I was so excited yesterday for the first day of auditions for my new film ‘Beehive’ (see details here). I had trouble getting to sleep the night before as my mind wouldn’t stop ticking over ideas for my film. I have trouble getting to sleep every night for the same reason. Whether I am thinking about character arcs, camera angles, lighting, set design or pre-production – this little ducky is definately going to sleep later than she should.
But on this particular evening it was worse than ever, it was a terrible concoction of stress and excitement mixed in one. ‘Have we contacted everyone we want? Have they been told to prepare a scene? Have we asked them to prepare the right character? Is there anyone else I haven’t thought of? Should I bring food? Do I need music? Should I print off more copies of the script? Is the room booked? Do we have a reader?
What it is that finally helps me get to sleep, I don’t know, but it’s probably the fact that I have amazing producer, Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher, on board. Chloe has taken this project on board and ensured everyone of my questions has an answer (generally DONE and DON’T WORRY). She’s the best.
Chloe and I worked on so many projects together last year. Having met on ‘In Transit‘ where she worked as First Ad and me as 1st Camera Assist. We then went on to work on 5 other productions. It got to the point where it seemed we couldn’t get a job without the other already being involved! So Chloe was an obvious choice. Any girl who works that hard has to be on my team!
So after another sleepless night I woke up to day one for auditions – slightly groggy but too nervous to notice or care.
I headed off to The University of Technology where we are hosting the auditions. As I walked down the hall toward the room I could faintly hear the ‘Toot Toot Toots‘ song ‘Fools Gold‘ blaring from crackly speakers. As we entered I was delighted to see that Chloe and director Alastair Wharton had set the room up. It finally dawned on me that it was really happening now. It wasn’t just a project in my head, things were happening around me without me managing every little detail. What a relief! 
Yesterday we saw our first group of auditions. It kicked off to a strong start with a bubbly actress who seemed to wash away all our nerves the moment she burst into the room. From then on, each person brought their own flair and the night was filled with such fun and laughter that at times we had to remind ourselves this was work.
I found a quote yesterday before the first round of auditions, which at first I thought was really great.
“Disney has the best casting. If he doesn’t like an actor he just tears them up.”
– Alfred Hitchcock
Now that I have seen some actors I don’t agree with Hitchcock completely. I think there is something amazing that an individual actor can bring to a role that the writer, director or producer haven’t even thought of. Which is why casting is such a wonderful experience. Not saying that the long days and the repetition (or the occasional cringe-worthy performance) doesn’t make it hard. Just overall, it’s a unique experience that starts to give you a hint of the possibilities of your project and makes the script seem to come to life (something that Disney may have struggled to find to bring personality to his characters).
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“With my head in the stars, a twinkle in my eye and a love for cinema and nostalgia, filmmaking is a fun, creative way to express myself.”
Ehran Edwards 