For Michael Greer, casting is a family business. Her daughter, Kim Hodgert, a motion picture talent agent at CAA, led Greer into the industry. “I’m in the business because of her,” Greer said, indicating that Hodgert’s childhood aspirations opened Greer to the world that would become her career.
First Casting Job
Greer started out at Paramount Studios, working on Webster and Brothers as an associate under Vicki Rosenberg. “That’s when they had a staff, but they stopped having a staff about five months later,” Greer said with a laugh.
Road to This Position
“That’s a long road!” she continued. Greer left Paramount along with Rosenberg and continued working with her for a few years. “Then I worked with Nan Dutton for a couple of years. Since then, I’ve transitioned from working in partnerships on various projects to working on my own,” Greer concluded.
Coolest Casting Gig
Feature film Attraction was Greer’s most recent favorite project. She cast this movie, starring Samantha Mathis and Tom Everett Scott, in 2000. “It was written and directed by someone I think is very talented, Russell DeGrazier. He also wrote the movie Sunset Strip starring Jared Leto,” Greer explained. “He’s very talented and he’s wonderful with actors.” Greer cited his respect for actors as a key factor in her enjoyment of the project. “He’d have them read the scene and then would just talk with them about their own lives. Then he’d have them do the scene again, with those thoughts in mind.” Greer said she got to see actors do something even they didn’t realize they could do, based on the subtle suggestions DeGrazier made in the casting sessions. “He had an ability to get actors to give their best. Invariably, when the actors left, I’d get a call a half-hour later from the agents saying, ‘He really, really wants to do this,'” Greer recalled.
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
“That’s tough,” Greer admitted. She indicated that there is nothing very specific that she looks for. “I like [an actor] to take it seriously and be prepared, but there are so many things actors bring with them when they read for a role that sometimes make you see the role in ways that you hadn’t imagined,” Greer explained. “Sometimes it may be interesting but not really work for the project. Other times, it brings dimension that suddenly makes the role come to life and often is not even what the writer imagined, making it a more interesting role. That’s the exciting thing about actors; they bring something of themselves that changes how you see a role,” Greer concluded.
Pet Peeves
Actors who are not prepared. According to Greer, there is no excuse for not being prepared. “Sides are available online or by fax. When I first started, [actors] had to come pick them up, and they would drive across town to do so. These days, they can get them anywhere,” Greer insisted. “To come in, especially for a producer session, and not be prepared? It’s inexcusable. You wouldn’t do that in any other profession. You wouldn’t do that with a board meeting. This is the career you’ve chosen. Take it seriously. It’s called show business,” Greer emphasized.
Advice for Actors
“I’m usually very truthful about how difficult this business is,” Greer explained. She expressed that success is not necessarily based on talent. “There’s so much luck involved. There are so many factors that go into why someone gets a role.”
Greer’s advice to the person who has chosen to work in an environment with so much risk? “Unless eating, breathing, and acting is what you have to do to live, you should do something else.” Greer added, “If what I tell you discourages you, you really need to get another profession. The people who succeed are the ones who are determined to do so. They look at it as a career, they work at it, they study, they’re in plays and doing anything they can to put themselves in front of an audience. They may not become big stars, but they’ll work in this business and they’ll have a career, because they’re determined to. If you are determined to succeed at anything, you will,” Greer concluded.
Her Opinion on Alternative Submission Methods
Greer certainly sees Internet submissions and online casting resources as the future, and one that’s not too far off, either. “It isn’t used as much at the moment because many casting directors aren’t computer literate. That will change,” she said. Once casting directors realize the power of holding a casting session in another state over the Internet, according to Greer, that change will come quickly. “It’s a more efficient way to submit actors, but casting directors themselves need to look at it. That’s the holdup at this moment. There’s a snowball effect with technology. In a very brief time, we’ve come to rely on fax machines, answering machines, and cellular phones,” Greer explained.
In addition to the lag in adopting new casting methods, Greer detailed a very practical reason that casting directors do not utilize the tools already in place. “Most of us are independent. We change offices. Not every casting director is provided with computer access in each production office.” Is Greer cyber-savvy? “I’m becoming a techie! I don’t understand how it works, but I understand what it can do. I want everything that is out there. I’m lusting over the new Mac laptop. I’ve got a website now that’s going to allow me to coach and advise actors over the Internet.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
“It’s hard to say,” she began. “If you’re with an agent who I know really well and who has taste I respect, if they recommend you strongly, I very definitely will see you. Otherwise it’s getting yourself in front of audiences as much as possible; doing workshops, doing plays. If you’re with some obscure agent, I may not see you [through that agent’s submission]. I love theatre, and I attend theatre as often as I can,” Greer revealed.
What She Would Change About the Casting Process
“I don’t think I would change anything. I’ve often said it’s a strange process, but it’s the only way that we can do it. I sometimes think to myself, after a casting session, if people believed that this is what I do for a living, that people walk in and I say hello to them and then they might lie on the floor and writhe in pain, for example, and then they get up and say thank you and leave, you’d think that’s a very odd thing for me to do for a living. But it’s the only way we have to judge, really,” Greer said, shrugging.
Highlight of Her Week
Casting sessions. “I do enjoy reading with actors.”
Most Gratifying Part of Her Job
Assembling a cast of actors whose personalities create a relationship of its own. “You don’t always have the resources to get the actors you want, with money and scheduling, but it’s wonderful when you have something in mind and it comes together and it works really well.”
This interview was conducted on May 21, 2001, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.