Dan Shaner and Michael Testa met with me in their seventh floor office lobby, shared with another casting office in the mid-Wilshire district. Shaner sat back on the large sofa, relaxed and low-key, while Testa spent most of the discussion on the edge of his seat, gesturing animatedly as he spoke.
As in most partnerships, this pair of casting directors has a comfort level with one another, and their ability to give and take, to agree and disagree, and to always emphasize the collaborative nature of assembling casts, is what keeps them in sync.
“Casting is one of those jobs everybody assumes they can do until they actually do it,” Testa said. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, just go get that person from over there,’ and we say, ‘You have no idea what the budgetary concerns are, their availability, whether we can get them, can they even do the role?'”
“It’s good for actors to understand that we’re in the same boat,” Shaner explained about the life of a freelance casting director. “We’re hustling for the next job as well.”
First casting job together
Shaner and Testa came together as partners for the 1997 feature film Touch Me. “I was an associate looking to upgrade myself and Dan was somewhere else looking to leave and do independent stuff,” Testa recalled, “and a mutual friend got us together.”
Had either of you been working as actors?
“No!” Shaner quickly responded. “Emphatically no,” Testa insisted, amused at the concept.
“I had been working for a production company as an in-house casting director there and before that I’d worked with [casting directors] Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson, as well as Caro Jones,” Shaner recalled.
“And I was working as an assistant-slash-associate with [Beth] Hymson [and Simon] Ayer, Amy Lieberman, Lisa Miller Katz,” Testa listed.
Coolest casting gig
The duo agreed it was Buddy Boy, the feature starring Irish actor Aidan Gillen and Emmanuelle Seigner. “It was just a great, weird, odd, quirky movie that was a joy to work on. Everybody on it was so creative, so open,” Testa explained. “It was a tough casting job. There were a lot of bizarre, different characters. We had to find a character who—for the first three quarters of the movie—you believed was [one character’s] mother [but who] turns out to be his brother.”
Shaner added, “There had to be a transformation and it had to be a believable one for the audience. The [production] company had really great taste and they were really good people to work with. They understood the role of the director and that made the whole project really satisfying.
“I thought Roswell was a really good experience for us too,” Shaner continued.
“Roswell was great,” Testa agreed. “I miss the rhythm of that. Once you have it down, you just go.”
“It was a cool experience because it was a time when we felt like we were really in sync with the creator and executive producers. We were really on the same wavelength. It’s bittersweet because it would’ve been nice to go on for longer,” Shaner admitted.
Best way to get seen by them
“There is no one way in,” Shaner insisted.
Testa indicated that an agency referral is probably the best way in, but that referrals are certainly not the only way in. The duo opens all mail. Still, according to Testa, “We’re not big on meeting actors when we’re not actively casting.”
“Everybody wants to meet on a general all the time,” Shaner said, “but it’s more worthwhile when we have something to talk about.”
“It’s like anything else. If you’re looking for a job out there in the world, you don’t just show up to a company that’s not really hiring just to say hi,” Testa assessed.
On the concept of prescreening actors through videotaped demo reels, the partners agreed: “We tend not to judge from a demo reel,” Testa said. The pair explained that demo reels don’t always show an actor’s true ability.
“If I don’t know the actor, a demo reel can be a good tool, but it could also just be really cut together well and not represent you,” Shaner warned.
Shaner and Testa acknowledged—in terms of accurate depiction—that headshots frequently do not represent actors accurately. “A lot of actors have really great pictures and they aren’t really great actors—so you can’t judge by that,” Shaner began.
“Headshots are weird,” Testa explained. “They can be way off. We do a lot of prereads to learn who the actor is. You get to know more actors that way and you get a good catalog of people that you know and you like—or you don’t.”
As for theatre, Shaner goes, Testa does not. That said, Shaner prefers theatre in which actors interact. “A one-woman show may be great for Julia Sweeny, but for most actors, it’s just a monologue. Part of the joy of theatre for me is seeing actors interact with one another. So, I tend to steer away from one-person shows.”
Currently casting
A pilot from the creator of Roswell. “Six years ago, we talked about this pilot he kind of had set up that didn’t go anywhere, but we talked about it. Now he’s sold something to Paramount and has hired us to cast it,” Testa explained.
