Advertisers, Directors and Actors All Have a Lot Riding on Casting Calls

Susan Ellingson could no longer distinguish the commercials from her real life.

She was living in New York and landing some pretty decent acting roles in TV ads. Among them was a Levi’s 501 blue jeans commercial that got lots of national exposure--and made her gobs of money.

“I got caught up in the glamour, bright lights and fantastic nights,” said Ellingson, who two years ago left New York for Los Angeles. “My agent would set up dinners with clients and photographers, and I’d stay out till all hours. But it catches up with you. It got to the point where I started skipping interviews and losing jobs. The fact is, you have to keep going to casting sessions, because no ad lasts forever.”

Ellingson joined Alcoholics Anonymous and says she has since learned how to handle--if not enjoy--her career as an actress in TV commercials. And the key to landing those roles, she says, is showing up at the two, three or even four daily commercial casting sessions that are booked through her agent.

Every day, commercial “casting calls” take place all over the Los Angeles area--from Culver City to Studio City. Those who audition know that their royalties from a very successful national advertisement can easily top $20,000 in a year. Money aside, many hope that a good commercial role could help land them a part in a TV show or feature film. Meanwhile, advertising executives say that with the cost of ads continuing to skyrocket, the casting of commercials has never been more crucial.

“Casting can make or break a spot,” said Leonard Pearlstein, president and chief executive of Los Angeles’ Keye/Donna/Pearlstein, which creates ads for Suzuki and Jerseymaid. “Put the wrong person in the right commercial, and it goes from three stars to no stars.”

So critical, in fact, are the right actors to the success of advertisements that competition for the top casting directors--who select the actors who appear in commercials--has never been more fierce. More than 40 of these self-employed directors work in the Los Angeles area. They jump from client to client, helping to pick and choose the next bartender in a Michelob ad or that one kid who can most convincingly look like he’s enjoying his waffles.

For casting directors, the parade of hopeful faces is endless. And for the actors, the myriad of casting calls can be maddening. In just a six-hour period one day last week, Ellingson, for example, auditioned for commercials for BMW, United Airlines and the Clothestime women’s apparel chain.

During the BMW audition, her job was to stand by the car and chat with a guy who was waxing it. For the United Airlines tryout, she sat at a dinner table with other actors and discussed business travel. And at the Clothestime casting session in Studio City, she mostly hopped, skipped and danced in front of a video camera that recorded her every move.

Then she went home--and waited for the phone calls.

Advertising experts estimate that actors typically get one call back for each 20 to 40 commercials they try out for.

“You have to know how to face rejection,” said Darleen Vogel, who says that she has the “All-American” look, and has parts in eight commercials running nationally. One of those ads is for Aqua Velva, in which she runs her hands across the smoothly shaven face of former football player Dick Butkus. Even with all this commercial background, she said, “I get turned down all the time.”

Over a three-day period, executives auditioned more than 200 women for the Clothestime ad--and will eventually select 10. “They show up here with their dogs, their kids or even someone else’s baby,” said Ava Shevitt, the casting director for the Clothestime ad. The tryouts all cart along 8-by-10-inch photos that make them look their best. But the casting director simply takes these photos and places them in a pile. “All that matters,” said Shevitt, “is what they look like on the TV monitor. That’s what the client will buy.”

Once in a while, a casting session can kill an ad campaign even before it gets filmed, said Beverly Long, a Los Angeles casting director. “That’s when an agency can sometimes see that an idea just won’t work.”

For the casting directors, the power can seem enormous. “I’m a 49-year-old fat lady,” joked Sheila Manning, one of the Los Angeles area’s top casting directors. “And I get to tell gorgeous 18-year-olds that they didn’t get the job because they have tissue breakdown under their arms,” she said. “Do you know the tension that relieves?”

But Danny Goldman looks at it differently. “We have no power. We are waitresses who are given a blank menu, and we suggest who should be in Column A and who should be in Column B.” Ultimately, he pointed out, it is the director and the client that often decide who will appear in a commercial.

There is often no rhyme--and rarely much reason--to the process of selecting people for ads. But virtually everyone who auditions must go through the same maze. Like any clothing model must do, each hopeful fills out a form that often asks women everything from their dress size to shoe size. A photographer next takes a Polaroid picture of each tryout that is attached to the form. Finally, the tryouts are videotaped while reading from a script they’re given.

These videotapes are later screened by executives from the ad firm, along with the director of the ad and the casting director.

