Jeanie Bacharach knows actors. She was one. Her husband is one. She spent years in theatre before making the move to episodic television casting. In fact, she and her husband fantasize about opening a theatre company in Maine someday.
Because of her connection to the world of the actor, Bacharach understands the struggle that culminates in a visit to her office. She’ll give you feedback, so that you’ll realize why you’re not being cast, and, if you are being cast, you’ll be a part of a team. Despite the fact that Bacharach doesn’t currently cast theatre, she aspires to the level of teamwork in her current projects that she enjoyed in New York theatre.
First Casting Job
“I did an internship for Playwright’s Horizon, an Off-Broadway theatre company,” Bacharach said. She came to the business as an actor from Louisville, Kentucky, having worked in the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s apprentice program. During the theatre’s Humana Weekend, she met Daniel Sweed, Playwright’s Horizon’s casting director. During the writer’s strike of 1988, Bacharach studied the business side of acting via a casting internship under Sweed and decided her days as a performer were over.
Road to This Position
Bacharach was hired by Brian Chavanne who was then Julie Mossberg’s partner. “They did a lot of regional theatre and some television, and I was with them for a couple of months. Then I worked at ABC primetime as a casting assistant,” she said. Bacharach freelanced in New York for a few years and, after starting a family, decided Los Angeles was filled with more opportunity. “I’d worked in theatre in Florida and went to Lincoln Center before coming to Los Angeles in 1994,” Bacharach said. She hasn’t done any theatre casting since coming to Los Angeles, although she misses the community that theatre provides. “I did help out a friend on a Naked Angels production when I first came out here,” but having a paying gig, in Los Angeles casting, typically means doing TV and film, rather than theatre.
Coolest Casting Gig
The first two seasons of Ally McBeal. “It was the first series I ever did,” Bacharach revealed. “I totally lucked out, thanks to the fact that exec producer Jeffrey Kramer took a chance on me. Judith Weiner had done the pilot and my husband had tested for one of the roles, so I’d met Jeffrey. I was very excited to come on for the series casting. No one really knew what [the series] was going to be,” she continued. “I knew most of the cast from New York. It was as if I had a fantasy list of actors and was able to choose a few off of that list.” Bacharach specifically enjoyed the fact that the show was unlike anything else on television. “Some of the rules went out the window.”
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
A sense of humor. “It’s always amazing to me what other people find funny,” Bacharach revealed. Additionally, the actor should be intelligent. “I want to see someone who has an understanding of the text, who is good with the language, who has made strong choices – whether they be right or wrong – but someone who has thought it all out.”
Her Favorite Audition Tale
“I can’t name who the actor is, but I was doing a play in New York and it was a young, innocent part, and this guy was neither,” she recalled. “He came in for the preread and was lovely, but not right for the role. Now, I try to let the actor know why they’re not getting a callback before they leave my office. You leave there thinking you did well and you don’t understand why, but being married to an actor and having been on the other side of it myself, I want to let you know. This actor wanted to argue with me and convince me that he was right for the role. He was trying to negotiate. I felt intimidated by his intensity.” Bacharach understands that actors crave that information from the casting director, those notes that could help them improve their auditions in the future. Did this actor’s aggression stop Bacharach from providing such feedback? “No. It didn’t change my doing it, but it did get intense. He got quite angry.”
Pet Peeves
Actors who talk their way out of the job. “These actors who make apologies before auditioning prevent themselves from being cast. Just make it work! Not making choices, winging it in an audition, these things show a lack of respect for me, for yourself, for your agent,” she revealed. “If you don’t like the material, don’t accept the audition. Don’t come in and make excuses.” And if you are asked whether you have any questions, don’t ask her what choices you should’ve made, in the read you just finished. “If you’re intelligent, you can make the adjustment, if I give one to you. And in episodic, there’s not a lot of time on the set to make changes, so I need to see that you can adapt. But don’t ask me to make your choice for you.”
Be yourself. “There is no way for you to know what I am looking for,” Bacharach continued. “They don’t even know sometimes! Just try to tell the story in those few lines or that physicality you posses. A lot of times it’s not about the work. Make choices that show you can commit. You can set up a whole world with a look.” If you get a callback, according to Bacharach, you’ve done the work. “That’s an indication of your talent. Be glad. You have to keep your own center and realize that getting a callback is an accomplishment.”
