this came up in another topic that was closed. i just wanted to add that especially in NYC, stage (theatrical) pre-screens are common, and are often referred to as such (as opposed to callbacks or auditions).

i had a "pre screen" for "Lestat" (obc), for "spring awakening" (i think, i'm trying to remember, obc), for "mamma mia" (bway), and several others.

typically, it's like a callback, but also, it's more of an individual workshop with the casting director to prepare you for a callback in front of the production team or director. my guess is that they use them when they have decided to call back many people and want to do an extra set of screenings to make sure they called back the right people, or maybe just have to limit how many people they bring in to production so they have another round of cuts.

lestat was my first one. and i had never heard the term before. but sure enough, it's a real thing and that's what they called it when they called me for it.

my mia prescreen was much more of a workshop with the cd. we went through the scenes, and the songs, several times, different ways, and then i advanced to the producer session.

honestly, i think they call it a pre-screen because it's not considered an audition or callback, which just like SAG, after so many auditions/callbacks, they do have to start paying talent for their time. a prescreen is not considered an audition or callback, but more of a go-see or workshop. so they would also use it if they know they have a wide search coming or will require more than 3 or 4 audition steps (or whatever the AEA contract says).

i can't speak to the original audition in which the prescreen term was brought up, but i did want to clarify that there is, in fact, such a thing as a stage "pre screen" and suggest when and why it might be used.

americangirl,

Thanks for the clarification and the very detailed explanation of what a prescreen entails (and why the industry sometimes uses that term). I think the most interesting thing about your post to me is that it seems that at all your prescreens the cd was in attendance and, in fact, worked with you extensively. The curoius thing about the "prescreens" in the other thread you mentioned is that the cd was not in attendance. In fact, no one connected with the production at issue was at those "prescreens."

casting for mary poppins also "pre-screens" for children they would like to keep in pipeline...

quote:

Originally posted by dramamama:
americangirl,

Thanks for the clarification and the very detailed explanation of what a prescreen entails (and why the industry sometimes uses that term). I think the most interesting thing about your post to me is that it seems that at all your prescreens the cd was in attendance and, in fact, worked with you extensively. The curoius thing about the "prescreens" in the other thread you mentioned is that the cd was not in attendance. In fact, no one connected with the production at issue was at those "prescreens."

I'd like to understand better too. What if the CD is not present. Isn't this who decides if the child is right for the part and will hire that child? Isn't that who's opinion does count the most?

Maybe we need to understand the casting process better. Who is authorized to "prescreen" the talent and decide who should go on to the official or scheduled audition for a project held by the casting director/casting agency directely related to the project??

I would think the child's agent and/or manager, of course, maybe sending them to a coach and asking for feedback or to go over the sides.

so if it is not an official pre-screen with permission granted by a casting director or someone directly related with the project and the CD is not present, are they informed that they cannot attend the official audition and also I would worry about the feedback if it's not given to the child's agent and/or manager but given to the casting director.

Trying to relate this to film projects. I just never heard of a pre-screen or something that was not directly connected to the person casting that project who was also in attendance, perhaps a showcase?

I would also imagine that pre-screens would be handled by those who have cast actors in projects cos what if the casting director had a different opinion and that actor perhaps could have been right for the part in THEIR eyes!

Confused!!

Definitely need a casting expert's advice.

quote:

Originally posted by lightsonbway:
casting for mary poppins also "pre-screens" for children they would like to keep in pipeline...

thanks, but who does do the "prescreens"? Someone directly related to the hiring of the actors or casting for the project?

interesting!

I personally know several kids who have played The Banks children in Mary Poppins (including some of the original cast members) and NEVER has the word "pre-screen" been used. It is always either a "Callback", "audition" or "workshop" at least for Mary Poppins. The Christmas Story audition was none of the above. It was on NY Castings as an "audition" and a "casting". The confirmation letters sent out gave audition times (no mention of "pre-screen" anywhere) and I assure you that the people I know who attended thought they were going in for an actual audition for this show. It wasnt until they got there...and only on Saturday (not the first day) that they were informed differently. By that time, they had already spent their time and money getting to what they thought was a legitimate audition for this project which apparently according to the real CD (who is holding FIRST auditions in August) it was not. The CD has also come out and said not only did she NOT give permission for the person to run this but she specifically told him NOT TO after she had found out about the first one he did.

