Tag Archives: casting

Casting directors (and a new call)

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Adrian Hughes and David Thomas performing on stage

Adrian Hughes and David Thomas performing on stage

Here we are, another step forward while in pre-production for the pilot episode of The Wakefield Variation. Yes, we’re not hiding anymore, this is going to be a (web)series, and we have to think big! That is why we asked the founders of the English Theatre Company in Pisa to help us casting the new characters of the series. They were happy to join the team – as much as we are happy to have them on board – so you should know a little more about them:

ADRIAN HUGHES is a trained ballet dancer and is a graduate of UCT Drama School (South Africa).  He received his Masters degree in Contemporary Performance & Theatre Directing from Brunel University (London, UK).

Plays include: Shakespeare Unplugged (volumes 1-3); Boy Meets Boy (Nico Arena, Market Theatre); Dario Fo’s Elizabeth I; The Marat/Sade; A Little Hotel on The Side; Twelfth Night; The Trial; Blood on The Cat’s Neck; The Possibilities; Quartet; The Bacchae; Trick (Zip Zap Circus); The Blue House(Man in the Moon & Teatro Agorà, Rome); Narrow Rooms; Theatresports SA.  He wrote and directed Sad Since Tuesday, which was invited to Escrita Na Paisagem & Festival Y in Portugal.

DAVID THOMAS is a graduate of the University of Cape Town Drama School.

Theatre Includes: Shakespeare Unplugged (volumes 1-3), Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, Cabaret, Boy Meets Boy, Trick, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Grin and Bare It, The Normal Heart, Sad Since Tuesday(UK & Portugal), The Blue House (Teatro Agora @ Man in the Moon Theatre, Chelsea).  Film includes Options, Sweet Murder, Traitors.  TV includes Othello (ITV- UK and ABC- USA), The Adventures of Sinbad (USA), Heritage (Canale 5, France), Poison Butterfly.  He was a cradle trapeze artist and clown in The Dream Circus and Zip Zap Circus and performed with Theatresports SA.

Beside their website mentioned above, you can learn more about the English Theatre Company on Facebook and Twitter!

Did we mention a new casting call? Well, the pilot episode won’t be just Michael and Kelsey… We might a need hint of what the rest of the series is going to be: so if you’re a tall (1.80/5’11” at least) male actor, native english speaker (but living in Italy) playing age 28-35… we’ll be happy to schedule an audition!

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People, meet Wakefield

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We talked a lot about the character, we screened several auditions, and we told you many times we were about to make the announcement. I guess some of you might have believed this was just a big joke, that Wakefield never existed or something like that. Well this is not true, as we’re happy to say that our title character will be played by Michael Brian!

Michael Brian is a Vancouver based actor with a strong background in theatre as well as film. He studied theatre at Capilano University where he received a diploma in theatre arts: since graduating he has studied at West Coast Actors Studio, School Creative with Linda Darlow, and is currently at Studio on The Drive studying with Aaron Craven. In the last few years Michael has been focusing on film acting with over 17 leading roles in independent short films, several of which he has received best actor nominations for, as well as a supporting role in a Vancouver web series still in post production. Most recently Michael has been seen on the television show Fringe as well as the television show Psych and is currently working on his own short film/web series, still in pre-production. Although Michael is currently doing the majority of his work in film, his love for the craft all started on the stage with roles in “A Mid Summer Nights Dream” preformed at The Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, “The Real Inspector Hound”, “The Music Man” performed at Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver and “The Doctor Will See you Now” performed at The Deep Cove Stage Society. Michael is grateful to be a part of this next project “The Wakefield Variation” where he will be playing the title character Wakefield.

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Abbiamo parlato molto del personaggio, visionato provini, e vi abbiamo detto molte volte di essere sul punto di fare l’annuncio. Credo che qualcuno di voi possa aver pensato che fosse tutto un grosso scherzo, che Wakefield non sarebbe mai esistito o roba del genere. Beh direi che non è vero, essendo felici di annunciare che Wakefield sarà interpretato da Michael Brian!

Michael Brian è un attore di Vancouver con esperienza in teatro e in cinema. Ha studiato teatro alla Capilano University, dove si è diplomato. Dopo si è formato alla West Coast Actors Studio, la School Creative con Linda Darlow, e al momento sta studiando con Aaron Craven allo Studio on the Drive.
Negli ultimi anni Michael si è concentrato sul cinema con 17 ruoli da protagonista in cortometraggi indipendenti, alcuni dei quali sono stati nominati per un premio come miglior attore protagonista; ha anche un ruolo non protagonista in una webseries ancora in post-produzione girata a Vancouver.
Recentemente Michael è apparso in serie tv internazionali come Fringe e Psych, e sta lavorando alla sua webseries, ancora in pre-produzione.
Sebbene stia lavorando principalmente nel cinema, il suo amore per la recitazione è nato sul palcoscenico con ruoli in “Sogno di una Notte di Mezza Estate” rappresentato al Vogue Theatre di Vancouver, “Il vero ispettore Hound” e “The Music Man” rappresentati al Centennial Theatre di North Vancouver e “The dottor twill see you now” alla Deep Cove Stage Society. Michael è felice di far parte del progetto “The Wakefield Variation” nel quale interpreterà il protagonista, Wakefield.

