and even more so when I explained that it was my own interpretation of it and he liked this.

After I got both my actors I asked them both if they would like to meet and have a read through of the script and talk about the project. Jamie agreed and we set the date as 9th February at the Whetherspoons at Rochester. Jacob sadly said he wouldn't be able to since he has work and children to take care of but he would defiantly do the filming dates.

(Photos taken from castingcallpro.com)