NY casting director Doriane Elliott

Casting call advice : The importance of range part 2

2010-01-12T12:00:00Z

Casting call advice : The importance of range part 2

Step 2: go over the line flat, fluid, and small. flat: NO inflections whatsoever. fluid: just because i'm saying flat, make the words flow, don't say them staccato-like - like a robot, and small: quiet. your lips barely have to be moving. dont work your mouth too hard, or you'll be tripping up all over the place. Do it at a speed where you make NO mistakes. If you do, go back to the top of the piece of copy, SLOW DOWN, and get through it without mistakes. when you've gone through it twice flawlessly, you can pick up your speed. do these steps until that piece of copy is flowin' outta your mouth like the disclaimers you hear at the end of car and bank commercials. When it's flawless, take that line, (or 60 seconds of copy, or sides to a part on a tv show, or monologue for a play - get where i'm going with this??? USE MY METHOD OF FLAT, FLUID AND SMALL FOR EVERYTHING!!!!)
Til next week ...

Casting call advice : The importance of range

2010-01-04T10:38:00Z

Being a nyc casting director and coach to actors has certainly been filling my plate - to say the least. but as i stated so many times before, i'm blessed to love what i do... but sometimes it's hard keeping up...SO! this topic has been hot on my teaching plate. an exersize that i have been giving out to many of my students - not ony in my classes, but privately as well. it's simple, but my GAWD does it help when it comes to giving range on reads, especially when it comes to those brief three-in-a-rows.

For those of you who are not clear on what three-in-a-rows are, let me explain: say you're in ...

SO…. What’s new in Casting Director Doriane Elliott’s world??? Maybe YOU!

2009-12-06T20:01:00Z

•DOR IS STILL LOOKING FOR GREAT VOICES FOR VOICE-OVER AUDITIONS!•AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER FRIEND OF DOR’S IN TOWN FROM SHOOTING IN PARIS AND MILAN, AND IS OFFERING A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME PRICE ON HEADSHOTS!!!•UP-COMING ON-CAMERA CLASSES, INCLUDING A FUN SEMINAR NEXT SATURDAY WITH WITH FELLOW CASTING DIRECTOR IAN WEISS! SPECIAL GUEST/WINE/CHEESE!•UPCOMING VO CLASSES AT PHANTOM AUDIO! BUTT-KICKIN’ VOCAL FUN!!!HELLOOOOOOOOO!!!! AS ALWAYS, DORIANE IS STILL LOOKING FOR MORE AND MORE VOICES FOR HER IN-HOUSE VOICE-OVER AUDITIONS. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE ALREADY SPOKEN WITH HER ABOUT IT, PLEASE STAY IN TOUGH. OUTTA SIGHT, OUTTA MIND, UNTIL YOU'RE IN HER IMMEDIATE RADAR...She also wanted to let you all know about some awesome vo and on-cameraclasses that are coming up, and even an intensive with fellow Casting Director Ian Weiss in THIS SATURDAY!On-Camera Intensive - Everything you need to know to prepare for on-camera auditions and on-camera commercial acting. Work with 2 Casting Directors - Doriane Elliott and Ian Weiss - with experience casting hundreds of commercials. This seminar will cover audition technique, marketing yourselfas an actor, reading and feeling comfortable on-camera, working with verbal and non-verbal copy, how to obtain an agent. Intensive will conclude with a wine and cheese reception ...

Hello actors: for those of you who live far away, I can now teach you via skype!

2009-06-30T20:48:00Z

You read right!!! Hello, actors! This email is to inform you that for those of you who live far away, I can now teach you via skype. Already, I have students in the mid-west, Canada, and even England!!!! As long as I can see you, and WATCH you work, and you can see me teaching you, it’s like we’re in the same room. It totally rocks! The following is all listed on my website, but for instant gratification, this is what’s doin’… UP-AND-COMING CLASSES/SEMINARS WITH CASTING DIRECTOR DORIANE ELLIOTT *ON-CAMERA CLASSES. 2 COACHES/4 STUDENTS (WOW!) *VO CLASSES FOR ALL LEVELS *PLAY-TO-WIN AGENT/CASTING DIRECTORS MEET AND GREETS ON-CAMERA: Commercial On-Camera. You asked for this, so here goes: Four or six week on-camera class with not one, but TWO coaches to four students. This class will focus on getting comfortable in front of the camera, specifically doing commercial copy. My co-coach will be Ian Weiss, an Awesome Freelance Casting Director. Ian has cast such notable commercials and campaigns as Life Cereal, WebMD, Advair, Bank of America, Campbell’s Soup, ...

