Tough Decisions

Survived my two nights of auditions + taping, though my cough was awful by the end of both nights. They'll remember me as the director with TB.

Some EXCELLENT actors here in Winnipeg, but that means that now I'm faced with tough decisions about who to cast. Will have to go back through the audition tapes. I also now have to take into consideration matching up the characters - someone could be brilliant, but I have to think about whether they "work" with each person I'm considering for the other role. If I have time, I could play the tapes back to back and pretend they're acting with each other. I totally see now why for a feature you'd want to do callbacks to check chemistry with different actor matchups.

What I love is when an actor gives me something that changes my thoughts about what a character is like - even as the writer! It always astounds me to hear the results of people reading my words and internalizing them, and creating a different reality, a different possibility for that character. I laughed outloud several times in the last two nights, as actors put their hearts and talent out there and made the characters come to life.

To any actors out there reading this, I just have to say that this whole process truly is so subjective. You might kick ass in an audition and not get it because of any number of factors, including who else is cast, or a "look" or "attitude" the director is going for, which would be different for a different director. So it's true as they say that you can't take it personally!

It was amazing to tape the monologues for They Came at Night. Everyone gave such a different interpretation, and some people just blew me away with their intensity. I can't wait to start cutting it together. It was also fun to work with some beginning actors and give them some encouragement about the audition/taping process. My thanks to everyone who helped out with the project, especially those auditioning on the same night! A lot to ask of both of us!