Interview talk:Jason La Padura

Jason La Padura interview

• RyanGibsonStewart has managed to arrange an exclusive interview with Jason La Padura, a casting director for Heroes. If you have any questions you'd like to ask Jason, this is your opportunity. Just post your questions on this page and Ryan will pick the best ones to ask Jason directly. A transcript of the interview will be posted on the article page. (Admin 19:15, 24 June 2007 (EDT))
  • I will be calling Jason on Wednesday to set up a time to do the interview. It'll probably be on Thursday or Friday. Obviously, all questions should be submitted by then. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:38, 24 June 2007 (EDT)
    • I'm calling Jason tomorrow. I don't know if we'll do the interview tomorrow or not, but I'd like to be ready in case he wants the questions tomorrow. If you have any questions, submit them before tomorrow afternoon just in case. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 17:53, 26 June 2007 (EDT)
      • Jason was in casting sessions all day today. They ran long so I didn't get a chance to set up a time with him. I'll update when I get ahold of him. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 00:13, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

Interview questions

• Here are some questions I brainstormed on the fly with my wife (who graduated with an acting degree). Feel free to comment on them, tell me which ones are good or which are silly, or how I should tweak the questions. I'd love some feedback--especially other questions y'all want answered, or tips on the order of the questions. Here goes:
  • You are a member of the CSA. What kind of education did you receive to be a casting director?
  • How did you get your start in the business?
  • What's it like owning a business with and working with your sister?
  • What is the process for casting a minor character for Heroes? A major character?
  • How do you find your actors?
  • What do you look for in an actor?
  • How many actors (what percentage) actually audition for their roles? What's the difference between those that do and those that don't?
  • How much say do the directors (or anyone else) have in your choices?
  • What was the toughest Heroes role to cast? The easiest?
  • What's the most surprising story you have about casting for Heroes?

It's just a rough draft of ideas, please feel free to add your two cents. :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 19:38, 24 June 2007 (EDT)

• Could you get us high resolution images of all guest cast members for this site? (Semi-joke, but It'd be nice.)
• How did you approach the special guest stars, such as Malcolm McDowell, George Takei and Stan Lee?
• How long do you have to cast new characters for an episode?
  • Do you have a pool of actors you think you'd like for the show?
• Is there any information you can tell us about Season Two?
• Are you also involved with Heroes: Origins?

- The six previous questions submitted by --

• What was a harder season to cast, season 1 or season 2? Jason Garrick 21:47, 24 June 2007 (EDT)
  • Ooh, great questions. I will have to prioritize them because I'm not sure how long the interview will last. I can't ask any spoiler questions, though, sorry. Jason was pretty tight-lipped the last time I talked to him. Actually, he told me that some of the leaks might be false. Hmm. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:58, 24 June 2007 (EDT)
• How do you determine if an actor is "right" for the role they're auditioning for? --Hero!^(talk)_(contribs) 00:56, 25 June 2007 (EDT)
• Do they cast both actors and crew? If not, who hires the crew? Do they have casting calls in other cities? And most importantly to the Wiki, what are their DOB's and birthplaces... (You might try the last question first as it's also the easiest to answer).--MiamiVolts (talk) 14:03, 26 June 2007 (EDT)
• Is there a Heroes actor or actress you were particularly excited to cast? Why?
• What is your proudest Heroes casting moment?

"If we personally know someone who would be absolutely perfect for an upcoming role how do we contact you about it?"

Phone recording

Rather than going out tomorrow to buy a tape recorder, then trying to record a call on my cell phone's speaker phone, I was looking into call recording services (preferably something free that will record an hour or more). I found FreeConferenceCall.com, which looks like it will record up to 6 hours and only costs the charge or a regular phone call. As far as I can tell, Jason and I would have to each dial the number.
Does anybody know anything about call recording services? Is this any good? Is it legit? Any ideas? -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 02:01, 27 June 2007 (EDT)

• I've no clue about freeconferencecall, but if you are going to do this on any kind of a regular basis, it's probably cheaper to go with a digital recorder. You might check out this Olympus Mini-Telerecording device at Radioshack.--MiamiVolts (talk) 18:30, 27 June 2007 (EDT)
  • Actually, I tried it out today, and it works great. It's an absolutely free service, and only costs the cost of a long distance phone call. I have Freedom Long Distance on my phone, so it essentially costs me nothing. ... Plus, even if I do a lot of interviews, I have a feeling most are going to be by email. Jason and Jason are about the only people I've talked to on the phone....But thanks for the suggestion. It's nice to know you're thinking of ways to help me out. :) And that recorder actually looks pretty cool. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:41, 27 June 2007 (EDT)

Come back tonight

I just got off the phone with Jason La Padura, and I see that Joe Kelly emailed me back. When I get a bit of time I'll transcribe Jason's interview and clean them both up with links etc. and post them--tonight hopefully. Thanks for all the questions, everybody! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 14:54, 29 June 2007 (EDT)

• Excellent work, Ryan! (Admin 15:10, 29 June 2007 (EDT))
  • That's awesome, Ryan! The suspense is climaxing now... Heh. :)--MiamiVolts (talk) 17:06, 29 June 2007 (EDT)
    • Thanks. There's some good stuff as he talks about most or all of the principal actors (Masi especially) and gives a few insights about characters (Peter and Nathan were twins?!) and the whole casting process. It's 23 minutes long and will take me some time to transcribe, clean, and link (Joe Kelly's was a lot easier), but I'll get to Jason's later tonight after the kids go to bed. :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 18:42, 29 June 2007 (EDT)

Another nice one

You did another nice interview, but looks like you forgot to ask DOB for Jason, and you didn't ask him about casting the crew. I assume the crew (ie. cameramen, stuntpeople, assistants) is either chosen by the studio itself and/or the producers, but that he might have some input on that.--MiamiVolts (talk) 02:02, 30 June 2007 (EDT)

• Thanks. Remember, I can't ask him every question. And actually, the first time I spoke to him I asked if he's in charge of the crew too -- he told me he's a casting director, so that's just the cast. In this interview he said he casts all speaking roles. I completely forgot about DOB. It was on my list of questions, but I was jumping around, and mostly we were just talking. I was having a hard time listening and carrying on a conversation at the same time as reading over which question to ask next. Doing a phone interview has its pluses and minuses: I can ask follow-up questions and actually hold a conversation, but it's difficult to go through a laundry list of topics. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 02:20, 30 June 2007 (EDT)