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To celebrate the casting community and spotlight its members, The Casting Society and IMDbPro are collaborating to present a monthly series of interviews between casting directors and actors about their acting journey, the casting process, and how IMDbPro helps them advance their careers. This month, Amanda Lenker Doyle, CSA, interviewed Fayna Sanchez.

Read the full interview here....

Pent-up frustration by actors over the way audition process has evolved — or devolved — during the pandemic erupted this week when actors Ever Carradine, Merrin Dungey and Sprague Grayden slammed an ad by Betty Mae Casting offering paid self-taping services for non-Betty Mae projects. Their comments launched a heated discussion about the wide use of self-tapes, which have replaced the vast majority of in-person auditions over the last three years.

Because the conversation was triggered by the ad from Betty Mae, the company of well known casting director Mary Vernieu, with SAG-AFTRA calling casting offices charging for audition tapes “an optical and ethical disaster,” the society of Hollywood casting directors have found themselves in the eye of the storm.

Related Story SAG-AFTRA Scolds Casting Offices For Charging For Audition Tapes: “It Is An Optical And Ethical Disaster” Related Story Actresses Like Ever Carradine, Merrin Dungey & Sprague Grayden Lament Cost Of Audition...

Lily Collins is opening up about her not-so-fond memories of an emotionally abusive ex in a relationship she now realizes was “toxic.”

According to People, the “Emily in Paris” star discussed that relationship during a recent appearance on the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast.

“For me, my romantic toxic relationship was verbal and emotional abuse and being made to feel very small,” Collins told co-hosts Glennon Doyle, Amanda Doyle and Abby Wambach during her candid appearance on the podcast.

Read More: Lily Collins Turned ‘Bathroom Singer’ For ‘Emily In Paris’ Song, Reveals Preparation For ‘Alfie’

He would call me ‘Little Lily.’ You should be ‘Little Lily’ and he’d use awful words about me in terms of what I was wearing and would call me a whore and all these things,” she recalled of the relationship, during which she was in her early 20s.

According to Collins, her ex...

“Belfast,” “Coda,” “King Richard,” “House of Gucci,” “West Side Story” and “The Power of the Dog” are among the films nominated for the 37th Annual Artios Awards, presented by the Casting Society of America.

The awards honor casting directors’ contribution to film, television and theatre. Winners will be revealed on March 17 via a virtual ceremony.

Among the animated features nominated are “Encanto,” “Luca,” “The Mitchells Vs. The Machines,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Vivo.”

Lucy Bevan, Avy Kaufman, Carmen Cuba, Nina Gold and Cindy Tolan are just some of the casting directors who landed nominations. While the Academy has had a casting branch for the past eight years, it has yet to establish an Oscar for casting.

View the nominations in full below:

Animation

“Encanto” – Jamie Sparer Roberts, Grace C. Kim (Associate)

“Luca” – Kevin Reher, Natalie Lyon, Kate Hansen-birnbaum (Associate)

“The Mitchells Vs The Machines” – Tamara Hunter

“Raya And The Last Dragon...

The 2021 auditions are over, and the Casting Society of America has unveiled the feature nominees for its 37th annual Artios Awards.

Music plays a huge role in several of this year’s hopefuls in the marquee categories including the musicals West Side Story and In the Heights, along with making-of-a-musical pic tick, tick…Boom! Also in the Artios mix are tune-filled toons Luca, Encanto and Vivo.

Winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony on March 17. See the full list of Artios Awards nominations below, and check out the TV, theater and short-film nominees here.

The casting crews for House of Gucci, King Richard, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick…Boom! and West Side Story will vie in the marquee Big Budget – Drama category. In the running for Big Budget – Comedy are Cruella, Don’t Look Up, The French Dispatch, In the Heights and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the...

The casting branch of the academy is only eight years old and doesn’t have an Oscar category of its own. However, the Casting Society of America has been handing out the Artios Awards for 37 years (“Artios” is from the ancient Greek meaning “perfectly fitted.”).

Nominees for feature films were announced on February 1 (the last day of Oscar nominations voting). Many of the leading Academy Awards contenders reaped bids across the various categories according to production cost. Winners will be revealed a virtual ceremony on March 17, which is the first day of final Oscar voting.

Last year’s big budget winners were the comedy “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and the drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7 ” while “The Forty-Year-Old Version” and “One Night in Miami” took the equivalent prizes in the independent division. “Minari” won the low budget and “The Surrogate” the micro budget prizes while “Soul” claimed the animation award.

The Casting Society of America has nominated 100 casting directors for 39 different films for the 37th annual Artios Awards, which honor the work of casting directors in eight different feature categories.

