asking an aquaintance to be in your film

This is your call. Your have to have an instinct here. Nobody can tell you what to do. They don't know you or your friend. Use your common sense.

Does your aquantance have any acting chops? Is this something they'd be interested in in the first place, and most importantly are you producing and directing it? If you're not, it's not your call anyhow so you wouldn't even have to worry about it.

Ask whoever you like to be in your film. What's the prob? As Icerose says, unless you're making it yourself it really won't matter, unless of course your acquaintance is Tom Hanks.

Your questions is a bit difficult to decipher. Obviously, you are having difficulties around making the request, but you are also having difficulties expressing WHERE your concerns lie - so we can't help you with it.

It sounds a bit like you are having problems 'asking a favor' of somene you barely know? Is this where you feel you might be imposing on someone? (Is this the central issue?) In that case, it's not about making a film at all - its a question about how to ask a favor of someone you are barely connected to.

Does the concern lie with the actual connection you have with this person? A 'friend of a friend' who is no longer your friend???

OR is it about the context of the part? (Perhaps the roll is of a controversial nature, and you are afraid the person might be offended or put off by it?)

Or is it about the lack of knowledge of the persons' skill set? You don't know if she can ACT, and you'd like to find that out before you offer the part?

Really - there are so many variables about your situation "How do I ask favor?" (And we are assuming it IS a favor - that you are NOT offering compensation here - IS that correct?)

Work with us on this.


I mean, as a favor to those who are trying to help.

She must have made quite an impact if you wrote a part for a girl you barely know...

Layla Nahar said:

I'm writing & directing. I'm just curious if other people have asked an acquaintance to be in thier film - most especially how the request was received. I sometimes wonder if she might be wierded out. I was looking for the experiences specifically of writer/directors - sorry not to have made that more clear. I guess the odd thing is that I have written a part for this girl I barely know. So I'm curious about other writer/director's experiences with this sort of thing, especially if such people have found that putting it one way has better results than putting it another.

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Can she act?

If not, there's a Woody Allen film in there somewhere (just kidding).

But seriously, would she expect to be asked to appear in a movie you're making by virtue of the fact that she is an actor? Or is this request just going to hit her out of the wide blue sky?

I'm not be sarcastic, but why don't you just talk to her about it like you're doing here?

Layla Nahar said:

If I were to make the question a little less narrow, I could say, has anyone here asked someone they were merely acquainted with for significant help with a creative project? (I was looking to hear about personal experience, rather than, say, advice or recommendations.)

(yes, this is volunteer - no $$ involved)

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Only if they possessed the skillset required for said creative project. Otherwise what's the point?

I've asked lots of acquaintances to be in films I've written/directed. It's never been a big deal. I can't even think of any experiences to relate to you because none of them were particularly memorable in any way. I just asked.

I finished a 23 minute short in October where the 11 "actors" were exclusively volunteers, mostly friends, friends of friends, and three people I found through an ad in the paper.

My experience is that very few people will say "no, I don't want to be in your film." Almost everyone says yes - and then doesn't show up. My advice is have at least two choices for every role, because your first choice, like this girl you've mentioned, might turn you down.

Also, something I wish I'd done, was have rehearsals. On camera or not, it doesn't matter, I'd just have one rehearsal session for one reason alone: to see who shows up. If they don't show up for rehearsals, they're not going to show for the real thing, so look for someone else.

This girl you want in the film might say yes but then not take it very seriously and not show up, or create other difficulties. You have to dscover how dedicated she is early on. However perfect she might be for the part, if she doesn't show or makes trouble for you, forget her and look for someone else.

That all may be a little negative, but I just don't want to see someone else take months and months to finish a project for no good reason.

Having said all that, I wish you the best of luck with your film.

I have some experience on this, i made a movie and a person a friend of mine was in acting class with knew of a girl who fit the description. He gave me her phone number i called her and told her the idea and the part and after getting over her initial weirdness of someone calling her out of the blue, said sure and has been a significant part of our process since, participating in script readings, brainstorming, hair makeup, effects the whole nine yards. This was nearly a year ago and we went from not knowing each other at all to becoming a part of my repertory of actors and collaborators. She has showed up since day one prepared, knowledgeable and willing to do anything that was required. so there is the good. the bad is a good friend of mine read a script for another short i was working on and loved it and called me and said he wanted to play a certain role and sold me on the fact that he could pull off this main role even though he had no real acting experience. So i let it happen. now my mistake was not getting with him to make sure he was doing things to prepare for the role. Because two weeks later we all show up on set and the female, who was working with us again, showed up prepared and ready to roll and get dirty and beat up. He showed up and hadn't looked at the script again since we had talked about it two weeks prior. so we wasted the first 2 hours of the day with him trying to learn his lines with the female, being the consummate pro she will be and is, helping him out as much as possible. so we get to shooting and the first part focused all on her the second part was both of them
so the first half of the film is well done, the second half is like a seizure. Having to cut every time he couldn't remember his lines and pick and parcel these snippets of dialogue with pieces of b-roll footage made the film essentially unwatchable. on the other other side is that while getting to the end of the film where the last 2 characters show up that was a last minute call to a friends brother and another friend of a friend who both showed up and gave their "a" game. So i guess either it'll work or it wont. but be careful and stay on top of things as far as them learning what they are supposed to do as well as full and individual rehearsals, this is your baby so dont make my mistake and count on them to do their jobs. do what it takes to make it work. hope this is of some help.

Tell us how it worked out.

Why not? I've asked a very good friend to be in a movie I wrote and directed - she has experience as a cover model and actress in a well-known tv series (think Hawaii & TC . After further thought, I asked her not to be in it and explained why. She was completely okay with my decision 'cuz it made sense.