Industry Access

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Renita Whited

IN LIFE THERE IS SYNCHRONICITY. Sometimes, in our busy era of cell phones, instant messaging, and gridlock, we can miss it. But it’s there. We’ve all heard the axiom, “Everything happens for a reason,” but it’s not often that we actually pause to realize that every experience we’ve had, every person we’ve met, every event that has occurred in our lives has led us to this present moment.

Recently, a series of experiences, people and events unfolded into a meeting with casting director Renita Whited, who, like Little Lip Productions, believes in the power of intention, treating ‘The Business’ like a business and recognizing that anything is possible. What could have been just an exercise in twenty questions, ended up as an exploration of the aesthetics of real beauty, how confidence can make not just the man but the career, and what to do when your mom visits you at work.

We met at an airy restaurant in Los Angeles called Il Moro, near Whited’s new, state-of-the-art office space, an open concept casting facility that has the comfort of an upscale hotel and the functionality of a high-tech post production studio. Our introduction in Il Moro was the first insight into Whited’s personality, as she had never actually been to that particular restaurant before. In fact, trying something new seems to be Whited’s approach to the casting process as well as the entertainment industry as a whole.

First up were questions about Whited’s most recent feature, Jesus is Magic. Written by and starring Sarah Silverman, it’s an obliteratingly funny, if sometimes outrageous film, which is proving to have much longer legs than most of the creative team behind it guessed it would. Much like our interview, it seems the casting job for Jesus is Magic came to Whited through six degrees of separation. “One of the executive producers, Heidi Herzon, suggested me for the movie because I had also worked extensively with another one of the producers, as well as Liam Lynch, who is the director.” Of the buzz that the movie has received, Whited says, “I honestly had no idea how big it was going to be, and I don’t think [the producers] knew either. They said, ‘Yeah, we’re doing this little movie for Sarah.’ And now it’s gotten so much mileage.”

Not only is the film getting mileage, but the casting experience is getting mileage for Renita Whited’s mother. As Whited tells it, “My mother was in town visiting at the time. She’s been in other sessions with me, but in this particular case here I am explaining the scene to a group of very large, tall, intimidating-looking black men.” The scene Whited is referring to has Sarah Silverman, who’s about as white as they come, singing to and having a mock-confrontation with two unamused black men. As a point of fact, it’s intended to be racially charged, so as to bring to light the absurdity of racism. But explaining that to anyone who isn’t familiar with Silverman’s humor can be tricky. “And there’s my Mom sittin’ on the sofa, laughing her butt off, as I’m keeping a straight face explaining this to these guys.”

The ‘You’re Gonna’ Die Soon’ scene, a musical homage to Silverman’s grandmother, posed similar challenges. “I had to explain that if they got chosen to be the grandmother, they were going to be in a casket.” Whited shakes her head. “Of all the days for my Mom to come to the office. We couldn’t be doing a simple shampoo spot.” But what could have been mortifying, or at least fodder for a therapy session, is instead an entertaining story for Renita’s mother to tell to her friends at dinner parties.

The day to day.

Whited has been a part of some fairly unique feature projects, including Jesus is Magic as well as the 2002 film, Spun, which revolves around the story of an out-of-control speed freak. The movie has an all-star cast, including Jason Schwartzman, Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo, and is helmed by renown music video director Jonas Åkerlund. Not coincidentally, Whited came up in the world of casting doing music videos.

Whited’s typical day-to-day, however, currently revolves around commercials, the pace of which she calls “freakishly rapid.” As she says, “I can book a job on a Monday, prep it on a Tuesday, cast it on a Wednesday-Thursday, and then be in callbacks by Friday.”

Whited enjoys the pace, and her job overall, especially when it includes comedy, as in the case with one of her favorite casting jobs, a European Sprite® ad campaign which included two characters, “Sprite” and “Thirst,” in a life and death battle (the premise being that Sprite®, of course, kills thirst). The ads, considered too dark for American TV, featured, among other scenarios, Thirst (a costumed actor) being thrown off the top of a building with an anvil tied to his ankle, and later being forced into a hyena cage by Sprite®. One of the actors featured in the commercials, Simon Helberg, is currently doing a stint on Aaron Sorkin’s latest skein, Studio 60.

