I was conducting auditions on the Monday and Tuesday just gone. I rented a small room in Central London. Over that time I saw over 60 actors. I had invited more, but people drop out. Its expected. It is like holding a party - you invite more guests then you need, because you know that some of them won’t make it. You set a date and they may be busy on another shoot or auditioning somewhere else in the country, or they can’t get out of their day jobs, or due to sickness (though there was some actors who still turned up, even though they weren’t well).

The first day went well. On the Monday I saw the actresses for the parts of Jane and Alice. We had a good turn up for Alice. Not many Janes. You think that Jane, the main role, would have more applications, but there you go. Maybe the role of Alice sounded more appealing. See you for yourself. Here is the character breakdown for both parts, which one would you choose?

“Jane is a model who is coming to the end of her career. She has gone through a trauma which has strained her marriage to Martin to breaking point. At the start is very much the victim, teary eyed and not sure of herself. But after being seduced and turned into a vampire, learns to be stronger.”

“Alice is married to Ted. She was a socialite, who was known for her parties, who has had to moved down to Cornwall with her husband. She likes attention and is pleased when Martin and Jane come down to stay for a while. She is like a big sister to Jane and loves giving advice.”

I was exhausted by the end of the day, because I was there auditioning from 9.30am (it was suppose to be 9am, but I was late - traffic) to 6pm. Tuesday was a whole different matter.

First it rained. And it didn’t stop. It rained for most of the day. I arrived drenched. Even my umbrella didn’t protect me. But I got there early this time and had time to dry off. I was seeing the boys this day. So I was expecting a big turn up. I didn’t have many emails from the actors saying they were not going to make it, so I was expecting a steady stream of people coming through the door. That morning I saw about 5 people. I was guessing that the rain had driven them off. I was wrong.

The afternoon I had some more actors come through the door. There were gaps in between each one, so I could get some rest - I wasn’t feeling too well. I walked out into the foyer, where I go and meet the actors, about 2.45pm and there wasn’t anybody in there. I went back to the audition room, had a bite to eat, then walked back out at 2.50pm. The foyer was full of actors. And they were all there to audition for me. Shit! Let’s say I had to think fast. I asked who was first. I got a couple of hands. I also got a few “I was booked to come at this time”. Shit! I then asked who needed to shoot off. I got a couple of yes’s for that. So I pointed to one and I saw him first. I could hear some angry grumblings coming from a few of the actors, but I had to put that out of my head and get it done. I had to see each actor. I had to speed through each audition.

I got through it. It was non-stop from that time until 6pm. Actually I had to audition 3 actors out in the foyer, because I had to vacate the room. I want to say for the record that the actors were very good. They were very patient. Some of them step aside so that others could be seen before them. With their help I got the job done. And who is to blame for this mess? Me, of course.

What happened was when I invited the actors and actresses along, I said that if they couldn’t make the time allocated to them, that could come along later. I what I didn’t expect was that they would all turn up at the same time. I had suggested it, because my experience of auditions is that most people can’t make the time they are allocated. It becomes a game of slot shuffling. One person wants a morning slot. Another wants a late afternoon, but you don’t have one free, so you have to wait for an actor to drop out before you can give them that slot. And there are those who just don’t turn up. I really didn’t want to play slot shuffling this time, though to a small extent I did, but my solution didn’t solve this problem. In fact it made it worse.

Next time, I will get a casting director to sort out the auditions. Well if I have the money for one, otherwise it will be back to slot shuffling for me. Definitely more time would help. I saw a lot of people in 2 days. But when you don’t have much money, time is a luxury. Audition spaces can be very expensive.

Now the auditions are done, I have recalled some of the actors and actresses for each part. So out of that few, I can find the one person to fill each role. The first round of auditions was to see what their take on the role would be. This round of auditions is to see what they are like as people. Can we sit down for a cup of coffee and talk? It’s going to be 3 weeks of working and living together in Cornwall, and I need to know that we are going to get on.

I want to end this entry with a quote and it is a quote from Lloyd Kaufman, director and founder of Troma Films.

“What you want out of an actor is them to be a great actor and a great human being. But if you have to choose - go with the great human being.”

And I agree.