Industry TalkBack with Jeff Byrd
Last month I attended another Industry Talkback at DFAS. This time the guest was Jeff Byrd, Director of television shows such as Dynasty and Black Lightning. This was a packed house and I had a improv performance to get to later that day so here is a highlight on some of the info I got before departing.
How did you get your start?
I am originally from Brooklyn NY. I started working with Spike Lee as well as doing music videos. I interned, was a production assistant, and also an electrician. I originally wanted to get more into feature films instead of Television but I got pulled into TV. My first TV Episode was Soul Food; Boris Kodjoe pulled me in and had me meet Felicia the show runner. She had a tone meeting w/ directors; a tone meeting is very important because every time you have a new director you need to make sure they don't mess up the tone of the show and where the show runner and writers want the character development to go. I almost got fired for not understanding the importance of a tone meeting but understood my mistake and remedied the situation.
Discussion of Audition Process
Don't knock the self tapes, people get hired from it. I've hired people from self tapes who did a whole scene and edited it themselves. Give value to your self tapes and don't devalue yourself just because your not in the room. To be honest nowadays the TV Schedule doesn't really give time for in-person much anymore.
How important are choices in self tapes?
The value of choices in self tapes are about 60-80%
For a new show its about 60% because they might not know EXACTLY what they are looking for. In a established show with a few seasons the importance bumps up to about 80% because you should be able to research the tone of the show and match that with your tape.
Discussing diversity in the industry
Sometimes cultural biases cause casting directors to only picture a doctor, lawyer, etc as white and only push those types through to casting, that's why diversity is important behind the camera as well. Show-runners ultimately make final decisions on casting but as they get comfortable with a recurring director, the director can help choose the cast and send directly to show-runner for approval. So imagine a director who can't envision a doctor that's not white. Sometimes we have 3 blondes on a cast so why is it a problem to have more than 1 black guy? Sometimes you have to remind them that people won't get confused because these 2 black guys don't look alike.
What makes an Actor not get the job outside of your looks?
If your going for a role in Ozark but you audition is the tone of a Tyler Perry show it won't work. Research the creator, director, and study the show.
Professionalism on set
Don't forget that the people on set are not your friends; they are coworkers/ colleagues so be professional. Be careful what you say to a person because that can spread to the whole set like wildfire. Be early, I like to be an hour early.
Cockiness VS Confident
Cocky people don't know what they are doing but pretend to; Confident people know their stuff. When you own up to doing something wrong you'll never make that mistake again. Cocky people never admit their failures so don't get the opportunity to learn from them. People have to be able to shift your gears and make another choice and take advice from another source.
This was a great session overall and he dropped a lot of gems. Once again grateful for DFAS for hosting this great free talkback. Definitely check them out!