(A snapshot of our “spreadsheet o’doom” – Heidi’s mainly in charge of keeping this all in order).

An assistant producer is a great job to have on Angel Between the Lines. I get to have a part in almost everything. My job starts when the first script is released. I make sure I have down everyone’s roles. The day before the recordings are due, I email everyone to remind them to get their recordings in the next day. The day after the recordings are due, I email the people who haven’t gotten theirs done yet and ask when they’ll have their recordings done. I then proceed to bug them until the recordings are completed. Sometimes this can be a long process.

When the cast and crew see emails from me, I’m pretty sure they go, “Oh, crap!” I send email reminders and make sure everything gets done for recordings, editing, SFX, QC, and writing. I have to keep up with when things are due and what is overdue. If I don’t check for more than a couple days, I get really swamped.

QC has added additional responsibilities for me. Instead of just marking things as finished, I now need to read the QC forms and if there is a problem, let the actor or editor know it needs to be fixed. Next, I follow up and make sure it gets done, and then QC listens again to be sure it’s ready for the next level.

Sometimes, if people are unresponsive to my emails, I pull out the whip or threaten to sick the dragon on them. If that doesn’t work, Tabz has been known to step in, which usually gets a response within minutes. Don’t mess with the Tabz!

For the most part, everyone is really great about letting me know when they can’t complete an assignment or are going to be late. I really enjoy seeing the project come along and keeping it going. I also ask people to volunteer for extra work a lot, and they’re really great about doing it.

I got asked to do this job for season 2 of Buffy Between the Lines, because I told Kim I had no job and a lot of time. Tabz and Kim will fill your schedule if you tell them that. I did get a 200% raise, though I was making nothing before… I’m really glad, because I’ve gotten to know so many great people. I’m in contact with just about everyone on the cast and crew at some point. This is the greatest project to be involved in!

Peter had a monumental task of giving these characters life. In fact, unlike some of our other episodes, this one is pretty much 100% Peter’s from outline to completion. And he did a great job. In a series of flashbacks we not only see who Wesley’s gang are, but why they are. From Diana Espen (who we met in BBtL S2, Episode 7) to Hawkins (a former Wolfram & Hart lawyer) to Jones (a former member of Holtz’ gang).

When we started Buffy Between the Lines one of the first conversations we had was how we could add more face time to some of our favorite smaller characters – Larry Birdsall being one of the first folks we thought of, along with the Evil Trio and Ethan Rayne. It was part of the whole “between the lines” vibe. Probably some of our strongest episodes from Buffy Between the Lines hardly featured the main cast.

Yet, Fragmented has something special. Probably some of our most obscure roles pulled into the light. But it was fun to hear the end result. I especially loved how out of step the end felt. It was the perfect reminder that Wesley is far from home.

This season we’ll bring some more tiny characters back, including everyone’s favorite floating fish – Betta George and Electro Girl, Gwen Raiden. And those are just two of many we’re bringing back. We hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave which smaller characters should get their day in the sun… unless of course they’re a vampire.

Now, most people don’t know, or might be surprised to know. I really don’t do a lot for auditions. I promote, that’s kind of my thing, but Kim handles most of the producer’s role of auditions. She gets tons of support from our Associate Producers – Heidi and Larissa. I get to play voyeur and watch the process. And it is a huge process. This year there’s nearly 100 people auditioning and most of them for multiple roles. That’s a lot of sound files!

Even though the process isn’t finished yet, I already know it’s going to be amazing.

There’s lots of things I love about producing an audio drama. One of the most enjoyable things is seeing how excited people get about a production. Every time an audition comes in you can feel the energy and the creativity that person is bringing to the team. It’s like finding the perfect team to play basketball for the Olympics. Every single production and podcast we work on with Between the Lines Studios has brought us some of the most talented people I have ever met. People are what make BtLS so amazing. If it was just me or Kim, the show wouldn’t be great. It sounds cliche to say that everyone working together is what wins the awards, the praise and the listeners, but it’s true.

So seven minutes until we close auditions and I’m excited. This season of Angel Between the Lines is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to work with people from our past two seasons of Buffy Between the Lines and I can’t wait to meet the new people we’ll be working with for ABtL. If you’re one of those people, just know from before I even “officially” met you – I was excited to work with you. If you’re listening and never considered being a part of BtLS I encourage you to go for it when we start up production for Firefly Between the Lines. Everyone has something amazing to offer, and you might just be the person who makes our next production even better than the last.

Tabz
Executive Producer

Written on March 22, 2009

Picture a hamster running on a wheel. Picture that hamster running really fast. Now picture that hamster collapsing by its water bottle, tired, but feeling accomplished.

