Lana Veenker Makes PSA Appeal

Meet Andrew & Lana from Cast Iron Studios on Vimeo.

Many of you who have been around the fandom awhile know that Lana Veenker was one the people who helped to cast the original Twilight movie that filmed in the Portland, Oregon area. Lana casts many shows such as Leverage that shoot in the Portland area. For Twilight, Lana helped cast much of the local talent that was used in the film (Cora the waitress, young Bella, the original Sam Solomon Tremble, etc).

Lana is now involved in a cause that means much to her, as one of her close friends is one of the major activists in this area. More details on how you can help bring awareness to this important issue here.

Twilight Crew Member Passes Away

Our friend, casting director Lana Veenker, just let us know some sad news. A member of the Twilight crew, Bradford Turner (props assistant) passed away unexpectedly. Some of you who visited the Twilight set in Portland may have encountered Brad who was always friendly towards the fans. Part of his obituary on Oregon Live reads:

“(He)pursued his love of film at Portland Community College and University of Oregon. He loved fishing, hunting, skiing, and especially his time at the family home in Gearhart. His motion picture work in Portland eventually took him to Hollywood, where he worked on many film and TV projects as a property master. After 10 years in Hollywood, he returned to Portland and worked on projects that included “Twilight,” “Extraordinary Measures,” and “Leverage.” His spirit touched the lives of many friends and fellow workers in the industry.”

It was the work of many people like Brad, working on a small, independent film that no one in Hollywood cared about or took seriously that helped to launch the twilight films to where they are today.  For our part, his work was appreciated.

Lana also told us that “the family has suggested donations in his name to the Pixie Project. This organization helps the homeless who have dogs care for them and find housing that will accept dogs.  It helps dogs and cats get vaccines, spaying and neutering, and runs an animal adoption service and day care.”

Casting Scams For Breaking Dawn

Casting-Scams
We are still getting emails and Tweets regarding Breaking Dawn casting. We don’t want to break anyone’s heart, but at the same time we don’t want to see anyone taken advantage of either. Seriously, we’d love to be able to say that anyone with no experience stands a chance of being cast as Carmen or Tanya, but it’s not the case. Breaking Dawn is not currently casting. Those ads you see online are a total scam.

In fact one company actually contacted us via our forum PM to see if we would run ads on our site. In their email, which we verified with Summit is complete bogus, the following exchange happend:

Lexion: “Your message regarding advertising the Breaking Dawn casting call was forwarded to me since in addition to helping with advertising I am also one of the bloggers who covers current news regarding Twilight. I didn’t realize that the movie was now moving onto open casting calls. Which firm will be handling the casting? Will it be done in Portland or Vancouver?”

Supposed Casting Agent: “Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. Summit Entertainment has acquired the rights from Stephenie Meyer to film and distribute Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn is still in early pre-production stages, but is accepting submissions for principal roles and extra roles. We are looking for talent nationwide and it will be non-union.”

Casting agent Lana Veenker’s name is also erroneously getting thrown around on and off as being connected to the project. Lana did cast certain roles in Twilight, but she was not involved with New Moon or Eclipse since they were shot in Vancouver. Lana’s spoken out before about how these things are scams, but in a recent article for Oregon Live she goes further to explain just what your chances are of being cast in a principal part or as an extra.

“It’s all a scam, Lana says.

“Anyone who is saying click here to audition for ‘Breaking Dawn,’ or the deadline is coming up, is lying. ‘Breaking Dawn’ is not in production. No casting directors have been hired. Nobody is hiring extras.”

First of all, “they haven’t even announced what city or country they’re going to shoot in,” Lana says. “They may shoot in Vancouver again,” in British Columbia. If they do, “they’re not going to hire American extras to shoot in Vancouver. American kids wouldn’t be legal to work in Canada anyway without work permits.

“There’s no way the production company would hassle getting permits for extras when thousands are dying to be in this who live right there.”

Read the rest here.

Breaking Dawn Casting Scam

There is a casting scam going on regarding Breaking Dawn that has caught a couple of people. Lana Veenker, who cast several of the roles in Twilight, explains how the scam works and how not to get caught up in something like that!

“If  you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know how much we hate, HATE, HATE scam artists who prey on aspiring actors and movie fans (especially kids) with fake casting calls.

A new one involving Breaking Dawn, the final installment in the Twilight series, has come to my attention. BE WARNED! As I’ve done in the past, I’m going to dissect it, show you all the red flags and demonstrate how I did the research to uncover the scam artist behind it all.

So next time you get an email like the one below or see something online that sounds too good to be true, you’ll know how to dissect it yourself to find out if it’s bogus or for real. Take note!

By the way, I’m not going to post the name or URL of the company and give them free traffic, but this was forwarded to me from a real talent agent, whose client (a minor) received it. The girl did not have a profile on this scam website and doesn’t have any other publicly viewable casting profiles online. So the first question is: How did they get her contact information? When her mother replied to the email to inquire, the email bounced back: “no such mailbox.” Major red flag. I would have deleted this as spam right then and there. But let’s dissect the entire message anyway!”

See the point by point discussion of how to spot a scam here.

Lana Veenker Sponsors New Twilight Themed Contest

For those of you unfamiliar with Lana, she was involved in the casting of the first Twilight movie. She’s based in the Portland area and gives seminars and classes on breaking into ‘the business”. She is now running a contest to win a Twilight poster signed by the local cast.

“Do you bear an uncanny resemblance to a Twilight character?

Send us your best Twilight look-alike photo!

Email your photo to twihard[at]slateplease[dot]com by October 1st, 2009.

Be sure to follow these guidelines:

  • Include your first name, age (required for minors), and where on the planet you live (City, State/Province and Country are sufficient) in the body of your email. Anyone, anywhere in the world can participate!
  • Your entry must be emailed to us in a file size no larger than 2MB. Please do not mail hard copies of photos or send links to photos. If it’s not attached to an email, it’s not eligible. Hard copy entries will not be considered or returned.
  • One entry per person. If you send multiple entries, only the first will be considered. If there are multiple entrants in a photo, only one poster will be awarded.
  • Contest ends at 11:59 PM on October 1st, 2009. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.
  • Please keep photos appropriate for an “all ages” audience.”

Check out Lana’s site here.

Twilight Poster Contest: Get Poetical

Lana Veenker is running a series of contests to give away posters signed by members of the Twilight cast. The first one is a haiku contest. One of the best parts is that you can live anywhere in the world to participate.

“The first contest is designed to test your creative writing abilities:

Send us your best Twilight-inspired Haiku!

If you don’t know what a haiku poem is, read up on the rules here.

Here’s a sample one to get your wheels turning:

Misty forest rain
Branches snapping underfoot
Moonlight frozen fear

Email your haiku to twihard[at]slateplease[dot]com by June 5th, 2009!

Please be sure to include your name, age and where on the planet you live (City, State or Province, and Country are sufficient).

Let’s see how many different countries can participate!!”

Lana Veenker’s Twilight Poster Contest

Lana Veenker is asking for fan input for a contest to win actor signed posters.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lana, she was involved in the Twilight casting. She’s based in the Portland area and gives seminars and classes on breaking into ‘the business”.