Maverick casting director Billy DaMota came to Los Angeles from San Francisco to play guitar on a record a friend of his was recording. After meandering through a variety of jobs, he gravitated to casting by serving as an assistant casting director on such films as The Running Man and Three Amigos. After four years, he became an associate casting director on the film Colors. His first film as a full-fledged casting director was Miracle Mile. Although he enjoyed casting the studio feature Above the Law, he now prefers to cast independent films. Never having left his passion for music behind, he still plays guitar with the group, “Shelly O’Neill and the Big Way.”
I see a lot of people without agents or union affiliations. I think it’s stupid for a casting director not to look at unsolicited material. They are only cutting off an area that can be a source of great talent. You don’t want to be the one who didn’t discover a major talent just because you didn’t want to open your mail. I want to know who’s out there. I’ve Taft-Hartleyed over two hundred people in my career. And the reason I get involved with so many people is because I want to cast the best person for the role.
What I don’t like though, is when an actor sends me a picture and résumé without a cover letter. Write something like, “I understand you’re working on a project I might be right for,” or, “I just moved from Chicago and I would like to do a scene for you,” or, “I’m in a play at the Fountain Theatre, could you come and see me?” Those are the people whose pictures I’ll keep and who I’ll call at a later date, when they are right for something. Tell me what you want. Take some initiative!
I look for actors who have a lot of training and lots of theatre experience. I would rather see those actors than a so-called name or an actor who has been doing soaps for five years. Actors who have made a name for themselves in some nighttime show or soap can fall into some bad acting habits and become talking heads. I don’t think soaps make bad actors, but actors can get lazy.
Absolutely. If I see potential in a reading, I’ll do anything I can to work with that actor to bring out what I believe the director is looking for, and not let somebody just slip through my fingers. And I never assume that the actor I am reading at the moment is either the worst or the best there is until I have seen everybody. Sometimes I see a person who is great, then another comes along and blows them away. And sometimes the best actor of the day is not necessarily great at first, but I will work with them. Why see twenty actors when you can see three really good ones who just need a little direction?
The auditors are referring to the general nature of the personality of the actor. What we all buy is the essence of who that person is. But that person is also hired to do a good job of creating a character. Their essence still has to radiate through that character.
So if the actor can find a way to get the script and how the scene they’re reading fits within the context of that script, they can more easily come up with genuine inner connections between themselves and the characters they’re going to read. This gives them an edge over probably 90 percent of the other actors.
Those are the actors who usually don’t know how to do the work and allow it to be fresh every time. There is a way you can study a part without driving it into the ground, without making it stale. The more information you have, the more power you have to create a better character. To me the most important thing to see in a reading is whether an actor really understands the character.
No. But I recommend that the actor stop the audition before they finish it— even if they are being taped. Once you get through it, they’re not going to let you do it again. You can’t just say, “I don’t really think I nailed it, can I do it again?” They will say, “No, thank you, that was very, very good. Goodbye. Next.” Actors have rights. We as casting directors depend on you the actors to keep us working. We want you to be as good as you can. So when you come into the office and read, and you don’t think you’re on the right track, tell us you’d like to start over again. Apply your rights.
When you work for the big studios you realize how much of a secretary you can be turned into. There are so many cooks that your creative visions get lost in the mix and you wind up having no control over the final process at all. But on independent films, you sometimes work with first time directors who are very open to new and young talent. That is to say, actors who have not necessarily achieved any track record or don’t have any name value yet. Therefore, I don’t have to worry about satisfying the Studio Marketing Department, but rather the director who wants to put together the best cast he can.
Another reason I like to work on independent films is the fact that, as an independent contractor, I’m not on staff and I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do and go wherever I want to go.
If you look at the breakdowns, almost any day, you’ll see that most of the films being released are independent films. Sometimes they only pay scale plus ten, but they are incredible opportunities for unknown actors who haven’t yet had the opportunity to appear in a studio picture.
In the old days, when you came to Los Angeles, your agents and your managers groomed you and gave you the tools and vehicles to become a star. There is no “studio system” to groom you any longer. As a result, nowadays actors are just wandering around out there, aimlessly. They are waiting for something to happen without doing the work and without laying the foundation. Ninety percent of actors come in to their audition unprepared. They pick up sides five minutes before they come in for a major supporting character. They have made no choices, have no direction, haven’t come up with any character. They ask me, “How do you want to see this character?” I want to see what you have created for me. If you’re not there with your teeth sunk into a character, then you aren’t ready to read for me. It’s the other 10 percent of actors who know what they are doing, who are excited about the project and who understand the character that get the parts. I want every actor who comes in to see me to be excited that they’re doing this for a living. I want everybody, from the smallest day player to the leads, to be excited that they are there. If they’re not excited, they shouldn’t be there.
Everybody has a dream—whether they want to be the best garbage man or the best actor. Everybody has a goal they set up in their life about places they want to go. But actors often get so involved with the business side of their career that they forget why they got into the business in the first place. And I see this in actors’ eyes—they become dead. They become uninspired. When an actor walks into my office, what I look for is that glow in their eyes that says they still have that dream. The day they lose the fire for what they want is the day they have to get out of the business.
When an actor has that fire in their eyes and that passion in their soul, then nothing can stop them. The credo by which I live is this: “Whatever the mind of a human can conceive and believe in, it can achieve.”
Billy DaMota Casting
13425 Ventura Blvd #200. Sherman Oaks, CA 91423