Julie Ashton stresses the word “director” in “casting director.” “I’ll always ask the producer after an actor reads, ‘Do you want to give the actor notes?'” If the producer’s answer is, “No,” you can count on Ashton to step in with notes of her own. “There are benefits to reading with me because I’m going to help you nail it,” she said, during our interview in the new offices of Julie Ashton Casting in the Miracle Mile.
Ashton has much to be proud of in her new venture, including the fact that the two pilots she cast earlier this year have been picked up. After unpacking, she took a vacation just long enough to allow her to relax before getting back to work. Lucky for the community of actors, this is work for which Ashton has a passion.
First Casting Job
With casting director Caro Jones. “I was one of her readers. Reading with the actors was my first experience in a casting office on a day-to-day basis. Working in Caro’s office just clicked for me. She is an amazing person,” Ashton recalled.
“I’d been an actress for about five-and-a-half minutes,” she joked. “I was smart enough to know that I was not very good at it. Working as a reader opened my eyes to the fact that I was better-suited to casting.”
Road to This Position
Ashton moved on to assist Mike Fenton and Judy Taylor in 1989. By 1992, she worked as associate casting director for the feature film Bad Girls and continued on with Fenton & Associates until 1996. “I got a call from Saban Entertainment [producers of the Power Rangers series]. They were creating a talent and casting department and that allowed me to build a path there. It was really instrumental in my being able to open my own business. I got to create the department from scratch,” she explained.
When Saban merged into Fox Family Channel, Ashton became the head of casting there. “I worked so hard. We cast 54 projects in the first year. My group of casting directors was so amazing. We didn’t farm out anything. In 1999, I became non-exclusive, which was the gift of a lifetime. My contract with [the new] ABC Family Channel permitted me to cast other things, which allowed me to be on my feet by the end of last year, when my contract ended. That’s how I was able to get my own business set up. I would’ve never expected this is where my job with Saban would lead,” Ashton marveled.
Coolest Casting Gig
“There is no one coolest gig. I love all my projects. I love it all,” Ashton exclaimed.
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
Preparation. “If you haven’t prepared, how do you make choices about your acting? How can you hear notes from the director and make changes? It’s so obvious, but you’d be surprised how many actors come in without having prepared. You should know the material really well. In TV, we try to get you the material 24 hours ahead. But you need to be able to hear the director say, ‘You’re not right for this role, but would you read this one,’ and be ready to make choices. If you need time to look over the material, ask to go out and come back in. I respect that. But you should be able to learn the material quickly. Take a class in cold reading,” Ashton advised.
Pet Peeves
Tardy actors. “It drives me nuts,” she stated. What bothers Ashton is not that actors arrive late, but that arriving late affects the performance they deliver. “Being late makes you scattered. Call me or have your agent call me if you’re going to be late and let’s push the meeting back. Don’t come in here saying you just got the material. Kids do it cold. Kids are amazing in their ability to memorize something so quickly. Adults don’t seem to tap into it as easily, but we can. That’s an important skill to develop. It’s all about you in that room. Just remember that producers don’t ask the scattered actor back. Without exception, I find it’s the well-prepared actor who gets the part.”
Another issue that bugs Ashton is the increase in the number of actors who will not preread. “An agent will call and say that the actor will only come in if he or she can go straight to producers. I can’t take the risk that we’ll waste the producers’ time with a poor fit. They could be brilliant actors, but not right for that particular role,” she said, noting that the very nature of her job is to handle prescreening prior to bringing actors to the producers.
“I trust agents to send me the best actors. Producers trust me to weed through them and bring the best of the best to them. Actors, do yourselves a favor and tell your agent, ‘I’ll preread for anything,’ to make sure you’re not being kept away from me,” Ashton advised.
Advice for Actors
Ashton explained the importance of focusing on the business side of acting. “Be sensible. Treat acting like a business. Study the business end of it while you perfect your craft. Get a game plan in place and set goals. I equate the study of acting with becoming a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor, any of those professions. You do have to study and pay your dues and pound the pavement in order to succeed. Ultimately, acting is a job. A lot of it is fate, but your chances as an actor are much better if you have done the work required of you. You can’t rely on fate alone,” Ashton clarified.
Her advice on choosing material for generals was simple, but powerful. “Figure out what you’re good at. Pick material that you’re close to, that you’re good at, that you relate to. It’s just the easiest thing to do. Be sensible. If you are a comedic actor, don’t pick The Bell Jar for your monologue. I’m not trying to pigeonhole actors, I’m hoping to make a tough job easier for an actor by suggesting that,” she said.
Specific Advice on Improv Acting
“Get in an improv class. Be around other funny people. Learn what it is that really works in comedy,” she listed.
Ashton has seen hundreds of actors for sketch shows, and the auditions usually include an element of improvisation. One limitation Ashton has observed in these auditions is that actors do not tend to know their strengths. “Even Meryl Streep is better at one thing than another,” she said. “Figure out what you’re good at. Learn your strengths by being in a class and testing things out early on in your career. Find your forté. Hopefully, you will do everything you want, fulfill your dreams, and feel challenged on a daily basis. It is important to know what suits you. Acting is tough. Knowing your strengths will make it easier. I find nine out of ten actors don’t know what their strengths are.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
Agency referrals. “I do open every envelope and sometimes bring someone in who’s just graduated from a great college or had amazing theatre experiences,” Ashton added.
She regularly attends showcases (“I even go during pilot season,” Ashton claimed) at locations such as Area 51, the Improv, ACME, Improv Olympic, and the Groundlings. “You name it, I go to all of those shows. I’ve cast five sketch shows. I need to find new faces. The only way I’m going to do that is to be out. I can’t rely on agents to have all the best people. Sometimes great people just aren’t represented. I have to find them. So, be in something, and I’ll see you,” she insisted.
Her Opinion on Alternative Submission Methods
“I don’t do [Internet casting]. I’m old fashioned that way. I can take a tape to a producer easier than I can get a producer to pull your reel up on a computer.”
Most Gratifying Part of Her Job
“Working with an actor on a preread, having that actor go to producers with my notes in mind, seeing that actor get to network and then book the gig. To see that process through from A to Z and have the actor come up to me and say thanks; that’s what I find to be the most gratifying.”
This interview was conducted on April 19, 2002, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.