There has been a controversy brewing around Ms. Daryl Eisenberg of Daryl Eisenberg Casting who was tweeting comments about those auditioning such as:
- “Theme song to FAMILY GUY. BEST song choice of the YEAR!”
- “Good thing my assistant noticed that he had NO CONTACT INFO ON HIS RESUME. We stopped him before he left the room. He was actually good!”
- “if you are going to sing about getting on your knees, might as well do it and crawl towards us…right?”
- “If we wanted to hear it a different way, don’t worry, we’ll ask.”
- “All this screaming (I guess these kids call it belting) is giving me a headache…”
- “Seriously, actors. Are you too damn lazy to type up a proper resume?!”
- “Best part of this guy’s resume….”Height: 179 cm”"
- “Don’t put your age on your resume! Let ME decide how old you PLAY!”
- “This is more than 32 bars….”
Most Many of them are pretty harmless (and there aren’t many), some are helpful, and more than a few are pretty rough. But It does beg the question; is it appropriate at all to publicly comment about auditions?
In audition manuals there are numerous examples of actual auditions going both well and awry. Perhaps the controversy has more to do with the proximity to the auditions and the question of whether she was doing this during the auditions themselves. In an interview with Broadway World Ms. Eisenberg responded, when asked if she tweeted during the actual auditions, “Out of the room, during downtime. I have a show to cast.”
What do you think about all this? Please leave a comment below.
[I made some edits to this after realizing that the tweets go back at least a month and involve several auditions]
unethical. why do it at all. I can understand her taking notes but this is different. she’s using them as entertainment for whoever is reading the tweets. if she’s trying to educate the public on what not to do let her write a book. It’s like a psychologist going home and sharing the stories of all the crazy people he/she saw that day.
I agree with Jean. Sharing your every thought with the great wide world is unprofessional. Let’s all take the high road and follow our classier instincts, shall we?
Unethical, unpleasant, but it is a buyer’s market. In those situations the auditioners have all the power, and, very often, they DO NOT CARE about you on any personal level whatsoever. Even experienced performers can forget how hard it is to stand up there and be judged, when they get on the casting side. Sadly.
Many professional responses have been in agreement with you all.
Marc Shaiman wrote:
Casting Director Paul Russell wrote in his blog:
Maria Somma of Actor’s Equity responded:
But there are some supporters, such as the man in this video.
I agree with Andrew. It may not be the classy way, but, it is the way people act…and, it’s not much different than when the panel comments about singers, after they leave the room. It’s just more high tech. Haha.