Thoughts on Casting

In this TV series filming, the actors make Levi happy the most.

After rejecting Clark's nonsense request, Levy still handed over the casting to him. There are only a few people under him who can be used, and time is tight, so he can't do everything by himself. Clark was in charge of finding actors, and Bob took the screenwriter to start planning the script, and together with Michael, he rushed to the studio they rented, where various plans were being made. Therefore, a large number of casting work for actors still has to be handed over to Clark, who has the talent in this area but is not so reassuring.

However, the actors Clark found were good enough. Although he had expressed his yearning for sofa auditions many times before, when he actually worked, Clark was still meticulous.

"First, we need a person who is the core character, that is, a night shift supervisor." Regarding casting, he had also discussed with Levi before, "The plot setting of this person requires a strong, knowledgeable, professional, unique personal charm but not a handsome guy, as the protagonist needs to have some aura, and at the same time, he must be middle-aged, and must have certain communication barriers... I suggest we find someone with rich acting experience who will play this role. Maybe the cost will be slightly higher, but this character is significant as the first protagonist. He needs to have personal charm. After all, we cannot guarantee that every case will be successful. It's a case that attracts everyone, and sometimes we have to rely on the actors' charisma to keep the script going."

Levi had no problem with Clark's words. Clark shrugged and signaled Levi to figure it out.

In fact, Levi has his own candidate in his mind, but what makes him more troublesome is that he hopes that William Peterson, in his memory, will play this TV series. Anyway, it is only four years away. If he comes to act, there is no problem modifying the age and script. It's just that, firstly, Levi was worried that he would jump out of the crew after he became famous: that's what he did in his previous life, and secondly, he is also currently engaged in film production, and his new film will be released in April and so doesn't want to get involved in TV drama shooting.

If he really wanted to find him, he would have to wait until after April, when two of his films hit the market and become flops; only then might he turn around and consider accepting TV dramas... However, there will be screenings after April, and time waits for no one. No matter what, he can't delay the shooting until that time.

Therefore, he can only skip him and choose someone else when casting a role. Levi felt a little regretful in his heart, but he also knew that acting in a TV series was a setback in the career of a film actor, and no one would accept such an arrangement if he had not fallen to a certain level.

Therefore, he can only choose another person to play this role.

Fortunately, he was not unprepared for this, "Actually, a few days ago, I saw an actor who might be suitable for this role."

"Name?"

"Hugh Laurie. It's an English actor. I met him previously at the Sense and Sensibility PR meeting, and I don't know much about his acting skills, but he has a lot of suitable temperament. You send him a letter and invite him to participate in an audition. As for what he can act like, I don't know. "

This actor will be famous for filming the medical drama "House" in the future. A few days ago, in the crew of "Sense and Sensibility," Levi discovered that this actor was playing a role in the film. After talking for some time, he also learned that the other party's current situation was not very good, and he didn't have many acting gigs. Even though there are many dramas, as a British, it is difficult to get along in Hollywood.

Therefore, when Levi needed an actor, he was the first person that came to mind. This actor is a very charismatic person. Compared with William Peterson, he has his own strengths and is perfect as the protagonist of a TV series. Moreover, actor training in the UK has its own characteristics. British Actors generally have been baptized and trained in Shakespeare's plays. They often perform these plays, which makes them better than American actors in maintaining their temperament. The United States admires sweethearts, silly girls, and muscular tough guys, while the UK emphasizes temperament, which also creates a difference. Such character is used to portray a more knowledgeable scientist, which is still beneficial.

Moreover, in terms of acting skills, he is acceptable. In the future, he was nominated for the Emmy Awards six times and is also a good actor. Although it is more tragic that he did not win an award once, it could be because of the poor quality of the show. For example, for a disease that can be identified by taking X-rays, the characters take 20 minutes to pretend to be done. It is no wonder that the show was not nominated for the best drama in Emmy awards a single time, which dragged down the actor's award.

"Okay, I will interview him since you are optimistic about him." Clark was quick about this candidate. Since he remembered the name, it means that he should also be a good actor in the future, "Then, it is the number two member of the team, a woman, a divorced single mother..."

"I hope to give Marg Helgenberger an audition for this role. She is a good actress and has acted in many TV dramas. Her focus is also on TV dramas; see if you can find her."