“So, be nice to everybody,” Shaner joked. “You never know! We really liked that script he had six years ago, so when this came through from another direction, and the executive producer said, ‘Oh, you know this writer,’ I said, ‘Oh, yeah.'”
As for premise, Testa described this project as a little like The Truth about Cats and Dogs. “We’re looking for a beautiful, intelligent, funny girl and an acerbic…”
“Edgy,” Shaner interjected.
“Yeah, more edgy friend,” Testa agreed.
“We’re looking for mid-20s, for this,” Shaner specified.
“We’re also still doing the Hotel project for Aaron Spelling and [feature film] Wild Things 2 which is turning out to be a much better cast than we’d anticipated. So that’s exciting,” Testa said of the follow-up to the 1998 thriller starring Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon.
Advice for actors
“Stay in class,” Shaner said simply.
“Find a way to act, to show off your work,” Testa agreed.
“You should always be working,” Shaner continued. “It’s not about being seen as much as working, being in good shape. Be in class.”
“Audition a lot,” Testa advised.
Shaner agreed, “It’s practice! You should know how auditioning works. Know how the room feels.”
“Know when to leave the room. Don’t linger. Know how to leave the room without having your stuff scattered all over because then the silence becomes uncomfortable,” Testa advised. “And don’t ask, ‘When are callbacks?’ Because what you really want to know is, ‘How’d I do?’ And if that’s the question you want answered, ask that.”
“But if you’re asking for feedback,” Shaner qualified, “be ready to hear it.”
“Yeah, there are times I’ve taken a moment to say, ‘You were really great, but I’m not going to call you back because of this or because of that.’ So that way you can leave here knowing you did a great job without wondering why you didn’t get the callback,” Testa said. “They may have changed the role a half an hour before you got here and you should know that.”
“That’s so nice of you,” Shaner marveled.
Non-acting advice for actors from Shaner and Testa involved having a life outside of acting. “Have fun,” Testa insisted.
“Try to find an outlet—outside of acting—for your self expression,” Shaner advised. “That will keep you healthy”
“Being well-rounded,” added Testa, “can only make you a better actor.”
Key things they look for in an actor
Shaner began, “Intelligence. I always like intelligence—a sense that they really understand what they’re doing with the material.”
“I couple that with sex appeal, sexuality. I think that kind of holds somebody to the screen—no matter what the role,” Testa added.
“Certainly not every role,” Shaner questioned, indicating a role for which an older actress recently read.
“Seriously—this actress is an old woman—they found her completely sexy,” Testa explained to Shaner about the producer session. “I think that’s why she works! I’d forgotten to tell you about that. They thought she was sexy!”
“There’s something you want to watch, something going on inside,” Shaner distilled.
“It’s something that makes you want to hang out with this person more.” Testa continued, “Casting’s like dating. You meet somebody and you want to get to know them better.”
“Yeah,” Shaner agreed, “and you either spark to them or you don’t.”
What they would change about the casting process
“Pilot season!” the pair exclaimed, almost in unison.
Testa explained, “Listen, we enjoy doing pilots, it’s just the process is so nerve-wracking.”
“They’ve talked about it for years, spreading it out a bit,” Shaner said. “Why it can’t be six months instead of just three months is beyond me.”
“It’s insane!” Testa lamented.
Do they find what they need in Los Angeles?
Most of the time, yes. “For Hotel, we flew a few people in from New York,” Shaner said.
“Oh, and for The Lone Ranger, we needed Native Americans so we did a nationwide search—here and Canada—and got them to send in tapes,” Testa recalled.
But generally, the pair does not do much traveling to scout. “We have, but it’s easier to have the tapes come to us and then go from there,” Shaner explained.
Most gratifying part of their job
“Getting actors jobs,” Testa answered quickly. “Last year we did a movie called After School Special. There was this guy who was brand new. He was working at a video store as a clerk and then became the lead in this movie. He was so happy.”
Shaner added, “It’s nice to see a dream come true, to see that finished product on the screen.”
This interview was conducted on February 24, 2003, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.