(IBDb listing.) No one needs to explain the value of theatrical credits to Julia Flores. Though she has worked in film and television, her main job is casting national tour and Broadway productions for McCoy Rigby Entertainment, including Tony and Emmy-award nominated Peter Pan.
Casting for over a dozen theatre companies from TheatreWorks in Palo Alto to the Globe Theatre in San Diego, and from Milwaukee Rep. to the Arizona Theatre Company, Flores strives to keep her actors as well-informed as possible. “I want actors to know everything that I know about the role,” she said, after a morning of Los Angeles-based sessions. The travel involved is part of Flores’ commitment to doing her best work, noting that, “When you hire Flores Casting, you get Julia Flores. I’m just that committed to my clients.”
First Casting Job
Crime Story, 1987. “I was an intern at a casting office and we were working on the Vegas-based show. We were video taping everyone in town and shipping the tapes out,” Flores recalled. “I had no idea what [casting] was. I was going to USC and my counselor said I would never graduate on time without doing an internship. So, I interned for Rik Pagano and Sharon Bialy. They offered me a job when I graduated and I worked there for three and a half years.” After taking a little time off, Flores worked with several other casting directors, including Barbara Claman and Judith Weiner. “I really missed doing theatre, though. San Jose Rep. and Berkeley Rep. were very supportive and kept coming to me to get me to cast things, so I decided to do theatre exclusively.” That was in 1995. Flores got her BA in Theatre, but “casting turned out to be everything I wanted: stability with creativity, structure but with each show being different. It’s exciting but it’s also stable, and I can use my business head and my artistic eye. There are long hours, but it’s exciting. I love my job, but it is work,” she said.
Coolest Casting Gig
“Each one of them is so special. I would have to say, the Jimmy Buffett musical, Don’t Stop the Carnival, based on the Herman Wouk book [was coolest]. We did in 2001 at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. This was five or six trips down to the Bahamas to do the casting with Jimmy, who makes everything fun. Luis Perez, the choreographer, and Michael Rupert, the director, did phenomenal work with the Bahamians we cast. It’s Bahamian law that you have to cast 75% Bahamians [for shows playing there]. It was not easy, but it was just so much fun. So, as far as the cool factor goes, that was just cool.”
Before moving on to the next Q, Flores interjected, “Either that or the national production of Peter Pan for the McCoy Rigby family. They’re amazing people to work with. To have a show on Broadway was one thing, but to have it with them, that was a gift. Also, I have so many kids in my life – to be the lady who knows Peter Pan – that was great. It’ll always hold a very special place in my heart.”
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
“Commitment, commitment, commitment.” How does she know commitment when she sees it? “It just screams out at you. I know almost from the minute I meet an actor for the first time, whether they take responsibility for their career, whether they are doing the work in order to get the results they want. There are some actors who want the result without doing the work. I have no patience for that,” Flores insisted.
A Typical Audition
“We very rarely have the actors improvise. My clients know I don’t like surprises and I don’t want actors to be surprised. So, as long as the actors are forewarned about something, I’m okay with that. I’ll notice that a director is tossing an additional scene into auditions and I’ll go down and prepare the waiting actors for that. I try to give actors as much time to prepare as possible. I want actors to know everything that I know about the role, where we’ll be reading in the script, rehearsal and performance dates, money, contract, who will be in the audition, all of that. Agents always would ask the same thing, so I finally put it all in an info sheet and started saying, ‘Let me just fax it to you.’ I’d like it if the agents would then fax that to their clients. I don’t know why they don’t do that,” Flores admitted.
“I love my actors,” Flores continued. “I have utmost respect for my agents because I know how little money they’re making on this and how dedicated they need to be to their actors to allow them to go off and do theatre for a certain amount of time.”
Pet Peeves
“Laziness. Lack of commitment, lack of responsibility, lack of respect,” Flores listed. At the time of our interview, Flores was holding last-minute auditions to replace the lead actor who had been cast two months earlier, but dropped out to take a smaller role in a bigger project. “I will never bring him in again. He made a commitment, he signed the contract. I cannot hire him again. It’s about a work ethic,” Flores summarized.
