On Outdoor Concerts and Casting Directors Who Make Me Angry
A few days ago, my friend JK sent me a link to this article about a NYC-based casting director using Twitter to discuss actors in the audition room. She was commenting publicly on the actors (not using names) and making fun of their song choices, their clothing, mocking them and critiquing them.
“Seeing #70 right now. I’m tired. My ears are bleeding,”
“All this screaming (I guess these kids call it belting) is giving me a headache…”
“Are those culottes?”
I’m sorry…
Are actors who are singing for you inconveniencing you in someway? Bothering you? Irritating you? Because it certainly sounds like it. I understand that sitting in a room for eight hours listening to people sing (some HORRIBLY) cannot be the best part of the job but seriously? It is a necessary and HUGE part of your job. And for someone to sit there while an actor is baring their soul, hoping for work, hoping for their attention, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHWAFDALKREYOIUZBLAM I, uh, got upset. Even her defense was ridiculously weak and to me, she came off as entitled, unprofessional and basically, high on a freaking powertrip. “There is NO rule/guideline against Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/Friendster. Freedom of speech. Ever heard of it?” Uh. Yeah. I’ve heard of it. There’s also such a thing as using freedom of speech to be rude, inappropriate and downright mean. After reading it, I was completely enraged. My ire was intensified by the fact that I recently auditioned for this casting director. She was kind enough to me but hid her face behind her laptop the entire time I was singing. I left the audition with a bad taste in my mouth just because I absolutely can’t stand it when casting directors are actively typing away on a computer or on a Blackberry while I’m singing. Just…gimme my twenty seconds. Pretend. You know? It’s kind of your job. I sat with my feelings for awhile and decided to click through to her Twitter feed to read it directly. A lot of the comments really bothered me but for every “My ears are bleeding…” remark, there was a “I LOVE THIS SONG!” or “I love it when actors walk in the room and just NAIL it!!” exclamation. And I began to think…maybe there was something to this. Maybe all the people defending her are right—she gives actors great tips! It’s interesting to know what goes on behind the audition table! Acting is a cruel business, why is anyone surprised by this!? Right? GET OVER IT ALREADY. But… But… After days of letting this stew around inside my head, I’m back to the beginning. I flat out think it’s wrong. I do. I don’t think it’s okay to comment on actors in the audition room. That is a sacred space. And for you to open up to the internet and just throw shit around, anonymous or not, I just…wow. It would be one thing if I came on here and lambasted girls in the audition room for their outfits or songs (I think I’ve maybe done it once or twice, years ago, when I was young and foolish. SO HELP ME!). I could do that. It’s mean and obnoxious so I choose not to do it. But…I could. But for a CASTING DIRECTOR to do it?! Oh.Em.Gee. I’m spelling out acronyms because that’s how upset I was about this and my feeling at the current date and time is that if I never have to audition for her again, that would be just…peaches and vegan cream. Indeed. … Before reading that article and getting all up on my ARTISTS NEED RESPECT soapbox, I cheerily published my previous post entitled “Because Sometimes I’m Obnoxious”. It was meant to be light-hearted and I suppose it was very similar to many things I do—good…in theory. I *am* sometimes obnoxious but I don’t know why I chose to post my bad behavior on the internet. I suppose because I thought it was funny. Not everybody thought so. This, from the comment section: I came across and have enjoyed your fun blog, but I must take exception with your ‘obnoxious’ entry. As an artist, how can you be as rude as to page through a magazine while a performance is being presented, simply because you didn’t like what you were hearing? I’m sure those musicians worked hard for their set, and didn’t deserve your snobby attitude. Consider the same happening to you while you are acting on stage. Honestly, it put a crimp in your good-natured stlye of blogging. I see where this lovely man/woman is coming from. I mean, hello, just read the first zillion paragraphs of this entry where I’m all PEOPLE CAN’T SHIT ON OTHER PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET! IT’S JUST PLAIN WRONGGGGGG! Hello! Pot/kettle and all that! As with the casting director article, I let that negative comment on my entry hang out in my mind for a few days. I mulled it over and got very still and attempted not to get defensive right away. I did call myself out on my obnoxious behavior but that didn’t necessarily make it right. Did I commit a sin by making fun of an opening act at a concert? Was I doing the same thing that casting director was? Namely, did I take an artist, publicly mock them, and think the whole time that I was just being snarky and cute? After my few days of stillness and pondering and throwing thoughts around with a few people, I came to a conclusion. I think I’m right. I think you’re wrong. The End. HA HA NO. BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS! COME BACK! WHY ARE YOU WALKING AWAY? I think a casting director tweeting (or blogging) about actors in an audition setting is