Diary of a Short Film II: Musical Casting

Hoo boy. It has been a tangled road to get this short off of the ground, mostly due to finding cast members. Not holding auditions early has put me in a pinch, forcing me to take who I can get and hope for the best. I felt like I didn't have time for auditions, but the fact is that I could have had I planned ahead and budgeted time to do so. This isn't to say that I wouldn't have still had the ol' "actors dropping out like flies" syndrome that plagues every no-budget project, but at least I would have more of a variety of flies to choose from.

Anyway, the only cast member I had set was Natalie Dallimore (pictured), who I had worked with before on an unfinished short entitled Blackout. She is a good actress and also does makeup and hair, which nicely kills two birds with one stone. She suggested I try friend Antonio Lexerot (for the father), whom she respects as an actor. I contacted him but he felt too young to play 50-ish and recommended one Bus Riley. Bus accepted, and suggested Morgan Long to play the daughter. I did manage to meet with her yesterday. Movie cast.

When I secured a shooting date (today) that both leads could make, Natalie couldn't (she was going to play the "woman in car" role). After trying to scramble to find a replacement, I just wrote that part out of the script (sorry, Nat). I'm running out of time fast, and can't afford to reschedule, so I have to adjust.

I did like the fact that Bus told me that he and Morgan could find someone, but decided to just go in a slightly different direction. It will save time and stress to just use Bus by himself and not worry about another person. Morgan will do her own makeup, so there you go.

Shooting starts today in three hours...

Phase: Production
Days remaining: 17
Money spent: $0

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