“She did her first scene basically into the camera, which, for most people, it would look really weird,” said Fesano. “But she was just so brilliant.”  

Although Fesano had planned on reading other actresses, both in LA and abroad, Reuten soon scored the part.

“We showed it to Showtime and they said ‘we don’t need to see anyone else,’ said Fesano,” And they hired her.”

Such rapid casting of a foreign actress would never have been possible before the advent of digital casting, or the use of the Internet combined with digital video to aid in the search for the perfect actors. But nowadays, the technology is allowing casting directors to meet their clients’ demands for speed while choosing from the largest possible pool of actors. 

The time constraints of casting have always been demanding, especially when casting for TV parts. But lately that need for speed has generated innovative technological solutions for the casting process.

As it stands, the Internet already has a firm place in the preliminary casting process. Casting notices, sides and actors’ resumes are frequently posted online at sites such as www.lacasting.com, and digital headshots are often e-mailed in place of the 8x10 glossy. And now digital casting may soon replace the way many productions conduct the actual auditions. 

Productions that conduct large talent searches in various locations, or that have out-of-town producers are increasingly using this method to telecommute. In addition to having actors tape themselves and then e-mail the casting director, as with Reuten, other methods of remote casting are increasingly being used.

One such method is teleconferencing, a common service in the corporate world that allows live camera feeds of video recordings at one location to be viewed at another. A recent Old Navy commercial, for instance, was cast using this method. At 310 Casting Studios in LA, a casting room was being used for both the shooting of local talent and viewing New York actors. The day started with a sofa facing a monitor connected to a live feed from New York, and then the setup was switched so that the sofa and camera now faced a small stage to showcase the actors from LA to the people in New York. This method tends to save both time and money, since it avoids the trouble of flying people to both coasts.

Digital casting isn’t just used for remote purposes—it’s often used when clients are right next door. Instead of sitting in the same room as the auditioning actor, some clients prefer a private viewing room, which gives them the freedom to make candid comments outside of the actor’s earshot. These clients also enjoy having a work space in which to use their laptops and PDA’s. To make all this possible, the recording camera feeds into a monitor in the adjacent room, where clients can watch in privacy.

After the auditions have been recorded, the digital casting service allows for quicker access to the tapes than traditional methods. With digital casting’s use of DV recording, messenger services are no longer needed to deliver copies of audition tapes. Audition recordings can be uploaded online, sent via e-mail or even podcasted.

Another advantage to the digital recordings is that they don’t take up storage space on someone’s shelf, as they can be stored on a local hard drive or online server. Copies are then stored out-of-site in one’s computer and an infinite number of them can be reproduced. 

Making the Future of Casting a Reality

These digital recording, Web site and teleconferencing services can be found through a number of providers that service other industries, but may not always meet the needs of casting directors looking for an in-house setup. Some casting directors have taken it upon themselves to create their own technological set up that’s more cost-effective and custom-made for the auditioning situation.

One such casting director is Melissa Martin, founder of 310 Casting Studios. Martin, an avid science fiction reader who’s fascinated by futuristic innovations, felt frustrated when her colleagues at a previous company didn’t agree with her technological visions.

“I broke off from another company because I couldn’t even get them to buy a DVD player,” said Martin, “They subsequently closed.”

Martin started her own business, Martin Casting, and began integrating new equipment into it. But before adding the digital facility to her casting business, she took about a year to teach herself the technology. She would stay up late reading the “For Dummies” series and other computer books, learning about Media Cleaner, Squeeze and other relevant file compressing programs. She also used the Internet as a “gigantic library” to study various possibilities to hook up a system that would allow her to envision her digital casting setup.

That vision is now realized within 310 Casting Studios’ system that consists of networked Macintosh computers hooked up to video cameras in various casting rooms.

“The entire building is wired together it’s like one brain,” said Martin. “All 8 studios feed into one room where the media is compressed and shot up straight to the web.”

The facilities include casting studios, where actors are taped and the video feed is displayed in an adjacent room. There’s also a multi-point conferencing room available and a system set up for remote casting, such as for the Old Navy commercial.

Martin’s adoption of the digital casting technology includes its terminology. She carefully avoids obsolete terms in favor of less familiar but accurate ones.

“We’ve had to undo a lot of words that are no longer appropriate,” said Martin. “We don’t even call it taping anymore. It’s called capturing.”

Digital Casting Drawbacks

But with all the benefits of digital casting, there still may be cases when its usefulness is limited. Some may complain of a lack of “warmth’, because an actor and director don’t always meet before the decision is made. And because a casting is akin to a job interview, where the working relationship begins, whoever’s doing the hiring often likes to have a feel for the person’s character.  As such, when it comes down to casting a major role, a producer may still feel it’s best to insist on being in the same room.

There is also a resistance to change that casting directors sometimes encounter in seasoned industry professionals. Although, according to Martin, sometimes a client simply needs to be shown the possibilities of doing it a different way. She might, for instance, try to convince such a client by making a sample Web site for them.

In other cases, certain fears have to be cast aside—fear of technology, of inconvenience and of frustration that may come from lack of tech savvy.

“They’re afraid that they’ll be inconvenienced and they won’t know how to do it and they’ll be very frustrated,” said Martin.

Nonetheless, the demand for digital casting facilities continues to rise, as does the expectation that everything be instant.

“The downside,” said Martin, “is that people get used to fast and they want it faster.”


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