Tagged: MTV

Jul 10

Being A Casting Recruiter

 

I received this email in my inbox today:

Hi Rachel,

I came across your blog and wanted to reach out to you and tap into your knowledge of the casting industry. I have an interview to become a casting recruiter for an MTV show on Wednesday of this week and wanted to ask you how your experience was working as a casting recruiter. Was the work difficult? How was the pay? Better yet, any advice for how to nail the interview?

I’ve always been a fan of reality tv and view working in the casting industry as a dream job, so to speak. I’m currently working for a publishing company but would love to do casting on the side… just not sure where to start. I read in one of your blogs that being a casting associate for MTV was your foot in the door type of job.

Looking forward to hearing back from you… any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated!

Being a casting recruiter or associate can be wonderfully fun or terribly awful depending on the show you are working on and the company you are working for.   I’ve done casting for four different reality shows and each experience was very very different.  There are a few main things that I think you need to ask before taking a casting recruiter position.

First and most important what show are you working on?

Certain shows are very easy to cast for while others are extraordinarily hard.  Take for example a show like Is She Really Going Out With Him?  For me it was fairly easy to cast for because around where I lived there were tons of douchebag guys going out with hot girls.  However when I had to cast for a show about parents with troublesome children  it was extremely difficult because no parent really wants to admit that they can’t control their own kids let alone show that on national television.

What is the rate?

I know this is an obvious question to ask when taking any job but it especially important with casting because you need to find out if they pay you based on your quota or not.  This means that some companies will either pay you a set amount each day or week like a production assistant or that they will only pay you only if you reach your quota of potential  cast members.  If you think you can reach your quota then by all means take the job.  But, trust me from personal experience it sucks to work a full 12 hour day, not reach your quota, and find out that the company won’t pay you for your efforts.

Is there a daily/weekly quota and if so what is it?

This ties into the question above, however, it is still important to ask.  Before you start casting you need to know how many people you have to turn in on your contact list each day.  Some companies will be great and your quota will be 2-4 people, while others will have unrealistic quotas of 20 people.  Take this all into mind when accepting the position.

As for nailing a casting recruiter interview the best thing to do is to come off as an outgoing person.  The position involves you going out to the public and finding potential cast members for the show, therefore you can’t be shy or scared to talk to people.

Check out some of my older posts to read stories about my casting experiences.

Good luck!

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Posted in Casting, MTV Casting

Jun 25

Making The Big Move

 

It is time for me to finally put on my big girl shoes and step out of my comfort zone of South Florida and step into the shark tank of an industry that is Los Angeles.

So what has taken me so long you ask?  Well the honest truth is that I was scared.  I have heard of so many stories of bright eye and bushy tailed film school graduates making the big move right out of college only to end up moving back home with their parents 6 months later.  I did not want to end up moving back home to Indiana, so instead of following the rest of my film school alumni I opted to stay in Florida and try to build up my resume and to most importantly grow up.

Deciding to stay in Florida was probably the best decision I have ever made.  When I graduated college I had a very jaded view of the industry and I honestly had no idea where to begin to find work.   After graduation I pretty much sat in my room dumbfounded on what I should do next.  From  pressure by my parents to find a job I quickly scrambled to find the first steady thing that I could which was a job at a small talent agency.  Now working at a talent agency is a very special experience, and I would only recommend it to people that are seriously interested in talent management who have extremely thick skin.  Talent agencies are cut throat, and there are a lot of people under you that are more than willing to fling you in front of a bus to get your job.

After only  lasting at the agency for nine months I quit and moved on to something else.  At this point I knew I wanted to work in production, however, I didn’t really know how to accomplish that.  I decided that working at a small production company would be the best fit for me.  I searched for months to find that no one was hiring.  Finally as my bank account slowly started to fall into smaller and smaller digits I got a job as a receptionist/office assistant at a small production company.  I took the job with hopes of being promoted quickly from after they saw what an amazing person I was.  After months of being frustrated by answering phones and ordering office supplies I finally got the chance to prove myself and help out with a commercial shoot.   I was suddenly flung into a whirlwind of productions where I got the chance to coordinate and assist in editing.

Then when this whole economic crisis hit business started to slowly fade.  Our company took a little bit of a hit and things were not looking so good for my future there.   I eventually left the company and decided it was time for me to try freelancing.  Through networking with people I already knew in the industry I landed the job as a casting associate for “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” on MTV.

After getting my foot in the door I have been fortunate to be a pa on several reality shows that have shot down here in Florida.

Over the years that I have spent  here I have certainly grown up from the shy Midwestern girl from Indiana.  Now it is time for bigger and better things out on the West Coast!

Check back often to hear about my new experiences in California!

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Production

Apr 21

The Art of Finding The Perfect Douchebag

So I received this comment on my about me page and I thought I would address it:

“I too am a casting recruiter looking for douchebags. I realize you’ve moved onto PA things, but if you had a chance to e-mail me and talk about how I might attract these types, I’d appreciate it.”

