Karen Divisek and her younger sister, Barbara, have spent the last several decades running what they describe as a family business. Karen, who studied constitutional law at Berkeley, first got involved with casting when she worked for the late Marsha Kleinman. Shortly after, Kleinman was offered a position at Paramount and entrusted the commercial end of her business to Karen. After graduating from high school, Barbara joined her sister in casting and a longtime partnership ultimately evolved. Now, after more than two decades and a massive list of credits to their name, the sisters Divisek have worked on just about every conceivable product, in every conceivable location, using the talents of celebrities, union, non-union, real people, athletes, kids and various barn-yard animals. They number James Ivory and the Coen Brothers among the many directors with whom they’ve worked.
BARBARA DIVISEK: I attempt to keep the ship sailing straight with organization. Karen provides the creative support. Nobody can give more to actors than Karen can. I think Karen is unbelievable at taking an actor and telling them how to turn something into their own words and make it their own. She’s brilliant at it. I’m too busy thinking about administrative stuff. That’s our balance.
KAREN DIVISEK: Barbara also looks at every picture that comes into the office. She makes the first cut of weeding out. Then I’ll weed, then she’ll re-weed. Sometimes we disagree but we do it together. Our brother works with us too. He’s one of our main session directors.
BARBARA DIVISEK: And my husband keeps the place running from an equipment standpoint. He’s also the one who got us to start teaching commercial acting. He said that we had a lot to offer and we’d get more back from teaching. He’s right; teaching is enormously gratifying.
BARBARA DIVISEK: It’s important that the actor comes in looking like their picture. But beyond that, it’s not important if a picture has a glossy or matte finish. That doesn’t matter as long as it’s a true representation of the person walking through that door. It makes us crazy when it’s not!
KAREN DIVISEK: Current photos help an actor’s credibility. If you’re shopping for a house and you see a picture and then you get there and the house doesn’t look anything like the picture, you’re gonna be a little bit bummed. It’s the same thing with an actor. You see their picture and you’re all excited; you can’t wait to meet them—and then what walks in is completely different. If a photograph isn’t representative, then the actor is seeing themselves as vastly different from who they really are. So then, when I read their résumé, I wonder how much is really true.
KAREN DIVISEK: A slate should be reflective of you as a human being. Not, as some actors think of the character, but as the real you. Never slate as the character because the client may totally change the character. As an example, we were auditioning beautiful women for a fragrance and the breakdown wanted them to be mean and bitchy. So a couple of the girls chose to take on that attitude when they slated. We absolutely loved the way one actress looked. She was perfect— but the clients wouldn’t give her a callback because they thought she was too nasty in her slate and in her reading and that she had nothing else to offer. So then the client realized that he wanted something else. But the actress had already taken herself out of the running by slating in character. Casting often is a learning process for everyone. It sometimes tells the client what they don’t want as much as it tells them what they do.
The slate is your five seconds to show them who is you are and who is going to show up on the set. I’ve heard directors and agency people talking and they’ll love three actors so it will come down to, “Yeah, but who do we really want to hang out with all day?” Oh, and never slate using your agency. What if the ad agency doesn’t have a good relationship with your agent? They shouldn’t be distracted with information they don’t need.
KAREN DIVISEK: As I mentioned, every submission that comes through this office is looked at. Barbara goes through every single picture.
BARBARA DIVISEK: I feel that if someone spent the time to get a picture here, the least we can do is look at it.
KAREN DIVISEK: We can’t keep them all, but we do look. We’d need a building the size of Costco if we kept them all!
All the time. Especially with ‘real people.’ I remember when we Taft-Hartleyed Michael J. Fox for his McDonald’s commercial, he was already being brought in to audition for Family Ties. Although we had hired him, a week and a half later when we wanted him, he had been signed to the series and that was the end of that.
KAREN DIVISEK: There are people who can make magic, who can go through that lens and make three dimensions out of two. You can tell. There is something about the way they are with the camera and the way it translates. Some beautiful people don’t translate well to the screen. Part of it is relaxation and part of it is being able to silence the little voice inside of your head that critiques and makes you self-conscious.
Also, the people who are successful in our business are the people who are always working on their craft.
BARBARA DIVISEK: Actors can also do research by just being current with what’s out there. They should look and see what commercials they think they’re right for and know what their personal market is.
KAREN DIVISEK: And what are the people wearing in those commercials? Those are the kinds of clothes they should have in their wardrobes for auditioning. It’s interesting because theatrically it’s not really appropriate to dress the part for an audition but commercially, it is.
BARBARA DIVISEK: Of course, if we’re seeing people to play nurses we don’t want everyone to run out and buy uniforms. But my husband is an actor and he has a doctor’s lab coat that he uses quite often. He also has a photographer’s vest so that he can look like a safari guy. It’s not a requirement but it can help to give the flavor.
KAREN DIVISEK: When I started in this business, twenty people was a cattle call. Now it’s not unusual to have sixty people at a callback! Also, more people are making decisions in terms of casting. When I started, the director normally got his way and worked in close conjunction with the agency/producer. They had a game plan. The director shot the commercial, cut the commercial, and the first time the client was shown anything was the finished cut. Now the client is involved with pre-production and casting and it’s much more complex.
KAREN DIVISEK: When an actor comes in to audition, he is being asked to act. He is not being asked to write, to direct, to prop or give opinions. He is being asked to come in and fulfill what is on the page and to make the translation into a performance. Common sense and knowing that this is a business are the most important tools.
BTV Management and Productions (Karen Divisek)
604.600.6901
5414 Beverly Hill St. Suite #10. Houston, TX 77056
Barbara Divisek Casting
818.726.5805