Studio Production: VT Contributors/Actor Choice

For the Mockumentary and Trailer VTs, we needed to find an actor for the role of Norman. Norman is a character who was written by the Producer - Josh. He is a friend of the Host and is a wannabe actor. Josh has described him as useless and a failure when it comes to acting. He is middle-aged and lives with his mum.
It was the job of the VT team to develop the character and come up with ideas for the physical appearance of the character and to find a suitable actor for the role. We brainstormed ideas and decided that we wanted him to look very geeky. His costume would include glasses and greasy hair. He will also wear braces and high waisted trousers to complete his look. To find a suitable actor to play the role of Norman, we advertised on Casting Call Pro, which is a website for sourcing contributors. We had a few options that we contacted but many of those interested dropped out as we were getting closer to the shoot date. Some of them were keen to work on the show but were put off by the fact that it was a student production which put extra pressure on us to find someone very quickly for the role. One of the applicants was Darren Hammock, who I have worked with as our presenter for the Documentary unit. Laura and I recommended him as our experience working with him was very easy going and pleasant. He seemed keen on playing the role as he had worked with us before and is happy to take part in student productions. We have sent him the scripts for the VTs and he is happy to take part.

For the last VT, we will be working with the host of the show - George Sesay. We felt that this was the best choice as we will be using the studio set and gallery space for this VT, which will give more context and make more sense with the rest of the show. Josh and the Assistant Producer - Sam sourced George for the show, so we just had to send him the script for this VT and email him about costume requirements.