Casting call flops

Photo by Michael Woodward

SILVER SCREEN HOPEFUL: Katherine Conard Manuel of Cottonwood fills out a casting application for her daughter, Katherine Conard-Manuel. Jhordin Sila of Anderson (center) accompanied the two.

A casting call for the feature length film, “The Bet,” was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Friday.

At ten minutes ‘til, the production company, Sacramento-based CamStar International Casting and Productions, still had not shown up to an empty store at the Shasta Outlets in Anderson. Outside the empty building was a poster for the casting call and a lone, anxious teenage girl seated on a bench.

Ten minutes late, Mark Camaren, CEO of the company, arrived to open the doors and set up shop. The nigh nonexistent reception for “The Bet” didn’t improve throughout the weekend.

“It was a total bust,” Camaren said, with only 21 people showing up to apply for parts.

The movie, then, will not be made in Shasta County, Camaren said.

“I wanted to start and finish the movie at the Sundial Bridge, but I can’t do it without enough extras,” Camaren said. “We were unable to get Channel 7 to do anything, and the film commission (of Redding) didn’t do anything. They usually call the radio stations.”

“He called me on Friday and wanted a press release right away,” Shasta County Film Commissioner Sherry Ferguson said of Camaren. She added that calling her office the day of an event for publicity was impractical.

“We encourage filming in the area because of the economic benefits from it. He was operating on a shoestring. Everything had to be free (concerning casting location),” Ferguson said. “I feel for the small, independent film-makers, but you can’t call up on a Friday when you’ve known about this for a month.”

Nor did Camaren not get his location at the Shasta Outlets for free.

“If it was Stephen Spielberg, okay, but it was so last minute,” Austin said, who added that Camaren didn’t contact her before Wednesday.

The movie was to involve a motorcycle trip across the U.S. with several blonde women. He told the Valley Post that the movie would be “family-oriented,” but told Ferguson that there would be nudity involved.

Casting for “The Bet,” was free, but Camaren was charging $19.95 for the interested party to be added to the company’s database to be considered for any other film. Camaren provided casting for the movie, “Phenomenon,” starring John Travolta.