Episode 87
Insights From the Life of a Casting Director
Episode 87 - Insights From the Life of a Casting Director
In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast, hosts Geoffrey and Jaclyn Whitt interview Beverly Holloway, an experienced casting director with a 30-year career in TV and feature films. Beverly discusses her journey into casting, including experience in various production roles. The conversation covers the intricacies of casting, including working with budgets, balancing known and emerging talent, and interpreting scripts to build character breakdowns. She highlights her work on projects such as 'The Chosen,' 'Unsung Hero,' 'A Week Away,' and 'I Can Only Imagine,' sharing valuable industry insights and personal anecdotes. Beverly also touches on her collaborations with the Irwin brothers and the Kendrick brothers, and provides ways to connect with her through social media and her weekly Facebook Live sessions, 'Let's Talk Tuesday.'
Highlights Include:
- Starting in Film and Casting
- Insights on Character Development
- Balancing Budget and Talent
- Casting Bankable Talent
- Introducing New Actors to Filmmakers
- Navigating Career Challenges
- The Impact of 'I Can Only Imagine'
- The Irwin Brothers' Filmmaking Skills
- Faith Films in the Mainstream
- Connecting with Beverly
- Let's Talk Tuesday
Bio:
Beverly Holloway has been an independent Casting Director for TV and feature films for 30 years and is proud to be a member of The Casting Society of America. Throughout her career, Beverly has worked across multiple genres of film including drama, comedy, family/faith, action/adventure, western, rom-com, thriller, sci-fi, horror, and animation. Beverly is one of the Casting Directors for the award-winning series THE CHOSEN (Seasons 1-4) which has become a worldwide sensation on both the big and small screen. Beverly was also excited to work with Grammy winning artists FOR KING & COUNTRY (brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone) on their new film UNSUNG HERO, which released in theaters in April 2024. Other credits include the Kendrick Brothers film, THE FORGE, the Netflix hit musical A WEEK AWAY, Jeremy Camp’s story of love and loss entitled I STILL BELIEVE, and the highly successful independent film I CAN ONLY IMAGINE. Westerns are some of Beverly’s favorite to work on, including the recent films FAR HAVEN, THE WARRANT (1 & 2), and the upcoming modern-day western series BLUE RIDGE.
Beverly Holloway Casting Website: http://www.bhcasting.com/
Beverly Holloway Casting on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057568093379
VIP Producers Mentorship Program https://www.faffassociation.com/vip-producers-mentorship
Screenwriting Foundations Class:https://www.faffassociation.com/screenwriting-foundations
The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers, talent agents, and distributors.
It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association
Support Faith & Family Filmmakers Our mission is to help filmmakers who share a Christian Worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. If you would like to assist with the costs of producing this podcast, you can help by leaving a tip.
Enter the Faith & Family Screenwriting Awards festival
Faith and Family Screenwriting Academy: https://www.faffassociation.com/
Script Notes and Coaching: https://www.faffassociation.com/script-services
Copyright 2024 Ivan Ann Productions
Transcript
Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.
Geoff:We're happy to be with you today.
Geoff:I'm Geoff,
Jaclyn:And I'm Jaclyn.
Geoff:and we have a special guest today, Beverly Holloway.
Jaclyn:Beverly Holloway has been an independent casting director for TV and feature films for 30 years and is proud to be a member of the Casting Society of America.
Jaclyn:Throughout her career, Beverly has worked across multiple genres of film, Including drama, comedy, faith and family, action adventure, western, rom com, thriller, sci fi, horror, and animation.
Jaclyn:Beverly is one of the casting directors for the award winning series The Chosen, seasons 1 through 4, and was also excited to work with For King and Country on their new film Unsung Hero, which released in theaters in April 2024.
Jaclyn:Other credits include The Forge, A Week Away, I Still Believe, and I Can Only Imagine.
Jaclyn:Westerns are some of Beverly's favorite to work on, including the recent films Farhaven, The Warrant, and the upcoming modern day western series, Blue Ridge.
Jaclyn:Welcome to the podcast, Beverly.
Geoff:Beverly.
Beverly:I'm so happy to be here.
Beverly:This is great.
Beverly:I'm looking forward to our time together.
Jaclyn:Me too, and actually, this is fantastic.
Jaclyn:Sometimes I get to actually meet our guests for the first time as a guest, and so all of my questions just stem from curiosity.
Jaclyn:So, I know of you, and I have seen some of The things that you've been doing, like on Facebook, sometimes you're, um, you know, doing stuff with actors and, you know, helping them with their auditions or monologues or what have you.
