Our guest at this Saturday’s seminar is no stranger to our Networker readers, as she writes the monthly feature ‘The Competitive Edge‘ and has for the last five years. It’s commercial casting director Terry Berland and we’re thrilled to welcome her in person.
Terry got her start casting in New York for advertising agency firms such as J. Walter Thompson, Young and Rubicam and served as Head of Casting at BBDO, which has been in business since 1891. That’s bonkers. So that year went, “Okay, here’s the Wrigley Company, here’s the Gay Nineties, here’s the first iteration of Carnegie Hall, and here’s this advertising agency.” Anyway, I’m getting off track. Terry went on to head the commercial division of Liberman Hirschfeld Casting. In 1991, she moved from New York to Los Angeles to start Berland Casting.
In addition, she gives workshops in auditioning, having taught “Acting In Television Commercials/Audition To Win” in 50 cities throughout the U.S. as well as similar courses as a member of the adjunct faculty of the Lee Strasberg Institute and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. Her book “Breaking Into Commercials: The Complete Guide to Marketing Yourself, Auditioning to Win, And Getting the Job” is currently in its third edition.
While our first guest this year, Laray Mayfield, spoke about how she operates as a theatrical casting director, and our second, Renita Gale Swaekauski, spoke about the field of self-development and staying present, Terry will be focusing on the fundamentals of commercial auditioning. She’ll be talking about approaching commercial copy as if it were a short scene and finding your sweet spot. I don’t quite know what the second part of that means, so I’m looking forward to finding out!
The event is (again) sold out, so keep an eye out for our recap.
Lindsay Katai is a writer/performer/debtor who has worked at Casting Networks since 2010.
Seminar Recap