How to get a cast and crew

We had another question on YouTube that asked:

“How can I get a cast and crew that is willing to work for very little or no money?”

Abraham T.

There is a very simple answer for getting crew... friends and family! They might not know anything about filmmaking, but they are willing (and this is the important part) to work for free. I’ve shot a few short films where everyone on the crew had never stepped foot on a set or gone to film school, with the exception of myself and my partner. Before shooting I met with each person that had agreed to help, and taught them how to do the job I needed them for. Really, (for a no-budget film) the only jobs on set that need someone with experience is the Director, DP and the Cam Op (which is typically the same person as the DP). Another great idea is to talk to film schools in your area and see if any of the students would be interested in working for experience/credit.

But if you don’t want to go that route and would rather use experienced people, you’re going to need a great script or past work that shows your talent. If you have one of those two… or both, go and post the open positions you are looking for on these sites:

http://www.craigslist.com/

http://www.mandy.com/

http://www.productionhub.com/

There are a lot of sites like these. But I’ve gotten the best results from the above three. Also if you don’t mind spending the $100 I would suggest getting an IMDBpro account.

http://www.imdbpro.com/

IMDBpro is another great avenue to find other filmmakers and stay up-to-date with all the industry news.

Actors are a totally different story. There are a ton of aspiring actors and actresses out there itching to get work to build their resume. The down side, however, is that 80% of them are not good. So you will have to go through the painful task of sifting through the bad to find the good.

Good places to post for a casting call would be:

http://www.actorsinfobooth.com/

http://www.exploretalent.com/

http://www.craigslist.com/

http://www.mandy.com/

http://www.imdbpro.com/

You can also contact all the acting schools and drama groups in your area... just Google it.

Also remember, no matter who you are trying to get to work on your film, be it family, friends or people you don’t know, you have to get them excited about the project. No one wants to work on a boring film that is going nowhere. But if you can convince them that it will be something great with much potential, then you will be able to get all the help you need.

I hope this helped. We will be talking more about casting in one of the upcoming episodes of “Making the Film.”

Ryan