Jaclyn:but casting is a very specific part of the industry, which means you would have to have a certain degree of knowledge from other areas first.
Jaclyn:So I'm wondering, where did you get your start?
Beverly:It's so interesting that you mention that and the having a broader knowledge of production in general, because that's exactly how I started.
Beverly:So I went to to a filmmaker who I actually went to church with, and his name is John Schmidt, and he really was a pioneer in the Christian film world.
Beverly:He was making Christian films back when the churches would rent projectors, right?
Beverly:And have their like movie night, and it's a big 35
Jaclyn:Mm hmm.
Geoff:I remember.
Jaclyn:Wow.
Beverly:They'd send the big cans with the movie in it.
Beverly:and so he was one of those pioneers making films back then.
Beverly:and he's a, professor at Biola University now, still teaching film and cinema, and an editor.
Beverly:And so he's still very active, but he and I went to church together and I went to him and said, I think that the film world might be somewhere that I'm suited for as far as my skill sets and I'd love it if I could just intern.
Beverly:Now, at this point, I was almost 30.
Beverly:So you know, the intern was quite an interesting shift.
Beverly:I had already been in a different career and I was making a change.
Beverly:and so he's the one who put me in casting.
Beverly:I had an acting background and, I had directed theater and community
Jaclyn:Okay, yeah,
Beverly:And so, He knew I had worked with actors, and he didn't like saying no to actors, so he said,
Beverly:you,
Beverly:you can be, yes, you can be that person for me.
Beverly:Um, and that's how the casting part of it started, I didn't go into it having any sense at that stage.
Beverly:where I would be.
Beverly:but I loved it.
Beverly:I really loved it.
Beverly:But in that same project, we did production coordinating, location scout.
Beverly:We did all, you know, that's how you have to do some of the lower budget pieces.
Beverly:And so, over the years I did AD and, um, usually like second, second ad.
Beverly:As the films grew bigger and the budgets were a little better, they would get more complex.
Beverly:And so I was casting and then doing that, and one by one, everything else fell away.
Beverly:I they just weren.
Beverly:my heart and my soul.
Beverly:They weren't the best fit for me and casting was the constant.
Beverly:So yeah, that's where I stayed.
Beverly:basically, I say, that's where God kept opening the doors.
Beverly:So I kept walking through them.
Jaclyn:Yeah, I mean, I haven't done casting on the level you have, obviously, but there's been a couple occasions where I've, you know, had the opportunity to, and one of the things that I loved was that, It's like, I got to look and see something in someone and see like, this person has what this character needs.
Beverly:Yeah,
Jaclyn:And, that was just, I actually really enjoyed it.
Jaclyn:It was a lot of fun to be able to look for that and see it.
Beverly:absolutely.
Beverly:And I can imagine with you being a screenwriter, you're writing these characters, you are the source material.
Beverly:So it's not, always, but it's often that the writer does have some input into, the initial breakdowns or the initial tone that we're looking for for the actors, especially, of course, if it's a writer director or writer producer.
Beverly:but I find that very insightful because you guys are the ones who gave the character's life on the page.
Jaclyn:Yeah.
Jaclyn:Well, and I cast them when I'm writing anyways.
Jaclyn:Like, in my mind, I have actual, you know, whether it be actors or people I actually know that I've kind of based the attitude of this character on.
Jaclyn:Like, I can imagine them in my head and that's part of how I'm able to keep them, you know, in character.
Jaclyn:It's because I already have them assigned and cast.
Jaclyn:So,
Beverly:Yeah.
Beverly:That makes sense.
Beverly:It's interesting because whenever I'm, talking to someone about a potential new project or, you know, kind of interviewing for a potential project, oftentimes, If they haven't given me enough time, I've only, I can only read the script once, they'll say, who did you picture as you read it?
Beverly:And I said, nobody, I actually read the first pass and let the page inform me before I start informing the page,
Beverly:right?
Beverly:yeah, so it's, Much more a blank slate, like, who are these people?
Beverly:Then I'll start thinking about it.
Beverly:again, part of just understanding the writer had some intentions, and by me dropping in a presupposed prototype, I may be missing something as I read it.
Beverly:You know, um, so I try to let that first pass of me reading a script be purely what the writer created and intended.
Beverly:but, I guess isn't as common.
Beverly:Usually, I hear that a lot of people, when they're reading instantly, Oh, I picture this, and I picture this person, and I picture this actor.
Beverly:So, we're all a little different in
Jaclyn:yeah, yeah, And as you're reading, does it start to formulate throughout the process of reading?