Advice for Actors
“Stick it out as best as you can. It’s a tough business. It’s enormous. Every time I work on a pilot, I get 1000s of envelopes. Piles and piles and piles! It blows my mind,” Bacharach said. Do those envelopes get opened? “We try to open them all, but there’s only a certain amount of time with episodics. On pilots, we have more time.”
“Network and stay proactive,” Bacharach advised. To that end, she recommended studying. “Not just in on-camera classes. Yes, it’s different than theatre, but it’s also the same. Stay creative. Have an outlet so you’re not just waiting for the phone to ring. Trust your instincts. Life is too short and there is so little joy. You need to find balance so each job doesn’t become everything to you. You need to study so you’re not rusty. An audition shouldn’t be your only opportunity to act. Class gets you up every week.”
Once you’re in Bacharach’s office, own the experience. “The audition is your time,” she explained. “Don’t feel rushed. Make the most of your time in front of me.”
A valuable experience, in Bacharach’s opinion, is being a reader. “You see how the audition process works while building a relationship with the casting director. The reader is a very important part of the audition. If you’re reliable, you know the work, and you give enough without stealing the scene, check into being a reader. If you have any type of a relationship with a casting director, ask about being a reader.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
“It’s hard when you’re unrepresented, but in that case, workshops are a good idea. I have mixed feelings about it, but my associates attend workshops and they absolutely bring people in from those.” The key to success when choosing workshops, according to Bacharach, is examining the show on which the casting director works. “Are you appropriate for it? Don’t spend money showcasing for a casting director whose show you’ll never get on.”
What about postcards? “I brought in two people from unsolicited postcards last week,” she revealed. “They said, ‘Oh my God, it worked!’ Sure. Sometimes. Let me know when you’re in a play. I do try to attend plays. My staff will go if I cannot.”
As for unsolicited headshots and resumes, not only does Bacharach try to open them all, but she hangs on to them for quite some time. “There’s a joke around this office: how many calls is it going to take to find this actor? Those contact numbers are sometimes so out of date, they’re calling all over to try and find the actor from the headshot I’ve kept.” Bacharach doesn’t do generals too often, since she prefers to see people reading for roles she is actually casting at the time.
Her Opinion on Alternative Submission Methods
“I’m not the most technical person,” she admitted. Like most casting directors, Bacharach enjoys the hands-on review of headshots and resumes. “Demo reels are okay, but I prefer to see the live performance.”
Trends She Has Observed in the Casting Process
“Unfortunately, it’s all about perception. It’s frustrating that, until someone makes a decision about somebody, people are unwilling to take a chance. It’s all about what agent you’re with or what you just did and trying to cash in on that,” she lamented. “You hear, in pilot situations, that there’s not enough talent to fit the need. I have a very difficult time with that [perception]. I think it’s that people are unwilling to take a chance. There’s more than enough talent to fit the needs. You can’t even get an opportunity if you’re not with one of six agencies.” Bacharach asked, “How can the statement, ‘There’s no talent,’ be made if you’re only seeing a fraction of what’s out there?”
What She Would Change About the Casting Process
“In television, the whole testing process seems somewhat antiquated. It really comes down to a one-shot deal. It’s brutal,” Bacharach exposed. “There’s the negotiating and deals aren’t closed, there’s pressure on the actor, there’s posturing, there’s money, and it’s just hard on the actor.” Bacharach admitted having no solution for this counter-productive system, and summarized, “auditioning is just such a different process from the actual job.”
Highlight of Her Week
Bacharach indicated that she feels fortunate that every day she’s working on quality projects with talented people. It’s great to cast an episode and see it all come together. I like to sit and talk after sessions to steer the look of some roles. We’re open to diversity and our concept meetings are a collaborative effort.”
Most Gratifying Part of Her Job
“Getting someone to see an actor in a new way, to think of a role in a new way. The angle of the story changes with risks we take in casting and that’s nice. We try not to go the obvious way with every role. Having been an actor, I enjoy the creative process and building relationships.”
This interview was conducted on January 26, 2001, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.