The past two weeks we’ve had casting for Betty’s.

Our first location where we held auditions was my home away from home, Under the Gun Theater. 

Here’s how casting went.

As previously mentioned, we reached out to theaters, acting schools, etc to find actors. Based on headshots and resumes, Hayley whittled down the 70 some inquires to about 35. Using Sign Up Genius, we had the actors a select time slot when they were free. We had an audition slot every ten minutes for three hours over two days.

Hayley then emailed the actors sides to have ready for the audition and a brief synopsis of the character. Typically, she sent them sides and bios for two characters she thought they’d be a fit for. However, depending on how they performed, during the actual audition we could call an audible and have them do a blind read of a totally different character they could be a fit for that we didn’t expect.

On the actual day of auditions, we set up a table for Hayley, the AD, and myself to take notes on each actors performance. We also set up a cheap flip camera on a tripod to film each audition. When the talent came in we just had them talk for a few minutes about themselves, what they had previously done, and their thoughts on the script. This serves a couple different purposes.

1. We learn more about the actor personally (you don’t want to work with total weirdos or creeps.
2. Talking to the actor – hopefully – makes them less nervous so they give a better performance.
3. It lets you get a feel for how the actor sees the script/character.

Auditioning is really stressful for an actor and actually pretty terrible. So keep that in mind.

After the brief introduction, we had the actor do their scene with a scene partner (an actor friend of ours). We might have them do the scene again after Hayley gave them a note (to see how they take notes) or have them improvise a scene as their character. The ten minutes flies by, so we had to keep things moving.

We then told them great job and that they would know if they got the part in two weeks. We also made clear we’d also let them know if they DIDN’T get selected. A lot of times productions don’t let actors know they didn’t get something. Personally, I think that’s rude and shitty. It’s not hard to BCC the list of actors that didn’t make it and let them know.

After the two days of auditions, Hayley reviewed the camera footage we had and sent out a preliminary casting list to me and asked if I had any feedback. I gave my two cents and she’ll soon offer roles to actors.

We’re still working on finding a bakery….

Don’t give actors other fictional characters as inspiration. Then their performance is just a impersonation of a fictional character, they aren’t trying to be a real person. Give them real people.

I’m lucky to be in Chicago and trying to make comedy videos. We have the Second City, IO, The Annoyance, Under the Gun, and many, many more. If you’re not in (arguably) the mecca of comedy, don’t worry.

Here’s some ideas.

• Mandy.com – to me it sounds like a porn site where some girl named Mandy rubs corn cobs on her elbows for $50, but it’s actually a great site to post for actors and crew. You’re allowed one casting post a month for free. Most actors have headshots and resumes they will send you. The site also allows you to say what type of budget it is. So there no awkward…”um I can’t pay you” moments in person.
• Actors Access – I find their site a little hard to navigate, but after clicking around their labyrinth of doom, you can post castings for free.
• Facebook – Do some social media-ing
• Colleges – With the unsustainable education bubble the US is in, I can almost guarantee you’re close to a college of some kind, whether it’s a major university or a community college. They more than likely have some acting classes. Just contact them to see if they’d pass along your info.
• Craigslist – It’s hit or miss
• Local Community Theaters – Email the local community theaters and ask if they’d pass along your info about the project and what you’re looking for. Artists like helping other artists .

Now the cynics are thinking. Well Mr. Blogger, that’s great, but where do I find GOOD actors.

Go back to rule number one: Make do with what you have.

Let’s face it, you’re probably not the best director at this point either. It’s a learning experience for everyone. Make do with what you have. Don’t make an excuse you can’t find actors. They’re there.

Where do you find locations?

• Asking friends, family and coworkers (You’d be surprised that your uncle’s friend’s brother owns an old missile silo)
• Driving around scouting locations and explaining to people what you are and what you’re doing
• Empty buildings!
  • The terrible economy can at least help a poor filmmaker. If you know a building has been empty for awhile, find out who owns it and see if they’ll rent it out to you for a few days. Some money is better than no money for the landlord!
• I’ve used Store Front before with good results. If they are in your city, they are like the AirBnB of retail properties.
• Also plain AirBnB could be helpful. Need a cottage to shoot in for a day? Search for one. Just explain to the owner what you’re doing beforehand.

