Bruce Kimmel on the 'Partridge Family"

So, there I was, moderating a Q&A with very busy, very well known, wonderful casting director Jeff Greenberg. When he was a young actor, Jeff had gotten his SAG card on my film "The First Nudie Musical." I said to him, "I wouldn't like to be an actor today." I told him I could never deal with the casting process as it happens today. He said to me, "Oh, it's the same as when we were doing it back then." I said, "Oh, really? Let's compare how I would get a major guest shot on a TV show and how that would happen today."

I told him exactly how it used to be. My agent would call, tell me I had an appointment for such-and-such show, tell me what the role was, and give me the time and place to show up. I'd show up. There would be me and four other actors. We'd be given sides, we'd look at them, read them through silently a few times, figure out how we wanted to read them, and then each of us would be taken in to read for the producer, director, and occasionally the writer. A few hours later, one of us would have the job. That was it. It was simple and direct, and sometimes you got the part and sometimes you didn't.

I then asked Jeff to tell me how that same process would work today. He smiled his mischievous smile and told me. "Well, first you'd have to be pre-screened by me, you'd have to read for me, and maybe I'd give you an adjustment or two."

Adjustments. It was all part of the new actor babble I couldn't stand. If I need an adjustment, I go to a chiropractor. We weren't given adjustments; we were given direction. We didn't know from "arcs" and "journeys" and "playing results."

But I digress. Jeff continued, "Then, if you get past me, I take you to read for the producer and director, or I've put you on tape and shown them that first, or they put you on tape at that reading. If it was a smaller role you were up for, the decision would be made, and you'd get the job or not. If it was a bigger role, you might have to read for the network, or the network might have to see your audition tape." All that for a one-off guest shot. And how many people would be reading for this guest shot? Oh, 10 or 15, maybe even more. Had it been like it is today, I don't know that I would have ever gotten a job, not when decisions have to be made by committee and every actor is scrutinized as never before.

I began to think about my years as an actor, especially the early years. I never thought about that time very much, but as I did I began to realize how much fun it was to be a young actor back then. It was exciting to go on auditions. If you didn't get that one, you'd have more auditions the next day and the day after. Casting directors have unbelievable power now. Back then, they were aware of young talent, they took chances, and they booked appointments. You didn't read for them; you read for the people who were going to hire you. It was a different world and a different business and, for my money, a better one. I am in constant awe of actors today who can persevere and keep their spirits up and deal with the business as it is today. And who knows, maybe it's all just the haze of memory and it's as much fun now as it was then. But I doubt it.


Bruce Kimmel guest-starred on popular sitcoms of the 1970s and '80s. He has written nine novels, two films, and nine musicals and produced more than 180 theatrical albums, garnering two Grammy nominations.