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Muse from the Booth - No 15

30/4/2018

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​An open letter from an Actor to Casting Folk
​

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Here is a little story ... it involves a casting director from a fairly large and well known organisation and me ... a humble actor, not a celeb, no one famous, but just a jobbing actor.

Now I am sure that I am sure I am not the only actor to whom this has happened - but it makes be mad!

On Wednesday morning an email pings into my inbox with details of a job: How exciting!  It asks whether I am interested and available, gives me dates and rates.  It's an interesting job that is almost certainly going to lead to more work - and yes,  I am available!  I agree to the rate - and put the dates in my diary.

I email the casting director by return saying thank you, how nice to hear from you. Yes I am available/interested and can do the job within the deadline you specify - I ask a couple of technical questions  - and she helpfully suggests, that since I've not worked with these guys before,  it might be a good idea to chat to one of their tech guys regarding my queries.  He is not available right now, so we arrange a time for me to talk to him the following afternoon.  The tech person and I speak late in the afternoon of the next day. A very useful helpful conversation - and everything I was uncertain about is cleared up.  I email again as soon as we have spoken (though I know they won't pick up the email until Friday morning), to say all is now clear and I am happy to go ahead. 

I have a lovely weekend, happy in knowing that I have a job in the pipeline ... and not just one, potentially a series of jobs. 

On Monday morning,  I email the casting assistant again,  just to confirm everything and to ask her to send me the scripts as soon as possible. It's a big project ... and as I have other work in the pipeline, plus I will be away for a couple of weeks before the delivery day,  I'd actually like to begin doing my preparation as soon as possible, even though the deadline for completion is some way away.

The response comes by return ... thank you, we have gone with a different voice! A male voice! 

Now, I have been around the block a few times and I know how casting works, and I know the final decision is not always down to the casting director - or even the producer; there is normally an end client who calls the shots.  That's quite normal and I accept it is part of the job.

My problem with this particular 'offer' that wasn't an 'offer' was the wording of the email.  Never once was it indicated to me that I was being 'considered'; was being 'asked to audition';  was being asked of my availability for a 'possible' job that might or might not happen. There is an enormous difference between 'we have an upcoming project that we  hope will interest you. Are you available between these dates to record it?'  and 'would you be interested in being considered for a project within these dates? 

Perhaps it was just a fishing expedition to check whether I would work for the rates they were offering - not the greatest, but with the mention of this being an on-going project - yes, I would accept their rate on that basis, though perhaps not for a single job only.  Perhaps they were just thoughtless.  

So ... a weekend spent on a high thinking I might have a lovely job popping into my inbox on Monday morning, giving me a couple of months work at least, has turned out to be a damp squib - a rotten tomato - a nothing!  Plus the fact that I have cancelled several other jobs to make room for this one ... the job that never happened!  Thanks a bunch.

So casting people - I know you're busy, I know you're stressed and working to tight deadlines, just as I am ... and I know the final decision is not likely to be yours, but I beg you,  please consider the wording of your emails and how it reads to someone on the outside. Are you emailing with a firm job offer, or merely an availability. You know us actors ... we're often out of work; we're often up against immense competition. We know the industry is vastly overcrowded and we know how busy you are. We also know it's not you who makes the final decision.  We know all that - and we accept it is just 'part of the job'! But dear casting director, have you ever thought how it feels to receive an email that appears to be a firm job offer - only to have it pulled from under your feet?  How such an event may not actually incline an actor to feel kindly towards the organisation you work for - and how actually, you've been totally unprofessional. 

We actors know we're totally expendable, that there are a hundred others waiting to step into our empty shoes - but that is no excuse for not behaving professionally when checking availability or making job offers. 

Who knows, next time you want me to work with you, with a bit of luck and a following wind, I might just not be available.
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Yours sincerely

A jobbing actor! 



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Muse from the Booth - No 15

18/4/2018

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Where are the Working Class Voices?

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According to an article in the Guardian today. working-class people continue to be hugely under-represented in the arts, and the people at the top – mostly well-paid, middle-class white men – are least likely to see it.

This conclusion was reached in a new report published today, billed as the first sociological study on social mobility in the cultural industries. 
The study used data from interviews with 237 people who work in the creative industries to shine light on a problem that the report’s authors said is a longstanding one.
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"The percentage of people working in publishing with working-class origins was given as 12.6%. In film, TV and radio it was 12.4%, and in music, performing and visual arts, 18.2%. Aside from crafts, no creative occupation comes close to having a third of its workforce from working-class origins, which is the average for the population as a whole.

The research shows that the people most attached to the idea of the arts being a meritocracy – that the best jobs go to those with the most talent – were white middle-class men who occupied the highest-paid jobs and who were most able to bring about change."
My roots are firmly working class, but I grew up in an era when elocution lessons were the norm. Speaking properly was expected, slang was frowned on and grammatical and pronunciation errors were firmly ironed out even in primary school and certainly when I went to drama school at the tail end of the sixties, the remaining traces of my northern roots were definitely and firmly discouraged. Fortunately, they remain in my aural memory and are a useful and much used tool in my work and I am very often asked to use my accented voice rather than my RP one.

Actress Maxine Peak has spoken openly about the prejudice she has found in the industry and the pressure she faced, particularly during the first series of 'Silks' to reduce her decidedly northern British accent with its flat vowels. 
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“There is only one class in the north, and that’s working class, and if you’re a woman you will be slightly brassy and a bit blowzy; if you’re a man you’re either aggressive or you’re angsty and poetic. That is the entire north in a nutshell."
Maxine Peak - Actress
Does the same prejudice exist in audio work? I suspect it does to some degree - but we are only the voices and  unless we're creating our own content, we can only read what other people write . 

There has been a tradition of working class heroes in fiction, from Dickens to Arnold Bennett to DH Lawrence to Catherine Cookson - but looking back, I think the working class hero is being increasingly neglected. There was a brave new working class world in the sixties with the works of Alan Sillitoe, David Storey, and Stan Barstow changing the face of popular contemporary fiction - and there were still some glimmerings a generation later in the works of Jeaneatte Winterson, and Melvyn Bragg; but since then, it seems to me there is a real lack of quality fiction with a working class setting. There are people working in television and film who are creating ng working class characters in their works:  Ken Loach, Sally Wainwright and Jimmy McGovern to name a few, but though there are lots of novels with a historical setting that are firmly working class, in contemporary literature there seems to be a definite decline. 

So, come on writers ... give us some grit to get our teeth into!

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    About me

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    P​hoto Credit: Paul Haynes
    ​

    I've gleaned quite a lot of knowledge over the years, knowledge that might be of interest to others, especially authors, actors and voice actors.  Because I read so much, for pleasure and professionally,  I also occasionally write reviews of what I read - so they're here too. 

    My opinions are mine and my views are my own! 
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