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'Pretty Little Liars' now casting actors and extras for ABC Family's fourth season

ABC Family Casting Pretty Little Liars Season 4

"Pretty Little Liars" fourth season starts shooting March 15, 2013.
AB Media Publishing, LLC

Horizon Scripted Television and Alloy Entertainment are set to begin production on the fourth season of ABC Family's hugely popular teen drama mystery thriller one-hour single-camera television series "Pretty Little Liars". Primetime Emmy Award nominated casting director Bonnie Zane and two-time Casting Society of America Artios Award nominee Gayle Pillsbury are casting actors for guest starring, recurring, and day player roles. Extras are being cast throughout the season. The network has ordered 24 episodes that will shoot beginning on March 15, 2013. The story is set in the fictitious town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania but shoots in Los Angeles. The first season of "Pretty Little Liars" premiered on June 8, 2010 becoming ABC Family's highest-rated series debut on record. The show airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c.

"Pretty Little Liars" follows the lives of four teenage girls - Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, and Spencer Hastings - whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their queen bee, Alison DiLaurentis. One year later they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. At first they think it's Alison herself, but after she is found dead, the girls realize that someone else knows their secrets. Turns out that "A" is actually more than one person working in tandem against the Liars. Mona Vanderwaal was the primary A during the first two seasons, and Toby Cavanaugh was revealed to be part of A's team in season three.

Starring in "Pretty Little Liars" is Teen Choice Awards winner Troian Bellisario playing the role of Spencer Hastings, the "smart girl" of the group; Ashley Benson portrays Hanna Marin, the "It girl" of the group; Shay Mitchell plays the role of Emily Fields, the "jock girl" of the group; and four-time Teen Choice Awards winner Lucy Hale plays Aria Montgomery, the "artsy girl" of the group. All four actresses won the Young Hollywood Awards in 2011 for the category of Cast To Watch. Actress and singer Sasha Pieterse plays the role of Alison DiLaurentis, the former queen bee who was killed a year prior to the beginning of the series. Pieterse makes appearances on the show in the form of flashbacks, dreams and hallucinations.

The show is based on a series of young adult novels by Sara Shepard that are "loosely based on her experiences growing up on Philadelphia's Main Line". Twelve books have been released so far, and "Crushed," the next book in the series, has a release date of June 4, 2013 followed by "Deadly," which is scheduled to be released December 3, 2013. Two companion books, "Pretty Little Secrets" and "Ali's Pretty Little Lies" have also been released. Sara Shepard has been writing for many years, and when she was young, one of the things she wanted to be when she grew up was a soap opera star.

Aside from developing the series, the amazingly talented and beautiful I. Marlene King serves as executive producer, head writer and showrunner on "Pretty Little Liars". She also directs episodes and recently Tweeted, "Panicked when I realized I'll b directing 401 when finale airs. Hey @lisacochranpll can we get a TV on at video village?! Pretty please". Video Village is a term that refers to an area around the monitor on set where the director sits during shooting, and since so many people gather around this monitor, the term "Village" was coined. 401 refers to season 4, episode 1. The season 3 finale episode (script #324) of "Pretty Little Liars" airs on the same day that I. Marlene King will be directing the first episode of season 4, which will be a typical 15 hour day. Of course King can record it and watch the finale' after work, but it isn't the same. You have to be a director to understand and relate to how important it is to watch your work air "live". Unless of course you are Eric Stoltz (director - Glee), who once said as an actor, "I don't even own a TV". But Eric is an extreme exception to the rule, unless he changed his tune after transitioning from actor to director. Leslie Morgenstein executive produces for Alloy Entertainment. Primetime Emmy Award nominee Oliver Goldstick also executive produces. Lisa Cochran-Neilan, Joshua Bank, Bryan M. Holdman are the show's producers.

Minors and foreign talent must be legally eligible to work in Los Angeles, California and in the United States.

The 2013 Los Angeles Actors Resource Guide eBook comes with free quarterly updates and includes the following information and documents for adults, minors, and foreign talent who would like to work as an actor or extra on film and television productions in Los Angeles and the United States:

• USA Child Actor Work Permit Requirements
• California Child Actor Permit Application
• California Minors Summary Chart
• Child Actor Coogan Trust Deposit Instructions
• California Division of Labor Standards Offices
• Immigration Work Permit Information
• Non-Immigrant Visa Application

In addition to the following Los Angeles Actors Resources:

• Audition Tips
• How To Make an Audition Video
• Los Angeles Casting Directors List
• Los Angeles Extras Casting Directors List
• Los Angeles Talent Agents List
• General Talent Agent Information
• Los Angeles Acting Classes List
• Acting Classes for Young Actors in Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Headshot Photographers List
• Sample Actors Resume
• Sample Beginning Actors Resume
• Sample Cover Letters
• Entertainment Industry Terminology
• Miscellaneous Los Angeles Resources
• Actors Unions
• PDF Users Guides

The 2013 Actors Resource Guide eBooks are available here.

Principal Actor Casting

See the post titled Actors Headshot and Resume Information regarding how to submit for acting roles.

Submit photos and resumes by mail only.
No phone calls or personal drop-offs.

Los Angeles:

Sam Stiglitz
Zane/Pillsbury Casting
585 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Extras Casting

Los Angeles:

Ajay Dass
Central Casting
220 South Flower Street
Burbank, CA 91502
Registration Information: (818) 562-2755

Production Companies:

Do NOT send photos and resumes to the production companies, as they will most likely end up being thrown away. They do not cast the films, rather they hire casting directors who sort through the thousands of submissions.

ABC Family
3800 W Alameda Ave
Burbank, CA 91505

Alloy Entertainment
6300 Wilshire Blvd
Suite 2150
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Horizon Scripted Television
4000 Warner Blvd.
Building 36
Burbank, CA 91522

Warner Horizon Television
3601 W Olive Ave
Burbank, CA 91505

Executive Producers: Oliver Goldstick, Les Morgenstein, I. Marlene King

Producers: Lisa Cochran-Neilan, Joshua Bank, Bryan M. Holdman

Writer/Producer: I. Marlene King

Directors:

I. Marlene King
Chad Lowe
Norman Buckley
Ron Lagomarsino
Chris Grismer
Arlene Sanford
Wendey Stanzler

Note: Various directors work throughout the season. In television shows composed of individual episodes, the television director's role differs from that of a film director in that he or she may work only on some television episodes as opposed to the director of an entire film production. In episodic television productions, the major creative control resides with a producer of the show. The television producer with creative control is called the showrunner, in this case I. Marlene King.

Starring:

Lucy Hale - Aria Montgomery
Troian Bellisario - Spencer Hastings
Shay Mitchell - Emily Fields
Ashley Benson - Hanna Marin
Sasha Pieterse - Alison DiLaurentis
Keegan Allen - Toby Cavanaugh

Story:

Adapted for Television by Marlene King, "Pretty Little Liars" is set three years after the disappearance of the manipulative and vindictive "Queen Bee" Alison (Sasha Pieterse). It revolves around her four girlfriends, Aria (Lucy Hale), Emily (Shay Mitchell), Spencer (Troian Bellisario) and Hanna (Ashley Benson), who have lost touch with one another until each of them begins to receive mysterious messages suggesting that Alison is watching them and knows every secret they're desperate to keep. The messages don't stop even after Alison's body finally is discovered.