inappropriate. It’s unprofessional for numerous reasons. I don’t think it’s particularly helpful and I definitely don’t think if I was a producer or a theatre company that I would want to hire that casting director to my cast my show. As an actor, I don’t even want to be in the same room as her because at this point, I would feel 1000 times more judged than usual. Watching actors perform is her job. Making an actor feel comfortable should come with the territory. Making fun of an opening act at a 5,000 seat outdoor concert venue? I think that’s a little different and I can give you my reasons why. 1. I paid for my ticket. I didn’t necessarily pay to hear terrible opening acts. (WHO DOES?) In fact, they weren’t even listed on my ticket. As a paying customer, I don’t have to like what’s in front of me. THAT BEING SAID, as a decent human being, I should RESPECT what’s in front of me, even if I don’t like it. Mama Rita raised me right. This leads me to point #2… 2. I wasn’t being as disrespectful as I made it sound. You can see from my video that we were pretty far away from the performer, that the theater was less than half full at this point in time (in fact, our entire row was still almost empty except for the three girls a few seats down who were PAINTING THEIR NAILS during the opening act, I AM NOT LYING, I HAVE PICTURES OF IT!). I tend to exaggerate on this blog for comedic effect but that nail painting was for real. While I did jokingly pull out a magazine during the opening act, I wasn’t yawning widely and flipping thorugh it with an air of abandon. I realized in the moment that even if I didn’t like the singer, perhaps other people around me did. (I’m still inclined to say they didn’t. See also: girls giving themselves manicures.) Now, if I were in the FRONT ROW, would I have made fun of his music, whipped out reading material, etc.? Uh. No. If I were at the theater or the opera or the ballet, would I do the same thing? No. I can’t exactly tell you why. And maybe that’s my problem. Or society’s problem. And this leads me to my last point… 3.) I have never been to a concert, particularly outdoors, where people are quiet and attentive during an opening act. Hell, I was in the Berkshires last year to hear James Taylor and people around me were talking and eating and making jokes even while *he* was singing and as far I’m concerned, he’s pretty close to Jesus Christ. Minus the whole former drug addict thing. You know. My point is, a concert is usually more relaxed than the theater or the ballet or the opera. Particularly when it’s outdoors. (For one thing, I can’t even take a picture in a theater, let alone a video. It’s ILLEGAL and all.) There’s beer a-plenty and while I feel the pain of opening acts (cut to: me at Madison Square Garden, screaming my face off for Sara Bareilles even though NO ONE was listening AT ALL. WAHHHH!), it’s harder for me to concentrate and be respectful when the music is bad. And I think the commenter is right that this is something I need to work on. You know? I’m 26. I shouldn’t still be 12, being all, HELLZ I THINK THIS SHIT IS HILARIOUS. (It’s not usually as hilarious as I think.) But you get my drift. I think it’s about being present. And maybe turning to my roommate and rolling my eyes and being all THIS IS GOD AWFUL three times, instead of forty-seven. Or maybe I should’ve gotten up and taken a walk and returned to my seat when my husband, Jason Mraz, took the stage. I don’t really know. Anyone else have some tips? My basic point in this post is not to defend myself but to ask you guys what you think. I know a lot of actors read this blog. How do you feel about the casting director tweeting? How do you feel about concert behavior? Are they the same? Are they different? Should we treat opening acts with respect or should we, as Tim suggested, get our hands on some juicy tomatos and just lob away? Should I have made fun of that dude and posted it on my blog? Should I have drank a lot of beer and attempted to crawl on the stage and take his pants off? YOU TELL ME. Am I being too hard on that casting director? Does she provide actors with useful tips? Is she attempting to help us? I have to believe she was coming from a good place and her resume is quite impressive so I have to believe she is also very good at what she does. Am I too sensitive about this? Was my button pushed? Did I get angry without reason? Along those lines, am I an insensitive 12 year old at concerts? At the theater? At dinner? ALL THE TIME? HELP ME OUT HERE. As always, I am so grateful to the people who read this, who cause me to think and adjust my behavior and wonder about boundaries and respect and political correctness. I surely want to be a good citizen, I want to do the right thing but I don’t ever want to be so PC that I can’t make fun of bad music at a concert. I’m not one to think gossip is particularly funny and I’m not that into putting others down to feel good about myself but…surely there are some things in life that are humorous. Just…hopefully not at someone else’s expense. Where is the line drawn when it comes to being respectful and also being funny? Is it okay to mock a nameless performer on your blog? Or is that the same thing as tweeting about actors who wear ugly skirts in an audition room? You tell me, fire away. I thank you in advance for belittling me with respect and my mother would appreciate if you don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. Thank you ever so much.