Of the creative process, Whited says, “I love it. If I had a specialty I’d say it was comedy dialogue, but I really do everything from beauty to children’s stuff to character pieces. But I love the art of good comedy. I just adore it.”

Comedy is in fact a perfect fit for Whited, as she certainly has a good sense of humor about life and work. “I didn’t realize how much of a sense of humor I had until I started doing this job, and I started allowing myself to be more of who I am. And I get comedy. I understand punchlines and awkward silences. And I was fortunate to start working with some really brilliant comedy directors, and so it just sort of happened.”

Her own journey into the casting world just sort of happened as well. (Or perhaps it was a bit of synchronicity.) Though she has an extensive acting background, she kept getting invited onto jobs as a producer. “I was a production manager, a producer and a line producer before casting. And I was in the cosmetics industry before that. I owned a promotional modeling agency for years” [Premier Promotions Modeling Agency, based in Boston]. In that job, Whited hired, trained and placed promotional fragrance models and makeup artists for all the different department stores throughout New England.

Because of Whited’s background in independent film production, she was linked in to places that most other casting directors aren’t. “Even early on, I had agent connections; I had the independent film world connections; I knew the band stars because I came from that world. So the first couple of music video jobs I got, I ended up putting these up-and-coming ingénues into these parts.” Word traveled fast that Whited was not only organized and had skills business-wise, but that she also had a line into places other music video casting directors didn’t.

Bringing out the best.

Whited’s background in acting gives her a lot of empathy for those individuals coming in to audition for her. But it’s more than that. As she says, “I have a huge admiration for actors. I don’t know what the original quote is, but there’s this saying that if you can do anything else, then do it. If you don’t have to be an actor, then don’t. And I didn’t need to be an actor.” In fact, as Whited continues, “I realized pretty early on, and I realize it more and more every day, that I am way better at being me than I am at being someone else. Whereas there are some people who are truly gifted at being someone else and love the craft to a point of incompleteness without it. So I have so much admiration for the artist in that sense.”

As for what makes someone stand out at an audition, Whited is equally specific. “Someone who knows their craft. Someone who spends a lot less time trying to make sure I notice them, and just comes in, does their job and leaves.” This, Whited believes, is key to success in business and in life. “We learn pretty quickly, whether it’s the entertainment industry or anything else, that it’s always the person who yammers on the most who’s not really doing what they say they’re doing. It’s the person who comes in, does their job, does it excellently and then goes on with their life, who is the successful one most of the time. “

Breaking down barriers.

While many actors express frustration that breaking into Hollywood is like trying to join the popular clique in high school, Whited has a different perspective. “If I’m casting a role, I might only have time to see thirty people for [it]. So if I’ve called you in before, and I know that you’re good, am I more likely to call you or someone I’ve never seen before? Now, that said, I consistently try to go to showcases and plays and find out who’s out there, so that when I do only have thirty spots I can call in a wild card.” She also knows a lot of other casting directors who employ similar ‘recruiting’ techniques. “Because the flip side of it is that the directors get really tired of seeing the same faces all the time. If I’m not showing them new talent, then really why do I have my job?”

With open-minded individuals involved in the creative process, real magic can take place. On the hit J.J. Abrams show LOST, for instance, Matthew Fox (“Jack”), Dominic Monaghan (“Charlie”), and perhaps most notably, Jorge Garcia (“Hurley”) all originally auditioned for the part of “Sawyer.” In Whited’s experience, that ability to see outside the box translates into scenarios where an actor brought in for a minor character role, may end up reading for and getting the part of the lead. “I’ve seen it happen where we think we know what we’re looking for, and someone will come in to read for another role, and they’ll be so unbelievably outstanding, that we’ll go, ‘Could we do that’” As she aptly points out, “I think that’s the type of thing that actors like to hear, because it means [success] isn’t so arbitrary.

