|
The Wall Street Journal
February 17, 2006
The Hunk Shortage
To Fill New Dramas, Casting Directors
Tussle Over Hot Guys Who Can Act;
Taking the Search to Edmonton
by Sam Schechner
Thanks to Candie for the text and to Bonnie for the scans!
His name is one of the hottest in network television this spring. He is being
pursued by
some of the most influential casting directors in Hollywood. And you've probably
never
heard of him.
Over the past few weeks, Michael Vartan, the cute love interest from the movie
"Monster-
in-Law" and the heartthrob on TV's "Alias," has found himself on a short list of
actors who
are parrying multiple offers to star in new TV pilots. Why? He represents a
commodity for
which demand has grown to outpace supply over the last few years: sexy,
rugged-looking
guys who can act.
The television industry has just kicked off its annual casting season for pilot
shows, from
which broadcast executives will select new series for this coming fall. Scores
of pilots are
feverishly competing over potential leading men from a list that casting
directors say
doesn't exceed 200 names. The scuffles can become so fierce that executives are
making
snap decisions to lock in even relatively unknown actors before losing them to
another
network.
The sought-after type: "He's that 30-to-40 charismatic guy with some
testosterone --
someone that women want to sleep with and men want to drink with," says Marc
Hirschfeld, executive vice president of casting for NBC. Mr. Hirschfeld himself
is
scrambling to find studly actors to fill key roles in the 20 or so pilots his
network will
produce this spring.
Although leading men have always been tough to find, several
entertainment-industry
trends are creating the intense demand for these actors. One is the renewed
popularity of
dramas based on strong characters, with stories that stretch across full
seasons, such as
ABC's "Lost." That has led to a boom in new pilots that require attractive men
who have the
skills to play a character who evolves over time.
This year in particular, networks have embarked on a number of pilots that
center around
sprawling disasters, including a hostage situation in a bank, an incoming meteor
and a
nuclear apocalypse -- all of which require at least one handsome leading man
with great
acting skills. Moreover, some people in the business say there are more drama
roles to
cast than there were two years ago because the reality-TV craze has cooled.
Another factor boosting demand for serious but studly actors is that more cable
channels,
including Sci Fi, TNT and FX, are producing original dramas. And as more movie
actors
take TV parts, the pool of leading men deemed "bankable" enough to carry a major
network show is further shrinking.
The result is what many in the industry call a feeding frenzy that is reaching
its height
during the current pilot-casting season, which stretches from early February to
April.
"About 40 to 60 pilots are looking for that leading man -- for George Clooney
when he
first started doing 'E.R.,'" says Gary Zuckerbrod, an independent casting
director hired by
the networks and studios to get their men.
The competition for thespian testosterone comes even as the door has opened for
nerdier
leading men in recent years. Yet while those "adorkable" TV characters have
proliferated
(Jason Lee as a lottery-winning loser on "My Name Is Earl," for example), a new
crop of
old-style stubbled guys have broken out of the clutter to anchor some of TV's
most-
watched shows. Among them are Patrick Dempsey in "Grey's Anatomy" and Matthew
Fox in
"Lost." That has raised demand for more men like them, even as the overall
supply seems
to be dwindling.
"Leading actors today are more boyish," says Marcia Shulman, executive vice
president of
casting for Fox Broadcasting, who placed the beefy Dominic Purcell in the TV
drama
"Prison Break" last spring and is working on casting 22 pilots right now. "I
really want to
bring real men to television."
Good Man Is Hard to Find
The bottom line is that not every network can get the man it wants. "Sometimes
you get
somebody who has the look, but they don't have the [acting] chops," says Debi
Manwiller,
an independent casting director who does work for Fox's "24" and a pilot about a
treasure
hunter. "Or somebody has the chops, but you can't sell them to the network.
Those people
with both -- they don't grow on trees." The result is that, in many cases,
pilots must
compromise.
When an actor who fits the bill becomes available, the networks pounce. Last
spring, when
"NYPD Blue" went off the air, one of its regulars, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, was
besieged. Mr.
Gosselaar, who had been the teen star of the early-1990s show "Saved by the
Bell," was
inundated with scripts, says his manager, with multiple offers from major
networks. When
the pilot he accepted wasn't picked up for the fall, he quickly got a gig as a
new character
on ABC's "Commander in Chief," where he plays a White House love interest.
Other actors said to be in hot demand this casting season include Peter Krause,
Ron
Livingston and Jeremy Northam -- although it's possible that none of them will
accept any
of the roles they are offered.
In some cases, networks or studios will lock up actors whom they don't want
going to
competitors, even before knowing what projects they will have to offer. Last
fall, for
example, Disney's ABC and Touchstone Television signed such a deal with Michael
Landes,
whose biggest movie role has been in 2003's horror flick "Final Destination 2."
At big talent agencies, including William Morris and International Creative
Management,
the phones are constantly ringing as offers and cascading counteroffers come in
from
networks that don't want to lose their shot at a particularly hot actor. It
isn't unusual at
this time of year for agents to work 20-hour days, fielding frantic calls from
casting
directors and network executives in the car, in bed, even at Valentine's Day
dinner.
That kind of intense competition keeps casting executives at the major networks
occupied.
"From the time I'm up in the morning, I'm on the phone with agents, with casting
directors,
with writers," says Peter Golden, executive vice president of casting for CBS.
"And when I'm
asleep, I'm trying to think of actors that we've overlooked."
Casting executives also rely on foreign casting directors to scout for talent
globally. And
some venture abroad themselves. "I've been to London, to Australia, to Scotland
-- I don't
want to give away my secrets," says Fox's Ms. Shulman, who also recently
attended a
fringe festival in Edmonton, Alberta. "They told me I was the first person from
Hollywood
ever to go there."
In order to lock up a hunky male lead this spring, Ms. Shulman says she began
courting
Cole Hauser, who is known for playing supporting roles in recent movies such as
"2 Fast 2
Furious," six months ago -- before she had any idea what pilots would be ordered
or roles
would be available. She set up a meeting between Mr. Hauser and Fox's president
of
entertainment, Peter Liguori, late last summer, and kept in contact thereafter.
Her secret:
"I just call and beg." (Mr. Hauser eventually joined the new Fox pilot
"Damages.")
Of course, the category of actor who is in the greatest demand changes over
time. In the
1990s, when sitcoms like "Friends" were on top, the networks kept pushing for
younger
actors, says Mr. Zuckerbrod, who is currently trying to find a 30-something hunk
for an
ABC pilot.
"In the past couple years, there's been a 'Desperate Housewives' effect, and
networks want
slightly older leading characters in the 35-to-40 range," Mr. Zuckerbrod says.
Several
casting executives and directors foresee a shortage of leading women in their
late 30s and
early 40s.
But for some in the industry, the idea of casting experts decrying a shortage
seems unfair.
"There are 100,000-plus actors," says Gary Marsh, a former actor who in 1971
founded
Breakdown Services, a clearinghouse for networks' casting requests. "There are
all kinds of
really good actors who get pigeonholed because they don't look right or fit the
profile, and
it's too bad."
© Dow Jones and Company, Inc. 2006
 Back To Exclusively Michael 2006
|
|
