Screen test

For other uses, see Screen test (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Test screening.

A Screen Test, in the realm of U.S. and EUR/Abroad Filmmaking, see: Filmmaking, is a way for designated Casting Directors to further screen potential candidates to fill any-available open vacancies or declared "roles" to fill for a Film or Television Program in coordination with a Major or Minor Entertainment Provider. This is often with respect to an Individual Artist's designated Agented-Manager, see: Talent agent, as a broker, see: Agent-Artist Relationship with Major or Minor Entertainment Providers, citing: Associated Valid Employment Contracts. This is also considered a method of determining the suitability of Individual Artists, ideally objectively, if they are suited for a certain open vacancy or role for such Film/Television Program.

An Individual Artist typically and/or generally is given a prepared scene, and/or select dialogues from this scene of a preexisting optioned script for any-related Film or Television Program, and is often instructed to perform in front of a camcorder to see if they are suitable in justifying their valid Employment for such program that they are doing the screen test for. Such a Screen Test is also called in many circles, see: Traditional or Musical Theatre Communities Originating, as part of the auditioning process, and just happens to be filmed on-camera as a simple applicable way to judge potential applicants. This Screen Test is often later evaluated by the relevant production personnel, typically after the Individual Artist's respective Agented-Manager, such as any-related Casting Director and/or any-associated Director, including Producers/Financiers, and at times, Studio Executives overseeing.

Almost always, any-related Individual Artist is often either/or ask prior to signing on with an Agented-Manager in preparing for their own scripted or improvised monologue, and utilizing Public Social Media, see: Video-Hosting Webpages (YouTube.com) or Discovery Websites such as Backstage.com, as a vehicle to share. And alternatively, an Individual Artist may be given a script prior to signing on with said Agented-Manager to read at sight (also known as cold reading), where they are either/or coerced in memorizing word-for-word an existing monologue at-sight, or on-sight, or given permission to read directly without memorizing. In some cases, often ideally, see: against discriminatory hiring practices among Agented-Managers, and/or Casting Directors respectively, the Individual Artist may be asked to read or memorized select dialogue from a prepared scene while at the same time, some authorized personnel reads any-corresponding dialogue for any-related so-called, "piggyback," to aid the hiring process in filling a vacancy or role.

As an additional note, a Screen Test can also be used as a further screening of applicants to determine the social chemistry between two potential Individual Artists to see if they work well together, and this is often seen in certain genres respective to Film and Television. They may be told to read out their characters' lines from a scene and perform them together, memorized or not, to justify their own valid Employment. [Additional Sourcing, Needed - Insight versus Original Research].

Types

Screen Tests, at times, also be used to judge the suitability of costume, make-up and other details or issues-at-hand involving Film and Television Filmmaking with respect to casting appropriate candidates, but these are generally, to use Pre-1970 Associated Lingo for Major Film and Television Industries, are called costume or make-up tests. And these types of tests are not usually sought out after any Individual Artist have signed on with an Agented-Manager, and likely is just an additional, often discriminatory, layer of screening candidates beyond the typical approaches for screening such candidates. Different types of Individual Artists can have different tasks for each individual test, and for example, a traditional or non-traditional lead (i.e., Major Supporting) for a designated Movie Musical, or using varying lingo: a musical theater-type movie, could be requested in appropriately singing a popular song or learn a dance routine in a specific way. [Additional Sourcing, Needed - Insight versus Original Research].

And to add an international perspective to this type of screen tests, Individual Artists - historically speaking, such as Bruce Lee, were supposedly given these types of tests to demonstrate that they are sufficiently articulate in any-relevant language, and/or any approach for some kind of authenticity from a certain and/or cultural perspective, not always from the originating cultural perspective irrespective of era for which the Film or Television Program was film, marketed, and distributed. In Lee's case, for the role of Kato in The Green Hornet, he was supposedly asked to converse about Chinese culture in English to judge his grasp of the language then to demonstrate some, supposedly traditional from a different cultural perspective or understanding of martial arts relating to moves, and/or movements to show off his physical skills. Special Emphasis on Colorized, Official Archived Video of Audition, see Reference 10 via YouTube.com. ALSO SEE: More on Discriminatory Practices Relating to Screen Tests During the Golden-Era of Hollywood, Pre-1970. This having a simple audition process with one's Agented-Manager going beyond as if an Individual Artist is on-set or on-location going as a try-out in the form of an audition, typically unpaid, stretching the true necessities of what a screen test is supposed to demonstrate or achieve.

See also

• Audition