Whited has become more and more convinced that what many view as random triumphs in the entertainment industry is really about personal intentions. She speaks of those actors who make arbitrary, all-over-the-map, moves toward the hopes of finding work. “I’m very into quantum physics and metaphysics. And so my response to that is, take all that energy and turn it into the power of intention. Because anybody who knows something about the law of attraction and the power of intention knows that you can spend your time driving all over town sitting in casting directors’ offices hoping to get seen, or you can really focus. Bold moves can be great. Occasionally, actors have crashed auditions and gotten the part. But in those cases, it’s always about more than that. It’s not about tactics.”

Whited also believes confidence and intention can turn a “2” into a “10” in viewers’ eyes. She is aware, of course, that what she might find attractive isn’t necessarily the same for someone else. “That’s something I had to learn very early on – that it doesn’t matter what my aesthetic is. It matters what the client’s aesthetic is, and me understanding that and translating it into what they’re looking for.” She does remark with some irony that beauty seems to be an ever-changing prospect. “Let’s take the Rubenesque period of art. That, at the time, was the epitome of beauty – curves and rolls. And then at some point someone decided that something else was the epitome of beauty.” And the paradox is not lost on her that the standard for acceptable beauty in a lead role seems to differ vastly depending on whether one is a man or a woman.

Still, referring to those actors who seem to break the barriers of only ‘shiny, beautiful’ people getting the big roles – for instance, Tony Shalhoub, Paul Giamatti, and to some extent even Hilary Swank, who is attractive but not in a typical Hollywood way – Whited says that they are changing what we consider beautiful. “Let’s take someone like Ben Stiller for a moment. Do I find him attractive and hilarious and a leading man? One hundred percent. Under normal circumstances, is a man that looks like Ben Stiller a leading man heartthrob? Absolutely not. So, who, at some point, convinced us all that Ben Stiller is a leading man? Well, on some level Ben Stiller did, because he’s amazing.”

How things happen.

Renita Whited can also pinpoint a little of what creates the magic that is Hollywood. “It takes some element, or combination of elements, that appeals to the person who is being presented with the project. With Spun, it was a situation where people wanted to work with this director [Jonas Åkerlund]. That’s what made Jason Schwartzman and John Leguizamo interested. What then made everyone else attach? Jonas, Jason and John.”

Whited admits with a hint of embarrassment that she only recently watched the 2005 Best Picture Crash for the first time. “And I loved not only the movie but the story of how it got produced. Don Cheedle’s attachment helped Crash get made. Then he got it to Sandra Bullock, she attached, and everything went from there.” In Whited’s bottom line assessment, “it takes somebody who really believes in the project, with a massive power of intention, to go out and attract all the other elements to make it work. “

Asked if she could attach her name to any project made in the last few years, Whited ponders for a moment. “One of the first answers is an HBO series, ‘Six Feet Under.’ I don’t know if I’ve ever been so profoundly touched by a piece of television. And I think, feature-wise, Crash might be up there. Maybe it’s because it’s so fresh in my mind, but I was really moved. And the casting is so brilliant – I love that everyone was cast against type. And that’s what I take pride in for my work. That’s what I did with Spun. Everyone in that movie was cast against type.”

Success has come to Renita Whited because of her own power of intention and belief in possibility. And, of course, it helps that she is a genuinely nice person. “I’m grateful for what I do, and I’m really appreciative that I get to do it.” Although she jokes that “I’m sure there are some actors who would say, ‘Wow, she was really short with me on the phone,’ but that’s only when I’m really busy. I think that people sense when someone genuinely likes what they do. And, again, I’m really respectful and appreciative of what everyone does, because I know how hard their jobs are.” Indeed she does.

-Katherine Lippa

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Marsha Oglesby

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