Simply put, Talent Casting is the process of auditioning actors for a particular role. Casting actors for Voice acting or Screen acting is an extremely important aspect of the pre-production process. Common sectors of production that are more likely to opt for the casting process, include
Over the years and through the development of the Internet, clients are looking to spend less money and time by performing their casting completely online. But when you don’t know what to look for, it can turn hours into days, days into weeks and so forth.
This whole casting process isn’t a small task and it can be extremely time consuming with the back and forth between casting agents and marketing agents. Magic Studios has the ability to take the ‘middle man’ out of the equation.
Come to Magic Studios and WE can source the actors for you.
We have a large number of actors on our books and access to thousands of new candidates.
We have experienced casting staff as well as all the audio/video equipment needed to commence auditions. Housing 3 individual studios, we have more than enough room and resources.
Choosing Magic Studios, you get to select from 1, or a combination of our pre-set casting packages.
Whether you wish to cast 1, 5, 10 people or greater for 1 role in your production, we are able to tailor a package that’s a perfect fit.
There is a plethora of reasons as to why you should choose to hold a casting call for your production. Some include;
Usually, what would occur is, the client (you) would contact a marketing or advertising agency, they would finalise the script and get in contact with a production house or casting agency.
The production house would then pass on the brief to all actors they feel are suitable for the role. From there auditions are held, everything is recorded and sent back to the marketing/advertising agency.
The client and marketing team then go through the auditions and narrow down the selection from 100-200 actors, down to around 30.
Now it’s time for call backs. This is where the production house takes the 30 people left and re-auditions them with direction given to the client’s specifications.
Once again, it’s all sent back to the agency, who will then sit down with the client and come to a final decision on who they wish to fill the role.
At Magic Studios Talent Casting, we can do it all, although our speciality is corporate casting where we do all the leg work!
Here’s a little guide as to how we go about casting at Magic Studios. We have broken the steps into 4 main blocks;
This is the beginning of the casting process, it’s vital to gather as much information as possible from the client about the project. Prior to casting the client must know;
What medium is the project for? Is it for TV Cinema, Film, Advertisements, Internal Corporate use, or public broadcast?
At this stage we need to then identify what you are looking for in the role. What is the gender, age, look and persona you require for the role? Does the person need to have special features such as facial hair? What’s the preferred hair colour, height, build, weight, complexion and ethnicity of the person? Does the voice need to have an accent or particular tone?
From here we will liaise with the client to Identify the level of experience you seek within the candidate. It’s good to note that roles and content will influence MEAA rates. These are the rates in which the actors will be paid for the role.
From here we ask the client to choose the number of headshots they would like to be presented with. E.g., 1/5/10 or more. This is done at a flat rate fee.
In Block 2 we look at using our industry contacts and agencies (that we work closely with) to source a variety of talent. Which we then go through with a fine-tooth comb to create an email shortlist document of potential candidates.
Through liaising again with the client, we select and appoint a number of the candidates for the 1st in studio audition. Please take note that this is often one of the longest steps without a Magic Studios Talent Casting package.
Now comes the 1st auditions. These are conducted in our studios, having both audio and video recorded of each candidate and each take. On average these will take around 30 minutes each candidate. This takes place with the director present in the studio.
From here we do add some text headers/titles for each candidate and take. We then top and tail each take, balance the audio and send it through to the producers for client choice + approval.
Finally, we gather all the feedback from the client. This is where we make the decision to either re-audition the 1st audition with new candidates or move on to call backs.
Call backs are the second round of auditions where the director will give some more direction during each candidate’s audition. This weens out the potentials maybe’s, leaving the definite yes/s (the final choice gets made here.)
After that, there isn’t anything left but to inform candidate’s their success or unfortunate decline. Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell the actors anything, we do it for you!
At the end of the production, we pay the actor for the part in the role.