Patrick Rush has a reputation for being kind to actors. His genuine affection for performers comes through in words and deeds. “I want the audition process to be painless for everyone but me,” he said. “It’s never going to be painless for me because, after you walk away, I stay in the room. I’m on pins and needles while the producers decide whether we need another session. If the session ends and they tell me they love several of the actors equally, that’s a good day.”
From the 7th floor Everwood casting office in Burbank, Rush and his associate, Alyson Silverberg, populate the eclectic world in which the Brown family lives. The show is shot on location in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Rush takes great pleasure in bringing an actor to producers on a Thursday and having him fly to SLC on Friday to join “the family we have assembled.”
First Casting Job
Assisting Julie Selzer and Sally Dennison in casting the features Robocop 2 and The Accused. “I think it’s a fun job. I really liked the idea of casting. It seemed creative. I still like the idea of casting,” Rush commented. “We’re the first people hired on. It’s great to be involved with something creative from the very beginning.”
Coolest Casting Gig
Rush couldn’t single out one gig. In addition to naming his current project as coolest (see Currently Casting), he named episodic underdog Party of Five and the Danny DeVito/Billy Crystal feature Throw Momma from the Train. Why these two (out of a casting resume that includes the feature film Bounce and hit episodics such as Dawson’s Creek, The Pretender, and Farscape)?
“Throw Momma from the Train was an assistant job for me with Julie and Sally. And Momma was my idea,” Rush recalled. Anne Ramsey—the only woman who could have possibly played the horrific Momma—was brought in by an assistant? Yep. “She and I went to the same dermatologist when I was in high school. We would be there on the same day and she would always tell me about stuff she was in. When the need for Momma came up, I knew she was perfect. They had seen everyone. They kept looking and looking and then finally, they said, ‘Fine! Bring that woman in!’ Within three hours, she had the part.”
As for Party of Five, Rush’s fondness stems from the heart and soul the show had. “I loved Party of Five. I worked on it for the four years I was with Liberman Hirschfeld Casting. That was an amazing experience—a great place to work. Meg [Liberman] and Marc [Hirschfeld] are such craftsmen, artists, hard workers. I left Liberman Hirschfeld [Casting] a better casting director than I would have ever been, had I not worked there,” Rush insisted.
Currently Casting
WB breakout hit Everwood. “I love Everwood. I loved the pilot script. It had so many different characters, so many different types of characters. And ever since casting the pilot, it’s been a pleasure to cast more than the usual five 30-year-old guys every week. We’re casting people in their 60s all the way to teenagers. This show has allowed me to bring in some of my favorite actors I hadn’t been able to work with because they’re not normally up for series regular roles at pilot season,” Rush explained. Everwood ranks as a coolest gig also due to the writing. “Greg Berlanti [show creator, producer, and writer] is so wise. He’s smart and he writes great voices for the characters. This whole writing staff that is assembled just makes each week better and better.”
What about actors?
“Our budget allows us to send five guest stars per episode—which is a decent amount—and a lot of those are brought back as recurring [characters],” Rush revealed. Everwood was the first one-hour episodic to be picked up for the whole season this year. Now that the back nine episodes are scheduled, Rush is busily casting three new episodes every month. “[Star] Treat [Williams] is very passionate about the project,” Rush said. “He’ll call me with suggestions. Now we’ve cast John Savage [with whom Williams worked in Hair] as a hermit who lives with a bear after his wife has left him for his brother. Treat has to go to him because now his brother needs a kidney,” he explained of a typically-bizarre storyline.
Key Things He Looks for in an Actor
Preparation. “I am amazed when people are off book,” Rush declared. “It doesn’t matter whether you hold the sides in your hand or not. I can tell the difference between reading and being prepared. And being prepared includes knowing what you’re auditioning for. This is especially important when you come to producers. Don’t come in and gush about the show, but at least see it before you come in. Or call friends and ask them about the show. You have to know its tone. This is part of your homework.”
Is training important? “Well, yes. But there are plenty of well-trained bad actors out there. I say that because—trained or not trained—actors go through the same process here: preread, read, producer callbacks, testing at the network, testing at the studio. You either have it or you don’t. It’s a gift and it can shine through if you work on it. But the most important thing to learn is how to get up in front of people and share that gift.”
Advice for Actors
“Acting must be your passion. It has to be. There is so much rejection, and it is so much easier on my side of the desk. I’m not saying casting is an easy job by any means, but I don’t have to go out and interview two or three times a week to get a job. It’s hard. It’s heartbreaking. And the only way to combat that is to have something else going on in your life—friends, family, volunteer work—that allows you to be of love and service. You must have a whole life outside of what you do for a living so that you approach auditions relaxed,” Rush advised.
An actor delivers his best audition, according to Rush, when there is no way he will book the job. “An agent will call me in the morning to tell me that an actor who is coming in for me in the afternoon just booked a job that will conflict with our shoot dates, but the actor still wants to come in and read for me, so that I can keep him in mind for something in the future. One hundred percent of the time, that is the actor the producers want to hire. The actor just throws it away more or doesn’t have that desperation or nervousness. That’s the way all auditions should be.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Him
“I go through all of my mail,” Rush insisted, pulling a stack of headshots and postcards out to show me what, specifically, would catch his eye, when opening the mail. “I pull pictures that stand out, I pull different types, I pull ones with smart cover letters. Here,” he began, as he flipped a postcard onto his desk in front of me, “I loved her name. It’s just whatever grabs me,” he summarized with a shrug.
Rush strongly recommended the use of postcards in an actor’s quest to get in front of him. “Postcards are the most reasonable way to send yourself out. It costs less [than sending an 8×10] and it works.” He also scouts at theatre, and therefore advised actors to drop him a postcard when they will be performing and want him to attend the show.
How Far He’ll Go to Cast You
Rush was working on the short-lived episodic series Time of Your Life when he spotted a Hal Ozsan in a series of telephone commercials. “He was great. I kept thinking, ‘I’ve got to use this guy.’ So, I put out a search in the Breakdowns to find him, cast him in the show, used him again on The Pretender, Freakylinks, and now he’s a recurring character on Dawson’s Creek. He’s just great. He delivers every time he is in the room.”
Most Gratifying Part of His Job
“I am so lucky to get to do this for a living. I am humbled by the fact that I get a paycheck for this. Actors think they’ve cornered the market on insecurity and that’s just not true. Every time I drive up to the gate and say my name, I am thrilled that the guard actually pushes the button for the arm to go up to let me on the lot. It’s amazing.”
This interview was conducted on October 23, 2002, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.