Casting
Recently, I’ve been using Google to look up IMDB search features on the lines of “Actors born in [whatever year]” in order to find ideal leading stars, supporting actors and even stunt performers for adaptations of my novels. There are so many professionals who haven’t had the chance to showcase their talents on a big platform, so I have found myself going out of my way to write two more novels so as to cast them all.
It’s become something of a marketing cliché for certain studios to claim that a project was written with a particular actor in mind, but it really is true in my case because the pair of stories only came into fruition when I was reading people’s backgrounds. I don’t want to give away things too early at this stage but my first new novel will be about a particular form of psychiatry whereas my second new novel will be a love story about disabilities.
I am of the belief that auditions aren’t always necessary because physiognomy and knowing what an actor sounds like can be enough to decipher if they’re the right fit. Another deciding factor is if an actor expresses an interest in your work as a writer even if you’re not famous. Otherwise, it’s not saying that much if an actor wants to work you because they might see you as a stepping stone in terms of a net-worth or network boost.
Being a casting director is like being a matchmaker. I remember one such director who wanted to test chemistry by simply putting two photos of different actors so as to who would look good with who. IMDB is essentially a dating site for actors because you could use the advanced search section to see what interests or background details that you share. Whether it be a keyword in the trivia, quotes or biography section, you will find commonality.
Sure, there are other websites where you can find actors such as Mandy, Backstage, Explore Talent, Star Now and Actors Access, but you can trust IMDB to be legit when it comes to credentials. As a casting director, casting a couple is more precarious than anything else because you need to make sure that you’re casting people who would be compatible in real life. When casting friends, it helps to cast people who have the same status so that there’s no jealousy or snobbery.
After 1990, there are less than 2000 actresses who were born in each year e.g. 1991 = 1742 actresses and 1992 = 1670 actresses. I think the reason why there are over 2000 actresses for each of the pre-1991 years is that, for women who were born in a particular timeframe, there wasn’t much to do in terms of entertainment value and (more to the point) it wasn’t easy to make friends outside of school with the exception of drama class and who you might meet in the acting industries (i.e. TV, film and theatre). Once social media became a thing, younger girls found easier ways of making new friends and lazier ways of becoming famous.
On a final note, another thing that my epic IMDB voyage has taught me is that it seems like so many actresses are coming out of retirement because of the pandemic. It’s like it took something as bad as COVID-19 for them to realize what their true passion in life is. Maybe they quit their jobs or maybe they lost them; either way…they turned back to acting.
