Friday, March 18, 2016
TV Pilot Season: 6 Casting Directors Talk Diversity Push and Stars They Couldn't Get
Hollywood Reporter: With 87 pilots in the works, the broadcast networks have had their work cut out for them as they try to lure top talent in a landscape where scripted originals have topped 400 and stars continue to find short-order cable and straight-to-series streaming shows more appealing. As the casting portion of pilot season winds down, six casting directors — ABC/ABC Studios' Ayo Davis, Universal TV's Beth Klein, 20th Century Fox TV's Sharon Klein, Fox's Tess Sanchez, Sony Pictures TV's Dawn Steinberg and NBC's Grace Wu — open up about the big diversity push, growing competition and discovering new talent.
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3 comments:
I always find casting so interesting. Like they said, you have to be the whole package, and in terms of a TV show be able to have that for up to seven seasons or more. I personally think that TV is one of the most diverse entertainment industries now. For whatever reason, the greatest push for diversity is there. And it has paid off. Shows like Scandal, Empire, Into the Badlands, Aziz Ansari's Master of None and many more are doing well critically, and financially for networks on both Tv and streaming. I don't have a TV here, so I'm often out of the loop on the current TV shows that don't appear on Netflix, but while I was home over spring break I noticed a new sitcom starring Ken Jeong. It's a primetime sitcom on ABC starring an Asian man as a doctor and his family. None of them have accents, and there isn't anything overwhelmingly "Asian" about it. It's just a not very good sitcom, but it means a lot. When I was a kid I always wanted a Cosby Show-esque show about an Asian family that I could relate to. And it's here! It's not great but it exists! And that's progress! So, hopefully, film can take a cue from TV this time, and see the benefits both critically, and entertainment wise of having more than just white people in casting.
It’s really interesting to hear about the casting process from a casting director’s perspective. It’s a really overlooked part of the process when the topic of diversity comes into question, but these are the people making the decisions. While the casting directors may not be the sole voice in the search for leads, when it comes to minor characters or extras, they might be the only opinion that matters. Having casting directors who recognize and celebrate diversity is crucial to pushing diversity into our media. I’m glad that the team of casting directors they interviewed were looking specifically for diversity when casting, and are aware of the changing public opinion on the matter. I do find it funny that they all talked about having offers out to famous actors and actresses, while also talking about finding actors on Instagram. It’s good that more unknown actors are getting work and being seriously considered, since I think just about everyone is tired of seeing the same 12 actors in everything.
This is a really cool article, I don't know a lot about casting but I have definitely noticed some of these trends- especially in diversity. A lot of new shows are doing well, especially on platforms like Netflix, and finally it feels like television producers are responding to that push for diversity. Shows with white male leads aren't inherently bad, it's just when the entire market is such it leaves no room for variety. Another trend that was pointed out that I find really interesting is that almost all lead actors are 20-30 somethings. I never really considered how much an anomaly The Golden Girls is, but shows with leading actors who aren't young adults seem to be a rarity, or heavily political (Maron, Louie, etc). I think this is because this is a very identifiable age group for audiences who range from 18-40, because it's the perfect middle ground. That age group is the target audience for television producers because those people consume such media like Netflix and cable, and are the most likely to sink money and time into those programs. It's just something I never noticed, and realized more age diversity might be interesting as well in network shows.
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