CASTING NOTICES

OPEN CALL FOR PAID MOVIE EXTRAS - "One for the Money" starring Katherine Heigl.

What: Open Call for “One for the Money” based on the novels by Janet Evanovich and starring Katherine Heigl (The Ugly Truth, 27 Dresses, Killers).

When: Tuesday, July 6th from 4pm-8pm.

Where: The Kingsley Community Center in East Liberty
(6435 Frankstown Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15206)
Who: People ages 18 and up to work as paid extras, stand-ins, photo-doubles, and silent bits. You should bring a recent photo of yourself if you have one.

If you are unable to attend the casting call, please create a FREE online profile at www.mossercasting.com If you are already on file with Nancy Mosser Casting, there is no need to attend this open call.

STUDENT UPDATES

PHOTO: Allison Leonard

Check out the trailer for The Schartz-Metterklume Method.

The Schartz-Metterklume Method premiered in Athens, OH on June 6th staring Acting in Columbus student Allison Leonard, Acting in Columbus alumni Claudia Esposito and featuring Acting in Columbus student Tiffany Thorton.

The Schartz-Metterklume Method tells the tale of Claretta, a mysterious do-gooder, who is mistaken by the wealthy Atwater family for their newly hired nanny. Claretta shakes the family dynamic up, putting the overbearing Mrs. Atwater in her place, giving the cowardice Mr. Atwater a bit of courage, and allowing their adoring kids to re-enact the greatest moments of history using the Shartz-Metterklume teaching method. However, when Claretta is discovered for the fraud that she is, things take a turn for the worst....

This movie is based on the short story The Schartz-Metterklume Method by H.H. Munro.

Starring Allison Leonard, Claudia Esposito, Rick Montgomery Jr., Emma Best, Kyle Channell.
Directed by Jessica Kardos. Produced by Ashley Griffis, Peter Gaglio, Max Prottengeier, Andrew Thomas. Screenplay by Michael Kortlander. Cinematography by Jeff Kolada, Production Designer Sarah Queen, Edited by Conor Hogan. Sound by Tate Galbraith. Original Score by Tyler Chiartas.

www.schartzmetterklume.com

ADVANCED ACTING FOR FILM STUDENTS' FINAL SCENES: Spring 2010

ACTING FOR FILM STUDENTS' FINAL SCENES: Spring 2010

Acting in Columbus - Acting for Film - Final Scenes - Spring 2010 from Richard Mason on Vimeo.
Scenes from our Acting for Film for Beginners - Spring 2010 class.
For more information visit our website: http:\\actingincolumbus.net

UPCOMING WORKSHOP: Acting for TV Commercials

Acting for TV Commercials - Introduction to Acting for the Camera

Sunday August 8, 2010 1:00pm -8:00pm $175

Learn how to audition for and break into the local commercial and industrial industry. You will learn how to make the first contact with the agents. By taking this class you have the opportunity to show the agents that you are serious about pursuing this type of work. This workshop will give you experience with the actual audition process:

You'll work on-camera all day doing both prepared and cold readings, and receive plenty of feedback from instructor Richard Mason.


Script analysis skills: We have written our own textbook that breaks this process down and makes it simple.

Comfort in front of the camera: How do you stand? How do you hold the script? How do you deal with your partner and the camera at the same time? What is a slate? What do you do with your hands?

Practice at doing all types of commercials: Scene work, improv, one-liners, bite and smiles, handling products, etc. You'll also learn how to market to the casting directors, all about pictures and resumes, how the unions work, etc.

Acting in Columbus student Candace B's (pictured above) SAFE AUTO COMMERCIAL

The Hollywood Experiment: Film Industry Quietly Sets Up Shop in Pennsylvania

Editor's note: Most professional actors in Central Ohio get their feature film opportunities in the Pittsburgh market.  Just three hours away, Pittsburgh is our home away from home. More on the Casting Process in our next issue.

On a film set in 2007, Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks danced down a city street in the snow. Flanking the area were craft service people, grips, lighting professionals, sound engineers, and those guys that hold those snapping chalk boards and yell, "action!"

