Gaby

It was really interesting how each actor can really bring new light or change my thoughts on what we wanted for a character. Some actors really could shine through the content and bring a character to life, their individual personalities really translating what we wanted to capture when filming this series. Whilst many actors would be very comfortable in getting the job done  – several being perfect ‘cookie cutter’ personalities for the traits we were after – we really kept pushing to find that perfect person to really bring the character off the paper! Some roles which were designed to be more point of view and neutral characters have really evolved into special ones now that we have found the actors we wanted, after certain auditions the team and I couldn’t see anyone else playing that role and we knew they were exactly what we wanted all along. It was quite a funny experience as in the beginning we had trouble describing who we needed but after those auditions it all seemed so simple.

(Link to casting call: https://www.starnow.com.au/listing/879874/diverse-cast- wanted-office-style-web- series-comedy- rmit/)

After completing the casting process, I have found myself with an in-depth understanding of the characters in our web series. It was a challenge to try communicate what you want from a character, to put energies and attitudes we have on paper into words to instruct the actors is much more difficult than I thought. By the end of the two-day casting period, I was really effective at explaining what we were looking for from the actors and was able to instruct the actors and draw out new ways for them to portray our characters. Seeing each actor come though and put their own spin on the character was a very constructive process in further developing our characters, after each actor came through there was discussion with my two team members allowing us to refine and tweak our ideas for what we were expecting. Having our project’s Director and one of the script writers present allowed for really diversified conversations on what we wanted, what was supposed to be translated through the script and character and where we think we could take the characters in the future, I know that after this experience each of us can take this useful insight back to the rest of the team and really move the project forward.

It has been really exciting speaking to each actor post their audition and understanding why they were interested in the project, many of them loved the script and really took to the humour. The actors thought the series was unique and something they haven’t seen, they all seemed ecstatic to be there and really believe it had potential. This was both humbling and gratifying to know our work was translating well and people were not only understanding what we wanted, but loving our content too! Overall, it was a really rewarding experience and greatly beneficial to my broader understanding of the future of our project.