f***ing idealist

6 figure actor will be running a half-marathon in September – no big deal, don’t worry about it.

For three charities:

• ​Maytree​ (supporting those in suicidal crisis)
• ​Actors’ Benevolent Fund ​ (actors/stage managers in need due to illness, injury or old age)
• and a third of your choosing. If you have a charity that you would like to put forward reply to this email with your choice.

I’ve been thinking about the casting process and how effective it is for 95% of us

I might have this completely wrong but who gives a crap. Let’s jump in:

I’m perfect for it!

An actor, Nora, sees a new project that’s about to be cast that she thinks she’s perfect for.

We’ll call it Fridgerton – a steamy period drama set in the North Pole.

Here is the journey she must go on to book the role:

• Nora calls her agent
• an assistant takes the call
• who then speaks to the agent
• who reaches out to the casting director
• but gets the associate
• who then relays to the casting director
• who will judge whether he thinks Nora, based on her headshot/showreel/reputation, is right for the role as it had been described to him by the director.
• if he thinks Nora is right for the role he will then tell the agent
• who tells the assistant
• who tells Nora that she must record a self tape.
• Nora then records her self tape.
• Once the self tape has been recorded she sends it to the assistant
• who passes it along to the agent
• who, if they approve, will send it on to the casting associate
• who vets it for quality
• and forwards it to the casting director
• who choses which, in his opinion, are the top 5.
• He sends them to the director
• who makes the decision that Nora is in fact perfect!
• but must wait for approval from the Exec producers
• who decide that Nora is in fact not quite perfect for Fridgerton.
• They then tell the casting director who tells the associate to tell the agent who tells the assistant who tells Nora “that she’s not quite right for it”
• Nora’s confused as to who made that decision and why.

So the current system actually looks like the following

But here’s how I’ve always wanted the process to look like:

We discuss the project with the director, we read for them, and then based on the read and our work together they cast us or they don’t. We say yes or we don’t. Simple.

“Fucking idealist” i can here you mutter.

Yup.

So what.

Life’s too short.

How to create your Lean Industry:

Short Term:​
Keep and reach out to your muses (people talk about networking – but thats a shitty term for it. Call it inspirationalising) Keep hold of the directors who inspire you. Reach out to the ones who inspire you. Make a list. Send a card once in a while. Put a google alert out for their film/tv show/theatre – go see it and let them know how you felt about it. Stay in contact with them. Ask them what they are doing next. Pitch your script to them. Pitch your story to them. Make them tell you to fuck off. Life’s too short not to make art with the people who excite you.

Medium Term:
​Become a director, cast yourself

Long term:
​Burn the industry to the fucking ground. And rebuild it again.

Direct artist-to-artist relationships is the future.

Holy Shit!? What is this place…

I caved into peer pressure last week. Those who were telling me to get my butt onto Substack won.

Let me tell you, the water is fucking awesome.

Within about 30s of being on there I found a bunch of filmmakers who are fighting pretty much the same fight as us. They are sick of the industry, and the cack it’s churning out. And they’ve formed a little think tank. Filmstack. A place where the revolution is brewing:

How do we sustainably make art we love with all the shit against us?

Here are some of the tactics we’re discovering:

• We take the work directly to the audience.
• We build an audience of true fans who fund our work directly.
• We create a system where our value is not determined on whether we’ve been picked by a big streamer or studio.
• We use the online space in new and creative ways to fight the oncoming Ai slop nonsense.
• We join the conversation, louder than ever, en masse.
• Then we take action, louder than ever, en masse.

I highly highly highly encourage you all to check out this longform, slow, anti-social-media social media platform.

We need you on there.

If you want a good place to start – start here.

​Come find me.​

What I watched this week

Here’s what i watched this week to distract myself from the audiobook i am behind on:

A Beautiful Mind

Thomas Crown Affair (didn’t finish it last week)

Back to the Future 1

Scrubs

​

Stay breezy – see you next week.

​

P.s. – do reply to this email with a charity suggestion – I’ll start fundraising for it next week.