This could have been any set in Hollywood or New York. But somehow, a movie about broke, slacker twenty-somethings at the bottom of the barrel wouldn't quite fit in those somewhat sexier locations. In short, Zach and Miri Make A Porno is a film with a little dirt under its fingernails. It belongs in a city that does, too.

The star-studded comedy was set in Pittsburgh, using Pennsylvania labor and creating hundreds of local jobs--if only for the period of shooting. And while Pennsylvanians are happy to finally get a taste of Hollywood, perennial Jersey boy Kevin Smith would have most likely preferred to direct, as he has done so many times before, in his hometown.

So how did Hollywood wind up in Pittsburgh? And how do we get them to keep coming back?

In the fall of 2004, Pennsylvania began to offer tax exemptions to movie productions that spent a certain percentage of their budget in the Commonwealth. Signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell, the sales tax exemption was a small nod to directors looking for a new place to shoot. Soon, as production dollars began to flow in, the tax program was expanded, and in 2007 the sales tax exemption was lifted in favor of a more expansive, $75-million tax credit program.

With this announcement came more major film and television productions--and studio development deals from Pacifica Ventures and Paramount to bring films, as well as film production, to the state of Pennsylvania.

A lot of the credit for fostering this burgeoning industry goes to the executive director of Pittsburgh's film office, Dawn Keezer. Her work with directors and film crews have helped take Pittsburgh from a post-industrial Midwestern city to a go-to film destination, hosting such films as Ellen Page's Smart People and the critically-acclaimed miniseries The Kill Point.

But if you're shocked that a town like Pittsburgh could play host to Hollywood, Keezer would like a word with you. "We're very fortunate that there are so many great locations in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Keezer says. "If you want that downtown New York look, you can get it and within 10 minutes, be out in the middle of the country."

Some of the recent productions include: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Smart People, The Bridge to Nowhere, the Spike TV series The Kill Point, Adventureland, Homecoming, Trapped, Zack & Miri Make a Porno, The Road, She's Out of My League, Shelter, Hollywood and Wine, My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Shannon's Rainbow, In NorthWood, Sorority Row, Warrior, Three Rivers (pilot), Justified (pilot), Unstoppable, starring Danzel Washington (pictured), Love and Other Drugs and The Next Three Days.

'Twilight' star Lautner will come to Pittsburgh for 'Abduction'

By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Chris Pizzello/Associated PressTaylor Lautner arrives at a premiere in Los Angeles. The actor from the wildly popular "Twilight" series will film the movie "Abduction" in Pittsburgh.Taylor Lautner, one of the most popular actors on the planet thanks to his portrayal of werewolf Jacob Black in the "Twilight" franchise, is coming to Pittsburgh to make a movie called "Abduction."

Shooting is expected to start in July, a Lionsgate representative confirmed last night, and where Mr. Lautner goes, frenzied members of "Team Jacob" follow. The 18-year-old could make the hunt for Russell Crowe in a neighborhood bar or Jake Gyllenhaal in Whole Foods seem like amateur hour.


That's because Mr. Lautner is part of a tortured trio in "Twilight." He's a werewolf, Robert Pattinson plays dreamy vampire Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart is Bella Swan, a high school student and human who loves Edward but doesn't want to lose Jake as a friend.

Mr. Lautner's arrival in July would come directly on the heels of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," the third movie based on novelist Stephenie Meyer's vampire series. It's being released June 30.

John Singleton, a double Oscar nominee for writing and directing "Boyz N the Hood," is expected to direct "Abduction," about a teen who begins to realize he's not who his parents claim.
The website Comingsoon.net reports that, in the movie, the boy discovers his own baby picture on a missing persons website, which unleashes a chain of violent events. Shawn Christensen wrote the original script.

"Abduction" is being made by Lionsgate, which came to Pittsburgh last year to film the mixed martial arts movie "Warrior" along with the suspense thriller "The Next Three Days" starring Mr. Crowe. Lionsgate also made "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" here and the TV series "The Kill Point."