Casting for douchebags can honestly be very difficult.  You would think that these guys would be easy to find because you see them everywhere, but it is of course a catch 22 and when you are really looking for them they are no where to be found.  There are a couple of ways to approach casting for these types of guys and  here are a couple of tricks that I have learned:

First a foremost you have to approach these guys with the attitude that this is the best possible thing for them.  No matter what show you are casting for you have to spin it for the guy so that he thinks he will look great.   If he sees the show as a positive thing that promotes how totally awesome he is, he will more likely be all about it.

Another important thing is to not be afraid to go up to people.  The more guys you talk to the more likely you are to get good numbers for your casting director.    Trust me you will get a lot of guys that are pissed off that you are asking them to be on your show.  When that happens just be nice and move on to the next douchebag.

Next you have to know the right places to find these guys:

1.  Go out at night

Now this is pretty obvious but a great place to find douchebag guys are out at clubs at night.  I have found that most go out Wednesday through Saturday,  but occasionally you can find people out at other times.  Think of the most popular club in your area and head there and you will find tons of guys there.  Be careful though because douchebags out at night means that they will most likely be drunk.  Most of the drunk douchebags will be totally into whatever you are casting because they are blitzed  out of their mind or be so belligerent that they are not able to comprehend you.  The best thing to do is to try to explain to them that you are casting and grab their name and number.  Call them the next day and talk to them more about it when they are all sobered up.

2.  Gym/ Tanning Salon

A lot of douchebags like to look fresh so hitting up the gym and tanning salons can sometimes be a gold mine.  Now this can be tricky because most businesses consider  a casting recruiter as a solicitor.  You can always approach the owner of the gym or tanning salon and explain to them what you are doing but most don’t like it.    The best way to approach both of these places is to act like you are actually going to tan or go to the gym.  If you see a guy that would be perfect keep your eye on him until he leaves and try to catch him as he walks out.

3.  College Campuses

Two words: Fraternity boys.  Hang out at the Student Union, or find out about when the frat parties are.

4.  Malls

This is another tricky place because most malls think of casting as soliciting, so be careful.  Try to get people as they walk out rather than inside the mall.

5. Outdoor Activity

I live in Florida so I would go to the beach a lot on the weekends.  If you don’t live near the ocean check out parks or other weekend activity places.  Check out basketball courts and sports fields.

With these tips you should do great.  Just keep your head up and eyes open and you will find the perfect douchebag for your show.

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Posted in Douchebags, MTV Casting, Production

Mar 05

Is She Really Going Out With Him? Watch Episodes Now!

“Is She Really Going Out With Him?”  the show I spent casting for most of this Fall is finally airing on MTV!  It airs every week night at 6/5c.   Check out the link below to see the season 2 trailer:

Is She Really Going Out With Him Season 2 Trailer

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Posted in Uncategorized

Oct 07

Is it really that hard to answer your phone?

 

So my casting booker called me today because she needed help with calling our prospective douchebags.  At first I thought this would be fairly easy… boy was I completely wrong.

I got the list in my email around 2:30pm.  This is where all the drama began.  Apparently microsoft office now has a new version of their program.  Me being not the most computer savvy person did not know about this.  I see that it is an excel document but there instead of the normal .xls on the end of the title  it is  now some new .xlsx  Now you would think that magically excel would be able to recognize that it is a new form of the program and just allow you to choose to open it in the older version…but no.. microsoft has to be difficult and make it so you buy the new version of the program to see the damn document.

I do a quick google search and find that there is some converter thing that you can download that will help with the problem.  I search for a good two hours to find this so called converter only to find that they do not make one for macs.    I finally give up and head over to a fedex kinkos and open the document there and send it back to myself saved in the old format.  Finally when I get home it is 4:00 pm and I have yet to call a single douchebag.

I start going down the list and begin to call people.  Little did I know that this would just cause even more drama.  The first 10 people on the list don’t pick up so I leave a message .  The next 10 have no idea what I am talking about, and are extremely confused why I am calling them.  As I try to explain the show to them, they get all pissed that I am calling them a douchebag and some of them hang up on me.   The last few people I call answer the phone and say they were really drunk when they met the casting associate and don’t really want to do the show.

Honestly people, I know you are drunk when you go out..but if you don’t really want to be on a reality show then why do you give your number to someone who is telling you that they want to put you on a reality show?

It is now 6:00 pm and I still don’t have a single person scheduled for a interview with my casting director tomorrow…crap!

Thankfully I did get some calls back and booked a couple, but I have to say I have a new found respect for my casting booker and the drama she puts up with.

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Posted in Douchebags, MTV Casting

Sep 24

Hunting for Dbags

 

Casting for a reality show can really be hard.  Especially when you are casting for a show where one of the participants is basically getting made fun of the entire time.

Is She Really Going Out With Him isn’t like The Real World, or Survivor.  There are no prizes to be won, no cool houses you get to live in.  However, there is the whole getting to be on national television, having an entire episode about your life, and getting paid part that sways most peoples opinions about the show.  Like I’ve said before this show takes a very special guy to do it.

