Casting can be a very personal job, especially when you work on projects that you know are important – to you and to the world. Tammara Billik knew, when casting Ellen, that she was a part of something that would make television history. In her nearly 20 years in casting, Billik has worked on the films ET, Brewster’s Millions, and Streets of Fire, as well as the series Married… with Children, Unhappily Ever After, and, of course, Ellen. She stays grounded by focusing on what’s really important: real life.
First Casting Job
Billik began as an intern with Mike Fenton and Jane Feinberg while she was an undergrad at UCLA. Between answering phones and opening mail, she became involved in the casting of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Road to This Position
After graduation, Billik began working in the office of Judith Holstra and Marcia Ross as a casting assistant. It was at Embassy Television, “where I got my first break, which was casting Married… with Children.” She was the casting associate on the pilot and the first 12 episodes and then became the casting director for the show, a position she held for seven years. “I like the pace of TV casting. There’s some longevity to it, being a part of a series. It’s like a family. You really connect with people.” That was certainly the case with Ellen DeGeneres, who brought Billik on to cast her show, and who hired her again in 2000, to cast the pilot for the star’s variety show. She also cast Nikki and that was due to a relationship created in doing Unhappily Ever After.
Coolest Casting Gig
“By far, the best thing I ever did was working on Ellen. I thought it was an amazing experience. In half-hour we don’t generally get an opportunity to do things that are important or emotional. I got to be part of something that was important to me personally and professionally, and something that was important to the world, I think. That was, by far, the highlight of my casting career; working on the coming out episode and the subsequent episodes, it was really just amazing how it all came together. It was this team of people working together in secret, basically because there was so much talk going on. It was very, very exciting and personally fulfilling. It was a remarkable time. I’m very connected within the gay and lesbian community and I felt the build, I felt the shift, and it was important. We knew exactly what we were doing.”
Key Things She Looks for in an Actor
Billik believes that training indicates a seriousness about one’s career. “It’s about the business of acting and not just wanting to be a star.” She also looks for that intangible spark we hear so much about. “You just see it when an actor comes in the door.” Also important to Billik are commitment and preparation, as well as a sense of humor. “This is a tough business for an actor and I think actors have to be balanced.” This sense of balance, Billik indicated, is how actors can have enthusiasm for the work, rather than desperation for it.
Favorite Audition Tale
When Billik cast an episode of Married… with Children set in a Chippendale’s Bar, she auditioned actors with a specific look, rather than looking for extensive training. An auditioning actor spoke his lines, as well as the stage directions. “He was talking to Peggy Bundy and said, ‘Yes, Mrs. Bundy, I do work here at Chippendale’s. He turns to her and smiles.’ I pulled the actor aside and said, ‘Y’know, the stage directions are to be read silently.'” When the actor began again, he made an adjustment: he whispered. “No one in the room would make eye contact because we knew we were going to burst out laughing.”
Pet Peeves
The usual: unprepared actors. This includes being unprepared with sides and not knowing anything about the show for which the actor is auditioning. “There’s nothing worse than an actor coming in, particularly for the producer session, and saying, ‘Is this a sitcom?’ That actually happens!”
Advice for Actors
“Study. Train constantly.” Billik believes that a degree in theatre is not enough. “There are a lot of differences between what you learn in your theatre department in college and what will get you a job in Hollywood.” She suggests learning audition technique, sitcom acting, the business of acting. “It would be really great if we could all be artistic, but understanding the business part of it makes the difference between working and not working.”
Best Way to Get Seen by Her
An agent is the easiest way in, but Billik’s office covers showcases, workshops, small theatre, large theatre, all of it. “If you’re in something – a play – or have an appearance on television, a postcard is a good idea.” Billik will do general auditions for non-represented actors on occasion, “but we’re a very busy office, so we tend to be more open to seeing represented actors.”
Her Opinion on Alternative Submission Methods
Billik feels that electronic submission is the wave of the future, “but it’s still not perfected. A lot of us are used to doing it the old-fashioned way, and so it’s taking time for casting directors to get used to looking at submissions online. Maybe in about five years, we’ll all be doing it.” She finds immediacy to be the greatest benefit to online casting, going online almost exclusively when there is a role to fill on short notice.
Her Operating System
Working on several shows at once requires organization. “We compartmentalize. We color code. We’re just very good at juggling.” Billik keeps the headshots of every actor she sees, and every envelope is opened. “We don’t keep all the submissions, just ones from actors we want to meet when have an appropriate part.”
An Interesting Sidebar
Billik feels that all casting directors are great with faces and names. “It’s the nature of the job. It’s one of the weird little things. I can remember their names and faces. Everyone’s. I remember everything. But, I’m also a lawyer.” Yep, Billik attended law school at night while casting Married… with Children. “After the writer’s strike in 1988, I was off work for eight months and I realized that, other than casting, I didn’t really have any other marketable skills. So, I figured I’d better do something so that, if there’s another writer’s strike, I have something else I can do. So, I went to law school, took the bar, passed the bar, and never practiced. What ended up happening was Ellen called me and said, ‘Will you come do my show?’ That’s why I ended up not going into law. I would’ve practiced, were it not for that.”
Highlight of Her Week
Billik’s highlight comes from outside the casting office, when she spends time with her godchildren. “They’re great kids. If I have a bad day at work, I stop in on the way home before they go to bed and play with them for an hour and it puts everything in perspective.”
Most Gratifying Part of Her Job
“I love that I get paid just for talking to people. I think it’s a lot of fun. I find actors to be very interesting, dynamic people. I enjoy speaking with them and helping them if I can, giving them any sort of tips on how to get the job. The best part of my job, I guess, is seeing an actor who has come in and preread for me and I’ve given some sort of instruction to and then watching them go and nail it in a producers audition and get the gig. Very gratifying!”
This interview was conducted on August 8, 2000, and it originally appeared in Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews by Bonnie Gillespie, available at Amazon.