Patrick Rush is the seventh of eight children and, like many of his siblings, was a child actor, though, in his case, only briefly. Following two commercials and the subsequent teasing from his classmates, he gave up acting at the age of six and never wanted to do it again. After high school, he took a job in the mail room at Universal and was quickly promoted to a production assistant position for Peter Macgregor-Scott, on the film Gotcha. He went with Macgregor-Scott to Paramount to work on two more features, and it was there that his relationship with casting directors Julie Selzer and Sally Dennison began. His association with them lasted eight years and began with assisting on such films as: The Accused, Throw Momma from the Train (for which Rush was responsible for bringing in Oscar nominee Anne Ramsey, after an exhaustive search), Heathers and the Robocop films. He eventually became an associate and then a partner with Selzer and Dennison. Subsequently, he spent three years at Liberman/Hirschfeld where, with Meg Liberman, he cast the highly acclaimed Party of Five. Rush’s other work includes the films: X-Files: The Movie, Look Who’s Talking Now, Suture and Lawnmower Man.
He was nominated with Meg Liberman and Marc Hirschfeld, for the Artios Award for his work on the nighttime special National Lampoon’s Favorite Deadly Sins, and won the award, along with Julie Selzer, for Outstanding Achievement in Mini-series Casting for Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Other TV credits include Supernatural, Chuck and Everwood.
Well, they’re actually bowling trophies. I’m on a league and my team, Alley of the Dolls, has won seven trophies. I think it’s important to have something you do outside of the office to make your life real. I love what I do but I’m not what I do for a living. I think that’s why I continue to enjoy and love casting. It should be the same for actors. Sometimes you’ll see an actress who went off and had a baby, for example, and now there’s something about her that’s different; her auditions are more relaxed because she realizes that there’s something more important. This isn’t the biggest deal in the world. This is Hollywood; it’s make believe!
I’m always looking for people who have the gift and I truly think that you either have it or you don’t. I don’t believe that Meryl Streep knows what she knows from an acting class. I think that’s a gift she has exercised and honed. You do have to go to class and you do have to train, but I really believe you have to start with a God-given gift.
As a casting director, I can never lose sight of the fact that my side of the desk is so much easier than the other side. My job is hard and stressful sometimes but if I do it right, it shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s so much harder for the actors. So I try as best I can not to forget that and to read well with them, to give them direction, to be friendly and polite, and to create an atmosphere of comfort. What in the world can I expect to get from an actor if I’m not looking up from the page or if I’m not watching what they’re doing? The actor’s job is hard enough, they don’t need me making things miserable. It can be different in a producers’ session, though. Those rooms can be quick and cold, so I think it’s important for actors to gauge the room. If you walk in and you feel that it’s cold, don’t try to warm it up. Say your lines and go home. Callbacks can be stickier than reading for me alone. It won’t be as friendly because the producers and director have a million other departments to worry about, not just casting. So I need to get in there, show them the best people I can, and get out. There’s not a lot of time for the room to be chatty and warm, when you’re lining up an hour’s worth of actors. Don’t try to change the feel of the room because you end up hanging yourself. And you’ll realize you’re hanging yourself as you do it and then you’re so self conscious, you’re not even in the reading anymore.
I have found really good actors at cold-reading workshops. Doing them is a chance for me to see as many as twenty-two actors in two hours. That’s something I probably couldn’t do in my normal work day. At a workshop, I can meet you, spend a little time with you, give you some sides and see you read. I have hired fifteen or sixteen people each season from workshops. They’re not coming in for the big guest star or recurring parts, but they’re coming in. Sometimes they payoff when they get into the office and sometimes they don’t. But I get such a nice feeling when I’m able to hire someone from the workshops because I know that I’m not just attending them for the buck. I see good people there. People often say that they don’t think it’s right because workshops are paid auditions. I understand that thinking but my response is, if an actor does a mass mailing and sends out a hundred pictures and résumés—which, once you add envelopes and postage, cost about two dollars each—how many casting directors are they actually going to meet? If the actor takes the same $200 they would spend on a mailing and applies it to workshops, they can actually meet people and hand them a picture in person. I think that’s much more valuable than a mailing. Although actors should be careful to pick workshops that are reputable and offer casting directors who work on shows the actor could conceivably be right for. Another thing about workshops - they’re called workshops for a reason. You work, I shop. I’m not there to teach an acting class. That’s not what I do. I can give direction— and I do—but I’m there to see your work.
