Millions of people come to Mumbai to pursue their dreams in the film industry, but for an outsider seeking work in Bollywood is no easy task. From numerous auditions to adjusting to life in a new city, struggling actors have a lot to deal with.
And this is why industry players say online auditions can be a game changer for new talent in the film industry.
In Unlock 2.0, many state governments have granted permission to resume production work, but with riders. One of them being online auditions.
According to standard operating procedure (SOPs) for shooting of films, web series and TV, casting directors are advised not to hold physical auditions and carry out the process online or via video.
While coronavirus has led to the birth of online auditions, filmmakers told Moneycontrol this process is here to stay in the long run.
“Online casting/auditions will reduce the stress young actors face. It will also benefit the industry as it will lead to greater discovery of talent,” Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vice President, Films & Events, Saregama India, said.
According to him, online auditions are more systematic, cost effective, and more convenient for both actors and production houses.
When it comes to convenience for actors, Kumar cited the example of Yogendra Tiku, who played the role of Kangana Ranaut’s father in Queen and has acted in films like Neerja, Parmanu, No One Killed Jessica, among others.
“Yogendra Tiku, who has done many films with us is based in Delhi and doesn’t want to move to Mumbai. So, instead of struggling in Delhi or Mumbai for years, actors can work out a hybrid model with online auditions. They can continue working in their cities, scout for work remotely and travel to the place of shooting once shortlisted,” he explained.
Kumar added that since most series and film shoots happen on location, people can access better opportunities and assignments online.
Saregama’s film division -- Yoodlee Films, which has produced films like Hamid, Chaman Bahaar, Axone, among others, recently conducted online auditions for two upcoming projects.
“We are working on two projects currently and the auditions were for them. We did a large number of online auditions. We are making a zombie comedy in Marathi. We got some hilarious home videos for the zombie audition. People also used special effects and filters for auditions. In fact, we plan to use the audition videos for promotion," Kumar said.
The second project Yoodlee is working on is a direct to digital feature.
“We are planning to shoot in Gurugram for the feature. One of the strategies we adopted is to cast maximum people locally. This we were able to do via online auditions,” he said.
For the two Yoodlee projects, around 500 people applied for the online auditions. The number was narrowed down to 150 for further shortlisting. The casting is still going on and the team has narrowed it down to 50 candidates who will be finalised in coming weeks.
How did Yoodlee conduct online auditions? “We did a campaign for online auditions. We had a couple of scenes written for the process. But before the candidates recorded videos for the audition, we did facetime calls to brief them about the role or the character they are playing,” Kumar said.
“Even when people come for a face to face audition, we have an assistant director/casting director briefing candidates, so you are not aiming in the dark. Before auditioning, people need to understand the character the filmmaker has in mind and how to interpret that.”
Pain points of ground auditions On holding physical auditions in times of coronavirus, Kumar said it was more of a question of psychological pressure and too avoid crowding.
“Yoodlee had conducted open audition calls before the pandemic, but we stopped because 300 to 400 people turned up and it became hard to handle. You don’t need to rent rooms/venues for large gathering and also don’t need as big a team to handle people. However, the cost of holding online auditions is miniscule.”
Besides cost are there any other factors driving online auditions? “Ground audition is a cumbersome, but a necessary process as often you want to discover new talent, especially for secondary roles. Plus new talent comes at a lesser price than experienced talent. This is why production houses look for new talent for smaller roles. In the current times, when we see budgets rising by 10-12 percent, online auditions are cost-effective as well as help in discovering varied talent. This is why I think it is here for the long run and could be widely adopted," Kumar explained.
Filmmakers across industries/languages have started holding online auditions. Cinematographer turned director Teja who has worked both in Bollywood and the south Indian film industry recently conducted online auditions for his upcoming ventures.
The online auditions reportedly saw around 100 audition videos, of which 50 actors will be selected.
Even in Bollywood, casting agencies are opting for online auditions and casting directors concur with Kumar on actors residing in different cities getting better opportunities.
Looks like online auditions can be a game changer for outsiders who have big Bollywood dreams.
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