“Don’t Look Up” and “The French Dispatch” were among the nominees in the Big Budget Comedy category, “King Richard” and “The Power of the Dog” for Big Budget Drama, “”The Tender Bar,” “Belfast” and “Coda” in the Studio or Independent categories and “The Humans” and “Shiva Baby” in Low Budget and Micro Budget.

With categories covering every genre and budget level, most of the top contenders for this year’s film awards were included, with the exception of “Dune,” “Licorice Pizza,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Being the Ricardos” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

Winners will be announced on March 17, though the planned in-person ceremony has been canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The nominees:

Animation

Encanto - Jamie Sparer Roberts, Grace C. Kim...

To celebrate the casting community and spotlight its members, Casting Society of America (CSA) and IMDbPro are collaborating to present a monthly series of interviews between CSA casting directors and actors about their careers, the casting process, and how IMDbPro helps them advance their careers. This month Amanda Lenker Doyle interviewed Katy Davis.

See the full interview.

To celebrate the casting community and spotlight its members, Casting Society of America (CSA) and IMDbPro are collaborating to present a monthly series of interviews between CSA casting directors and actors about their careers, the casting process, and how IMDbPro helps them advance their careers. This month Amanda Lenker Doyle interviewed Kristen Henry King.

See the full interview.

[Editor’s Note: The Casting Society of America and SAG-aftra announced that Friday’s virtual event has been postponed. Organizers say the event was postponed because SAG-aftra Foundation staffers would’ve needed to be in their offices to operate the event.]

The future is now, if the Casting Society of America and SAG-aftra have anything to say about it.

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The organizations have banded together to create a live-streamed, moderated panel specifically aimed at members of SAG-aftra, offering helpful hints and advice for those individuals interested in participating in remote and virtual casting. The event should be in demand, given these types of auditions are likely to see an uptick due to the current public health crisis.

“At a time when the majority of our industry is working remotely in response to Covid-19 health concerns,...

The Casting Society of America is urging its members not to audition actors in person during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Most productions have shut down, but producers are still looking for talent for future projects once the crisis has abated. “In an effort to responsibly communicate and follow global guidelines about social distancing, I cannot stress enough the importance of limiting your audition sessions to self-tape and online sessions only and the avoidance of in person sessions and meetings until further notice,” said Csa president Russell Boast in an email to his members today.

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The Csa also said today that it will team with the SAG-aftra Foundation to hold a...

“In the Envelope: An Awards Podcast” features interviews with award-winning actors and other creatives. Join host and Awards Editor Jack Smart for a front row seat to the industry’s biggest awards races! Brought to you by HBO. This special bonus episode of Backstage’s “In the Envelope” rounds up all the best acting career advice heard on the podcast so far! As well as revisiting our interviews with Claire Danes, Elisabeth Moss, and more, we’re revealing exclusive new content from several other brilliant Emmy Award contenders that you won’t want to miss. From Andrew Rannells’ thoughts on comparing oneself to others to Thandie Newton’s frank advice on how to navigate inappropriate behavior in the audition room, this episode provides actors looking to book award-winning gigs plenty of food for thought. Casting director Amanda Lenker Doyle, who has cast television shows including ABC’s “Black-ish” and Netflix...

In the wake of an in-depth investigation by the Hollywood Reporter into casting director workshop practices in Los Angeles, the Casting Society of America has announced the creation of the Csa Workshop Committee, a five-person group tasked with ensuring that educational opportunities are offered by CDs, and that they are abiding by California state law. Committee members include co-Csa presidents Richard Hicks and Matthew Lessall, “Black-ish” CD Amanda Lenker Doyle, Backstage contributor Marci Liroff, and Kim Marie Swanson. “Csa Casting Directors and Associates are among the industry’s foremost authorities on the alchemic aspects of casting and acting,” said Hicks in a statement. “It’s an expertise which they generously share in various educational settings. “This newly established Workshop Committee intends to ensure that all Csa members fully understand and abide by the Casting Workshop Guidelines wherever they happen to teach. We have begun to explore the creation of new,...

As the years go by and countless new horror projects hit the big and small screens, it becomes increasingly important to not forget the legends of the genre's past. Horror fans consistently do a wonderful job paying respect to the past while enjoying the present, but in the short film Titano, the late, great Irwin Keyes plays a former horror movie villain sadly forgotten... until the opportunity arises one night for his resurrection.

As many horror fans know, Irwin Keyes (House of 1000 Corpses, Intolerable Cruelty) passed away last month at the age of 63. He is missed dearly, but his passion for film will live on forever through his memorable onscreen roles, including his turn as the titular character in Ben Chavda's short film Titano, which you can watch below.

"An old man looks up at a faded movie poster and remembers a time when the world knew him as the terrifying monster Titano,...