To study acting privately, or to take classes with fellow actors... That is the question.

2009-06-17T18:01:00Z

I hear this “dilemma” a lot with new and prospective students: “I see you coach privately, and that you also offer on-camera and voice-over classes…which should I choose?” Ya know what I tell all of them? “SHAKE IT UP!” In my case, I don’t always offer on-going classes. They come up every couple/few months for anything from 4 – 6 weeks at a time. That’s when I advise my private students to “hop out” of private lessons (unless they either can afford both and/or are so serious about getting their craft together to take it on the road, so-to-speak.) There are pro’s to doing both. With one-on-one – whether it’s for on-camera, scene study, or voice-overs - especially with beginners - you get that well…one-on-one time for the whole lesson focused on YOU, YOUR GROWNG SKILLS, YOUR ABILITY, and your PROBLEM AREAS. This is the place and time where if any bad habits were going to form, your coach would catch them, work on them with you, and zap! strip you of them. This is where you grow and get those tools. The focus is 100% focused on you, you, and no one else but YOU. In ...

A day in the life

2009-03-31T22:57:00Z

Okay. Have I sinned again? Well, looking at the date, all I can say is “you betcha!” and for that I apologize PROFUSELY! But WHY have I not been able to get to my beloved blog? And WHAT, you may ask, is the day-to-day life of a Casting Director/mother of a four year old – who, by the way, JUST booked his first PSA?! (Public Service Announcement) Well, days that I don’t cast, I coach Actors like you. Sometimes my coaching sessions book-end my casting sessions. Sometimes I have a series of classes at night for either on-camera (which by the way is starting again April 15th, where I’ll be co-teaching with another fabulous Casting Director, Ian Weiss. Ian free-lances at a BUNCH of studios. Why is that good? Because when he’s setting up a session at any given studio, he thinks of his fav students, and calls them in – which is exactly what I do with all of my students. They not only come in to audition for me, but can sit and watch the pro’s for as long as they want, before putting their auditions down. pretty cool huh? But once again, I digress. Back to ...

okay, you asked for it...

2009-02-17T08:12:00Z

okay, peeps: i've been getting emails from folks saying: when are you going to have more CLASSES? well, here ya go. go to town! turns out, i've been missing them, too! also, i'm looking for more fresh new voices of all kinds - non-union and union - for auditions with an agency i've hooked up with. if you have GOOD demos, send them my way. if you're interested in learning more about continual voice-over auditions, read below, and check out my "One Night Only" seminars, where i give you an introduction to VO's, and i'll assess you to see your level and skill. if i think you're great, i start auditioning you immediately. if you have no experience but have promise, i'll encourage you to continue to study. if i think this may NOT be the thing for you...I'm brutally honest, as most of you know. i'll break it to ya gently. which reminds me: my next blog will be about the pros and cons of having your own "set up". most people spend all kinds of money to have their own recording set up - and find they're not ready to be out in the big bad ...

“I can’t get started!”

2008-12-17T14:16:00Z

Hello! See? As promised, not too much time has passed since my last blog. Okay. Today, I’m going to write about something that comes up quite frequently with actors when starting off commercial copy - whether it be on camera, or voice-over. I get things like “I know the first sentence was terrible, but then I settled into the copy.” Or “How do I start this off and sound natural?!” There are three things I teach my students that completely help get the most natural sounding, and clean start to a piece of commercial copy.Here’s an example, but use these suggestions with any copy. Say your first line is “Don’t let painful arthritis flare-ups keep you down.” And you’re thinkin’, okay. How do I make this sentence sound real, genuine, informative, but empathetic, etc. You can:Imagine someone asking you a question, or telling you what their problem is, specific to the product you’re selling. So, you imagine your friend, a co-worker, family member, patient -if you’re playing a doctor - anyone who’d fit in with the circumstance or situation you’ve put yourself in for your ...

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been waaaaaaay too long since my last blog…

2008-11-27T01:02:00Z

Hey, kids! So sorry it’s taken me like…FOREVER to write a blog. So many students, so many casting sessions, so little time! Also, I’m kinda in construction hell at the moment; I’ll have a new, bright and airy corner room to coach all of my students – both for voice-overs and for on-camera. For more information about that, please visit my site at www.dorianeelliott.com. A lot of my newer students are asking me if because of the economic situation, will there be work out there for them. Well, yeah, it’s a bit slower, but…when you turn on the TV and the radio, are you seeing and hearing commercials??? You betcha. There may not be as MUCH stuff going on, but it’s there. And while it’s a bit slower, hone in on your skills, folks. Because I promise you this: what goes up, goes down. (see economy.) And what goes down, goes back up again. And while I’m at it, I (sadly) say that it’s a non-union market out there. So take advantage. It’s a numbers game, so play to win, and as often as you can.Why did I say “sadly??” Because I still believe in the unions; fair representation, ...

