backstage-2014-01-23

Follow us! @backstageLike us! facebook.com/backstagenewsFor the first time in the 25 years of the Producers Guild Awards, two films tied for best picture. “Gravity” and “12 Years a Slave” shared the prize Jan.19, which may signal a loss of momentum for recent favorite “American Hustle”: The PGA winners have corresponded to Oscar winners 17 out of 24 years.Update |R EILLY: J i l l G r e e n b e r g / FOXKevin Reilly,Fox’s chairman of entertainmentTELEVISIONIs PilotSeason Dead?Fox pushes toyear-rounddevelopment—does thatmodel helpor hindercasting?By Sean J. MillerFox’s switch to year-round development will translateinto more work for actors, Seth Yanklewitz, the network’sVP of casting, told Backstage.Kevin Reilly, Fox’s chairman of entertainment,recently made headlines when he pledged to switch to a cablestyledevelopment model. Not all network executives agreewith Reilly’s dim view of pilot season; CBS EntertainmentPresident Nina Tassler said the season injected a “creativeadrenaline” into development.But Yanklewitz and some casting directors say Reilly’s movewill benefit actors. “It will be better for actors because fewerof them will be fired at table reads,” Yanklewitz said, referringto the tumultuous development process through which mostpilots currently go.“What happens now is that actors hang on, they think apilot’s amazing, they do it, it doesn’t get picked up, they’reout of the job,” he said. “The goal is we pick up more series.“New Yorkactorsget hiredthroughoutthe year, andso do actorsall overthe globe,for pilots.They don’tnecessarilyhave to be inL.A. for it.”— Sharon Bialy,casting directorAt the end of the day, more actors willget work.”The move could also mean an end to“defensive casting,” which puts actorsin projects they might not be right for.“When you’re in that foxhole, competingwith 80 other pilots all lookingfor the same talent at the same time,you find yourself casting ‘defensively,’hiring an actor before the other guysnaps them up instead of makingcogent creative choices,” said castingdirector Marc Hirschfeld.But casting director Judy Henderson,who won an Emmy for her work on theShowtime series “Homeland,” said thedemise of casting season could hurt actors looking to make theswitch from New York to Los Angeles.“A lot of actors go to L.A. during that time so that they canintroduce themselves to the Los Angeles community, and if itwere ongoing I don’t think they’d be running back and forthlike that,” she said. “It’s nice to know that there may be a lotof work for x amount of time for the actor, so you’re not justuprooting for one [potential job].”If pilot season goes the way of the dinosaur, Henderson recommendedactors make the cross-country trip to Los Angelesonly if they get an audition. “It’s hard to go out when there’snothing to go out for,” she said.Casting director Sharon Bialy, who worked on “BreakingBad” for five seasons, dismissed the idea that ending pilotseason would hurt East Coast actors’ chances of getting work.“New York actors get hired throughout the year, and so doactors all over the globe, for pilots. They don’t necessarily haveto be in L.A. for it,” she said.Moreover, she said that the end of pilot season could actuallyimprove actors’ chances of having their pilot picked up toseries. “The casting in a pilot is the most crucial of all of theelements because if you don’t cast your leads correctly, yourshow won’t get picked up,” she said. “It would be better foreveryone if it was spread out throughout the year.”Part of the reason why Reilly is pushing the move to a fullyeardevelopment process is that it gives shows time to gel.Cable has adopted the full-year approach, which can help castingdirectors assemble the right talent, Bialy said.When casting the “Breaking Bad” pilot six years ago, sherecalled, “with the exception of Bryan [Cranston], nobodyelse was well-known. And I don’t know a network other thanAMC that would have greenlit ‘Breaking Bad’ with the cast weassembled.”backstage.com upstage News | actor 101 | center stage cover story | features | downstage casting | charts01.23.14 backstage 7