MOOSE JAW — Moose Jaw-based filmmaker Dustan Hlady is looking for actors of every age, gender, and ethnicity for an April 23 casting call to help him shoot his new TV series “SIN3056843”.
Hlady’s debut feature film Nolan: Here Nor There won Best Feature Film at the 2020 Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards (SIFAs). He wrote and produced Nolan: Here Nor There and shared the award with director Wilfred Dieter. Lead actor Braden Jon King won Best Performance at the SIFAs.
The film was also featured at 11 international film festivals, including Paris, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.
The new project is a series with a planned 21 episodes. Its name is part of the puzzle Hlady hopes will draw fans in.
SIN3056843 is the name of a fictional arthouse film from the ’70s with which the main character of the series is obsessed.
“Part of the mystery of the series is what (the name) even means. So, all these film scholars try to figure it out,” Hlady said. “Some people think it’s a social insurance number, some people think it’s a phone number, some people think it’s like a longitude or latitude.”
In the series, the main character is obsessed with the obscure film. She decides to make a documentary about it and its director. She travels to Los Angeles to meet him, discovering along the way that there might be a supernatural element of danger around SIN3056843.
The series will be shot entirely in Moose Jaw, with stock film contributions for the different featured locations, such as Los Angeles.
Hlady needs as many actors as possible. A rough cut of the pilot episode is done, but there are many more characters to be cast.
“Really, we’re making three different things. We’re making our series, and then we’re making a documentary about this film that doesn’t exist. And we’re making the arthouse late-’70s film (SIN3056843) as well.”
It will be an interesting creative quest requiring three different casts, Hlady said.
“We’ve already shot the pilot, so some of the characters are already spoken for, but there are plenty of characters that we haven’t even introduced to the story yet.”
Episodes will be from eight to 20 minutes long, each ending in a cliffhanger that leaves viewers more confused. Nevertheless, Hlady wants to assure watchers that in the end, everything will resolve. It won’t be like Lost, he laughed, where the entire show ends and still no one knows what happened.
Potential applicants should know that the casting call is not necessarily for experienced actors.
“More looking for personality over experience,” Hlady explained. “That being said, if you have experience, that’s great, too, but it’s definitely not something that you need to have at all.”
The casting call will be on April 23. If enough people apply, another day may be added to give everyone a chance to try out. Video submissions will also be accepted.
To receive part of the script for an audition, register for the casting call by calling or texting Hlady at (306) 313-9508 or emailing [email protected].
