Open casting call for BBC Drama

[Hannahtaylour]

I emailed the casting director, as I was unable to make the open auditions yesterday. I received an email back with the phrase "We'll certainly keep you in mind".

I was just wondering what people thought this meant, or generally what was the outcome if you have received a similar reply. I'm tending towards the view that it is a euphemism for "thanks, but no thanks." ...


=)

well keep you in mind is good!!! i recon youll be asked to go to the workshops...but dont get your hopes up!

how many do you think will be asked to come out of 700?

oh i really wanted to meet shahhen|!

[Emmy101]

I think we will keep you in mind is a good response, i dont think they will leave you hanging onto hope if it was a definate no. Plus they probably have the same information about you as the do about us, but good luck to everyone.

Just out of intreast the people who were mentioning skins and harry potter auditions, what were they like? because I have only ever been to this open auditions (i only really go to closed from my agent as I have only just discovered how to find auditions online) and as most people are saying it wasnt a great experience! But just as a question to see if people think it might be worth going to more because it was just a one off.

I mean if i dont go to anymore tv and film opens I wont mind too much because i dont actually want to be an actor, i want to be a musical theatre performer, dancer or choregrapher but feel any experience is good plus the money i earn is going towards travel to pa school. x

[hanging-on-a-star]

Thank you for all the replies.

This seems pretty hopeful then =)
I was quite unsure as this is the first time I've contacted a CD. Just wrote my resume (very lacking) a few days ago.

Good luck to everybody who went to the auditions.

*Fingers crossed*

=D

[Headliner]

I was in one of the last groups to be seen and she said we would hear either way - if we get a 'recall' or not.

[Somedayemma]

The only other open auditions I had been to were the golden compass ones - that was a very disappointing experience as h queued for 6 hours in the pouring rain, only to be taken in a room
in groups of 60 and saw one girl asked her name and fir a photo and that was it! It seemed very unjust and a publicity stunt.

I was very happy with this one! I arrived at 9:30 and auditions started at 10, was inside by 10:10 and finished by 11:20, everyone got an equal and friendly chance and am very impressed that shaheen Baig told us we would all get a reply. We were asked to have a photo, fill in a contact form and tell everyone (in a group of 10 other kids) our name, age and a fun fact. We were told siege is set in a school so even if we don't get mains there are lots of parts for kids. The next stage is a workshop to test our acting which we will be contacted for within a couple of weeks (if sucessful!)

[Panto-Dame]

Actually it wasnt all fair and equal tbh, daughter arrived at about 10.30 and had similar wait etc etc, but her group only got to see the girl who was taking the photos, this assistant and another were over heard having a conversation to the effect , 'I didnt know what to say or ask, I just tried to look interested at what they were saying.......

Well that about summed it up, lots of those kids had paid a lot of money to get there at that time in the morning, it cost my daughter £20. To say they didnt expect so many....well duh, its the school/college holidays and its an open call, its not rocket science.

also.......

Certain ethnic groups appeared to be getting more attention than others according to her, which is fine, but please couldnt they in future give a little bit more of an idea of what they are looking for, it could have saved an awful lot of people their time and money.

In a nutshell, complete waste of time and money, and something she will not be repeating.

If anyone on here gets a call back from being at the opens.....I will eat my hat, but I feel very confident it is safe and sound in its box!!!

[Hannahtaylour]

What coulouring do you think they were interested in?

Thanks

[xebonykissesx]

Agreed. It was a bad expereince for me. I do understand they hadn't anticipated such numbers but it just bugs me a bit because they gave out raffle tickets! So they knew numbers, and they knew how long they were taking, how many people were going in at a time etc. So they could have just used their brains to work out timing. And like i said there were so many big groups of peopel clearly pushing in and getting in before others who had waited longer.

Instead, so many people didn't even see the casting director.

As for the other opens i've been to: Harry Potter ones are obviously the worst, simply because of numbers. There are thousands! So queueing is very very long, all you do is fill in a form, get your picture taken and then meet the CD and say your name age and where you are from. Although some people do get kept behind, and if thats not you then you know you queued for nothing, but usually i'm fine with that because it has to be based on looks, and the waiting time can't be shorter because they have to see thousands.

Angus thongs, was quite good. Same process as HP but queue a few hours shorter and only a few hundred.
Skins ones were good, not a brilliant atmosphere (lots of teen 'scene' cool kids, which obviosuly can't be blamed on the CD or anything) relatively short queue considering so many people (few thousand). Fill in form, picture and then improv workshops which are fun.