When I see a fax of a headshot it usually means that the agent is out of pictures and I would never penalize an actor because the agent is out of pictures. But if you’re doing a mailing or submitting yourself, you should never be out of pictures. You must send your best shot, not a copy or a lithograph. If you’re going to spend your time and your energy on your craft, which you must love if you’re going to do this, why bother if you’re not going to give it your all? You don’t look as good in a litho.
Furthermore, for actors who do submit themselves, I want to say that things move so quickly in television that by the time an actor gets a breakdown and sends a picture, the role is often cast. Make sure, if you’re going to submit yourself, that you check the start date. Submit yourself for features or plays or MOWs, where you know that there’s time for the casting people to receive and go through the mail. I think it’s a waste for actors to submit themselves on episodic television. It just moves too fast.
Do not be rude to anyone—the assistant, the receptionist—no one. It’s not their fault if I’m running late or that we don’t validate. I’ve had people who’ve come in and read and whom I planned to call back until I heard that they were rude out front. If you’re rude in an office, how much of a nightmare are you going to be when you get on a set? I don’t want to hear back from producers that we’ve hired a problem. There’s no excuse for rudeness. Ever. I also don’t like actors who ask, “When are callbacks?” No one who’s ever asked has been even remotely close to getting one. If you are going to get a callback, you’ll find out, don’t worry. Do ask questions regarding the material. If you’re not sure how to pronounce a word, you should have looked it up before you got here. Don’t butcher a word and make yourself look stupid. Do the homework or ask. Otherwise, a great audition can end up in the toilet. I don’t ever want to be unapproachable to an actor. I’d rather you ask me all of that stuff before we get started, so you can focus on what it is that you need to do. And know what you’re auditioning for. Some people came in to audition for Party of Five thinking it was a sitcom. A good hint on that is, on the page, television sitcoms are double-spaced, dramas are single-spaced. Always. If you’re auditioning for a show you’ve never seen, call your friends and ask if they’ve seen it. Trusting the words on the page of a script that’s well written will help you immeasurably. And trust your instincts. Your instincts are what got you into the room. Sometimes I’ll be sitting with someone and we’ll be chatting before we read and I’ll think, “Oh, this is the person.” And then they start to read and they become these horrible, robotic monsters. I say, “Let’s do it again and do it the way we were chatting. Stop acting!” It’s amazing how many people can’t be themselves as soon as they start reading other people’s words. Whatever you’re auditioning for, read it as many times as you can so the words become your own. Give them your rhythms. You’re going to be either right or wrong for the role but if you’re wrong for the part and you audition well, it’s my job to remember you for parts you are right for.
I think there’s nothing harder than trying to be yourself and I don’t think actors have the market cornered there. I’m trying on a daily basis to be my authentic self. I’m trying right now, so people who are reading this won’t think I’m an idiot. Actors who have self-esteem issues—it’s not all about them all of the time. We as humans have a lot of those feelings. I’m nervous going to a session wondering if my actors are going to get cast. I’m gunning for the actors to be great. Why would I want them to fail? If I have a session that doesn’t go well and my people don’t get cast, I’m just like an actor on the way home from a bad audition. I feel like I’m not good at what I do. Actors are not alone.
Sometimes you have to audition to be the waiter who says, “More pepper?” and those can be the hardest roles to audition for because you’ve studied and trained your whole life and then you have to come in and say, “More pepper?” That’s so hard. There’s the desperation of trying to be so good at those two words and really, the scene is not about you. You need to know when the scene’s about you and when it’s not. I know it’s hard and I don’t envy that. But again, it’s about not acting. It’s about the actor who is comfortable enough with who they are, that they allow their true self to show. That is what I’m always looking for.
Patrick Rush Casting
323.463.1925
3808 W Riverside Dr. Ste 201. Burbank, CA 91505