Rarely do amateur filmmakers approach a web series without having actors in mind. In most cases, the web series is a vehicle for the filmmakers themselves. Regardless, the same limitations that exist for the setting of the series typically exist for actors. One mistake that a number of web series make is that they employ non-actors in roles that demand actors.
Actors come in all shapes and forms, they range from wildly talented to melodramatic, and for every diva encountered, there’s a dozen hardworking actors ignored. And they are very, very necessary for the success of any film.
Most web series are comedies, which excuses for a lot less range – but the oft ignored comedic timing. Regardless, actors are not a resource to be ignored if they’re available. If not, friends can often fill the gaps if absolutely necessary. A trick to work within this is to use established personality and repore. Let people flourish at their strengths. Essentially, let non-actors act as little as possible. Let them act like themselves – and they will be far more convincing for it. There’s no reason your main character can’t have the wit and charm of your friend Fred, or the reason your two main characters can’t have the sexual chemistry of two people with sexual chemistry.
Anthony Burch and Mikey Neumann use their established relationship to make their onscreen relationship work. In a later episode, they recruit Escapist Magazine peer Lisa Foiles. Bringing in a cute girl never hurts.
In The Zombie Inconvenience, I had Matt Hamilton, a very talented local actor at my disposal. I had trouble finding a second actor who would be available for a (yet undetermined) shooting schedule, so Matt and I decided to use – well, me. We’d already established a natural repoire and I fit the criteria for our lead actor. Hamilton also managed to get an actress named Debs Howard to come in for a third main character introduced in the third episode we were shooting. Debs Howard also fit into an unexpected niche role that exists in television, but wildly more powerful on the web – the girl next door in a browser window. This will be discussed in an article at a later date.
Matt was capable of things as an actor that I simply wasn't up to
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