“You sit in a room making decisions on women--all of whom are more beautiful than any you’ve ever been with--and you arbitrarily say, ‘Look, she has bad teeth,’ or ‘She’s got bad eyes,’ ” said Howie Krakow, executive vice president and creative director at Admarketing, which is Clothestime’s ad firm. “What is amazing,” said Krakow, “is how arbitrary the decision process is. We don’t really know any more than anyone else.”

Of course, sometimes the final decision can come from the least expected place of all. Several years ago, Goldman was casting an advertisement for one client that happened to bring her 6- and 8-year-old daughters to the set. While executives were agonizing over whom to select, the two daughters decided which candidate they liked best. They proceeded to tell their mother, who in turn told the executives. “Of course, the one they selected looked just like the mother,” said Goldman. “But I suppose it’s as good a system as any.”

There are even times when no casting director is available. Recently, a crew from Keye/Donna/Pearlstein was in Lake Tahoe filming an ad for Suzuki. While they were there, one of the ad firm’s creative directors got an idea for another ad that required heaps of snow. But with limited time--and no professionals to aid in casting--they ended up making the best of what they had. The cameraman was cast as the star of the commercial. “Some might call that total desperation,” said Pearlstein, “but I call it total inspiration.”

Diet Coke Ad Lacked One Thing: the Product

Some TV viewers must be wondering why singer George Michael’s much ballyhooed, 90-second ad for Diet Coke premiered during last night’s American Music Awards instead of during the Super Bowl, as promised.

Well, among other things, it seems that Coke executives felt there wasn’t enough product identification--camera shots of the product--in the original spot. “Certainly, we’re used to commercials that are much more product oriented,” said Anthony J. Tortorici, vice president of public affairs. “And I suppose, for a 90-second spot, there was less product identification than some might have liked.”

The ad, which visually compares Michael getting ready for a concert to a matador preparing to enter the bullring, was directed by British film maker Stephen Frears, who directed the motion picture “Dangerous Liaisons.” And Michael, who had part of the creative control over the ad, had a big say in how the final commercial looked. In the end, all parties were unable to reach an agreement before the Super Bowl. “I don’t care what the commercial is,” said Tortorici, “there’s never enough product identification for a company.”

S&L; Serious About Service, Chairman Says

By the look of its TV commercials, you might think that American Savings was the gosh-darned friendliest savings institution in the West.

Its ads boast that American offers the kind of service that people used to get back in the 1950s, when porters happily lugged baggage onto the train or when service station attendants checked your car’s oil and cleaned the windshield--at no cost.

But these ads, by Los Angeles’ Asher/Gould, have irked some American customers--and former customers--who wonder why the company is spending so much on advertising when American recently received a $1.7-billion federal bailout when it was sold to Texas billionaire Robert M. Bass. In fact, about a dozen customers have written Mario J. Antoci, the new chairman of American Savings, to voice their complaints.

“They’re complaining to the wrong person,” said Antoci, who was formerly president of Home Savings. “If they don’t like what happened in the past, I agree with them. But that’s not this company.”

Antoci said many of American’s employees are taking 200 hours of training in customer service. And in a recent independent survey, he added, American ranked higher than most competitors in customer service. “When I was leaving Home Savings,” he said, “I vowed to make American the Nordstrom of the S&L; business.”

Aussies Join Fight for Piece of Mojo MDA

Will Chiat/Day have to put up a Yankee Doodle fight to land the Aussie ad agency it wants to buy?

Nearly three weeks after the Los Angeles ad agency made an estimated $77-million bid to buy the ad firm Mojo MDA, Chiat/Day must contend with competition from Australia’s largest ad shop, George Patterson Pty. That agency creates Australian ads for Foster’s beer, and it also created the original Energizer ad campaign in Australia that featured the loud-mouthed actor “Jacko.” Now Patterson wants to purchase a subsidiary of Mojo that was supposed to be purchased by Chiat/Day. Under the original agreement, Chiat/Day was then supposed to sell the division to the ad firm HDM, along with a joint venture group of Mojo executives.

In an interview last week, Geoffrey Cousins, chairman of George Patterson, confirmed that his agency will fight hard for that subsidiary, Mattingly Pty. “We’re by far the largest ad agency in Australia, but we don’t have a great deal of retail business,” he said. “A large part of Mattingly’s billings are in retail areas.”

But Cousins said his agency is awaiting financial information on Mattingly before making an offer. In the meantime, he said Chiat/Day’s bid for Mojo should not be adversely affected. “This is not an attempt on our part to disrupt the Chiat/Day purchase,” Cousins said. “As a matter of fact, this should strengthen Chiat/Day’s bid to acquire Mojo, because it would likely be a better deal for the Mojo shareholders.”