IN THE ROOM WITH

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Career Dispatch

Take Time to Take Care

By Rosanny Zayas

The following Career Dispatch essay was written by Rosanny Zayas, who stars on “The L Word: Generation Q” and is a graduate of the Juilliard School.

HOW DO I EVEN BEGIN TO

talk about college? It’s such an important decision we ask 18-year-olds to make. To go, or not to go, that is the question. For many, it’s our first real encounter with the world, leaving home to discover new parts of ourselves. For others, it could be what our parents told us was the right thing to do. Either

If I could go back to drama school, one of the things I’d do differently would be to explore more fearlessly.

way, I hope I can impart some wisdom and help you on your journey with a few tips.

I went to a few institutions in my day, one of which I only just recently graduated from: Juilliard, that massive glass building next to Lincoln Center. Yes, it was incredibly difficult to get into, and somehow, I graduated. But like many students entering graduate studies or universities, I couldn’t afford to go there. How could anyone? To live in New York City is crazy expensive—and I was born there, so believe me, I know. But it wasn’t until I graduated that I felt a particularly painful kick in my ass: loans. That’s right, I borrowed money to hang out with these fancy people. Uh-oh—now I had to pay it back. But I was determined to stick to the plan:

1Take as many TV and film classes as humanly possible

2Book a fancy job on TV or in film

3Get my momma out the hood and pay off my debt with the money from my fancy job

Well, sorry to burst young Rosanny’s bubble, but that didn’t happen. I didn’t work for a while, and I spent any savings I did have on classes. And guess what? My student loan payment due date was creeping up behind me like Penn Badgley’s character on “You.” I had to make a tough decision: Keep taking acting opportunities that didn’t pay, or find a survival job.

I needed the peace of mind of being able to get through the day financially, so I found a job that didn’t suck the life out of me. Caretaking kept me sane and helped redirect my ideas of “success.” It isn’t always what we see on the internet or TV; it starts by looking inward.

If I could go back to drama school, one of the things I’d do differently would be to explore more fearlessly. I remember a really great comedian came and taught us a funny bit in which you intentionally trip yourself going up the steps. I couldn’t do it. How could I fall? Even though I knew I’d be there to catch myself, I couldn’t let go of the fear of looking bad. Now I say: Let yourself fail. Try something new, and discover who you become.

#IGOTCAST.

Ally Stankard

By Jalen Michael

ALLY STAN-

KARD finds success as an actor by making connections, keeping it fresh, and asking the right questions.

Boundaries are meant to be broken.

“Be the actor [that] casting directors remember by trying to do what other actors will not do. To put it simply: Be confident [and] unique, and don’t be scared to step outside your comfort zone.”

The only bad question is the one you don’t ask.

“When I saw that the CD [of a recent project] was only looking for males in my age group, I was able to shoot him an email and inquire whether or not a female could audition. The director allowed me to send in an audition, and sure enough, I was sent an email saying the writer-director was willing to change the script to a female role if I wanted the part!”

Backstage makes it simple.

“I keep using Backstage because of its simplicity. It is a user-friendly platform that allows for actors to easily reach casting directors, and vice versa.”

TO SEE YOUR SUCCESS story in print, tweet @Backstage using the hashtag #IGotCast, or email us at igotcast@ backstage.com.

Spotlighting the people and projects you need to know

In the Room With

Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee

The new TV adaptation of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” involved entirely remote casting

By Jack Smart

FILM, TELEVISION, COMEDY, DRAMA, AWARD-WINNING OR

popcorn fare: Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee have cast it all. The visionaries behind “Spotlight,” “The Help,” and the “Pitch Perfect” movies, plus this year’s “Stillwater,” “Palmer,” and “Panic” have adapted brilliantly to Hollywood’s COVID-19 era, sifting through thousands of self-tapes and conducting virtual chemistry reads. The fruits of Barden/Schnee Casting’s labor are especially apparent in the largely unknown cast of their first major 2021 project, Amazon Prime Video’s teen horror series “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” based on the popular novel and film of the same name.

Tell us about “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and its challenges. How did you go about casting the pilot and beyond?

Kerry Barden: We had a few little indies that we were working on during the pandemic, but this was the first big project. And it was straight to series, too, which was great. So the casting process was [about finding] series regulars first, of course, because that’s where you start putting the puzzle pieces together. And then it was interesting, because some of the series regulars were not really series regulars, because of the way this story is told— you know, people die! So it was a fun process with that going on—not being able to tell people give them immediate feedback. We have to give it and get another tape—another series of tapes—with hopefully our notes being taken through to these talents by the agents and managers. It’s a longer process and not quite as efficient, but we’re making it work.

who made it through the whole season. Paul Schnee: One thing that the pandemic has afforded us—I can’t speak for all of our colleagues—but I know that since we’re not in the room where, say, I could see 50 people in New York and Kerry could see 50 people in L.A. in a day, now we can see several times that—because there’s no schedule; there’s no time constraints on self-tapes. So, since Amazon said, “We’re open to discovering some people,” we looked through a lot of new talent. KB: It’s a whole new process for all of us in casting, because we’re getting, as Paul said, at least three times as many tapes…and we’re not able to work in the room with the people. We can’t

This is the question on every actor’s mind these days: What are the requirements for a

good self-tape? PS: Generally speaking, replicating what we do in the room is probably the best thing to do, at least in your initial self-tape. Which is to say, [use] as plain a background as you can find; I don’t think anyone needs to go out of their way and buy one of those blue backdrop things or anything. But a fairly straight-on headand-shoulders shot, make sure we can see your face…and a slate of 20 seconds of: “Hello, my name is, I live in so-and-so”— just a little something that we might get a feel for who you are, that we’re not getting because we’re not in the room. The missing thing [in auditions today] is just picking up on the vibe of a person. So it’s nice to have a 10- or 20-second slate, just so we can see what you’re like as a human. KB: That’s all an actor has to offer, their ideas and themselves…. Also, what we try to do in our office is to get a reader that actually is an actor, so that there’s something for the person that comes in for the audition to play off of. Some actors forget that that’s an important factor in their self-tapes; sometimes it seems like they’re reading with their mother or whoever’s available.

Want more?

Read the full interview at backstage.com/magazine