P.O.V. – A long weekend of watching an odd man, SUBJECT, in a small bungalow home reveals he has incapacitated the actual person who lives there, and SUBJECT is using it as a spider web to select and kill from among the people who have the misfortune to visit. The tone of this film will be similar to Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch Project but instead of the supernatural, the threat comes from an actual serial killer.

No auditions will be viewed until Monday 6/16 and no decisions will be made until at least Monday 7/14. However as long as role is marked open on this page, it is open for auditions. It is anticipated that the casting of the main character SUBJECT will take at least a few months.

Send all auditions in separate files or links by part and label them CHARACTER NAME.YOUR NAME to adam@pinballproductions.com. 

The filming of P.O.V. will take place in Pasadena, CA on 6-8 days in the range of September/October this fall. While casting is open to everyone, being in the Los Angeles area or being able to be here on a specific day for all supporting roles is a must. Travel accommodations for supporting roles can’t be made, however, in the case of the main character SUBJECT, certain accommodations would be considered. The fact is, this film will very much hinge on one very talented and dedicated actor to be a key collaborator on the project and inhabit that role for the entire shoot. Accommodations for that actor are possible.

A note on casting: Some of these roles have specific descriptions because the roles dictate they are probably best for a certain type. For example, the overwhelming majority of serial killers in the United States are disturbed white males so Subject will be a white male. However, most descriptions have a wide range and some have no specification. We want everyone to feel they have an opportunity to play any role they think they could. This means members of the LGBTQ community, differently abled community, etc. are encouraged to get involved and audition. If you’re the best actor for a part, even if that part changes to fit you, then you will be cast. Pinball Productions wants all its work to organically become the best it can. We want talent and good people first. Please audition for any role you’d like.

Also, even if you are perhaps still working toward becoming an actor who could deliver in a role in this film, please audition anyway. Pinball is always looking to help artists grow and encourage them to be brave and put themselves out there and learn by trying. You always have an audition with Pinball Productions that you can prepare for, send in, and learn from. Casting decisions will be made and those cast will be reached out to, but if you would like honest feedback on your audition tape regardless of if you got a role, please let us know. We will be happy to give you straightforward feedback you can use to continue to get better.

Finally, while we have high hopes for the outcome of this film and where it will go, the production itself is very small. The entire budget for the film probably will not exceed $15,000 and it is entirely self-financed. The upfront fees for acting in the film thus are small but we have given 10% of the profits to the lead actor and 1% each to all other on camera roles. That’s a total of 20% of any profits going to on camera acting talent. We want everyone who contributes to the film to feel that they have a stake in the production and any success. However, it’s important to keep in mind that success for this film could be we make a very good film but financially we merely pay for the production or make a modest profit. Whatever happens, this is first and foremost a labor of love and artistry to create something really exciting and interesting to entertain audiences. We are all in that mission together.

SUBJECT – A white male between 25-45 who had a real life with a job and apartment but who began giving into urges to kill people a few years ago. He suppressed a deep, uncontrollable desire to kill until it came out in killing a random person and hiding them deep in the woods, he has since killed two other unrelated people about a year ago and now, he has given in to his urges again. As his compulsion has taken over his life, his life has deteriorated leaving him staying in a shelter or his car sometimes. Before the movie starts, he answers an ad the actual renter of the house has placed looking for a subletter out of curiosity. A flirtation with his compulsion. And when he sees a nice, well-decorated and healthy living environment that because of his sickness he will never be able to have, he decides to take it by force. He hits the man over the head with a hammer, thinking he’s killed him, and stuffs him in a closet with slatted openings for him to “watch”. Subject then proceeds to live in the home for a long weekend, sometimes killing and sometimes just sharing space with the people who might stop by. Or who he can lure via dating apps. While Subject is in fact indulging his compulsion, his reckless behavior suggests he is spree killing this time until he is caught or killed.

The film is at once a suspenseful thriller/horror story but also a character study of Subject. In reality and the world of the film, many serial killers are not inherently evil villains. They are severely broken human beings who have often been severely abused and traumatized, and often with severe mental illnesses, they begin having incredibly dark impulses they cannot fight off any longer and once they give in, are then trapped in a nightmare of a life. Unable to tell anyone the awful things they’ve done and full of incredibly dark thoughts and feelings, they fall deeper into their compulsions and hurt more and more people. By not showing the killings, P.O.V. provides viewers with a puzzle to solve of just who Subject is and what he’s really doing between the scenes and off camera of the film. But we also get to experience an incredibly broken human being and wrestle with the disturbing nature: That he is a human being just like us and what he’s doing is what a member of our own species is capable of and does in fact do in real life all the time. 

A lot of the power and presence of this character will come from stillness and small actions. The actor has the entire film to build a picture of Subject so keep that mind. Most of the time serial killers are portrayed they are shown in a limited amount of screen time in bigger genre films where they are portrayed bigger and more evil in an entertaining, scary way. This is a more realistic portrayal of a serial killer in a more grounded way that will bring about more complex emotions than just fear and terror. 