How Important is it to have one’s own website? Uh….pretty darn important…

2008-09-26T16:57:00Z

When some of my students, who are working New York actors ask me “ya think I should have a website?’ My answer is this: “You of all people should know the answer to that!” Get with the times!I mean, how often do you find yourself Googling someone? Now, in most cases, my New York working-actor-students can be either found on IMDB (if you don’t know what that is, look it up – one day you want to see your name/bio listed there) or written up for some play, movie, TV show, etc. So, yeah! Show your wares, peeps! Put your acting/voice-over reels on them, headshot, bio, and contact info on them. Anything you can think of that makes you accessible, noticed, known. Don’t make agents, casting directors, and producers hunt you down. Cause you know what? They’ll stop looking, and find someone else who’s easier to find, and who might have more credits, thus being easier to find. So really, it’s a win-win situation for the lesser-known (or not known at all) actor, just so he/she can be reached. (Start off with just your headshot, resume, and contact info, and add as you go. Again - clips, reels, whatever you ...

No-showers and late-comers need not apply

2008-09-04T16:54:00Z

No-showers and late-comers need not apply…or I guess I could have titled this “the casting director’s lament…or RANT!”,Being an actor involves so many facets. To merely have the innate talent, for starters. To be an outstanding reader. To have the ability to see a piece of commercial copy, or sides for a TV show or movie, and be able to break it down. To be able to imagine yourself in that particular situation, and take a guess as to what the music bed or sound effects might be “up and under” where your dialogue is taking place…all of that, PLUS the good sense to treat the craft of acting as a BUSINESS. Be responsible. Show up. ON TIME. Don’t be someone who becomes known for his or her tardiness, for being unprepared, and even worse yet, a no-show. Shake off any attitude that you think might be acceptable (because it’s not) before walking through the casting director and agent’s door. BE PROFESSIONAL.Leave that unacceptable stuff to the celebrities. And even with them, after a while that becomes tired. People stop using them on projects, as well as endorsements. If they waste too much time and money – and folks ...

Is that your clothes I hear???

2008-08-12T22:44:00Z

When going to an audition of any kind - voice over, on-camera commercial, or legit – never wear noisy clothing, unless, for some crazy reason, you were requested to come in wearing such items of clothing. I know this may sound obvious, but it’s amazing the amount of noisy clothing that has swished, cracked, and jingle-jangled into my casting sessions…When you’re auditioning, body language is key. When we speak, we use our arms, our shoulders, and our hands to express ourselves. Our heads move. So if you’re trying to be as natural as possible, and are in fact using all of those body parts to BE natural, wearing a leather jacket that creeeeeeeeeks, or a very starched shirt, or even running jacket (or pants for that matter) are going to take away from your performance, and distract the Casting Directors – as well as the Advertising agency folks AND their clients – to no end. It’s amazing how many items of clothing that can actually take away from a great take. Even the ” silent” items. For instance, when going into a voice over audition, people come in wearing baseball caps. Yes, they’re silent. Until one hits either the ...

Uh…is that…YOU??!!!

2008-07-24T05:08:00Z

You never want to hear that from an agent, let alone a casting director—especially on an audition. It could really rattle you…Just as important it is for your reel to be your calling card in voice-overs, so is your head shot for anything on-camera. I can’t tell you how essential it is to look like your photo, and vice versa. Some actors come in, and It’s clear they haven’t updated their head shot in years! Styles change, and so do our faces. This, my dear New York Acting readers, is vital imformation. Keep your photo fresh, updated, and HONEST!Another thing I get is a lovely current picture, but the person’s face is SO re-touched, he/she looks ten years younger, and sooooooooo pretty! If you want to look as beautiful as your VERY re-touched photo, go out and get the work done to match your photo! Some re-touching is fine. When walking into a New York Audition, you want the Casting Director to know how nice you ...

In the business of voice overs, your REEL is your calling card

2008-07-14T15:40:00Z

…so don’t go to just anyone to produce it for you. As I mention on my website, (http://www.dorianeelliott.com) do your homework. Listen to producers’ examples vs. examples of others, before giving anyone your money. And better yet, those of the true professionals’ reels at VoiceBank.net. These reels or “minutes”, as we like to call them in the NY voice over world, are comprised of either all actual spots that those actors have booked, or some that are made up spots, peppered into the reel, but sound so authentic, no one would ever know that they were created for the actor’s reel. At my site, where it says - “reels and testimonials”, you can listen to what we’ve created for my students over at Phantom Audio. (As I’ve mentioned before in my previous blogs, Phantom Audio is a state-of-the-art audio production recording studio that casts for, and creates commercials as well as industrials and promos for both TV and radio.)I cannot tell you enough how important it is to have a high quality, professionally produced minute. (We call it a minute for the obvious reasons – your reel should be no longer than a minute long, with about ...

