First Casting back in LA for JC Penny

My first casting back in LA and it falls on a Saturday! On a Saturday?!?!?! My favorite day of the week by a mile and a day that I have always seen as a "no work day". But I got over this very quickly (slightly pathetic I know). The castings in LA often have a very long brief to them. They use specific jargon to describe exactly what they are looking for or what they want you to dressed like. Below is the casting brief for today's casting:

SEEKING MALE ACTOR, OR MODEL TYPES THAT HAVE ACTING CAPABILITIES . SEEKING CLASSIC, BEAUTIFUL MEN. "AMERICANA" TYPES. PLEASE SUBMIT ALL RACES.

Here is the Wardrobe brief:

TIMELESS - STYLISH - CLASSIC, AMERICANA LOOK, A BIT RETRO YET STILL MODERN, BUT DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT COME IN WHAT FEELS LIKE A COSTUME. "MAD MEN" HAIR FOR THE GUYS...BUT NOT LIKE COSTUME. THINK DWELL MAGAZINE

Now, let me break all this down. The casting brief first of all asks to see all races, which means they have no idea exactly who they want for the job. Second of all, what does "Americana" mean??? I seriously have no idea what so ever. As regards the wardrobe, it was a case of researching these words, websites and TV programmes to try and distinguish what exactly they were after. I went for a side part in hair (something that all actors had in the programme "Mad men". And had a guess at old styled Americana with trousers, shirt and jumper. I looked smart so that was good enough for me. ha.

The casting itself was an hour wait, which was quite ridiculous considering the amount of people going into the audition room at a time. Sometimes the organisation is not the best at castings and it can often become farcical at times when models try to push in and be seen quicker and when the list of names isn't followed in the right order. Adds to the frustration at times when your trying hard to focus on what you need to get done.

The audition had a few parts to it:

1. State name and profiles to camera (the usual in most castings)

2. To cat walk side to side whilst music is playing, but smiling and having fun with it rather than a plain faced catwalk like you often see in the TV in the high end fashion shows.

3. To walk forward from the catwalk and act like your in a photo booth and getting pictures taken in different ways, cool, smiling, showing your personality off (sounds simple, but puts your improv skills to the tests and you need to ensure you drop any barriers that are holding bits in)

4. To talk about one of your most embarrassing moments. Which again was probably the casting directors way of getting to see your personality and how comfortable you speak and come across on camera.



This is an insight into the castings and what is often required when going for an audition. The most crucial thing for me and something that everyone needs to do is to lower their inhibitions, something that when I'm in a new environment I find myself struggling to do. In London its a completely different story, but here it takes a while for me to come out of my shell properly.

I'm off and running, which is the most important thing and every casting just increases your experiences and can be treated as a learning curve for the future.

(I will make an extra effort to take pictures of what I wear to specific castings with such briefs in the future, so you guys can let me know if I made a right or wrong choice)