Paul Russell Casting On The 'Tweeting' Audition Room Outrage

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 10:09am

Click Here to Read Paul Russell Casting On The 'Tweeting' Audition Room Outrage
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Paul_Russell_Casting_On_The_Tweeting_Audition_Room_Outrage_20090813

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 10:13am

Bravo, Paul.

A perfect perspective.

[dramadude]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 10:39am

GENIUS.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:05am

Bravo indeed.

[D2]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:10am

He's absolutely right. As others have said: BRAVO, Paul.

[withoutlovewithoutU]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:31am

This was great to read..... I will also add a BRAVO!

[singtopher]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:32am

Hear Hear!

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:38am

I'll get all poetic and ramble for a moment ...

I love Paul's perspective on the job of a casting director: they're just doing the "legwork" for the creative team. Absolutely right. But it's an important job (as long as you're actually doing it and not crapping around and insulting other people).

I think it's kind of like the minor in the diamond mines who's digging around looking for the jewels for the owner of the mine.

But I agree with Paul and really think a casting director needs to have some experience as an actor first. (No, not a jeweler or a miner.) It should be required. In fact, I wouldn't want to hire a casting director that didn't have that experience first.

I've been on both sides of the audition table myself.

Casting directors need to have studied and gone through rounds of auditions at some point in their past. A casting director needs to have that perspective and experience. It's the ONLY way they'll be able to understand what they're seeing.

Just like a good "miner," they need to be able to spot a diamond in the rough. Not the shiny jewel that's all polished and presented fully formed at their feet. Sure, that's fine. That's the easy one to spot. And there aren't that many to choose from. But if that's all you can see, ever, your missing thousands of other jewels who just need some dusting off. And can potentially outshine all the others.

I've known brilliant stage actors who regularly give lousy auditions. (Some have even won Tony Awards.) They get way too nervous. I have one friend who never seems to choose the right song for herself. She usually barely squeaks by with a callback and then ends up getting the part because she nails the final audition and blows everyone away.

If a casting director is too busy looking at witchy skirts or the fact that an auditioner didn't "crawl" when his song lyric said he literally should "crawl," it's like the miner looking at a dirty jewel in the wall and commenting how dirty it is.

It's a JEWEL. Not another clump of dirt.

Anyway, I'll save my rants for the other thread.

Paul Russell has the right idea. And the right experience and perspective.

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:43am

1. He's a competitor of hers, right? Makes him much more likely to take her to task. Gotta consider the source.

2. Regardless, he's right. I would never hire anyone with her lack of discretion, profesionalism or respect for the actors or her own job. I don't know her, but her tweets make her sound like the stuck up chick in high school who doesn't have any real reason to b stuck up.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 11:58am

I can't really see a twenty-something whose company is like, five minutes old being considered serious competition for an established casting director who's been in the business for thirty years. She's like a kid playing house in comparison.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 12:07pm

Well said, Paul Russell!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 12:53pm

Barney, as a competitor (and only in the loosest terms, as others have stated, since Daryl Eisenberg Casting will not be competing with Paul Russell Casting for clients for a very long time) he should indeed be taking her to task.

I know some directors who have worked with her very recently who were not comfortable with the whole Twittering during auditions but didn't say anything who now wish they had. I can not believe that they are or will be the only ones who feel that way, and it is up to the veterans in the industry to assure directors and producers, not to mention the actors who are auditioning, that this is not the norm and should not be tolerated.

Echoing the bravos to Paul Russell Casting.

Posted: 8/13/09 at 1:12pm

hot damn. that was heated. and it was a fantastic response. Bravo to Paul Russell.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 2:00pm

I don't see this as a "peer" seizing a competitive opportunity. As pointed out, they're not even in the same league.

I see Paul's comments coming from a casting director who is embarrassed and angered that Daryl's very public twitting and its heated fallout somehow represents his own profession.

It doesn't.

And it shouldn't. It's the first public example of something very wrong. And she should be taken to task for it, and her unprofessional behavior should be used as an example of how social networking should have limits in this professional environment. I hope it sets a precedent and sends a clear warning.

If Paul is guilty of being self-serving, it's only in a "damage control" capacity. After reading this again, I think he's speaking from the heart. Not the wallet.

[Barney Stinson]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 2:24pm

OK, you all don't think he was exploiting this opportunity to smack down a potential competitor, that's fine. I mean, regardless of motive, I agree with him.

Anyway, will all this pub end up helping or hurting her in the business? Will agents stop sending actors to her auditions, will producers stop hiring her? Or will it just make her name that much more recognizable?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 2:30pm

It's gonna hurt her. Bad. That's what makes her arrogance in the matter so incomprehensible. Creatives want casting directors who are P-R-O-F-E-S-S-I-O-N-A-L. The choice of casting director ideally should be a reflection of who they are.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 2:42pm

She's such a clueless twat.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 3:32pm

Paul Russell is 100% correct and commenting on it is not 'self serving.'. DE deserves to be smacked down. She should not be working in this profession and her attitude toward actors is disgusting, especially in the capacity that she works.

Posted: 8/13/09 at 3:42pm

Another bravo, I absolutely agree. While DE's tweets started as helpful tips to actors, they turned just plain mean and immature (commenting on a skirt? really?). DE won't be likely to get work if she continues this kind of unprofessional behavior.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 3:52pm

Gotta add my BRAVO and YAY!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/13/09 at 9:31pm

Well said, Mr. Russell.