Entering Beverly Long‘s casting office in Studio City is like visiting her at home. Members of her staff greet visitors warmly as they buzz around the nerve-center of the office; the kitchen. Snapshots are splattered on the walls and all over the refrigerator. Abbey, the chocolate lab, sniffs her approval and then flops on the floor for a nap. According to Long, “You’ve gotta have a dog!”
At a moment’s notice, a rush job for a hair-care product has come in. “Wow! There’s a lotta hair in here,” Long exclaims as she passes the waiting room, ushering me to the table where we’ll have our chat. “We cast a lot of journeymen here. Lots of workaday worker bees.” Translation? Real people, get in front of Beverly Long.
The office walls display thank you notes from actors who’ve visited this unique space. There are gifts of cookies and potpourri on the kitchen table. Long’s six-week commercial workshops take place here and she theorizes that actors are somehow put at ease by the presence of the dog. I’d bet it’s more than just Abbey that gives this office that family feel.
Road to This Position
First an actor, then an agent, then a casting director. Long had a recurring role on Father Knows Best, was a regular on Those Whiting Girls, and co-starred in a little film called Rebel Without a Cause. “They cast two girls and four boys to support James Dean and Natalie Wood. I was one of the two girls: Helen,” Long revealed. She and fellow actor Corey Allen [master teacher at Margie Haber Studio] were working in the play Pick Up Girl at the Players’ Ring, where the director spied them and brought them in to audition for the film. “Five hundred kids auditioned!” Long recalled.
At the age of 17, Long originated the role of Susan in the play Susan Slept Here. Fast-forward ahead through a marriage, three kids, and a divorce, and Long’s realization: “I have to have a job-job.” Luckily, Long’s agent asked her to be a subagent for the summer. “I figured, I may not know how to be an agent, but I’m an actor. I can act an agent,” Long insisted. “After two years, I realized I’m too much of a gypsy to sit behind a desk that much,” she explained.
Norman Greiner, a now-retired casting director that she’d met while agenting, was doing so much feature casting that he was losing commercial clients. He asked Long to step in and assist. “After a year in the role of feeble-minded assistant, I became the sole commercial casting director in that office,” she joked.
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
“A Can-Do attitude,” Long explained. “There’s a positiveness that I look for. If you’re negative, no one wants to work with you. Honestly, no one wants to work with a depressed person, even if they’re talented.”
Long also looks for an understanding of the process the actor is experiencing. “They need to know what they’re being sent in that room to do,” she said.
Pet Peeves
“Actors who don’t show up for the audition,” Long asserted. “The lack of responsibility shown by actors is shocking.” In fact, Long invites students in her commercial classes to sit in on auditions, so that they may see how obvious it is to identify the actors who take the process of auditioning seriously.
“So many actors are not dressed appropriately when they come to an audition,” Long began. “If the breakdown calls for a woman in a bikini, show up in a body-conscious outfit. Don’t make me send you home to change.” Long attributes much of this carelessness to lack of communication between actor and agent.
Regarding unsolicited submissions of headshots and resumes, Long explained, “We’re pretty loose around here, but if you send your headshot and resume to me, please God, do not address the letter to, ‘Dear Casting Director.’ It looks like you did a mass mailing and you don’t know who the hell I am.” Long continued, “You want me to pay attention to you but you don’t even know who you’re writing to. It’s like a form letter, and I’ll put it right in the trash.” So, to get past that fate, know Long’s name. Know her credits. “Do a little research,” she said.
Advice for Actors
“Be someone who grasps what it’s all about,” Long advised. “Have an idea of what you’re coming in for.” To that end, actors should do their homework, be prepared for anything, and be flexible enough to make changes on the fly.
“When you send me a postcard, make sure it’s something personal or it’s a notice that you’re in a show somewhere. Again, don’t do a blind mailing to just say hi. I really don’t have the time,” Long explained.
Another piece of advice Long offered involves gratitude. “Send flowers if you book the job!” she insisted. “Booking a national is a big deal. Thank me for it!”
Her Opinion on Alternative Submission Methods
“I don’t go online, but my associates do,” Long revealed. “The computer screen is a bore to me. It doesn’t feel right.” Long reached for a stack of headshots and fanned through them, then said, “I need to hold your picture. Besides, organized people use the Internet. That’s not me!”
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
“The best way is through your agent, but sometimes it’s serendipity. It’s just a fluke,” Long began. “One day, I was here all alone after a long day of taping sessions for a Red Lobster ad. It was the end of the day and this guy just walked in. He came by to drop off his picture and he was the match for what I’d been looking for. He got the job!” Now, sometimes an actor can’t get in the door, so Long did not, by any means, encourage the casual drop-by. “A drop-off of your photo, though, is okay,” she clarified.
Most Gratifying Part of the Job
“Teaching, I like,” Long summarized. “The commercial workshop we do is so rewarding.” After 20 years of teaching, Long finds those rewards on the small screen. Recent Super Bowl ads starred several of Long’s former students. “To see these money-makers when they’re just starting, that’s great,” she said.
“And I love the audition process. A lot of casting directors never go into the sessions. I would go mad if I didn’t get to do that. I enjoy meeting and working with actors, seeing what they can do.”
“A casting session is like a party. It should be festive,” Long shared. “You, the actor, are my invited guest. If you throw the lawn furniture into the pool, you don’t get invited back. Remember, your goal is not to see every casting director once, but to get invited back to these parties over and over again.”
If you sense that Long loves her job, you’re right. “We have a good time here. It’s fun. Hey, if I didn’t enjoy it, I’d get out of it.”
This interview was conducted on May 16, 2001, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.