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Articles tagged with film

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 27 January 2012

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry, so grab sit back and catch up on the stories you need to know. Awards season steps up a gear It’s been another big week in 2012’s awards season, with more nominations and ceremonies. All eyes were on the Oscars earlier this week, which released its nominations ahead of the big event on February 26. Hugo and The Artist led the pack in terms of nominations and there were several nods for Spotlight members with...

posted on 27th January 2012 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 20 January

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry, so grab sit back and catch up on the stories you need to know. Keep on campaigning Businesses in the West End were celebrating a memorable victory this week as Westminster Council announced they were scrapping proposed evening parking charges. Theatres, performers, Equity and others had campaigned against the proposals, which they claimed would have cost the area’s economy millions, and forced many businesses and performers out of work. Henry Goodman and...

posted on 20th January 2012 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 13 January

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry, so grab sit back and catch up on the stories you need to know. Marvellous musicals BBC Four’s The Story Of Musicals has been attracting a lot of praise and interest from many in the arts world, and is well worth a watch. London Theatre Tickets has a detailed review of the series, looking at how the history of the genre has developed over time. The series is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until...

posted on 13th January 2012 Read full article >>

Spotlight's highlights of 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, we at Spotlight thought we’d look back on our highlights from the past 12 months. There have been so many fantastic performances across stage and screen - theatre, film, dance and television - that’s had us raving to fellow Spotlight co-workers in the office the next day. Of course, the tastes of all Spotlight staff vary, although if there was one play and performance that got everybody talking and featured at the top of our end of year list, it was Mark Rylance’s performance in Jerusalem. Ben, Spotlight’s managing partner, described it...

posted on 20th December 2011 Read full article >>

Writing, producing and acting: How I did it all for The Doghouse

Spotlight members don’t just act these days. Many of our performer members are increasingly writing and producing their own material, be it for screen or stage. Every member has a different reason for expanding their creative abilities, but all have to learn what it’s like on the other side of the camera or stage. Spotlight member Ruaraidh Murray’s latest short film, The Doghouse, had its first private screening at the BFI on Friday. Here, Ruaraidh delves into his own experiences to share his advice on doing it all yourself – from the initial idea to the...

posted on 28th November 2011 Read full article >>

Diary of a child actor's mum: The awakening of a young actor

Each month Jemima Laing, mother of 12-year-old Spotlight member Felix Soper, will be charting the ups and occasional downs of being the parent of a child performer. In her first post for Spotlight, Jemima tells us how Felix was first bitten by the acting bug after landing a part in a theatre production of Peter Pan. What got Felix started with this whole acting thing was, basically, my innate nosiness. Collecting him and a friend from drama group on a wintry Plymouth night four years ago, I noticed the friend was clutching a piece of paper which Felix didn’t have.  Questioning the...

posted on 23rd November 2011 Read full article >>

Life of a drama school graduate: Acting on screen

Each month we’re following the progress of final year drama student Joe Gaminara from LAMDA, as he prepares to leave drama school behind and head into the world of auditions, castings and agents. Joe’s final year journey continues this month as he and his fellow students attempt to get to grips with screen acting for the first time and he tries not to kiss the casting director in a TV audition. It’s now half-term here at LAMDA, and finally we have a few sacred days to ourselves to briefly reflect on two months of TV, get...

posted on 31st October 2011 Read full article >>

Cast via Spotlight: London Film Festival short films

The 55th BFI London Film Festival draws to a close today after two weeks of fantastic films and performances on the big screen, many of which feature Spotlight members and were cast via The Spotlight Link. But it’s not just the big gala screenings that Spotlight’s had a hand in. Many stars of the future and Spotlight members start their screen career performing in and writing short films, and Spotlight is proud that several shorts at the London Film Festival came together as a result of casting breakdowns placed on The Spotlight Link. Meconium, directed by...

posted on 27th October 2011 Read full article >>

The Spotlight interview: Lissy Holm, casting director

One of the highlights of the BFI London Film Festival is Anonymous, the new film from Roland Emmerich, which takes the idea that Shakespeare’s works were not his own and spins a fictional tale out of this. Anonymous is also a film that has a strong association with Spotlight. The majority of the film was cast via Spotlight, first via the Spotlight Link and then at Spotlight Studios near Leicester Square. Leo Davis and Lissy Holm of Just Casting cast the entire project. Ahead of Anonymous’ gala screening on Tuesday 25th October, Spotlight’s Joe Bates caught...