This person is the actress in the original drama and is already well-known. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1992. So, inviting her here also depends on her interest in acting. Fortunately, she was also interested in this drama and still joined the crew.

Besides them, there are four other members of the team. These people also need to have their own characteristics, but because their roles are not very important, it is more convenient to audition for them.

Levi handed over the interview work of these people to Clark. And a few days later, Clark brought his interview results and gave Levi to let Clark choose.

And the result of his selection is decent.

The actor of Warwick, the script requires black people around 30 years old, Clark gave Levi the list, and Levi saw Gary Dourdan, who played Warrick in the original script, at a glance. Although Levi couldn't remember his name, he still remembered his appearance, so he decided to use him. Although there are many black actors, few are honest and obedient. Levi is not interested in finding someone who gets into trouble every few days.

As for the following few people, the role of Sarah, he did not find the original actor. This is not surprising; Hollywood is much stricter with women than men. A few years younger, it will be difficult to audition. However, among the people who came to the interview, Levi also saw a familiar actress named Amy Adams. Levi immediately took a fancy to it; although she had only been in the dinner theater in Minnesota before, Levi chose her anyway.

Among the remaining people, Levi did not find George Eads among the interviewees for the role of Nick - but this role requires a handsome middle-aged guy, which is not difficult to find. Among the participants, he saw the name Jon Hamm, which made him have no hesitation.

Among the remaining names and the candidates for Little G, Levi found soap opera actor Nathan Fillion. This actor is considered a little famous now, but acting in soap operas is less satisfying than acting in a TV drama. He also decided to participate in this TV series.

At this time in the 1990s, there were too many people who had yet to become famous. Just looking for them was enough to make people gain a lot. Levi picked them. Although these people did not match the memory, they also had their own characteristics. Although the casting team built this way was very different from the memory, it was not worse than the memory.

"If you use unknown actors like this, you can save a lot of money... I just don't know what the effect of the shooting will be."

Looking at Levi's choice, Clark frowned with a bit of worry. Why did he choose these people to save money? Levi just smiled.

The income of the actors is not the most expensive thing for a TV series, especially for a new one; the payment of the actors is very low. As for whether it can be improved in the future, it all depends on the ratings.

For example, Friends is a very famous TV series. However, when the filming started in 1994, the six leading actors of Friends cost 6,500 dollars per episode. And then, in the case of good ratings, NBC's method is to raise the salary of Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer to $40,000 per episode and the others to $21,000 per episode. The story of Rachel and Ross is the main line in the original script of Friends, so the two got paid a lot. However, the six leading actors of the Friends crew were determined to advance and retreat together. Both Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer offered to cut their salaries, which eventually made the salaries of the six of them grow together. In 1996, they all had a salary of 75,000 dollars per episode and had to wait until the last season before their income could reach 1 million per episode.

The income of actors in American TV dramas is wholly based on the ratings. If the ratings are high, even if the actors themselves are jerks, they can still earn a lot of money. For example, the infamous Charlie Sheen is still the highest-paid TV drama actor. If the ratings are low, no matter how famous an actor is, he can't even hope to make money - the crew of Gossip Girl the highest income is only 60,000 US dollars per episode because the ratings are too low.

Americans are very realistic. TV dramas with many viewers can bring more advertising revenue; thus, more money should be paid. And if the number of viewers is small, it is impossible to give money.

Although the chances of TV series are not as good as movies, it is worse than having no job. The low salary given by TV dramas also determines that it is unlikely that TV dramas will find many stars to participate. Generally speaking, young actors act in TV dramas in the United States, and after they become famous, they refuse to work in TV dramas again. But even so, there will still be countless people who are willing to join the TV series when they start filming.

Although these people selected by Levi are unknown, they will all be excellent actors in the future. As a time traveler, the most substantial advantage lies in knowing enough about actors besides being able to conceive scripts. As a time traveler, when looking for an actor, wouldn't it be embarrassing if the person he found was terrible? Levi thought in his heart the extras also needed top-level.

But now, these people he chose will never embarrass him. With good top-level actors and crews, the only thing left is shooting the TV series.

It's a pity that just when Levi thought his TV series could quickly conquer Hollywood, the results of the internal screening of the first episode of CSI on ABC TV had also come out.

"They refused to broadcast our TV series?" Levi couldn't believe his ears when he heard the result, "What are those idiots thinking?"

*****

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