A growing number of TV roles are being created for actors of color. For performers aspiring to land one, producing their own content is one of the best routes into the casting office, according to Robi Reed, vice president of talent and casting for original programming at BET.
“Opportunities are increasing,” she tells Backstage. “Theatre is great experience and will always be useful if you have a career; however, with all the avenues of being able to put your work out there, you definitely need to create your own Web series.”
Reed says that network executives can come calling after viewing content they like online. “You never know when that call is coming so when opportunity does knock, be prepared so you can take it because all’s you get is five minutes in the room,” she says.
Reed, who won an Emmy for casting HBO’s “The Tuskegee Airmen,” worked extensively in film before moving over to television. She cast Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” and noted that Denzel Washington, who plays the titular lead, stayed in character between takes. “The best actors never seem like they’re acting,” she says at an Icon Mann event hosted by
Leave a Reply