Pilot season is here and casting directors are revealing the dirty secrets behind this year’s biggest auditions.
Hollywood is changing. Apparently, casting directors are holding fewer auditions, casting actors based on their Twitter profiles, and using robots to find talent on Instagram. The latest report by The Hollywood Reporter, clearly shows things are changing in the entertainment industry.
Related: Pilot Season Sucks? Actors Explode on Twitter
THR spoke to several of Hollywood’s biggest casting directors including Grace Wu, Tess Shanchez, Sharon Kelin, and Dawn Steinberg — about casting the 87 pilots that are in development and the challenges and changes they have seen this pilot season.
Here are some of the crazy things that are happening this pilot season.
Casting directors are holding fewer auditions
Related: 10 Things Every Actor Should Know About Pilot Season [VIDEO]
According to Klein, one major change is that she is seeing less actors having to audition. “Rather than the normal casting and testing process, a lot of actors are getting test offers converted to straight offers. So we’re skipping the audition process altogether.”
Actors are using their social media and popularity to book roles. Not acting talent.
Sanchez noticed that popular actors are using their clout to land major acting roles and choosing where TV shows would be filmed. “Actors asking for [shorter deals] and specific locations. They’ll call and say, ‘I won’t work in Vancouver,’ so we’ll shoot the pilot there but the series in L.A. People also ask for shorter episode orders and fewer years than a standard seven-year contract. We’ve been trying to hold strong.”
Related: 10 Things Every Actor Should Know About Pilot Season [VIDEO]
Diversity is at an all time high in the audition room
Related: Producers Casting More Minority Actors This Pilot Season
Steinberg has noticed that casting has been more diverse than ever. She says, “There used to be a time when it had to be written that way to look for an actor with a specific ethnicity. Now it’s just who is the best actor for the role.”
There are not enough popular actors to go around.
Some things never change for casting directors. There are only so many popular actors in Hollywood to go around every year. Steinberg argues, “Everybody vying for the same actors at the same time.” The casting directors name Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Rose Byrne, Craig Robinson, Andre Holland, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as in-demand actors this season.”
Casting directors are struggling to cast the leading male actors
When it comes to the most difficult roles to cast, Klein and Steinberg assert that it’s a leading male actor. Klein says “A comedic, diverse leading man,” while Steinberg says, “That 30- to 35- year-old leading man. For a lot of those guys, we started to go to London and England. And a lot of actors don’t want to do 22 [episodes] anymore; they want to do cable shows. That’s a problem. We need good actors; it’s not going to be the models who didn’t train.”
Wu, says she has the most difficulty casting 30-something comedic actors. “The funny, leading lady or leading man in his 30s. All those people are working; and if they’re not in TV, they’re in features.”
Related: Here’s Every TV Pilot and Their Filming Location