Best ones: Inkheart and The Cut.
Inkheart, few hundred people, form and picture and then time in queue to learn sides. Then go in and read through lines in front of camera and then meet director.
The Cut, few hundred i'd guess (register online then get emailed time date and venue, until they close the registration). Not a queue as such, just a bit of a wait around, very organised, picture taken and form. Then improv workshops in front of CD as well as name and fun facts etc.

They are the ones i've been to so far that were open auditions, i dont think ive missed any out. So yeah, i've never got very far with them to be honest, but i've learned a lot from them, gained confidence and also made friends along the way and never had the feeling of what if?.
These ones from my experience were the worst.

[Emmy101]

Thanks everyone for the info on opens ... I might if it something i really want to do but i dont think I will make a regular of it considering the price of tickets to london and the simple waiting times etc! x

[KayeRoibenRye]

I went to the open casting call and had an okay experience in comparison to what I have read.

I was in the 150-200 numbers so I had a bit of a shorter wait but was seen by Shaheen in a group of forty.

It was a long day but like many said, for most of us without agents, open casting calls are our only shot I guess.

Just a-wandering: Anyone here who has an agent/agency been approached to audition for this casting call?

Many thanks.

[Headliner]

I have an agent and when i told them i was going to the open call, they said that Shaheen is casting for a lot of things recently so i may have already been put forward, but to have a go anyway. But saying that she may not be going to agents with this particular project

[pobss]

ahhhhh it was awwful!
I guess those that were seen earlier had a better experience in terms of actually being seen by Shaheen but just the general preparation and planning was poooor!

They should realise that putting details of a casting - an open one at that is gonna bring loads of fame hungry kids!
Its all really been said how bad it was in terms of organisation already but it was a tiring day and all i ended up doing was telling a camera girl who my favourite actor was!!

Although it was annoying, hopefully if ALL pictures and forms are seen then everyone has a chance really!

They are looking for 40 roles(including the 5 main characters) for that age group so some people wont be dissapointed!

wether i get a call or not i will be moaning about how bad it was!

Oh and FYI BBC, NO MUMS SHOULD BE ALLOWED IF THERE GONNA GET TOO EMOTION AND TRY TO INTERVENE!

[Hannahtaylour]

Does anyone know if some of theese role are going to be filled by agencies?

[Holland Park]

Oh and FYI BBC, NO MUMS SHOULD BE ALLOWED IF THERE GONNA GET TOO EMOTION AND TRY TO INTERVENE!

It's a necessary evil, unfortunately, but it is annoying. I was involved in an independent feature a few years ago where I'd agreed to play the lead. It was a challenging subject matter - a modern-day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet whereby the relationship was exactly as Shakespeare wrote it - between a 22 year-old guy and a fourteen year-old girl. "Brilliantly," the director had decided to cast both actors to age - me at 22 playing against a 14 year old. That was a squicky decision in the first place, but I dealt with it; the script didn't call for anything more full-on than a couple of kisses, so I figured it wasn't raunchy or risqué enough for me to be too concerned about.

Anyway, one girl came into audition and she was being given direction. Her mother, after damn near every instruction, went "She's not doing that. She doesn't do kissing. She doesn't change her hair..." it was total Diva time. The breakdown explained the EXACT nature of the show. She put her daughter, who had no previous credits, up for this then tried to change the entire concept of the film to suit her daughter. She even tried to get me kicked off a couple of times during that same audition because I was 'too old' or 'not good-looking enough' whilst I was in the room.

I guess it's a cautionary tale on both sides of the fence. If your daughter is Dakota Fanning, you can get away with it. But Dakota Fanning is a multiple Award-winning actress, bot someone who did a couple of school plays.

That movie, by the way, still hasn't been made because this wasn't the only time we got attacked by pushy mothers trying to make demands. The script keeps winning awards - it even made the semis of the Nicholl Awward, IIRC - but making it became a logistical nightmare. Even if it does go into production, it'll be without me now because I'm too old. So mothers like that one essentially cost me a potentially big break.

[xebonykissesx]

The mother who stood up at one point wasn't really what i would call a 'pushymum'. She was just fed up seeing so many kids who hadn't waited as long as others get given their number simply because they pushed in. I for one thanked her because nobody knew what they were doing and it was unfair that people got seen by the CD becausae they pushed in whilst others that waited patiently (including her son) to be seen didn't get a look in. I dont think she was really doing it on behalf of her son so much, but more because of the unfrianess of the situation and tro try and get things more organised.

Holland Park, sorry to hear of your experience. That really does sound like a pushy mum...