“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere,” goes the mantra. And scores of actors flock to NYC to try, full of hopes and dreams. And headshots. And strategies for coping with rejection. It is relentlessly hard.
Jen Rudin goes out of her way to make it a lot easier.
And yes – she IS friendly as she looks
On Tuesday March 25, CMA hosted Jen Rudin at Pearl Studios. An NYC native and former child actor, Jen moved into casting because she thought it would be fun – and it is! She worked her way up through Disney and spent 7 years at Walt Disney Animation Studios, casting animated features from Meet the Robinsons to Princess and the Frog. She also writes a monthly column in Backstage called “Speak Easy” that offers lots of tips for aspiring actors.
She was all helpful stories and high energy, and as moderator Michele Steckler (Disney Theatrical, Fly Loft Group) peppered her with questions, we learned all about what casting directors do – and what Jen does differently that makes her so special.
After reminiscing about Jen’s interview during a tech rehearsal for Mary Poppins (Michele was trying to figure out how to get Burt to tap dance on the ceiling for “Step in Time” while Jen tried to impress her – and totally did), Michele asked Jen to clarify what a casting director does – and does not – do.
“We’re often called agents. That’s not correct,” Jen jumped in. Casting directors are consultants, she clarified. Hired by the director, producer, studio, or network to populate creative content with actors. “I’m very involved early on, then once the actors are on set and contracts are signed, I’m done.” She’s always meeting new actors, and has a rolodex in her photographic memory (yes, photographic – she remembers actor quirks and traits better than they sometimes do).
She’s also incredibly collaborative – not just because she’s been on the other side of the table, but also because some days she’s a therapist, mediator, or nursery school teacher.
“The job is tedious and thankless, most days,” she laughed. But, she stresses, the days when it isn’t are the best. And, again, she’s in this to help actors succeed.
Michele insisted she was more important to the creative process than she’d given herself credit for (as a producer, Michele considered the memory, intuition, taste and sense of talent that a casting director brings to a project key to her own success), and asked her to talk about her book.
This book. Available here.
Jen shared that she’s always been a writer (notebooks full of plays as a kid, theater reviews in college), but the idea for this particular book came on a 10-day 10-city open casting tour for The Little Mermaid. 600 girls auditioned for Ariel. 1 got the part… but Jen wanted to help them ALL (and give them tips like, “Stop doing your own blocking!” and “Go back to your vocal teacher and work on your range, so you can hit the high “E” we need you to hit 8 times a week”). She locked herself in the library, got sidetracked by founding her own company, found a second publisher after the first went nowhere, and made her dream come true. With hard work. And persistence.
She shared about her time as an actor, too (she auditioned professionally from 8-17 but quit in her 20s because she was always broke, temping, and took competition and rejection very hard), and encouraged all creative folks—especially actors—to thank their parents for helping them live their dreams (lots of sacrifice, sibling rivalries, and money involved in pursuing acting as a career—with NO guarantee of success. “Nobody pays you to go to an audition,” she said.)
She also shared briefly about diversity casting (more flexible in animation than theater), and how she takes risks to get producers to consider “out of the box” talent (“You don’t want to be a nooge or a pain,” she explained. “But please! Not everybody is Caucasian!”).
Then, we got a real treat – a mock casting session, run by Jen. See?
Kim was such a great sport!
Here are the highlights:
- Jen likes to use other actors as readers, but they need to be chill (“namaste,” as she puts it). They’re there to experience a casting session and help Jen, NOT audition.
- She prefers casting real boys to play boys, instead of grown-up women.
Sorry, Naruto. Jen is not a fan.
- She gives great notes after every read, cautioning actors to think about their physicality as well as their vocal highs and lows.
- She loves grammar and punctuation in scripts, and expects actors to honor it (“It’s there for a reason,” she says. “Even if the script is stupid.”).
- Actors coming in to read for one part will often be asked to read another one. ALWAYS agree to that.
- Actors read their names at the beginning of each recorded take (“slate”) to introduce themselves. Sometimes, all casting directors will listen to is that name when making a decision. (But not Jen!)
- Jen auditions up to 60 people a day.
The best tip she gave, by far, was one that Michele backed up: “We want you to be fantastic!” (“We want to move on with our job!” was Jen’s explanation) As an actor in an audition, your job is to show that you can play the part. Do that!
That idea led to a spirited Q&A where Jen gave us all sorts of insider information and fun stories. She encouraged people to get out there and meet casting directors if they wanted to try voiceover work. She suggested Voice123.com as a resource (make sure your demo is high-quality!) – but she also cautioned that everyone thinks they can do voiceover work, while very few people enjoy the schedule and routine (4 hours a pop, working alone in a booth with a microphone, at least 3 different reads of each line). She also confirmed that casting directors make up their minds very quickly, and you’ve got ONE chance to make a good impression – so be nice, know when to leave, and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS (if she can’t trust you in the room, she won’t trust you on set with the director)!
I asked a question about casting celebrities and that prompted Jen to tell us all about casting Anika Noni Rose for The Princess and the Frog. Anika was Jen’s first choice, and even though bigger celebrities were in the running (Tyra Banks, Beyoncé –Alicia Keys, who made it to the final 3), Jen kept dropping hints about Anika. Then Dreamgirls got lots of press and Anika’s visibility helped convince Disney to cast her – like Jen wanted.
Not all casting tours work out that way, so was happy to tell us that story.
There’s a whole chapter of the book devoted to celebrity casting, but Jen’s experience with it all boils down to this: you never know what you’re going to get. Some celebrities love it (Whoopi Goldberg, Kiefer Sutherland), and some don’t because it just isn’t their thing (read the book for that one!).
Michele jumped on the storytelling bandwagon, too, sharing about an experience casting Nala in South Africa. The type the producer wanted was tall, regal, and elegant, but when a short, regal, and elegant woman came in and sang the heck out of “Shadowland” he didn’t want to cast her – until Julie Taymor fought for her.
Jen and Michele also shared stories about casting singers who act versus actors who sing (at the end of the day, it’s easier to have the singer who can sing the songs the way the audience expects after spending $120 per person to see the show) seeing producers change their minds (the Nala story), and troubleshooting casting difficulties (Jen found the 5-year-old version of the 9-year-old lead in Mama COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT as she sat in the waiting room for her sister’s audition).
Lastly, Jen reminded all aspiring actors that the casting director is often your first advocate… and they never, ever get thanked. It makes her sad.
She works too hard for that, guys. Nobody should make her sad.
Let’s change that.
Go thank your casting directors, actors. They want you to succeed.
Especially Jen Rudin.