"Bunheads" premiers Monday, June 11, 2012 at 9:00pm ET/PT on ABC Family
AB Media Publishing, LLC
Update (August 17, 2012): "Bunheads" has given a back-order pick-up for 8 additional episodes for season 1.
ABC Family is now in production on a new ballet drama series called "Bunheads", and the casting directors are auditioning actors for co-starring, guest starring, and day player roles. Extas and stand-ins are also being cast throughout the season. The show centers on a Las Vegas showgirl who impulsively marries a man named Hubble Flower and moves to his sleepy coastal town of Paradise, California after he passes away. She inherits his house, his mother Fanny Flowers along with her dance studio and students.
Headlining the series is the extremely beautiful and talented Tony Award winning actress, singer, and dancer Sutton Foster in the role of Michelle. There was a national talent search that took place, as the producers sought a variety of teen girls with strong Ballet experience. They wanted girls who are 18 and above who can play 14 - 17 years of age, or girls under 18 who are emancipated. They found dancer Bailey Buntain in New York City; Yuri Grigoriev School of Ballet trained Jenny-Lyn Marais in Los Angeles; Emma Dumont dances at Los Angeles Ballet Academy; Julia Goldani-Telles also in New York City; and newcomer Kaitlyn Jenkins from Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana, California. Kelly Bishop ("Gilmore Girls") plays Fanny Flowers.
Primetime Emmy nominated Amy Sherman-Palladino directed the pilot episode from a screenplay that she wrote herself. About "Bunheads", Sherman-Palladino said, "I spent 20 years of my life with my hair in a bun. I was supposed to be a dancer. My mother was a dancer. Her greatest heartbreak was when I got on Roseanne. So, while writing this will never equal playing "Rumpelteazer" in a bus and truck tour of Cats, it does let me tip my hat to a really special time in my life." The project was originally picked up as a cast-contingent pilot last fall with writer Lamar Damon. Sherman-Palladino is executive producing "Bunheads". Sherman-Palladino is best known as creator, executive producer, head writer, and director of the popular WB Television Network series "Gilmore Girls". Her husband, Daniel Palladino, is also writing and directing episodes of "Bunheads".
Minors and foreign talent must be legally eligible to work in the state of California and in the United States.
The 2013 Los Angeles Actors Resource Guide eBook 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 Los Angeles Actors Resource Guide eBook is available here.
Principal Actor Casting
See the post titled 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:
Jeanie Bacharach
1438 N. Gower Street
Building 5
Suite 108
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Extras Casting
Los Angeles:
Toni Avalos
Central Casting
220 S. Flower Street
Burbank, CA 91502
Registration Info: (818) 562-2755
Do not send photos to Central Casting, you must register in person.
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 Avenue
Burbank, CA 91505
Producers: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Karey Burke, Charlie Stratton, Norman Buckley, Anna Mastro
Directors: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Kenny Ortega
Starring:
Sutton Foster - Michelle Simms
Kelly Bishop - Fanny Flowers
Kaitlyn Jenkins - Bettina Jordan
Emma Dumont - Melanie Segal
Gregg Henry - Rico
Bailey Buntain
Jenny-Lyn Marais
Julia Goldani-Telles
Story:
"Bunheads" centers on Michelle (Sutton Foster) who was accepted into the American Ballet Theatre at 17 with a full scholarship, eventually did some Broadway, but ended up a Las Vegas showgirl looking at a dead end with both her career and her life. She impulsively marries a man, and after he dies shortly thereafter, moves to his sleepy coastal town and takes an uneasy role at her "new" mother-in-law Fanny’s dance school.