Mr. Singleton, who recently made "Four Brothers," "2 Fast 2 Furious," "Baby Boy" and "Shaft," was just 24 when he became the youngest person and first African American to be nominated for a best director Oscar for 1991's "Boyz." He also scored a nod for the screenplay, about friends in gang-ridden South Central Los Angeles.

As fans know, Mr. Lautner also is no one-hit wonder.

Long before it was fashionable, he starred in a 3-D movie called "Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl" for director Robert Rodriguez. In December, he hosted "Saturday Night Live" and in February, he and Taylor Swift played high school sweeties in the romantic comedy "Valentine's Day."

Pennsylvania's tax credit program is once again being cited for helping to lure moviemakers here.

"The film tax credit has been extremely successful for Southwestern Pennsylvania. We had approximately $100 million in new money in 2009 and are hoping for the same or better for 2010," Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said yesterday.

The office is awaiting final numbers from "Unstoppable," "The Next Three Days" and "Love and Other Drugs."

"We have several projects that are seriously considering Southwestern PA for summer shoots and are hopeful that we will get a green light and be able to announce good news very soon," she said.

Katherine Heigl to star in movie starting here in July

By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Matt SaylesKatherine Heigl -- Will star in "One for the Money."It's a plum role -- and series -- and Katherine Heigl has it and now, so does Pittsburgh. Ms. Heigl is coming to Pittsburgh this summer to shoot "One for the Money," a big-screen version of the popular Janet Evanovich novel of the same name.

Published to enthusiastic reviews in 1994, "One for the Money" introduced Stephanie Plum, a laid-off lingerie buyer who blackmails her bail bondsman cousin into a job with his office. Turns out she's very good at the gig.

Since then, Ms. Evanovich has written 15 more Plum novels, with "Sizzling Sixteen" due in bookstores June 22."One for the Money" will mark the return to Western Pennsylvania of Lakeshore Entertainment, which made "The Mothman Prophecies" here. The movie, which will be set in the present day rather than the '90s of the series launch, will start in July and shoot into early September.

Julie Anne Robinson, who directed "The Last Song" starring Miley Cyrus and Greg Kinnear, will direct. Still to be announced are the actors who will handle the male roles of Joe Morelli and Ranger. Pittsburgh will play Trenton, N.J., the backdrop for the books. "The cities are actually pretty similar in architecture," Richard Wright, head of production at Lakeshore, said yesterday by phone in confirming the shoot.

"They're both industrial cities that rose to prominence at a similar time in history. They were both built around heavy manufacturing, they both have a river going right through the city or right next to the city. ... It's actually a very, very good match." Mr. Wright laughingly compared the movie to a "superhero origins story" explaining how the character came to be. Pressed to categorize it, he calls it a drama with action and comedic elements.

Stephanie has lost her job, moved back in with her parents and hit rock bottom. "She gets this opportunity to work in her cousin's bail bonds office, and it turns out she's incredible at it." Asked if this might launch a film franchise, he said, "We should all be so lucky. Certainly if that happens, we'll be very happy."

Ms. Heigl, known for her former role on TV's "Grey's Anatomy" and in movies such as "Knocked Up" and "27 Dresses," will play the part as a brunette. In the first book, Jersey vice cop Morelli describes Stephanie as "lots of energy, not much control, sexy as hell."

As for what makes Ms. Heigl a good match for the role, Mr. Wright said, "The film is an interesting mixture of the comedic and the gritty, and Katherine is a phenomenally talented comedic actress, but this is not being played as a comedy, per se.

"It's a film that has comedic elements and it's a film that has dramatic elements, and she's also very, very interested in this character," and has been researching the role. "The Mothman Prophecies" filmed over a three-month period of 2001 in Pittsburgh and Kittanning, Armstrong County, paved the way for "One for the Money." The experience on the Richard Gere thriller convinced Lakeshore to return.