Let me preface this by saying that I have no idea what's going on with auditions for The Christmas Story. I was simply responding to the OP regarding the term pre-screen. Actorsmommy, no offense, but isn't it possible there is an industry term with which you are not familiar?? I, too, know a couple of former Jane Banks, but that has no bearing on this. I can assure you that "pre-screen" is a term used. Janet P, yes casting does pre-screens, and in the case of Mary Poppins, like I said - to keep children in the pipeline for future replacements.

I'm not arguing that there is no such term. I'm speaking about this paritcular case. And in the case of Mary Poppins where the kids are concerned, as far as I know the term has never been used. Yes Disney puts kids into the pipeline but it's usually after they've been seen at an "audition". Many then later get to go in directly during the callback phases. I guess you could say they had technically been "pre-screened" or "pre- auditioned" from an eariler period but I dont know of any official "pre-screen" hoo ha.

quote:

Janet P, yes casting does pre-screens, and in the case of Mary Poppins, like I said - to keep children in the pipeline for future replacements.

Thank you. I don't want to focus on any specific performance or previous discussion, I'm actually interested in this process and maybe it will help all understand better, including me!

Putting theater aside because there is such a demanding schedule where anything could happen with the kids in the cast and the shows run continuous throughout the week and sometimes twice on days...how is the process done for film?

If there is a "pre screen" I would still imagine this is done by the casting director/agency who is directly related to the project because it is the CD who will be chosing those for callbacks, so question is, if anyone has been through this casting process before for film projects, who holds the audition and screens the actors? Is this audition put on film and submitted to the CD? And is there talent actually told that they will not be attending the official scheduled audition.

Is feedback given to the agent/manager or casting director? I'm hoping it's the child's rep. In other words, if it's not done by a CD, who is keeping the kids/actors in the pipeline for future projects?

again, not focusing on any specific project. sometimes I'm out of the loop on things, maybe this is one of them.

TO EVERYONE:

please do not comment on this thread if you intend to talk about Christmas Story AT ALL, or if you can not discuss Mary Poppins in a professional adult way.

i did not bring up "pre-screens" for you all to hijack my thread to argue about something completely different.

it IS incredibly possible that you don't know the term, actorsmommy. but it's real. i've had the actual CDs for broadway shows call me and say "we are bringing you in for a pre-screen". maybe you haven't heard it, but they are a real thing. maybe not common, but still real nonetheless.

maybe one office calls them a "workshop" while another calls them a "pre screen." doesn't really matter. they still exist as a valid industry term.

i can't speak for that production, and i said that upfront, so thank you for bringing it up again. i don't know anything about that production and have nothing to do with it, nor do i care. i brought this thread up for a completely different purpose.

and again to ALL, if you can't comment on "pre screens" and that alone, please don't comment in this thread.

thank you.

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back to the thread at hand... i believe it is a casting office activity only. no one else should be doing pre screens. who else COULD do a pre-screen?

the concept behind a prescreen is that you screen talent before they get in front of the bigwigs. so if the bigwigs are doing the prescreen, then it's not a prescreen. i guess a director could be present for the prescreen, but i don't know. i've never had anyone except the main CD at my prescreens.

my understanding is that pre-screens are held by the casting director (who you would then assume needed to be in the room, and in my experience for a "pre screen" always was).

and i believe they call them "pre screens" as opposed to "audition" or "callback" because AEA only allows for production to audition an actor so many times before they must start paying said actor for their time.

it's all verbage and technicalities. so if they don't call it in audition or callback, they can call it something else, a workshop or pre screen, then it doesn't count against their allotted # of auditions/callbacks so they don't have to pay the actor if they DO meet the allotted # of auds/CBs.

in my experience, Lestat i went in and sang the song and did the scene, but i'm thinking i wasn't what they were looking for, so i was let go.

but for Mia, i had a fairly involved "workshop" with the CD on the material, with advice on how to present the scenes and one of the songs. then i had a callback in which i was given the opportunity to put those ideas to use with another actor who read the Skye material with me. and the next callback was for the entire production and artistic team.

and i think it is more than fair to say that NOT every production will have "pre screens". probably only a few do, and probably only have them on rare occasions. but rarity of the usage of them does not mean they don't exist.