I went out to a local Irish themed bar last night with hopes of finding some great couples for the show.  First off it was a Monday night, and honestly there usually isn’t much happening on Monday nights.  So I was really excited when I heard from one of my college contacts that this Irish bar has beer pong and drink specials on Mondays.  I got to the bar around 11ish took a seat, ordered a beer and began to look around.  At first there weren’t too many prospects, just a few normal looking people playing beer pong and a couple of cute girls at the bar.  As time went on though a ton of college kids began to show up and drink their Monday night away.

As I was sitting at the bar a guy walks up and tries to get the bartenders attention.  The bartender was busy doing another drink order so the guy was forced to sit and wait.  Apparently this was just not acceptable.  This kid leans over the bar and yells “Hey Yo!” at the bartender and tries to grab her arm.  She nudges him off, gives him the death stare, and walks off to help another customer.  At this moment I smile because I believe I have found a prospective douchebag.

The guy tries to get the bartenders attention again and of course fails.  He looks over at me and smiles.  Now is my one shot, I hop out of my seat and introduce myself.  I begin to tell him about the show and he interrupts me.  “Wait.. you don’t know who I am?”  I am now confused.  Have I met this d bag out before?  I smile innocently and say “No am I supposed to?”  He laughs and says “Yes, I am a big sports celebrity.”  I quickly rack my brain for any “sports celebrity” that I would know of that would be down here in Florida.  I am quiet for a second and the guy starts to look surprised.  “Do you watch golf?” he asks.  I start to laugh and say “Absolutely not.  I hate golf.”  This kid then goes on a rampage of how he is a “famous” golf player, he’s on the PGA tour and that I really should know who he is despite my hatred for what is apparently the best sport in the world.

Once he is finially finished with his rant about golf, I smile and say that I will be right back.  I quickly ran to the bathroom, pulled out my cell phone and started to google this cocky d bag.  To my amazement this kid really did play golf, and really did play for the PGA tour.  I continued to look his stats and smiled when I found what I was looking for.  He sucks.  He has lost every game he has played in the last year, and has never qualified for any of the bigger tournaments.  This kid obviously thinks he is amazing, which just makes him an even bigger douchebag.

I run back up to the bar and thankfully he is still standing there attempting to flirt with the bartender now.  I tell him all about the show and of course he is super excited to be on tv.  I have officially found our “golf bag”.

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Posted in Douchebags, MTV Casting

Sep 16

Casting for MTV

Going out to bars and clubs every single night.  Partying it up with tons of different people.  Walking right past the lines and the bouncers because they already know who you are.  Free drinks and no covers.  This doesn’t sound like a job does it?  Well you guessed wrong.  This is my job.  I get to go out every night and find the biggest douchebags around to be on tv.  I basically get paid to party.  What is my job?  I am a casting associate for MTV and I am currently casting their hit tv show “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”

Now I bet you think that this is a pretty sick job, which it really is, but there is a lot of pressure involved.  First,  I cannot go out and actually party.  I am not out getting drunk every single night because well this is my job, and to get drunk while you are working in my opinion is kinda frowned upon.  Second, I have to have find couples that would be perfect for the show.   I am expected to get between 8 and 10 awesome couples a week.  Third, there is a huge turn around for this job.  If you aren’t pulling your weight and bringing in enough couples you will be let go and the next eager casting associate will gladly take your place.

So now you are probably asking yourself what the show is all about.  Well MTV’s website says it the best:

“Inspired by the popular website Hot Chicks with Douchebags, Is She Really Going Out With Him? is a hilarious and compelling docu-format show that aims to tear down the mystery behind pop culture’s latest unexplainable phenomenon: beautiful and innocent young sweethearts who fall for self-absorbed, overly-tanned, tattoo covered douchebags.

In each episode of Is She Really Going Out With Him? we’ll closely examine one couple as our hot chick eventually leads herself towards making a fateful decision… Will she stay with her douchebag bf or move on to a better man? ”

Next question.. is this show real or fake?  Can these guys really be that big of tools?  The answer my friends is yes..yes they really can be.  Every couple that has been on the show is a legitimate couple that a casting associate like me found out and about one night.

Next big question.. how in the world do I convince these guys to be on the show?  Well there are a couple of ways to get guys excited about it.  First and foremost  you have to find the right type of guy.  If the guy isn’t really a douchebag that doesn’t care what other people think of him then he isn’t going to want to do the show.  If the guy is a cocky asshole who thinks he is the shit, well then he would love to have his ego stroked about how awesome he is.  The trick is you have to flip the show on the guys, and the more ego-stroking the better.   The girls are the easy ones because you just tell them how they can basically make fun of their douchey boyfriends on national television and most of them are totally into it.

So what’s the point of all of this?  Well with my job comes hilarious stories of the people that I find and talk to about the show, and I figured the best way to promote the show and the casting was to blog about it.

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Posted in MTV Casting