Jaclyn:Or do you wait until, like, the end, and then you go back and think about it?
Jaclyn:Or, I'm just curious, like, from a writer's perspective, I'm just curious of where or at what point does the character start to either develop or even are there things that a writer can do to make that easier on casting?
Beverly:Yeah, I love that question.
Beverly:Thank you.
Beverly:Anything that makes it easier on casting.
Beverly:so for me, and again, we're all going to be different.
Beverly:And for me, I typically try not to start picturing actors until I've read it through once.
Beverly:But sometimes there are characters that are just so spot on for someone I'm thinking of.
Beverly:And and like you, it may not be some famous person, like, well, no name.
Beverly:It may be an actor.
Beverly:I just know that it's like, oh, this is their essence.
Beverly:They'd be great
Beverly:in this.
Beverly:but usually I wait and then I go back and revisit each of the characters and, um, and come up with ideas and thoughts and lists.
Beverly:As far as what a writer can do is, when we're creating a breakdown, Which is, a breakdown is a list of all the characters that are in the film or TV show, that are in the script, and it's what goes out to the actors and the agents when we are going to start the casting process.
Beverly:And what we're looking for when I'm writing the breakdown is actionable qualities in a character.
Beverly:So things like, um, obviously you have to put in descriptors like they're athletic or they're attractive, but even a sense of like, What's attractive about them?
Beverly:Is it a natural glow?
Beverly:Is it a, you know, their fashion icon?
Beverly:Those kinds of things to in richen the one word description of attractive, you know, um, some cases can be helpful and then those actionable descriptors, um, like effervescent personality you know, that to an actor describes a certain way of portraying the character versus just they're energetic.
Beverly:You know what I mean?
Beverly:It's, it's, uh, those little more specific descriptor words can really enrich the more complex layers to an actor who's skilled to be able to bring those things out.
Jaclyn:Okay.
Jaclyn:That is so good to know.
Jaclyn:Thank you.
Beverly:Thanks for asking.
Jaclyn:.Yeah.
Jaclyn:No, I, I always love to learn
Jaclyn:for
Geoff:I was wondering, Beverly, to what degree are you looking for actors, Or, attaching actors that a producer or director is telling you they're looking for, and to what degree are you just finding talent options to present to the director or producer?
Beverly:So every film has to figure out who its audience is.
Beverly:And when you figure out who the audience is, then that helps us understand the best casting choices, right?
Beverly:Who appears.
Beverly:So typically that's the first part of it.
Beverly:And then we have to determine is this a talent driven piece meaning budget?
Beverly:Like is, Financing contingent upon attaching a certain level of talent.
Beverly:Um, so those are always the first considerations is, okay, are we making offers to known talent and how many roles?
Beverly:And the piece that affects that the most is usually budget.
Beverly:So especially in the faith, family, inspirational world, budgets are often much tighter.
Beverly:And so we don't have the beauty of just making offers to, on every role to well known actors, you know.
Beverly:and so it's always balancing that and identifying the priorities of which roles are most important to try to get someone of value, And by value, I mean, box office value
Beverly:or audience value.
Beverly:and then the rest is what we'll, go out and look for, but it is always an ever changing puzzle.
Beverly:It's actually one of the things I love about casting is that it is a puzzle and you're moving things around until it.
Beverly:starts to come into shape, you know, and into focus.
Beverly:And so you may have thought the second lead, you were going to have a name actor, but you found an amazing local actor who just encompasses everything you wanted.
Beverly:And so then that money can then shift maybe to characters.
Beverly:Three and four who you didn't think you could bring someone to the table for.
Beverly:So it's always moving pieces, but bringing someone recognizable or with some sort of value box office and audience wise is almost always a criteria because they have to figure out how to make their money back, you
Jaclyn:Yeah, it comes down to marketing, uh, you know, in the end, how are you going to draw people in because that is one of the things that people look for is who's in it, you know, because it tells them the value or at least it gives them the idea that because there's somebody recognizable in this production then the production value is probably pretty good.
Beverly:Right.
Beverly:And that's typically one of the, it's probably question number one or two when a filmmaker is going to find distribution and they're taking meetings, Okay.
Beverly:Who's in it?
Beverly:Cause like you said, they're trying to figure out how hard this thing would be to market and where would they market.
Beverly:Exactly,
Geoff:So would it be correct then to say that the, bankable talent, so to speak, may be suggested to you by the producer or the director, but then, much of the other cast you would be auditioning for?
Beverly:Yeah.
