The Newest Brand of Acting Gig

🎬 Welcome to The Reelarc Rundown 🎬

🔸 Ava DuVernay is a firm believer in “there are no small parts, only small actors.”
🔸 The newest brand of acting jobs is here and will most likely involve marrying a billionaire or a werewolf (or hey, maybe even a billionaire werewolf).
🔸 Plus, Robert Downey Jr. assures his recent roundtable that if he weren’t an actor, he “would be doing hard time.”

Let’s talk about all that and more in this week’s rundown.

Industry News

Director DuVernay Recognizes the Vital Role of the Background Actor

Ava DuVernay believes background actors are “a beautiful brush stroke in the painting” - one which is often ignored by her peers to their detriment. She stopped by IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast to discuss her new film Origin and how she utilized her background performers to help bring the story to life. During a particularly intense scene where she had dozens of actors portraying Jews on their way to a death camp, she said to them, “You are not extra. You are the core of the scene. There’s nothing extra here. There’s no main character. You are the main character.” Listen to the full podcast here.

The New Frontier of Vertical Video

If you’re a habitual social media scroller, you’ve probably seen them. Short, spicy, soapy clips designed to pull in the viewer and make them click “next video.” ReelShort is one of several companies behind this new format, with completely new media goals and financing. Even the New York Times is talking about it. Their production budgets are low and yes, they do pay performers, but don’t expect union benefits or protections. They also seem to re-cast actors they work with successfully and with ReelShort planning to deliver 100 new titles throughout 2024, that’s a lot of work available to be booked.

The Best of Sundance

The 40th Sundance Film Festival wrapped up this week, with 53 shorts, 35 documentaries, and 83 feature films showcased. Several movies featured have already been acquired, including thriller It’s What’s Inside going to Netflix, Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain to Searchlight, and Steven Soderbergh’s Presence headed to Neon. Read more Sundance wrap ups here and here.

Box Office Numbers

1. Mean Girls - 6.9 Mil (60.4 gross)

2. The Beekeeper - 6.7 Mil (41.5 gross)

3. Wonka - 5.7 Mil (195 gross)

4. Migration - 4.9 Mil (101 gross)

5. Anyone But You - 4.6 Mil (71 gross)

Expert Insights

Awards season means it’s time for another round (pun intended) of THR’s classic roundtable series. Here are some of our favorite quotes from this years actor session, featuring Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) Colman Domingo (Rustin) Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things) Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer).

RDJ on subtlety in film performances-
“It’s all so small. Like there’s all these trappings…here’s the genre and here’s the character and here’s what happens in the story, you go- ‘no.’ I made my decision based on this thing that nobody would ever know if I didn’t tell them and that’s almost always it.”

CD on working his way through the industry-
“I had to learn deeply the principle of being in service and just in service to the story. And that’s what any journeyman has learned that it’s not about the size of the role but it’s about how do I help serve a function.”

MR on the best piece of advice he got from a fellow actor-
“It was a pilot and it was with James Fantino and I had a little bit of a monologue and I- I didn’t know it really well and he just turned to me and he’s like, ‘learn your f*cking lines.’”

RDJ on what other job he would have outside of film-
“If I wasn’t an actor I would be doing hard time.”

Castings of Note

NYC
union feature film, casting by Donna McKenna
union episodic, casting by Jason Loftus & Diane Heery
union short, casting by Daisy Friedman
non-union UGC, casting by Jasmine Fini

LA
union pilot, casting by Michelle Romano
non-union infomercial, casting by Frank Battisti
non-union web series, casting by Keisha Richardson
non-union ad, project managed by Hannah Goodrich

Quiz Time

Sundance just concluded! Can you name all the film festivals marked by location below?

Trends on your FYP

Let’s highlight one of our favorite creators- Sarah Pribis. You might remember Sarah as one of the hosts of the widely-popular HQ trivia, but she’s been a working actor in NYC for over a decade. (And she’s even filmed some scenes with Reelarc!) On her tiktok she regularly showcases the ins and outs of the industry. Here’s a taste of her insights-

• breaking down a successful self-tape audition

• installment in her weekly work breakdown series

• her audition vs. the final spot

• breakdown of all backstage jobs booked for 2023

• a day in the life on set

What We’re Watching This Weekend

🎥 Haven’t been to the movies yet this year? No worries - Argylle finally opens today.

🎥 For those needing their Nicole Kidman fix - the LuLu Wang directed mini-series Expats streaming on Prime

🎥 For NPR fans that love a good celebrity cameo - In the Know season 1 on Peacock

🎥 For your blockbuster fix - the latest Mission Impossible installment (Dead Reckoning, Part 1) is now streaming on Paramount+

🎥 To get lost in 1970s Upper East Side NYC - Ryan Murphy’s newest season of Feud (Capote vs. The Swans) weekly on FX (and streaming on Hulu the next day)

🎥 For those genre-crossed lovers - Mr. & Mrs. Smith season 1 on Prime

(Quiz Answers: 1- Tribeca and NYFF, 2- SXSW, 3- Sundance, 4- Seattle International, 5- LAIFF
(P.S.- Have a story or industry info you think we should feature on the Rundown? Email [email protected]!)