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to Janet P:
i think, maybe, this will clear up a LOT for you.

a casting director doesn't actually hire the actor, they don't pick who gets cast. their job is to bring in actors that they think the production team will like and production hires the actors.

casting is the liason between the actor/agent and production.

so they will have open calls, or maybe just appointments, and will narrow down choices from several thousand options to maybe 10-30 options. they will do this by having first auditions, maybe callbacks, maybe a pre-screen...

and then they will bring the talent to the production team, who has final casting say. the production team will pick the talent they want. they will tell the casting director.

then the casting director calls the talent (or their reps) with the offer from production.

so a casting director, rarely, if ever, has final say. their job is just to take what production says they want for a character and to filter in talent that they feel would be good for the part and that production will like. but the employment offers come from production.

honestly, when i see something being cast that i REALLY want, i will target both the CD and the director, if i can get to them. the CD helps get you in the door, but production has final say. so to really get in, you have to go directly to those who have hiring authority.

besides, most projects, and this is especially true for commercials, the CD will have a list of talent to bring in and the client will have a list of people to bring in, and, if different than the client, the producers and production team will have a list of people to bring in.

so a bunch of people will be coming in from several different parts of the staff.

so yes, to a degree, production has to trust that the CD sees and understands the project in their eyes, as opposed to in the CDs own eyes. but even if they don't, they may give a list of people they want to come in, as well. so there will always be someone who is "right".

a CD may be able to better respond to this, but producers can pick ANY CD that they want. and they probably interview several before picking, and research the types of projects the CD has cast before picking that CD. so they will try to pick a CD whos casting choices for other projects they like.

and yes, often actors who may have been "perfect" for a part may not have even been auditioned. but there is nothing stopping said actor from trying everything under the sun to get in to the audition process. it happens all the time. it's not fair, and not easily understood.

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it's all murky, all of it. there arent really industry standards in these situations, so all we can do is advise based on what we know to be true, but be open to the possibility that because there are so many people involved in the industry and everyone has their preferences and own nuances, things will vary, whether minutely or greatly from person to person and from office to office.

hi janet, i can't advise on on-camera work and pre-screens because i've only just started getting into on camera work out here in LA, so i just don't know. maybe someone else does?

i would think that there may be something equivalent though, since SAG also has rules about how many auditions/callbacks an actor can go through and how long those auditions/callbacks can be. but i really don't know.

let me also clarify how my "pre-screens" came about, maybe that will help.

I am a member of AEA. so i can go to EPAs and ECCs without an agent or an appointment. i get one when i show up. i don't have an agent or manager, so i went to everything on my own.

for all of these shows, i attended either the EPA or ECC.

then i received either a callback (which consisted of either bringing my own material back, or bringing a combo of my own material and theirs, or just bringing in theirs) OR a pre-screen.

in one case, after the EPA/ECC, i was given, as refered to by the cd, a "callback" and after the cb was called and given a "pre screen."

in another instance, i went to the EPA/ECC and was called directly for a "pre screen" then got a callback.

i'm not going to go through each instance individually, but suffice it to say, each pre-screen was preceeded by an actual audition for the casting office or some member of th eproduction team who had attended the EPA or ECC.

Thank you VERY much. I really do appreciate you taking the time to explain and your insight!

What you put all together is the "team" I thought would be involved in the pre-screen.

I do realize the casting director doesn't hire the actor but I did believe they would be the person that is hired to conduct the screening or be present at least if someone else is conducting the screening as the liason between the actor/agent and production.

Great summarization, thank you!

In a world where it seems half the jobs are through self-submits there is a lot to understand.

Janet,

Pre-screens or "Pre READS" for film & TV are often done by the CD's assistant and this happens often at the networks. If the assistant thinks you did well they will usually tell you to wait & send you on down to the main CD's office for another read. Known kids often skip the pre-read or "pre-screen" process and go right to the actual audition with the CD but many people get pre screened and dont even know it was a pre screen they had just went through. The buck for them stopped with the asistant. I guess it's a way for the networks to see more people without taking up valuable time of the CD. The assistants are weeding out those who were iffy or previously unknown to the CD.
Hope this makes sense.

Hi, Yes it does make sense and it's all clearer now. What it all comes down to is the CD's involvement and/or inconjunction with an asssistant but all directly related to the project which makes sense.