Beverly:So the way that, even the.
Beverly:bankable talent, name talent, um, we'll compile lists typically, unless, like in the case of, I can only imagine, we had worked with Trace Atkins on Mom's Night Out, and I had worked with him actually prior to that a few years before that as well, but when we got the script or when I got the script for I Can Only Imagine, it was Trace.
Beverly:Like you just read it and it was Trace and you meet the real Brickle and, Hmm.
Beverly:So in that case, we didn't need to make a list for that role.
Beverly:It was so obvious.
Beverly:The relationship was already there.
Beverly:So then it was just about making the offer and getting him officially on board.
Beverly:So sometimes it happens like that, where the filmmakers have someone, uh, in mind or the writers wrote it with someone in mind or for someone that they know.
Beverly:in which case those we don't make lists, but otherwise we, typically will do a list of a lot of
Beverly:ideas.
Beverly:Also maybe thinking outside of the box just to ensure we're really
Beverly:covering all the potential versions of that character.
Beverly:And then, we'll go through and that, director will, and producers of course, will chime in on the ones that resonate most strongly for them.
Beverly:and oftentimes it can go back to the person they first thought of, but most filmmakers, directors, they want to Know that they looked at other ideas, so that if they come back to that very first person they had
Beverly:in their mind, at least they know.
Beverly:they did it, having thought
Beverly:of other people.
Beverly:Exactly.
Jaclyn:not really
Geoff:often in anything, if you brainstorm, you come up with something that's kind of an iteration of what you first thought that's even better.
Geoff:So I can see that, you know, just going with your first thought can actually limit you.
Beverly:I do find filmmakers that, For various reasons they're not as knowledgeable on as wide a range of actors.
Beverly:And so oftentimes I'm introducing them to actors they actually are not familiar with and they'll find, Oh, I didn't.
Beverly:know this person, but I think that they're great.
Beverly:So that is part of my job.
Beverly:Part of my job is to know actors, is to know who's out there, from a bankability standpoint, you know, who's kind of has the buzz right now and, who's up and coming and things like that.
Beverly:So that's my job to inform the filmmakers about people they may not know and have exposure to because sometimes it's because the shows are just not shows they watched or I often find in the family faith film space A deliberate choice was made to limit the kind of content that they watched as they were growing up, or that they watch for their family, which I totally get, but sometimes it does mean there's a bunch of actors that are great working actors, you know, not actors that are doing objectionable content or anything, but actors who worked on shows that these filmmakers just literally never saw because it's not what they consume.
Beverly:So, yeah, so I kind of
Beverly:watch everything so they
Jaclyn:Mm-Hmm.
Jaclyn:.There you go.
Jaclyn:There you go.
Jaclyn:. That's awesome.
Jaclyn:I'd like to, ask, do you have any stories, like, especially maybe from your early days of, you know, finding your way in this, new way of doing things or this new job or career and getting to know people?
Jaclyn:was it something that just, honestly, everything just fell into place and flowed easily or were there times where you were finding your way?
Beverly:Oh, absolutely.
Beverly:Finding my way at times.
Beverly:And, when I share my journey with people, or if I'm speaking often, I'll talk about one of the lessons that I've learned or continue to learn, but I've gotten better at, which is to hold the career loosely in my hand, knowing that there could come a day where.
Beverly:God says, I have a new chapter for you and I'm taking you in a different direction.
Beverly:And because many times when things got slow and doors weren't opening, I would have to step back and think, okay, Lord, why aren't the doors opening?
Beverly:What is this, this period right now that we're in where it's kind of a desert time.
Beverly:and there was one in particular, season that had been very slow and I went so far as to interview for a job, just You know, it was actually a retail type of a job and had gone the interview, second interview and was at the point where I needed to accept the job or not and I was about to accept it and then I got the call for I Can Only Imagine.
Beverly:And yeah, so that was one of those where I kind of learned that I think what God was looking for was for the career to not be so dear to me that I couldn't give it up if that's what he was asking me to do.
Beverly:and then he provided, That
Beverly:yes, exactly.
Beverly:And a meaningful just, I love all of the projects I work on.
Beverly:I am so fortunate to work with amazing filmmakers.
Beverly:I can only imagine because of the song, I have a music background.
Beverly:I sang worship in church and did some semi professional when I was much, much, much younger.
Beverly:but.
Beverly:that song and telling stories through music is just about as close to the core of my heart as you can get.
Beverly:And so, that project will always be especially dear,
Jaclyn:Mm
Jaclyn:hmm.
Jaclyn:yeah,
Jaclyn:that was, a huge hit.