posted on 24th October 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 21st October

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with the industry. So kick back and read what’s snagged our interest this week.   All about acting and auditions On Tuesday, Spotlight held our Casting Symposium at the London Film Festival, with three top casting directors – Lucinda Syson, Reg Poerscourt-Edgerton and Karen Lindsay-Stewart. We’ve rounded up the top tips and points from the panel, which are essential reading for performers. If any casting directors have any more they want to add...

posted on 21st October 2011 Read full article >>

Cast via Spotlight: London Film Festival special

Here at Spotlight, we’re thoroughly enjoying the London Film Festival. It’s not just that there’s so much activity outside our Leicester Square offices, or our fantastic Casting Symposium at the BFI earlier this week. It’s that Spotlight had a hand in many of the fantastic films on show at the festival. Many of the films were either cast at Spotlight’s rooms and studios or advertised as exclusives via the Spotlight Link, the quickest and easiest way for casting and production professionals to get their briefs into the inboxes of leading UK agents and performers. There are...

posted on 20th October 2011 Read full article >>

Win tickets to Anonymous at the London Film Festival

The gala screening of Roland Emmerich’s new film Anonymous is one of the highlights of the London Film Festival. The star-studded British cast is packed with Spotlight members, but that’s not the only reason we’re looking forward to it. The majority of the film, starring Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Rafe Spall and David Thewlis, was cast at Spotlight’s studios and we were lucky enough to see the excellent casting directors Leo Davis and Lissi Holm put the actors through their paces. Anonymous is one of a select number of special screenings throughout the film festival,...

posted on 17th October 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 14th October

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and think our members should know about. So kick back and read what’s snagged our interest this week. London Film Festival   The BFI’s 55th London Film Festival is in full swing, with red carpets, galas and some fantastic films abound. There’s so much material, we’re only touching the surface here, but the BFI Festivals YouTube channel is a fantastic place to start. The BFI are uploading vodcasts and clips from press conferences. A perfect way to while away...

posted on 14th October 2011 Read full article >>

Famous faces from Spotlight's past

Since 1927, Spotlight's pages have featured hundreds of famous faces.  The Hall of Fame is a compilation of our favourite actor and actress photos from stage and screen.  To view ‘When They Were Children’, ‘James Bond 007’, ‘Academy Award Winners’ and many more, click here. Tags: actor, actress, awards, film, photo, spotlight, stage

posted on 22nd March 2010 Read full article >>

Recent actor, dancer and presenter projects cast via Spotlight

The following are just a selection from the many hundreds of projects which have been cast via Spotlight recently: Film and Television The Sarah Jane Adventures The IT Crowd Taggart Merlin 4321 Inbetweeners River City Untitled Ken Loach Project 2009 Hollyoaks Sex and the City 2 Stage Dunsinane (Hampstead Theatre, London) Enron (Noel Coward Theatre, London) The 39 Steps (National Tour) Really Old, Like Forty Five (National Theatre) Columbo (National Tour) Canterbury Tales (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Liverpool Playhouse,...

posted on 19th March 2010 Read full article >>

Five Top Tips for TV and Film Casting from Kate Rhodes James

At this week’s Spotlight Graduate Programme event, casting director Kate Rhodes James (Bleak House, Cold Feet, Into the Storm, Mo Mowlam, The Fattest Man in Great Britain) spoke to final-year drama graduates about casting for film and television.  Topics covered included how to approach a casting director, what to expect in an audition and how best to present yourself (CV’s and photographs).  For anyone wanting to break into television and film here are her top five tips:  Research each casting director before you meet or contact them.  If you’re...

posted on 17th March 2010 Read full article >>

Recent projects cast via Spotlight

The following productions were cast recently via the Spotlight Link: TV & Film Waterloo Road My Family Law & Order Moving On Brighton Rock (Film) Whitechapel Holby City Robin Hood (Film) Chatroom (Film)  Stage Private Lives (Bath Theatre Royal & West End) Columbo – Prescription Murder (UK No 1 National Tour) Hi-Di-Hi (Touring) ...

posted on 4th February 2010 Read full article >>