(Audition scenes) : With Charles p. 2-6, with Stephanie p. 11-13, with Brooke p. 13-17, with Christian Person p. 19-23, with Gary p. 24-27, with upbeat Bethany p. 46-50, with Laura p. 51-55. In addition, please tape yourself treating your own living space as if it is foreign to you and you have inhabited it similar to Subject, seeing and interacting with it for the first time. 

CHARLES – Male, 25-50. Charles answers the subletter wanted ad after Subject and ends up being Subject’s second victim in the story. He thinks Subject is the actual proper renter of the home and is annoyed by Subject’s inability to just show him the place quickly. It’s this annoyance that leads Subject to killing him.  (Scene p. 2-6)

CUSTOMER SERVICE – (VOICE ONLY) A voice only role who works at the internet company and speaks with Subject who is trying to figure out the wifi information.  (Scene p. 8 – voice only)

DOGWALKER – The person who works for the dogwalking service the Renter of the home uses for his dog. They are just doing their job. ( (Scene p. 6-7)

STEPHANIE – (VOICE ONLY) A voice only role of a woman 21-60 on a dating app that Subject has a brief facetime call with. She is just looking to get to know a guy but she interacts with Subject’s outward “friendly” persona he uses to lure woman back to the house. Her male roommate in the background scares Subject off and he hangs up on her.  (Scene p. 11-13 – voice only)

BROOKE – A woman 21-60 that Subject meets out after interacting on a dating app. They have drinks at a bar then go back to “his place”. She is very open and fun and it unfortunately gets her killed by Subject as his third victim and first off the dating app in this spree.  (Scene p. 13-17)

CHRISTIAN PERSON – A character knocking on doors to spread the word of God who ends up walking into the space of an active serial killer. Subject was traumatized by his father when he was young and his father used his involvement in the church as a counterbalance for his awful behavior. Christian Person draws out Subject’s actual self though does in fact escape harm, as Subject’s complicated views of God prevent him from killing an actual person from the church. (Scene p.19-23)

GARY – Gary returns the dog of the house to Subject and angles for a reward. He thinks he’s asking for like $50 from a regular person. But he’s really risking his life pushing a serial killer in the middle of a spree. Funny enough, it leads to Gary getting handed $800 that Subject just takes from his second victim’s wallet. It’s an awkward, comedic exchange with a very dark, tense undercurrent as we watch.  (Scene p. 24-27)

CLAUDIA – The second woman 21-60, Subject lures to the house from a dating app, Claudia is the type of person who shows up to a stranger’s house after midnight on Friday with a bottle of tequila. By the time Claudia shows up, Subject has been drinking heavily and already has a hammer hidden behind a couch cushion.  (Scene p. 30-34)

CLEANING WOMAN – Latina (20’s-60’s) – The regularly scheduled cleaning woman uses her key to come in on Saturday afternoon and luckily Subject has done enough cleaning up after his latest murder and confined the bodies to the bedroom. Subject allows her to clean as long as she doesn’t go in the bedroom and he drinks and watches her, enjoying having a non-speaking and non-aware woman in the house. He dances to the music she puts on, hovering around, sometimes physically touching her a bit but she puts up with it because needs her job and she just wants to do it and leave. In the end, Subject decides to just pay her and allow her to leave but in her haste to go, she forgets her cleaning supplies. As Subject eyes them on the ground, we hear her knock at the door and the second opportunity to kill her is too much for him to deny.  (Scene p. 36-40)

WARY WOMAN – (VOICE ONLY) Woman 21-60 A voice only role. Wary Woman answers Subject’s very late call on a dating app Saturday night and immediately scares Subject into hanging up.  (Scene p. 44 – voice only)

UPBEAT BETHANY – (Woman 21-60) Bethany answers a late night face call Subject makes and we then meet her in person the next morning when she shows up at his door to go with him to brunch nearby. However, Subject has no intention of going to brunch and as he’s just woken up and wants to drink and probably kill her, he asks her inside to have a drink. Subject is in day 3 of his binge though and is giving off truly worrying energy that Bethany interprets with each moment as Subject is very unhealthy and she should be increasingly concerned. Subject is unable at this point to present to the outside world a façade that brings down people’s defenses and Bethany never makes the mistake of coming in. She thinks he’s just another guy who’s a liar and a fuck up and she resents getting ready and driving 45 minutes for a bait and switch but that instinct saves her as she walks off. (Scene p. 46-50)

LAURA – (Woman 25-50) The actual renter, Ryan’s sister, finally shows up on Sunday, day 3 of the spree and cuts right to the chase. She hasn’t heard from her brother in 3 days and neither has the people he was due to meet on his one month stay away out of town. Her anger though turns to fear when Subject uses her as someone to confess to and show his true self. Truly pathetic and sad while also incredibly dark and dangerous, Subject quietly tells Laura it’s too late to save her brother. He then invites her in for a drink. Laura breaks down quietly but leaves and after a few moments, Subject picks up the hammer and walks out after her. She lives though and is there to greet her brother when awakens in the hospital. (Scene p. 51-55)

LANDLORD – The person who rents the bungalows hears the commotion Ryan, the renter makes when he crawls into his bedroom closet and gets a gun and fires it into the ceiling. He rushes over and is there when Subject returns and essentially gives himself up for Ryan to shoot dead. (Scene p. 56-57)