The highly popular hit CW teen drama series “Gossip Girl” has been picked up for season 5, which will consist of 22 episodes. Auditions and casting will be ongoing for principal actors, guest stars, day player actors, as well as extras, photo doubles and stand-ins throughout Summer and Fall 2011. Season 5 will air beginning Monday, September 26, 2011 on The CW at 8/7c and the season finale will air in May, 2012.
“Gossip Girl” is based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who has expressed support for the show, noting that all of her major plot points are present in the series.
“The Gossip Girl” is under Screen Actors Guild contract with “CW Supplement” terms, which basically provides for a cap on the number of SAG extras who must be hired in large crowd scenes on programs produced under the terms of the CW Supplement. The cap is 50 SAG extras that must be hired for large crowd scenes on CW Network shows in New York, and the remainder of extras can be non-union. This supplement will automatically expire June 30, 2014.
The following are requirements for actors to work on “Gossip Girl”:
• Must be a United States citizen, or have current legal papers such as Green Card, Work VISA, Employment Card, etc.
• Must be a local New York city area hire, unless specified otherwise.
• Must be completely available with no conflicts for each shoot dates hired.
Casting directors are currently seeking the following for a somewhat regular role:
• Male, early to late 20’s, very handsome. To play a Priest who speaks french very well, and has a French accent when speaking English. Ethnicity unspecified. Shoots first week of July and again in late July, 2011.
Principal Actor Casting
See the post titled Headshot and Resume Information regarding how to submit for acting roles.
Please submit photos and resumes by mail only.
No phone calls or personal drop-offs.
New York:
Kim Miscia
Beth Bowling
“Gossip Girl” Casting
609 Greenwich Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10013
Los Angeles:
David Rapaport
“Gossip Girl” Casting
1438 N. Gower Street
Building 5, Room 208
Los Angeles, CA 90028
The majority of principal actor casting is done out of the New York office. The Los Angeles casting office only casts name actors for various guest starring and recurring roles.
Extras Casting
New York:
Gossip Girls Extras
Central Casting New York
875 6th Avenue 15th Floor
New York, NY 10001
[email protected]
Click Here for Central Casting NY registration information.
Production Companies:
Do NOT send photos and resumes to the production companies (they will most likely end up in the trash can), they do not cast the films. They hire casting directors who sort through the thousands of submissions.
17th Street Productions
151 W 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
Alloy Entertainment
6300 Wilshire Blvd
Suite 2150
Los Angeles, CA 90048
CBS Television Studios
4024 Radford Avenue
Studio City, CA 91604
College Hill Pictures Inc.
Colden, McKuin & Frankel
141 El Camino Drive
Suite 110
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Warner Bros. Television
4000 Warner Blvd
Burbank, CA 91522
Executive Producers:
Bob Levy
Josh Schwartz
Stephanie Savage
Les Morgenstein
Joshua Safran
Amy Kaufman
Producers:
Joe Lazarov
Jonathan C. Brody
Amanda Lasher
Jessica Queller
Bart Wenrich
Robert Hull
Directors:
Norman Buckley
Patrick R. Norris
J. Miller Tobin
Andrew McCarthy
Jeremiah S. Chechik
Note: Additional directors work various episodes. 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.
Filming Location:
Silvercup Studios East Lot
34-02 Starr Avenue
Long Island City, NY
Click Here for directions to Silvercup Studios East Lot artists entrance.
Cast:
Kristen Bell
Blake Lively
Leighton Meester
Penn Badgley
Chace Crawford
Ed Westwick
Kelly Rutherford
Matthew Settle
Kaylee DeFer
Story:
The series begins with the return of Upper East Side “It” girl, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) from a mysterious stay at a boarding school in Cornwall, Connecticut. Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) is a longtime friend and occasional rival of Serena’s, and the Queen Bee of Constance Billard School’s social scene. The story also follows Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), the bad boy of the Upper East Side. “Golden boy” Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), Chuck’s best friend and Blair’s ex boyfriend. Also other characters of the turbulent Manhattan scene such as Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), Nate’s friend and Serena’s on-again, off-again ex boyfriend. New as a season 5 regular is Kaylee DeFer, who will be playing a character named Ivy. Taylor Momsen and Jessica Szohr will not be back as series regulars, although may return on selected episodes as guest stars.
Format:
Each episode begins with the blog page of the Gossip Girl blog with Serena’s picture from the pilot episode. Afterward, a recap of events relevant to the upcoming narrative is shown, which ends again with the blog page, only this time with a picture from other character(s) with a text about a recent event connected with the picture. The narrator is Gossip Girl, voiced by Kristen Bell. She begins the recap with the sentence “Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite,” and ends the recap with whispered voices saying “Where has she been?” “Serena” then the voice of Gossip Girl says: “And who am I? That’s one secret I’ll never tell. You know you love me. XOXO, Gossip Girl.”
