It was brought to BroadwayWorld.com's attention on Wednesday of this week via a stunning amount of emails to our "Twitter Watch" inbox, that one of the more than 200 Broadway-related Tweeters that we were picking up the feed of, was a casting director, Daryl Eisenberg, who was 'tweeting' during auditions with her take on some of the performers (mentioning none by name) with live comments, both good and bad, after they'd auditioned.
EVERYONE was talking about the story this week including The New York Times which ran an article Friday on what is now being labeled as 'Twittergate', you can read the Times feature by clicking here.
BroadwayWorld.com favorite, and current casting director for Ugly Betty (which films at NYC's Silvercup Studios), Geoffrey Soffer commented on the situation in a statement which you can read below:
I am a casting director who started in this business as a professional child actor. Having been on both sides of the table, I know the struggles that actors face in order to get seen, book jobs and sustain a career in this grueling and often unfair business. I know how uncomfortable and awkward the task of auditioning can be and I hope that my experience as an actor has made me a more sensitive casting director. I was appalled to read yesterday that a casting director has been twittering about actors' auditions with no plans to end this practice. The audition is a private meeting between an actor and a casting director, producer, writer or director. Similar to that of a therapist listening to a patient, or a lawyer counseling a client, what happens in the room should stay in the room. It is not American Idol nor is it an opportunity for the casting director to capitalize on other aspirations they have. There are many ways to help an actor improve his audition, but exposing them on Twitter is not one of them. It's a clear violation of that confidentiality, damaging to the reputation of our profession, not to mention intimidating for actors who will audition for her in the future.
Casting Directors are still fighting age old stereotypes and misconceptions. Through the tireless efforts of those casting directors that fought to legitimize our profession, we have only recently been accepted into a union and given benefits for TV and Film work. We still have a long way to go as many in our community are not protected by a union at all, and minimums have yet to be established. The behavior exhibited by this casting director does not help our profession progress and I hope actors will view this as an isolated incident of unprofessionalism and not a reflection on every casting office.
Eisenberg herself spoke with BroadwayWorld.com in an interview available by clicking here. Noted casting professional Paul Russell gave his view on the controversy via his blog which you can read by going here. Backstage.com has weighed in as well here.
In relation to The New York Times Arts Beat essay on the matter, Tony Award-winning composer Marc Shaiman voiced his view on the ever subject in the comments section of the article. Click here to read his view.
AEA And DECasting issued new statements on 'Twittergate' which you can read here.