Dude…lots of stuff here.
First, just let me say, from THIS actor’s point of view, what happens in the audition room should stay in the %*#%$$^^ audition room! Auditions are a very tricky business. YES, the casting director/director/producer are out there to judge you. And probably the people in that audition room said much worse things about the auditioners than what was posted on Twitter. HOWEVER! That is a private conversation, however mean, snipey, snarky, etc. What goes on at an audition is nobody else’s business. It is a private, often vulnerable, space.
Not to mention, I feel it undermines her professional credibility. I hope you don’t have to audition for her again. LAME.
Now. In response to making fun of an opening act at a concert? MUCH different! An audition is a place where you are trying things out. You may be asked to re-think your entire conception of of your song/monologue/what-have-you on the spot. It is unsure. It is guesswork. It’s playing around. Your actual performance, however, is the final product, where you are ready to go, you’ve tried things a multitude of ways, and decided on what the BEST approach is. People have every right to judge whether or not they enjoy a performance. It’s a totally different environment. If you are at the point where you feel you can perform for an audience who paid to see you, then that audience has every right to critque as they will. Now, if you’d been watching this dude cover 4 Non Blondes in his practice space and were bratty about it, that’s a different story. But- it was a concert. Which you spent money on. He was throwing his goods out there. You just didn’t like it. BFD. You had a good laugh with your roommate, and Mr. Opening Act is learning a thing or two about live performance, and also getting paid to do it. It comes with the territory.
Am I a horrid bitch? Y/N? Maybe. But during a performance, you’re putting yourself out there, no matter what people think. At an audition? You’d like a little discretion.
I can’t believe that woman did that! I always put myself in the “teacher” role, and I’m not even allowed to talk to other colleagues about kids (though of course many, many teachers do), so to tweet about that, just amazes me. It’s totally inappropriate.
Also- if you ever do have to audition with her, you need to have someone following her on twitter when you go so you know what she says. That’s what I would do. Be all sneaky-like.
I also think that if you are a paying customer, voicing your opinion is totally fine. I’ve been at teacher’s workshops, no lie, where the paid presenter SUCKED and people had no problem complaining there, to the presenter, and to the administration at my school. I was even part of a teacher-mentor training where they presenter got fired after the first workshop because she was so bad. Bottom line: if you pay for it, you’re allowed to complain.
I was so put off by your comments I didn’t notice the pic was a video. It tells a different story than the intimate nightclub and front center table I pictured. My apologies if I was harsh. I will continue to enjoy your adventures. I am toying with the thought of carrying my own rotton tomato on stage, and flinging it at the first person to not recognize the sheer artistry they are witnessing.
Um….well, I’m not an actor so I have a slightly different point of view…but…
People fart in public and I think that’s rude, especially when I’m am DIRECTLY.BEHIND.THEM. And they had something really obnoxious to eat.
And I know that bodily emissions can’t really be helped (unless you are a guy and still think it’s funny) and so it’s not the same thing as choosing to be rude.
But there are levels to what is considered rude and yest still acceptable and I think the casting director is somewhere in that middle ground.
Because no matter HOW rude something is…someone will still think it’s funny - and other people will do what it takes to get the laugh.
there’s a book you may want to read. it’s called “mistakes were made, but not by me!”
it’s about the ways & lengths we will go to to justify our behaviors & decisions after they were made.
good stuff!
With any form of art, there will always be criticism. However, open criticism and closed (mostly because it is personal criticism) are two different animals. As said in the comments above - if you pay to see a show that is available to everyone, then criticism either bad or good is expected. But keeping in mind social etiquette. That is; criticize but be tactful about it. Painting your nails and reading a magazine many rows back in an outdoor concert is not rude. Screaming “you suck” in the front row is most probably rude.
