Casting on a Budget: Get the Best & the Rightest
It's been said that 80% of making a movie is casting; no where is that more true than in independent film. This panel, moderated by actress and producer Megan Boone, with casting director Paul Schnee (Winter's Bone, The Help, Higher Ground, and many others), producer Carly Hugo (Higher Ground, Bachelorette) and talent agent Veronica Gabriel of United Talent Agency, will discuss the ins and outs--agents, managers, financing, auditioning--of getting the best cast possible for your project.
Presenters
Megan Boone is an actress and independent producer. She most recently worked on the independent comedy WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE with Adam Brody, Rob Huebel, Kristen Schaal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Prior to that she and Ben Barenholtz produced Suzuya Bobo's first feature, FAMILY GAMES. She played Jake in Stephen Elliott's CHERRY starring James Franco, Lily Taylor and Dev Patel which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival last month. Her first movie, MY BLOODY VALENTINE premiered at the Alamo Drafthouse for Harry Knowles' BNAT in 2009. She returns to Austin for the SXSW premier of Adele Romanski's LEAVE ME LIKE YOU FOUND ME.
Paul Schnee and his casting partner Kerry Barden were represented by six films at Sundance this year: PRICE CHECK, SAVE THE DATE, HELLO I MUST BE GOING, COMPLIANCE, PREDISPOSED and NOBODY WALKS. Other recent films include THE HELP, HIGHER GROUND, WIN WIN, THE SILENT HOUSE, WINTER'S BONE (Sundance Grand Jury Prize 2010; SXSW), PITCH PERFECT, DAMSELS IN DISTRESS. For television, they received an Emmy nomination for the ESPN miniseries THE BRONX IS BURNING, and cast the most recent season of DELOCATED for Adult Swim.
Carly Hugo is an independent film producer based in NYC. She is the producer of Higher Ground (Sony Pictures Classics), directed by and starring Academy Award-nominee Vera Farmiga, and the documentary Hot Coffee (HBO), both of which premiered in competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Her other producing credits include Bachelorette (Sundance ’12), Beautiful Darling (Berlin ’10), Beware the Gonzo (Tribeca '10), Peter and Vandy (Sundance ’09), Bass Ackwards (Sundance '10), and Loggerheads (Sundance '05). She is currently in post-production on Andrew Dosunmu's Sundance Lab film, Ma' George, and Maggie Greenwald’s The Last Keepers. Carly holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Columbia University.
Brian began his career on Broadway as associate producer of the Tony Award-winning A Raisin in the Sun. He has since won acclaim as a music video director, as well as recognition for his award-winning animated short, Counting Water, which played over 20 film festivals, was broadcast on PBS, and showed at LACMA. In Our Nature marks Brian's feature directorial debut.
Saturday, March 10