Personally, I think free is always better since costs can easily spiral out of control. Make sure you’ve exhausted all your connections for a free location before you move on to renting out a space.

Some locations might require you to have film insurance. If you think you could never afford film insurance, you might still be in luck. Google film production companies in your area and contact them to see if they’ll add your production to their policy for a small fee. Since they most likely already pay for insurance year round, you’re sure to find one in your area that will help you out. Just be prepared to make a lot of calls and emails.

Also depending on your city, if you plan on filming on or in public property, you might need a permit. Your city hall’s website should have all the info you need. I’ve contacted the Chicago Film Office before and they were surprisingly helpful and realistic with what I was trying to do.

So you want to film a web series or a short film. Awesome! We could probably be friends.

You also are probably wondering where to even begin. First off, you’ll need a script (making a script is a completely different blog and site, come back when you have that done).

I’m in the interesting position now, when I wrote the script for *itch I always planned on shooting it. I had most of the scenes in two locations that I could easily get access to. Betty’s, on the other hand, was written without the plan to shoot it independently. I basically pestered the extremely talented, and wonderful Hayley Grgurich until she decided she’d shoot it. Neither way is right or wrong, but if you wrote an awesome script you want to shoot yourself. you might face the cold realities of your budget. You might have an awesome ten car pile up scene, but if you’re shooting on a budget of $500, you might need to figure out a way to rework that scene.

One example of this is Betty’s takes place in a bakery, but after searching the city of Chicago, we were having trouble finding a bakery that could accommodate our shooting schedule. Hayley found an awesome building that was formally a Mexican restaurant. With some really quick rewrites, the bakery is now in a building that was a Mexican restaurant, but the lead character did a bad job of redecorating. It fits perfectly with the character and store we are creating, so thinking outside the box and working with what was available actually ended up creating a pretty great gag.

So tip one: Make do with what you have.

But before we get too much into locations. Lets think about the bare minimum here. You have a script and you have proclaimed to the world “I’m going to film this!” Now some questions:

Are you going to direct it yourself? (Hopefully it’s yes since I’ve never looked for a director, you’re on your own there)

Now make a list of the most important things that you need for the shoot. In order of most important. For Betty’s so far it’s been:

• Hayley (she’s directing, she needs to be there)
• Me (For my own ego, I’m going to put myself here. I’m not THAT important)
• The bakery location
• A director of photography to shoot
• Camera and lights
• Sound
• The actors
• The other locations
• Props

That’s a basic list. Now ask yourself what is the biggest obstacle in shooting from this list? In our case, it’s being able to shoot in a bakery. If we went ahead and skipped getting a bakery location first. We could get all the actors and equipment we wanted, but it could all fall apart if we couldn’t find a bakery or it’s only available when the actors or Hayley isn’t free. That just wouldn’t work.

Now it’s time for some hard choices. Did you have an actor you REALLY wanted to work with? Or a DP? When I filmed *itch, one of the lead roles was specifically written for an actor, so I had to have her schedule too. But if you could live without certain people or certain locations, you need to lock in the things that are priority first. In this case, we had to find a bakery – the script is about a guy opening up a bakery. Once we found that location, we could start looking for everything else.

So we needed to make a schedule based on this list:

• What days is Hayley free? Any days she’s not, we can’t film.
• What days is a bakery free? Any days it’s not, we cabe n’t film.

Like I mentioned before, we found a location that we can make work.

Welcome to Baking Betty’s, the blog about producing the indie comedy pilot “Betty’s.” I’m Scott Anton Smith and I’m one of the producers.

Around six months ago I shot my own pilot called “*itch.” It was my first major film project and at the time. I thought about doing a blog, but thought I had enough to worry about between writing, producing and directing a 22 minute pilot. I thought I could always do a “making of” blog later.

This is later.

I’m writing this as for karma points. I’ve read a lot of things about writing screenplays, but noticed a real lack of anyone posting about making comedy shorts and films on next to no budget. I know when I started I had almost no idea where to begin, so hopefully this blog can answer some questions. I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but hopefully through this process you can learn from our successes of making Betty’s and our mistakes (though hopefully there’s more successes than mistakes).