Stage 2!

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Ok, this is about crowdfunding again, but only because many of you may have missed the chance to help us on our last campaign 🙂 Here is our new one, based on an italian platform, Kapipal. It’s going to be 6 month long, so there is no rush.

We’re auditioning the male lead in these days… and we’re working to take The Wakefield Variation to some pitching/market event across Europe 🙂  Furthermore, there is a chance you may find us at some comic convention in the next months. Keep checking these pages out!

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Ok, parliamo ancora di crowdfunding, ma solo perché molti di voi potrebbero aver perso l’opportunità di aiutarci nell’ultima campagna 🙂 Qui c’è quella nuova, basata sulla piattaforma italiana Kapipal. Durerà 6 mesi, quindi non c’è fretta.

In questi giorni stiamo valutando alcuni attori per il ruolo principale… e stiamo lavorando per portare The Wakefield Variation a qualche festival/evento mercato in giro per l’Europa 🙂 Inoltre, c’è una possibilità che ci troviate a qualche fiera di fumetti nei prossimi mesi. Restate sintonizzati!

meet the actress

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Just a brief introduction post before the exclusive interview we are about to publish…. anyway, meet Kelsey Gillis, the first official cast member of The Wakefield Variation!

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Giusto un breve post di introduzione prima dell’intervista esclusiva che pubblicheremo a breve… in ogni caso, ecco a voi Kelsey Gillis, la prima attrice che entra ufficialmente a far parte del cast di The Wakefield Variation!

Kelsey Gillis

Great news ahead, again

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Ok, we’ve been writing this many times before, and we do sincerly hope we didn’t let you down. So, for you people that are still with us… well, next week is going to be the first major milestone for The Wakefield Variation: we’ll introduce you the female lead (yes, we have finally cast her… still looking for Wakefield though) along the new title graphics and…. we’ll shoot some test footage to be used in the first teaser trailer! The whole process will be covered by this blog, our tweets and facebook page, so keep following us!

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Ok, più di una volta vi abbiamo annunciato “grandi notizie”, e speriamo di non avervi deluso finora. Comunque, per quelli che ancora sono con noi – sappiamo comunque che sono sempre in crescita – la prossima settimana sarà davvero piena di novità per The Wakefield Variation: presenteremo l’attrice protagonista (sì, l’abbiamo finalmente trovata, stiamo ancora cercando Wakefield però) insieme alla nuova grafica…. e soprattutto, gireremo del materiale per il primo teaser trailer! Tutto il processo sarà seguito da questo blog, i nostri tweet e la nostra pagina facebook, quindi seguiteci!

 

 

The Wakefield Digest

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We’d all love to talk about filmmaking. I mean, practical, hands-on filmmaking. I wish I could post something about how wonderful (or how bad) was a shoot today… but we’re not quite there yet. So you’ll get what we have 🙂

Casting: we met an actress in person, and we’re in touch with a couple more. We only have one candidate for the male lead (that is, Wakefield himself) …we’ll see what is going to happen. As we want to shoot with native english speaking actors, we have to deal with a lot of communication/travel/expenses issues, which makes things even harder than they would be anyway.

Script: it’s in the works, really. Jonathan Robbins and I agreed to a diagram as the base of the pilot/standalone short script. We also talked about the outline of the series, and being such positve people, we brought in topics like “first season” and “second season” 🙂 Jokes apart, Melanie Hunter is currently working on an actual second (or is it the third, or fourth?) draft of the script, which I hope to lock down soon. The idea is to have slightly different edits for the short and the pilot… but just one great script.

Technical: our DoP is currently abroad for a shooting, so we haven’t been able to talk with him about locations, light, lenses, cameras and all of this nice-but-expensive stuff, which leads to:

Crowdfunding: the sponsume campaign is going slow, but we’ve never thought of it as the only funding method. Nonetheless, help is appreciated, as we have just about 40 days ahead before the campaign ends 🙂 It’s still a little early for product placement, but we’re working on it.

Talk to you people soon… and don’t be afraid to post a comment, it’s free of charge 🙂

Director’s chair

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Hi everyone, as you can see from the avatar, from now on we’ll have different profiles for each team member… so you’ll know exactly who’s writing. Lisa has done a great job so far taking care of the latest major updates, but I thought it could be a good idea to go back talking about filmmaking. After all this was supposed to be a work-in-progress diary!

Well, putting crowdfunding aside for a moment, we’ve been thinking a lot about the cast, lately. The Wakefield Variation features only two characters, but since we’re looking for native english speakers, it makes things harder. That’s why we’ll likely have someone coming from…. well, we won’t say that yet 🙂

casting call now open!

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Ok, let’s put the crowdfunding hassle aside for a moment, and focus on the actual filmmaking process. It’s time to look for talent! For The Wakefield Variation, we’re looking for:

  • 1 Actress, age 20-30
  • 1 Actor, age 25-35

As you should already know, the short is internationally oriented for marketing and festivals, and previous experience is appreciated. The filming will take place in Florence/Pisa/Lucca (we’re scouting locations right now) and will be in english: we won’t accept applications from non-native english-speakers. We ask for a resume with pictures (full shot + face) for first selection. Please spread the word! (And while you’re at it, what about a donation?)