Jaclyn:and same for me, I really appreciated it, and I felt like it was also one of those movies where, at the time, it kind of opened up a new space for Christian
Jaclyn:film, because it wasn't, you know, Typical at the time, and I really appreciated that about it.
Jaclyn:It felt more raw and real, and
Beverly:Mm
Beverly:hmm.
Jaclyn:was fantastic.
Beverly:Yeah, well, the Irwin brothers know how to tell a story, really enjoyed working with them, and they're so skilled And they know how to work with actors, you know, that's, not every director's strong suit and most of them bring in people alongside of them, whether it's a producer who works well with actors, it's one of those things about knowing where your weaknesses are and then finding those people that are better at those areas than you are.
Beverly:Um, but that was what was nice about the Irwin brothers is they did, between the two of them, they did complement each other in their, kind of specialty skill sets.
Beverly:They're both all around filmmakers, but each of them has some nuances about their specific skill set that made it a really nice team.
Beverly:so I, do think they set the bar very high that year.
Beverly:And of course, I think what changed the dynamic of the Faith film space is that that film was the number one independent box office success of the year.
Beverly:It was the number one independent film that
Beverly:year, and any film that does 96 million people are gonna look up
Beverly:and like, What was that?
Jaclyn:Yeah.
Jaclyn:What just happened?
Jaclyn:Yes, exactly.
Jaclyn:I thought this was an independent movie.
Beverly:exactly.
Beverly:So
Beverly:think traditional studios and, um, kind of I hate to use the word mainstream because I feel like the faith film world is mainstream too, you know, but the traditional Hollywood model all of a sudden was looking and saying, what is this, who is this audience?
Beverly:How do we, how do we reach them?
Beverly:Of course, Their goals were largely financial, which is fine, because it
Jaclyn:It's a business, yeah.
Beverly:to make, right?
Jaclyn:Yeah, interesting.
Jaclyn:Okay, so we're about to wrap up this portion of the interview and I still have questions for the next one, so that's great.
Jaclyn:I'm glad we get to keep talking.
Jaclyn:But for this part of the interview, do you have any final thoughts for our listeners?
Jaclyn:and also let them know how they can get a hold of you?
Jaclyn:Or where
Jaclyn:they can find
Jaclyn:you.
Beverly:absolutely couple of different ways they can reach out to me.
Beverly:I do have a website and it is bh casting.com, so B as in Beverly, H as in Holloway.
Beverly:casting.
Beverly:com, bhcasting.
Beverly:com.
Beverly:So I try to keep that updated with what's going on.
Beverly:And then I have a Facebook page, which is Beverly Holloway Casting.
Beverly:And that's a little more updated.
Beverly:And then also Instagram.
Beverly:So any of those, they can stay up to date on what's going on or what might be new projects, that might be happening.
Beverly:In fact, probably Facebook and Instagram are a little more current.
Beverly:And then on Tuesday nights 6.
Beverly:30 Pacific, 9.
Beverly:30 Eastern, I do a Facebook live called Let's Talk Tuesday.
Beverly:And we typically go about 45 minutes to an hour.
Beverly:And usually I'm just.
Beverly:answering questions.
Beverly:Actors come in and put their questions in the chat and we just talk about those things.
Beverly:The intention behind that was really giving them the answers that sometimes they feel like they can't find, you
Beverly:know.
Beverly:and we've built a really fun little community.
Beverly:Someone dubbed it Holloway Nation.
Beverly:I
Beverly:love that.
Jaclyn:funny.
Geoff:sounds like a lot of fun.
Beverly:It is.
Geoff:valuable.
Beverly:It is fun.
Beverly:And we have guests, from time to time and directors and we try to cover primarily acting, but from different views.
Beverly:The producer's point of view, the casting director's point of view, the director's point of view, and then fellow actors giving advice and counsel to you.
Beverly:each other, which is great as well.
Beverly:yeah, so that's on Tuesday nights and it's through Facebook Live.
Beverly:And I think it also goes on Instagram, but Facebook Live is where we broadcast out of.
Jaclyn:Perfect.
Geoff:put, all your links in our show notes, so if anybody wants to go back and find it they can just take a look and they'll all be there.
Beverly:awesome.
Beverly:Thank you.
Geoff:Well, thank you so much for your time.
Geoff:It's been a great conversation.
Geoff:It's good getting to know you a little more and some of your journey.
Beverly:you as well.
Geoff:awesome.
Geoff:We'll look forward to talking with you more in the second half.
Beverly:Awesome.