Tweeting or using a laptop in auditions is just bad form. It takes a certain type of jerk to have a lack of respect that is so obvious and immediate. This reminds me of an episode of Entourage (which you probably don’t watch because it is the inflated male ego made material) where one of the characters flips out during and audition because one of the interviewers won’t stop texting on his cell. I say next time you have an audition, do something that is equally jerk like back to them. Now don’t go to the extreme and flip out on the interviewers but maybe subtly change the words to the song or monologue that you perform so that belittles them. If they notice then they were actually paying attention and that bites you in the ass. But if they don’t then you get the satisfaction of sticking it to them, however subtly it is.
Why don’t you just walk into your next audition and stand there tweeting? Make the message meet the medium.
I’m not an actor, have never auditioned for anything, nor ever want to, but I agree with you that the casting director was crossing the line. Why must she Twitter anyway? Is her job so boring she must find ways to amuse herself? Who’s reading it anyway? Are we so pathetic we have to get our kicks reading someone’s comments about her job? But I digress. As for your behavior at the concert - harmless fun.
I’m glad I read the comments before typing my own thoughts, because now I can save myself a lot of effort and just say, “What Andrea said.”
A few more thoughts:
Twittering when people are auditioning for you is ridiculous. Rude, inappropriate, wrong, etc. I think that’s the mark of a casting director who has lost touch with what it’s like to be on the other side of the table.
Now for some heavier stuff.
Laura, you’re very introspective and serious about bettering yourself as a person, and I love that about you. You’re also very open and honest in your journal and you’re explicitly asking for our opinions on all this, so… here goes.
I was once told that the things we despise the most in other people are often the traits we despise the most in ourselves. But, often we don’t know that that’s why certain behaviors enrage us so much. I don’t know if that’s why this casting director’s behavior struck such a nerve with you, but it may be a possibility worth exploring. Of course, you’re already doing that thanks to the comment of “have rod will fish.”
You are a very entertaining blogger. That’s why we keep coming back. But part of that entertainment has always been the stories you tell about people. Stories where you don’t name names, but stories posted publicly where you comment on people’s foibles in entertaining and not necessarily flattering ways.
Now, these aren’t people auditioning for you. Instead, they’re people that you might have gone out on a date with or ran into on the subway or something. You aren’t as rude as little miss twittering casting agent, and you don’t blog right in the middle of these interactions, but is there really that much difference? Perhaps there is. Perhaps the fact that she’s twittering right there in the middle of that vulnerable audition environment makes all the difference in the world.
Still, if you were a casting agent, wouldn’t you be sharing some of the more memorably bad auditions with us? If it was later on after the auditions were over, would that be okay? Perhaps not. Perhaps the audition space would be sacred to you. But isn’t a scenario where a guy is expressing his feelings for you a sacred moment? A moment that he would be mortified to learn you shared on the internet, even without naming names?
My point in bringing this up is to aid you in your quest for self-awareness and bettering yourself. But my conclusion is not that what you share here is wrong. Rather, my conclusion is that perhaps this casting agent isn’t quite so deserving of your ire. Or maybe she is because she’s doing it in the middle of the auditions. I don’t know. You already mentioned the whole pot/kettle thing, anyway, so this whole comment is kind of redundant.
Oh, and I had no idea Jesus Christ was a former drug addict.
Two things:
(1) I love this post. You are so thoughtful and sincere and while I don’t have much to share yet, this post really engaged me and gave me a lot to think about. I really admire you for writing it.
(2) After reading Tim’s comment, I second everything he said. That gave me a lot to think about, too (about myself).
I really want to respond to all your thoughtful comments but I can’t stop laughing at the fact that someone recommended a book about understanding how we justify our behavior and constantly blame other people instead of ourselves. Oh my God, with my upbringing, I’m pretty sure I blame myself enough and will not be checking that book out anytime soon.
On a serious note, thanks for your input. I realize I’m putting myself out here on my blog and opening up a dialogue and I’m really thankful you guys are participating. However, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed at all these comments. I mean, thank you. I will think about everything you’ve said. Which was the point.
I do have to say one thing emphatically—if I had this blog and was a casting director, I would not be blogging about the actors in the room. I get your point, Tim, but no, I don’t think it’s the same. At all. And good Lord, I just…I would never. No.