Has innovation recently introduced to cope with the pandemic helped discover a “game changer” for the casting process today? Talent agents tell Louisa Clarke their pros and cons for actors in continuing the use of Zoom auditions today.
Ten years ago, the idea of taking on the casting process online, performing your audition piece to only the flashing record symbol on the screen of your phone or laptop, would have been shocking. Today is a very different story.
“It’s not unusual for a child to be cast in a huge show and never have set foot in a physical room or met anyone from that team,” says Kiki Bagger, head agent at Stagebox Management.
Kiki has been on stage, on camera, in the casting office and now works as an agent for others.
“The industry is now kind of unrecognisable from when I started working in casting to now,” she adds.
Zoom only came into play heavily just before, and escalated in, the pandemic but prior to that we saw a big increase of self-tape auditions for screen, maximising time for casting teams to consider more actors and minimising hurdles that could stop performers from opportunities.
Self-taping has been more and more prevalent and increasing in speed with every year that passed. In fact, west end shows are now increasingly requesting them.
“My performers at least found that very challenging” says Kiki, describing the difficulty faced interpreting the charisma needed for theatre over screen.
Whilst agents suspect auditions for screen may never be in person again, there is a real effort for theatre to get back into the room where it happens.
Kiki says: “I think technology in the performance industry is a game changer in terms of access certainly.”
As Zoom, open auditions and social media become the norm and the performing industry becomes more open, we begin to see an exciting inclusive future, in theatre, TV and film alike, where hopeful talent is given a well-deserved chance.
Examples may come to mind of Netflix’s ‘Heartstopper’ which has allowed us as viewers to discover the talent of Joe Locke and Tobie Donovan, to name a few, in beautiful betrayals of Charlie Spring and Isaac, which all began with an open audition.
Imagine a child, unconnected from the industry, stacking up books to put the phone they borrowed at the right level, stepping back into frame, and launching into their audition piece alone, possibly changing their lives forever.
Kiki says: “Whether it was Natalie Portman or Joe Bloggs in their room, they were in the same situation and I think that’s a unifying moment for an actor.”
The pandemic has shown that we have a lot more capabilities in terms of casting then we potentially thought before and there should be no impediment to giving access and opportunities to those who feel committed to chasing a certain dream and ambition.
“If you are acting and you are in the role and you are really committing to the situation it doesn’t matter what medium you are doing that through because it is a connection,” says Kiki
She adds: “Whether it's a connection with a reader through a camera, whether it’s a connection within yourself to the character you’re playing, that’s more important than what room you’re in.”
David Stoller, founding partner at London agency, Cowley, Knox & Guy, which launched in 2015, says: “It can be an alienating industry anyway but just put yourself in the shoes of someone who spends a lot of time doing a self-tape”.
Coming from a working-class family in Hertfordshire, he had always thought acting was for the privileged but eventually achieved his dream, recently retiring from theatre roles after a 12-year career on the west end.
He says it’s been interesting for at least one of them to go through what their clients are asked to go through, connected to the trends of casting.
“It's not a job, it's not work, it's something I love,” he says.
“I love our clients, I love our company and I love what we’ve been doing the last few years and I’m really excited to see what happens going forward.”
David says the pandemic created a ground zero effect, shattering the perceived hierarchy and revealing a much more fluid industry.
“My fear is that the cynicism might creep back in a little bit,” he adds.
David’s opinion is that virtual casting will never be able to fully replicate in person meeting, where it’s about vibing and energy, what he calls “that unseeable stuff, the feeling”.
He thinks it will be a long time, if at all, that we go back to the way things worked pre-pandemic but maintains that, where possible, getting people in a room and workshopping will always be more beneficial for everybody.
The pandemic allowed people to listen to each other and there were lots of people who wanted to represent their communities, whether it’s gender, sexuality, race, religion, class, disability, neurodivergence, size, or age.
David says it is a “wonderful privilege to be part of these movements for change”, being part of conversations to help make conditions more acceptable and supportive in the industry.
“It’s really important that the next generation of actors coming through, come into a better industry than it is right now and that they then help the generation behind them to come into an industry that is better for them,” he added.
Of course, we don’t know the full impact of the pandemic yet. In ten years, we might have a better understanding of what those two years did to us as a society and as people.
“The very genesis of some work that we won’t see for a long time was born during that time when people had time,” says David.
“I’d like to think there’ll be a golden age of art, the genesis of which was during the pandemic.”
PhD student with the University of Portsmouth School of Art, Design and Performance, Phoebe Ranger, says: “I think it’s a positive development in terms of accessibility and finding talent outside of the norms.”
“However I don’t feel like people should be cast just based on an online audition as a lot goes into the casting, more so in theatre where it doesn’t matter how someone acts to a screen it's more dependent on how they act to an audience.”
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