"The Pitch" Audition Information

Welcome to "The Pitch" Audition Information page. The below will hopefully contain the answers for any questions you may have. If not you may also check the FAQ page. Please read the following slowly, carefully, and all the way through. It is designed to provide you with more information about the short than can be put in a classified advertisement.

The below classified advertisement for "The Pitch" appeared in BackStage  on Thursday, July 10.

VOICE-OVERS FOR "THE PITCH"

'The Pitch" an indie Comedy short by award winning screenwriter.

Natural voices, mid-20's  late 30's.  Non-union. No pay but headshot & screen end credit, transportation, DVD copy provided.

Auditions for "The Pitch" will be held at:

Champions Studios

257 West 39th Street, 14th Fl

(between 7th & 8th)

New York, NY. 10018

On Thursday, July 17, between 12:00 noon and 3:00 pm.

This is the only scheduled audition date.

We are not currently accepting audiotapes by mail.  PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT OR SEND ANY MATERIALS TO CHAMPIONS STUDIOS.  Any questions should be addressed to jonkap@optonline.net.  Also, please do not send any e-mail attachments.

Champions Studios is a clean and air conditioned space. We will have directional signs posted as you come off the elevator directing you to the audition area. There will be staff to assist.

"The Pitch" is a non-union, low budget debut showcase short. As such it is a non-paying situation. However, everyone whose voice-over is used in the short will receive:

1.One (1) DVD copy of the completed short,

2.Reimbursement for their travel expenses

3.An end credit with their headshot

We will see people on a first-come, first-serve basis.

As we don't know in advance how many people will be auditioning, we ask your patience if there is a waiting period.

Please bring your headshot with you, as this will enable us to associate a face with the voices that we play back at a later date.

You may bring a non-returnable VHS/DVD audition tape of yourself if you want. This would only be in addition to and not in lieu of an audition.

Because "The Pitch" is the planned first of a series of movie shorts, those actors not chosen for this specific project for whatever reason, may still find that their "type" or services would be appropriate for different future projects, so for that reason we encourage you to bring and leave your headshots and resumes.

We will have copies of the complete script available to read on that day though they can't go out.  A small (23kb) downloadable sample of the script is available on this website.

We will ask everyone to read about one (1) page worth or one (1) minute of dialog from the script.

This will be more than sufficient for this dialog-based short for us on playback. It will also help insure that actors auditioning on their lunch hour or who are on an otherwise tight schedule, will not have to wait around any longer than necessary.

We strongly suggest that you print out the partial of the script from this website and bring it with you to rehearse while waiting.

Because the script is arranged in terms of Voices rather than Characters, you will basically be reading ALL the parts on a given page all the way through. I.e. Voice #1, Voice #2, Voice #3 etc, etc both male and female.

Rather than assign a given voice to a given actor this method allows our Sound Editor maximum flexibility when it comes time to edit the voices.

With the exception of a "Stutterer," a "Surfer dude" voice, and deep, husky, male, African-American voice, we are not looking for "Characters" or "Types" in the voices.

We want the voices to reflect what a writer would sound like in a Hollywood "Pitch" session. Enthusiastic, maybe a bit hyper, but clear and distinct. Basically, we want NATURAL.

You do NOT have to memorize the various lines as you will be reading off the script. Feel free to do so though if you feel it will make you give a better reading.

Though you will have the script to read off of, you should NOT sound as if you're reading. Natural, sincere, enthusiastic.

We are looking for the "right" combination and "range" of voices which sound best when contrasted against each other, so we won't know whom will be chosen until after we've auditioned and played back all the voices later that week.

The voice-overs we record for these auditions only will be on a regular consumer grade tape recorder. The voice-overs which we eventually select will be recorded on a professional DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorder by a professional sound recordist for eventual importing into ProTools and Final Cut Pro software.

When we've made our selection, we'll announce a date for our actual recording session. We will try and announce this as soon as possible.

A copy of the release form will eventually be posted on our website. A copy of the release form can be viewed on our website. Those chosen to do the final recordings must provide a valid NY State drivers license or other forms of photo identification.

The actual recording session will be a longer recording session than the auditions. At that time those selected will read through the entire script.

Because again, the script is a combination of voices that will be edited together, the actual readings will be stop and start and direction will be given in terms of reading faster, slower, more enthusiastic, less enthusiastic, emphasizing certain lines, etc etc.

For the actual recordings, NOT the auditions, we anticipate that each read-through will take between ten to fifteen minutes maximum at that time.

The visuals for "The Pitch" will be shot AFTER the voice-overs have been edited. While we hope this will take place sometime in mid-to late August, it will be dependent on the availability of our Director of Photography at that time.

We cannot predict ahead of time how long the editing and mixing process will take. It will take as long as needed to have a great short. While we will post updates to this website, we realize that cast and crew are naturally anxious to see the results of their work. We however suggest after the final recording session, that you continue with your other work and know that we are just as anxious to see the final short as you and will contact you when it is in it's completed form.

Thank you,

Jonathan Kaplan

Writer/Dir. "The Pitch"