Today begins the casting process for a film I'm currently working on, and I couldn't be more excited!

"Half of directing, is casting the right actors," is something John Huston is famous for saying.

For some of you that aren't familiar with the movie-making process, it is easy to forget that there is a day when one of your favorite movies was just words on pieces of paper. Your favorite story hadn't come to life in the physical world, it still lived in the literary world. Once a script is locked (finished), or close to being locked, the wonderful, tedious, and sometimes intimidating journey of the casting process begins. Now bear in mind that I only speak from an independent, low budget, mindset. This doesn't necessarily apply to bigger budget movies, or movies in the studio system.

Those movies are sometimes bought, or sold, with famous actors already attached to certain movies. Other times the casting process will only fill in the secondary roles because the lead roles are already filled. What is almost for certain is that the casting process will be handled by a casting director, and casting agency. They will fill in the roles and hand it over to the production company. In low budget, independent film, usually the production company will handle everything, and the Director and Producers will sit in during readings.

I'll keep blogging on our progress, the ups and downs, and when we make new discoveries! The casting process, intimidating at first, is the first time you start to hear the story come to life. Mixing and matching different actors to different roles will give you different results. Trust me, when you change it up and ask different actors to try different roles, there will be a moment when you hear it and get goosebumps and just know, this is their role! If you don't believe me, find dvds/blu-rays or youtube videos where you see the casting videos from your favorite movies or TV shows showing different actors playing different roles! Now I know you're probably thinking that this is because we already have a preconceived notion of what actors are playing which roles. Try to separate that and see how they read the different lines, you'll start to see that they're almost awkward, or not comfortable in their own skin. The lines of dialogue just don't have a nice ring to them. Try it and see. Casting, usually the part that is overlooked and underrated in student short films, and low budget films, turns out to be equally as important as many other facets of filmmaking!

If you like to learn more about filmmaking in general, what happens behind the scenes, and reading about some of my other hobbies, don't forget to follow me here!

I'll be glad to read any questions, comments or feedback!

Until next time, have a great day!