KEEPING THINGS LIVELY

This tech startup for hearing aids used Backstage to cast its recent ad campaign

By Melinda Lowenstein

THE NEED FOR MODELS AND ACTORS IN NONTRADITIONAL ACTING

jobs has grown exponentially in recent years—often, you don’t even need an agent, manager, or union status to get them. Nicole Cadoret, co-founder and head of design at Lively, an app that sells hearing aids and audiology care online, had such a need, and she turned to Backstage to cast. Here, she shares tips for casting models for digital tech companies. going to make stuff up as we [went] along. It’s very much a startup mentality. We want to get things that work really great, but we’re also not going to be overly precious. There’s a certain amount of time we have to get this done, and then we’re going to see how the market evaluates it, and then we’re going to do it again. It’s much more of an ongoing process for us.”

Everyone must be willing to adapt.

Flexibility is important for talent, but also for casting directors. Cadoret learned a lot on her first photo shoot, and for the second shoot, she hired a cinematographer to get more of the B-roll that she wanted. She has her team visualize what shots they need so they don’t have to make decisions on the spot. “We always have a very clear shot list,” she says. She also explains that having a stylist on set was important to ensure there is “someone who is looking at all the details, because I can’t.”

Experience isn’t everything.

Since the Lively app is selling hearing aids, Cadoret was looking for very specific types of people in order to appeal to that market. “I needed someone with short hair; I needed someone with long hair. Just to make sure that people don’t think, Oh, you’re showing me someone who it’s very obvious they don’t have hearing aids, because they have hair covering them up,” she explains. While she notes that it could have helped to look at résumés, she based her decisions on finding the looks she needed.

Know how to take direction.

Although Cadoret hired models, she says that, since she found them through Backstage, their acting chops were a bonus; the models she hired were able to easily adapt to direction. “We were doing a lifestyle shot of a brunch and we were in a kitchen, and I told them to look like they were cooking,” she says. “We took still photographs but were also taking B-roll video, just to have that in our back pocket. They were convincing, and in that way, I hired models, but kind of got actors.”

Cadoret says she also learned more about the type of direction she needed to give as she worked. “I didn’t realize that when I had people looking at their phone or looking at their screen, it appeared like they were asleep because their eyes were downcast,” she recalls. When it came time for the second photo shoot, she knew to give more specific directions, like: “You kind of have to be looking vaguely in the direction of your phone, but open your eyes wider.” Having professional models who were comfortable taking acting directions was essential for the process.

Make your availability clear. (It could get you the job!)

Cadoret didn’t have a casting director to juggle actors’ schedules for her, making availability one of the hardest parts of her casting process. “We would lock down a date and then get nervous that we wouldn’t find somebody, and at the last minute, a new option would pop up on Backstage. Ultimately, we felt really good about who we booked,” she says.

Be ready for a startup mentality.

“I liked that I was able to get a variety of different types of people,” Cadoret says. She also appreciated their enthusiasm. “They were excited to come in and learn about hearing aids.” She notes that this was important, because “we were

Nicole Cadoret and scenes from Lively advertisements