Kathryn Courtney-Prior, in Casting its all about; Who can you see tomorrow

Mogul Productions, an online platform for taking part in the financing and production of films, had Yaplat Manager, Kathryn Courtney-Prior, as the latest Mogul community member to join Mogul Live – a live series of interviews from industry moguls giving top film industry tips.

Yaplat is an online, global performer search platform to help connect advertisers to a large pool of casting talent. Before becoming the manager 2 years ago, Kathryn worked for a highly respected casting consultancy has cast thousands of actors across television and film throughout her career.

James Pratt, the host of Mogul Live, had a candid conversation with Kathryn about casting becoming more global, what casting agents want to see from actors in 2020, and how the Yaplat and Mogul communities respectively can help actors’ careers. To watch the full interview head and sign up to Mogul Productions Website or visit Mogul’s Youtube channel.

Here are the top sound bites from the full 30-minute interview:

James Pratt (JP): What does a Casting Director want to see on a showreel?
Kathryn Courtney-Prior (KCP): Right now in 2020 it’s shorter clips and all about you [the talent] over special effects. For example, we don’t need to see montages of you running through the streets with music at the beginning of a showreel – we want [you] to get straight into the scenes.If you don’t have any big professional movie or TV clips yet to use, just reading one of your favorite scenes is fine!

JP: How do you see the casting process changing post coronavirus?
KCP: Casting directors will always love the in-room casting experience, but self-tapes will be accepted a lot more from now on in Hollywood. In casting it’s all about “who can you see tomorrow!” But these days with pre-production becoming faster, casting often gets squeezed shorter.
The other side to casting post coronavirus is that actors are becoming more comfortable with self-tapes and better equipped, I recommend an actor buys a circle light on eBay and then just uses their iPhone for reliable self-tapes.

JP: On Yaplat, how can an actor increase their chances of being cast?
KCP: Use 3 different photos, a close-up, a mid-shot, and a full-length shot. Make sure you fill in your current location and name your real job. Often casting has a requirement to cast someone for a role with real-life experience. For example, a TV show is casting a role with a doctor and might need experience with the terminology.

JP: What is your impression of Mogul?
KCP: The Mogul community, and being able to see what other people are doing and their profiles, is very important. It makes the world a bit smaller. We recently asked on the Yaplat instagram page, “what did you learn your first time on set?” An actor replied, “the importance of meeting other people”. It’s important what Mogul has with their community because this brings people together to network. These connections then form a base for you to start making your own work and improve your career.

JP: What are your tips for doing a self-tape?
KCP: Make sure the sound is okay and lighting is okay. It doesn’t have to be professional, but we [casting directors] must be able to hear and see you properly. As a casting director I want to also be able to show self-tapes to the producers or a network without them getting distracted by the low quality.

JP: Does it affect the casting decision when you see a paid professional self-tape as opposed to seeing an actor using an iPhone?
KCP: I learned this from the first casting agent I worked with: The talent will [win] out. If the actor is good and right for the job that will beat out the lighting quality. Unless its something huge, such as Brad Pitt’s new film, I would not spend the money.

JP: How do you stand out on social media as an actor?
KCP: Have your personal page on private and start-up an acting page to show your own short clips. Always use hashtags when you post acting content [because] casting agents mainly search on social media using hashtags such as #africanactor or #australianactor.

JP: Can you share more with us about Yaplat?
KCP: Yaplat is a global casting platform where actors can sign up for free and be cast from across the globe. If you have a project you are looking to cast, or you are a production company or casting agent, you also can sign up for free and use the platform to search for talent. Even if you have no experience all you need is a clear photograph!

Learn more about Yaplat Casting

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We went live Mogul’s Instagram June 9st at 4PM pt / 7PM et with Kathryn Courtney-Prior @yaplat_casting , Manager at Yaplat Casting on her career in casting and starting Yaplat. Kathryn will chat with us about the casting process, advices for actors trying to get casted, Instagram casting, how and what she look for when she search for talent and much more!

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Mogul Live is a live weekly series hosted through the Mogul Productions Instagram page that features some of the best names in Hollywood sharing advice and allowing fans to interact and ask questions during the interview.
Future guests coming up in June include Emmy-nominated producer David Cormican, Duck Dynasty’s producer Josh Gloer, and Emmy-winning producer Cindy Cowan.

Follow Mogul on Instagram to tune into the next Mogul Live, where all fans can engage with moguls.

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