"We considered a lot of different places but Pittsburgh is a location that we know well," Mr. Wright said.
"We had a very, very good experience on 'Mothman' there so it was kind of a no-brainer to come back. The Pittsburgh film commission is a very activist film commission and they played a big role in helping us figure the whole thing out."

Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said yesterday, "They had a great shoot with 'Mothman,' and we know they will have a wonderful experience with this project. Lakeshore is back in the Pittsburgh area due to the successful Pennsylvania film tax credit program and because of our extremely talented local workforce."
Mr. Wright, calling Pennsylvania's incentive both attractive and effective, said tax credits are "a very important part of the decision about where you shoot a movie." The film has hired a Pittsburgher as a production manager and Mr. Wright said, "We want to hire as many Pittsburgh locals as we possibly can. It works for everybody, it works for the community and it works for us." He also expects there to be a need for extras, but it's too early to announce that information.

Tom Rosenberg, an Oscar winner for "Million Dollar Baby," and Gary Lucchesi, both principals at Lakeshore, along with Wendy Finerman, will produce "One for the Money." "One for the Money" is among three movies filming here this summer. "I Am Number Four," starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant and Kevin Durand, is under way, with "Abduction" featuring "Twilight" heartthrob Taylor Lautner set for July

CRAFT NOTES by Ed Hooks

SYMPATHY VS. EMPATHY

An understanding of the distinction between empathy and sympathy is intrinsic and essential to my personal approach to acting and acting training. An actor's job is to create in the audience a sense of empathy with the character she is portraying. Yes, of course there are times when an audience will feel sympathy, but if sympathy is what they feel at the final curtain, they're not going to be satisfied.

Empathy is an essential attribute for human survival, and terrible things happen in its absence. Serial killers – sociopaths – for example, do not empathize with their victims. Studies have shown that the part of a sociopath’s brain associated with empathy is literally broken. That is why he can murder a person and then stop off for a burger and beer on the way home. And then there is Hitler. There are smart and responsible leaders in the Jewish community who become outraged at any attempt a performer makes to create empathy for Hitler. Yes, the man was evil and did horrible things but, if we do not try to understand where he was erroneously coming from emotionally, then we open ourselves to the unwitting acceptance of another just like him.

Not long ago, I asked a beginning actor in my workshop how he felt about the character he was rehearsing. “I don’t like him. He does stupid things,” he replied. A judgment like that is fair enough, and the actor is entitled to it. However, as I quickly advised him, he would have to find a way to love and empathize with that character if he wanted a successful portrayal. Every person on earth and in literature is a hero in his or her own life, even the stupid ones. Humans are fallible. We can make bad choices, and that is the reason we have theatre in the first place. If humans were instinctual like lions and tigers, there would not be an option for acting against our own survival and best interest. When an actor plays a character, she is saying to the audience, in effect, "This is how I personally think this character is surviving in the world." When the audience laughs, cries and applauds, it is saying, in effect, "I see what you mean. I never looked at it that way before."

We all have different strategies, but we are all trying to survive. Each of us is part of a tribe that is, in turn, part of a larger global tribe. We universally empathize only with emotion, never with thinking, and we empathize with all seven of them - happy, fear, anger, contempt, disgust, surprise and, yes, sad. I visited China for the first time last year and saw immediately that the Chinese culture encourages radically different survival strategies than the ones I personally pursue. It doesn't matter because we are all humans, and we are all marching in the same direction.

We humans now possess the power to destroy one another along with the planet we live on. If our many tribes manage to survive, it will be because the members of each tribe have learned to empathize with the members of other tribes, not sympathize. With all due respect, I will now send this column to David Brooks.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Michael Caine - Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making

A master actor who's appeared in an enormous number of films, starring with everyone from Nicholson to Kermit the Frog, Michael Caine is uniquely qualified to provide his view of making movies. This new revised and expanded edition features great photos throughout, with chapters on: Preparation, In Front of the Camera - Before You Shoot, The Take, Characters, Directors, On Being a Star, and much more."Remarkable material ... A treasure ... I'm not going to be looking at performances quite the same way ... FASCINATING!"- Gene Siskel