The answer to some of your questions - How I became a NY Casting Director

2008-07-01T06:00:00Z

The answer to some of your questions - How I became a NY Casting Director:Hello, NY actors!!!I was asked to write a little something about myself - specifically, how I became a professional NYC Casting Director. Mine was a bit circuitous, but alas, I found myself in the job I love the most. I guess, If you were to ask any NY Casting Director, you’d see we all came to this career through different paths. Some of us were actors, directors, assistants who moved up… just like all careers, things just progress from one place, or step, to the next. In my case, I started out in the jingle business. I sang on many National Television and Radio commercials. Getting into that career was fairly easy, because I was born into it. My father, an amazing jazz musician, wrote music for jingles, so I started very young in that field. Acting-wise, by I started out by studying the art of acting – more really to get over my shyness, and to make better direct eye contact with people (which I might add, completely helped!) I built up my confidence, and continued to study acting simply because I loved ...

HOW TO GO OVER COMMERCIAL COPY AT ALL NY AUDITIONS, AND A NOT-TO-BE-MISSED SEMINAR IN A STATE-OF-THE-ART RECORDING STUDIO!

2008-06-04T12:26:00Z

A NOT-TO-BE-MISSED 3 HOUR SEMINAR TAUGHT IN A STATE-OF THE-ART NY RECORDING STUDIO, TAUGHT BY (ME!) A NY CASTING DIRECTOR/AND HOW TO GO OVER COMMERCIAL COPYHello, NYC Actors!I received an email from a NYC actor asking me how I got my start in casting. So in my next blog, I will tell you a little something about myself, how I got into this, and what is expected of me as a Professional NY Casting Director, and what I expect of myself as a coach as well. Today, I’m itching to tell you about how I think ALL ACTORS should go over commercial copy when you’re sitting in the waiting room, preparing to go into your NY casting call. This applies to Voice Over, or for On Camera. Before I get started on that, I’d like to inform you of a seminar I will be holding at Phantom Audio, my home base, right here in NYC. Phantom is a State-of-the-art audio production facility where literally thousands of casting sessions take place for all of the commercials, industrials, and promos that get recorded and produced there each and every year. I also produce all of my NYC “graduating” students’ demo reels there ...

Some answers to the NY actor's questions

2008-05-24T12:00:00Z

Hello, New York Actors!Thanks for your emails, and while it’s hard for me to answer them individually, I thought I’d touch base on some of them, since they all seem to be similar in theme. I’m either getting experienced actors who are new to New York City, or people wanting to know how to break in. First of all, I want you all to know that the career path you’ve chosen isn’t an easy one, especially without perseverance, and drive. You can have all the talent in the world, and without vision, goals, and determination, you’re as good as… well, let’s not go there… suffice it to say, STAY FOCUSED!!!! Okay. I was going to dedicate this blog to how you as NY actors should tackle the copy when going into a NY audition. (I say NY a lot, because I’m a New York Casting Director. It’s what I know. I have no idea how it works in Dallas, or Chicago, but I will tell you that it looks like I’ll be teaching a few seminars in LA the coming months, but more on that later…)I’m getting broad questions like: “How do I get into a NY showcase?” (For ...

Hello, NYC actors, from NYC Casting Director Doriane Elliott

2008-05-16T06:00:00Z

Hello one and all!!!My name is Doriane Elliott http://dorianeelliott.com/ and I have been a NYC Casting Director and voice over coach for a little over a decade now. I teach on–camera commercial technique as well. Each week, I’m going to write a little “NY Blog” – things that have either come up in my casting sessions, or in my classes or private coaching sessions - that I either love, or that irk the heck out of me. Things that I believe are important do’s and don’ts for NY actors. This week, I’ve been asked to briefly write about how you as actors can “impress the Casting Director”. I swear, it doesn’t take much, and I promise, it doesn’t involve flowers, or even fake compliments. All of these, I will go into further detail, as the weeks go by, and as the examples come up. I think as a Casting Director, things you can do impress me would be to:1. When you get to your casting call, be there on time. When you walk through the Casting Director’s door, be prepared. Don’t work the script out when you’re behind the mic, or in front of the camera. Go over those ...