It’s a day after the auditions for Angel Between the Lines have closed, and I feel like that hamster.

Don’t get me wrong – Buffy Between the Lines has brought me wonderful memories, friends, and opportunities that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise. But, boy, is it a lot of work.

Audition time for me means lots of emailing back and forth between me and Kim, Heidi and Tabz, and lots of staring at spreadsheets and audio files. It means emailing all those who auditioned and laying the foundation for the next step of the audition process: callbacks.

As I’ve said, it is a lot of work. That happens when you work on an international audio drama with hundreds of people. But, as I’ve also said, it’s very rewarding. There’s something so exciting and enjoyable about being at the start of it all: seeing the auditions come in and getting excited that so many people auditioned. It makes me very happy to be involved in the fandom in a project such as this. I can’t wait to see what’s in store next!

- Larissa

——-

So it’s the dawn after the eve of the night that auditions ended. I’m writing this on March 22nd and I am so excited.

I joined the crew after the auditions for BBTLs Season 2 so I never got to audition for a role. So this has been my first time through the audition process. I don’t envy the work that Kim, Heidi and Larissa have ahead of them to turn all of the audtions into a cast for ABTLs. Plus I can’t wait to find out if I have a role in the new production, and if I don’t then it’s still been fun trying…

As Tabz’s has said if you didn’t get involved this time around then please do so when Firefly Between the Lines kicks off. I was nervous about getting involved when I first contacted the crew having never done anything like this before. I needn’t have been, everyone is so welcoming and helpful, so if you’re not sure what to do then I encourage you to give it a try…

Andy
Assistant Producer, Upside Down and Halfway to Happyland

So here I am, frantically getting ready for the “work” part of auditions. The submission time is all cake and anxiety for me, waiting to see how many people apply, waiting to see if the right kinds of people apply, waiting to see if people are excited about the latest production.

Thankfully, I have Larissa and Heidi to help with the organizing and emailing or I would never get it all done (and hopefully they will share their parts in this).

My first step is to make sure all the files are in order. I’m sure there’s a couple stray files we don’t yet have (and should) so with the help of the girls we’ll get those tracked and requested. I’ve been able to keep on top of responding to the questions so far (there haven’t been many), and I’ve set up (with some help, thanks Rose!) the pages for the callbacks. They are not traditional callbacks really, just some roles we have that need a specific sound, so we have to ask for additional readings for them. They aren’t even necessarily large roles, just important ones with a unique sound (that’s actually true of all our roles for auditions). The callbacks are also usually roles we want to keep secret for some reason.

Once I know we have all the files for a part, I’ll download them and listen to them each. At this point I’m not concerned with who they are, I just want to listen to see what they can do. I pick out people for the callbacks and start to narrow the auditions down to a few people for the part (I check them against the original actor saying the same things, but I’m looking more for the spirit of the words than if they sound EXACTLY like the actor). If there is a clear match (this is rare) then I will figure out who it is and list it on my spreadsheet. If not, then I will list a few favorites and move on.

Once I have all the roles narrowed down to a few people, I will listen again and see if there are any standouts. Often at this point there is someone I favor and then I will indicate that.

Then comes what I like to call the giant logic puzzle. If one person is a favorite for a role then I will check to see if they auditioned for any other roles. If so, I’ll pick the one they are best for (this may be because one role is more essential than another is or because they sound PERFECT for one role and are just the best pick for another role, it varies) and then I cross that person off for all the other roles they tried. That narrows things down further and when I get stumped, I turn to Tabz and get her opinion.

There are also the points where I have it narrowed down to 5 people and am stuck (Tabz too!). At that point, I usually submit the pick to the exec team for a vote. I make sure the team has no idea who the files are of and just let them go with their gut. From there we usually have a clear choice.

There are a few other things we take into consideration, and we do this once I’ve narrowed things down. If someone is not interested in anything but a main role and they are not the best choice for that role, I’ll stop considering them. If someone has been a great and positive support and worker, then we’ll remember that. It’s true that someone could be amazing and not get cast because they turned out to be more work in the long run for us. Anyone we don’t know already gets the benefit of the doubt.

Ok so that’s the start of the process, it takes days, and this year it looks like it’ll be a while just listening through the audio (and I listen to every second). However, I’m very excited to get going! I hope this gives some insight as to how we go about casting (and was not too dull!).

Thankfully, each year the technology gets better and makes things easier for us to keep track of and organize it all, and if it weren’t for Larissa, Heidi, and Rose, I would have already pulled out all of my hair.

-Kim (Casting/Executive Producer)