We cast a hook up. It was weird.
Not to belabor the casting discussion, but this is a story worth telling. The premise of our pilot is structured around a one night stand. Two Guardian Angels are stuck together while their clients got busy. So we needed actors to play the Guardian Angels, obviously. But also we needed a pair of actors to… well… make out a bunch. So how does one cast that? It is an excellent question and one that none of us had the answer to.
We were very cognisant of not making our talent uncomfortable. We certainly didn’t want to be the inspiration for another #MeToo post. But we did need to find the right chemistry for the short, and that took getting a bunch of people in a room to… something. We didn’t know what to do.
Fortunately, our Casting Director Lori was wonderful. She made sure everyone auditioning had the full script and understood what the part was. She reassured our auditioners we’d cut the scene off way early, no need to kiss or anything here, and they didn’t have to do anything they weren’t comfortable with. But still. Yeesh.
Imagine the actor’s morning. They wake up, take a shower, get dressed, eat a balanced breakfast, do their hair, take the subway thirty minutes into tribeca, walk to the casting office, wait another twenty minutes or so for their turn, then BAM. All of a sudden they’re rubbing against a stranger they literally just met in the hallway. For like, two minutes. And then it’s “Thank you so much for coming!” And they’re done. What a weird job.
It was equally uncomfortable on our end. I mean, I’m as big a fan of smooches as the next warm-blooded human being, but I immediately turned into Mike Pence. WOMEN SHOULDN’T TOUCH MEN AT ALL EVER WHERE ARE THEIR HUSBANDS AND OR FATHERS?! I squirmed, I fidgeted, I implored the casting director with my eyes to cut each scene off a literal second after “Action!”.
Long story short, we had them improv meeting at a bar, and then stumbling into the apartment at the end of the night. And everyone was super professional about it. One guy even wore sweatpants. Bold move. Alas, he didn’t get the part. But the two that did, we’re super pumped about.
It's happpeenniiinnngggg.