www.backstage.com: A planned auction of 54 VHS tapes featuring early auditions by actors Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock, and many others has touched off a fit of handwringing in the casting community and endangered the age-old idea of the audition room as sacred space.
On April 5–6, Julien’s Auctions of Beverly Hills will put the tapes up for sale, some with suggested values as high as $2,000–$4,000. Darren Julien and Martin Nolan appeared on NBC’s “Today” March 29 to publicize the auction and claimed that the tapes were being sold by three casting directors who wished to remain anonymous. But the tapes are widely believed to have come from CDs Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson, who cast most of the projects associated with the auditions. Letterhead from their office can be seen in the catalog for the auction. Kathleen York, whose auditions for the films “Jersey Girl” and “Ransom” are included in the auction, is confident that the tapes come from Jenkins and Hirshenson.
5 comments:
Whether or not the auctioning of these casting tapes is legal or Equity-approved, I absolutely think this is wrong and an infraction of the privacy of these actors. I had always believed that auditions were rather sacred, meant to be just between actors and the casting directors. But if these tapes are released to the world, that trust is completely broken and the relationship between the two parties will be completely changed. If there is no rule or law regarding situations such as these, one should be put into place immediately to change inference and mutual understanding into definite reality.
I really have no idea what the policy is for auditions and video footage, but it would have to be that this isn't allowed. I don't think that Equity speaks to it in their contract, and I'm definitely not sure about SAG-AFTRA, but that would be a violation of the privacy of the actors, unless you sign a release of footage contract. Why would the casting directors want to do this anyway? The funny thing about this is that I am sure that I have seen clips like this on E Entertainment before with auditions that famous actors had when they were younger. I wonder how they went about doing that and what the process is. I also, like Emma, wonder if the actors in the footage were concerned about this as much as the other casting directors were. People will sell anything!
This can't be legal. I'm sure they will figure something out in regards to the auction, but it doesn't see right that audtion tapes can just be auctioned off with out even asking the permission of the actors in the tapes. Also, which ever company released the tapes should be identified. There is trust between the actors and the casting agents and if one company has decided to break that trust then the everyone in the community has the right to know. I think it is okay to show auditions only if every person involved is okay with it, but there is a difference between showing and selling. Selling is just wrong. There is nothing else to it.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"
We have all heard that line from Oz countless times, but why don't we heed it's warning? If we continue to pry into the past of how entertainment is made and concern ourselves with viewing everything from every aspect possible and persist in looking at how it was made and how it works we will lose all the magic that makes the industry so exciting to begin with.
This is an interesting case. This brings up the question of who the tapes really belong to. Do they belong to the actor who is portrayed in the video? Do they belong to the casting director? Do they belong to the theater company that is hosting the auditions? That is the biggest question that needs to be answered before any legal action can be discussed. If we don't know who the tape belongs to, we can't really decide that no one has the legal right to sell it. I'm not talking morals here. Morally no one should be selling audition tapes without the consent of the actors. Legally, though, the tapes don't belong to the actors, and if there are no union rules or laws about selling or distributing audition tapes after they are completed and used for their purpose, then legally there isn't anything that can be done. I will be interested to see what happens with this class.
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