“I have fought for some of my clients to start coming to Los Angeles as opposed to Chicago or New York, but Los Angeles has such a bad reputation of actors who won’t come into an audition because they want to stay available for TV and film. Or who will come into an audition and then turn it down because they want to stay available for TV and film. Or who will come into an audition, book the role, and then back out because of TV or film. My job is more challenging during pilot season than any other time because of the way actors are tuned toward staying available for TV,” Flores admitted, noting that, had the interview taken place outside of pilot season, her pet peeve would simply be: laziness.
Advice for Actors
“Training.” What does Flores consider the best form of training? Theatre! “Even for TV and film actors, theatre is where you learn everything. It’s where you learn to be a better actor and a better human being, really. You can always tell a theatre actor,” Flores explained. “Wonderful film actors are committed to going back to theatre. Again, it’s about a commitment to grow and challenge yourself. Actors should be seeing theatre, doing theatre, reading plays. I find that actors will limit themselves by not experiencing theatre.
Krista Jackson is an actress I auditioned and used in chorus all the time. About a year-and-a-half ago, she told me she wanted to do more than chorus roles. I told her that as long as she could back that up with the work, I would support that position. She was my Evita last year and was really incredible. She made the commitment to see the decision through. She didn’t just talk about it. She did a lot of really hard work. That’s what I respect most in actors: hard work. The actors I hire work hard,” she concluded, proudly.
Flores continued listing her advice for actors by saying, “Actors need to know we’re on their side. I can’t speak for all casting directors, but I go out of my way to make it easier on the actor. Acting can be so isolating. Actors need to remember that there are so many people who are on their side. The hierarchy makes it so that actors have no control and no say. Part of the reason I do theatre is because actors do theatre because they want to, not for the money or the prestige. Those are people I like to know.”
Self-evaluation is important to Flores. “If actors don’t get a job, they need to examine why. I have such respect for actors who call to get feedback, or have their agents call for feedback. Every audition is a growing experience, an opportunity to learn about yourself. If you don’t get the job, it’s not always about us, it’s not always about them – and I hate to even put it in ‘us’ and ‘them’ terms. Learn from it. It’s, again, about the commitment,” she concluded.
One last piece of advice regarding auditions: “I wish actors would utilize the LORT/EPA auditions. Don’t call me because you want me to see you. Pay attention to when the call is and show up for it! I’ll sit here all day during a LORT audition, and just a handful of actors will show up. If you want the job, you should take advantage of that,” Flores insisted.
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
No need for an agent, as far as Flores is concerned. “I am incredibly actor-friendly. Any actor who knows me knows that. I am only as good as the actors I know and the actors I love. Some of these actors I’ve known for the 15 years I’ve been casting. We’ve grown up together! They call me directly. I can have this open-door policy because actors call me, but they don’t badger me. They’re smart about it. They’re human about it. Actors treat me with respect. I’ll call actors directly if they’re not with an agent, or I’ll call them with notes after an audition,” Flores included, in her description of her open relationship with actors.
Her Biggest Casting Challenge
“Finding people who are committed enough and skilled enough for the roles that I need. It’s a happy challenge.”
What She Would Change About the Casting Process
“I’ve pretty much changed everything I didn’t like about casting sessions. I always hated that actors are the low man on the totem pole. In giving them more information, I’m trying to give them more control. I put a lot of thought into hiring a reader. I greet all of my actors personally and walk them into the sessions. I always say, ‘It’s great to have you here.’ I know what it takes. Actors give up a lot to do theatre. I have no delusion over what it takes to do it. I wish there were a way I could help make actors more prepared, but I do everything I can. I try that with the info sheet and making the whole script available, giving the actors as much time as possible. I usually start making appointments at least two weeks ahead of time,” Flores explained.
Most Gratifying Part of Her Job
“It’s the magic. I am so incredibly blessed to have this job. I’m getting to see it all happen. I’m there from the very beginning. I miss all of the rehearsals, which is sad, but to see it all work out from the director’s first phone calls with me to putting people in roles to seeing it all click in performances, it really is magic.”
This interview was conducted on February 12, 2002, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.