Kathryn Courtney-Prior Casting its all about, “Who can you see tomorrow”

Yaplat is an online, global performer search platform to help connect advertisers to a large pool of casting talent. Before becoming the manager 2 years ago, Kathryn worked for a highly respected casting consultancy has cast thousands of actors across television and film throughout her career.

Here are the top sound bites from the full 30-minute interview:

James Pratt (JP): What does a Casting Director want to see on a showreel?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Right now in 2020 it’s shorter clips and all about you [the talent] over special effects. For example, we don’t need to see montages of you running through the streets with music at the beginning of a showreel – we want [you] to get straight into the scenes.If you don’t have any big professional movie or TV clips yet to use, just reading one of your favorite scenes is fine!

James Pratt (JP): How do you see the casting process changing post coronavirus?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Casting directors will always love the in-room casting experience, but self-tapes will be accepted a lot more from now on in Hollywood. In casting it’s all about “who can you see tomorrow!” But these days with pre-production becoming faster, casting often gets squeezed shorter. The other side to casting post coronavirus is that actors are becoming more comfortable with self-tapes and better equipped, I recommend an actor buys a circle light on eBay and then just uses their iPhone for reliable self-tapes.

Kathryn Courtney-Prior

---

James Pratt (JP): On Yaplat, how can an actor increase their chances of being cast?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Use 3 different photos, a close-up, a mid-shot, and a full-length shot. Make sure you fill in your current location and name your real job. Often casting has a requirement to cast someone for a role with real-life experience. For example, a TV show is casting a role with a doctor and might need experience with the terminology.

James Pratt (JP): What is your impression of Mogul?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): The Mogul community, and being able to see what other people are doing and their profiles, is very important. It makes the world a bit smaller. We recently asked on the Yaplat instagram page, “what did you learn your first time on set?” An actor replied, “the importance of meeting other people”. It’s important what Mogul has with their community because this brings people together to network. These connections then form a base for you to start making your own work and improve your career.

James Pratt (JP): What are your tips for doing a self-tape?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Make sure the sound is okay and lighting is okay. It doesn’t have to be professional, but we [casting directors] must be able to hear and see you properly. As a casting director I want to also be able to show self-tapes to the producers or a network without them getting distracted by the low quality.

James Pratt (JP): Does it affect the casting decision when you see a paid professional self-tape as opposed to seeing an actor using an iPhone?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): I learned this from the first casting agent I worked with: The talent will [win] out. If the actor is good and right for the job that will beat out the lighting quality. Unless its something huge, such as Brad Pitt’s new film, I would not spend the money.

James Pratt (JP): How do you stand out on social media as an actor?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Have your personal page on private and start-up an acting page to show your own short clips. Always use hashtags when you post acting content [because] casting agents mainly search on social media using hashtags such as #africanactor or #australianactor.

James Pratt (JP): Can you share more with us about Yaplat?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Yaplat is a global casting platform where actors can sign up for free and be cast from across the globe. If you have a project you are looking to cast, or you are a production company or casting agent, you also can sign up for free and use the platform to search for talent. Even if you have no experience all you need is a clear photograph!

Learn more about Yaplat Casting

---

Lets have your comments below

Socials
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube