THE BIG BREAK INTERVIEW:
JIMMY FLOYD
A YOUNG JACKIE GLEASON INTERVIEWED.
Jimmy Floyd stands with open arms and a big smile as he greets me at the
end of the hall. He takes great pride in making everyone feel comfortable.
He is already rooting for me before the interview, before the audition
for everyone else. Today, he is in the middle of casting for a 25-spot
commercial series for the Food Network.
BIGBreakNY: How did your career in casting begin?
JIMMY FLOYD: I decided to get into this side of the business,
when I knew I wasn’t able to perform full time anymore. In the very
beginning, almost ten years ago, I started booking guests in TV and radio
talk shows. Experts, authors, celebrities. That was the beginning of the
talk-show boom. One hundred talk shows. I quickly made the move from booking
to producing. I produced many TV talk shows and became an award-winning
television producer. I won two Angel Awards (Excellence in Family Television)
for the Montel Williams Show and others.
BBNY: What made you choose casting?
JF: I decided to go into casting because I love the process of
matching people to projects (I had a lot of experience doing this on the
producing side). People often use casting as a stepping stone to get into
other things. I made my success in other areas and CHOSE casting. I love
getting people work. My favorite part of producing was the hunt and the
development of relationships with people. I loved deciding what the topic
would be, finding the guests and the experts. I like the chase.
BBNY: Give me an example of a great chase.
JF: Nothing makes me happier than finding a perfect fit. I like
looking for what I need. An MTV producer once asked me to look for someone
that looked exactly like JESUS for an on air commercial/promo. Well, I
don’t have a Jesus file. So, I walked around Soho and the East Village
and found someone that resembled Jesus in a diner. I walked up to him
and said how would you like to make $300? I give him a card and asked
him to call me the next day. I told him that I wasn’t crazy—this
was for real—and that if he just got in touch with me, and the producer
liked the polaroid that I took of him—the job was his! He did work
out—and he did an amazing job!
BBNY: What characteristic encourages you to chase someone for a part?
JF: What I appreciate about anybody is complete and total honesty.
I love to mentor people who are just starting out. Helping newbies is
a priority to me. I guess I have that “Listen to Uncle Jimmy”
mentality—but honestly, a lot of the new kids out there appreciate
that.
BBNY: You can tell when you talk how taken you are by people.
JF: As a performer, I had a lot of mentors. I tried to learn as
much as I could. I surrounded myself with people who taught me what needed
to happen. I was very lucky. It’s only right to pass that on, you
know?
BBNY: Tell me about your performing background.
JF: Right out of Boarding School, I was first in state for male
vocal and fourth in Nationals, and I won three scholarships through those
competitions. I wanted to perform, not go to school and study “theory”
and go through all the motions. So, I made a deal with my parents. They
said, “If you can find a job where you can support yourself full
time as a performer, you do not need to go to school.”
They told me to register for school and by the end of the summer if I
did not find work, I had to go to school. I heard from a friend that they
were auditioning for 2 x 2 in the city. I got a six month contract as
the lead. I proved my parents wrong. I was well on my way. (He laughs
like he was just so surprised that it happened that way. He nailed it.)
Then, from there I did the two-year rotating dinner-theater tour with
the same production company. It totally flopped off Broadway here. But
they spent so much money on the entire production (set, props, et cetera)
that they continued for 2 years. I did a lot of voiceovers and a lot of
commercials. I was a full time performer.
I played Jackie Gleason as a teenager in the story of his life for ABC.
I heard from another friend who thought I would be a great young Gleason
that ABC was casting for that role. A lot of people didn’t know
he sang with big bands. He was a singer first, then an actor, then a comedian.
I went to the audition, made it through the first round and got called
back. I lied and said that I had representation (I do not recommend that—always
tell the truth), dropped the name of my dinner theater director, who acted
as my agent. I got through the second and the third round and met Jackie
Gleason. I walked through the doors. Out of the fifteen, twenty guys that
were there, he walked up to me. He put his hands up on both sides of my
face and said, "this was me when I was 19." I sang with a piano
and he commented, “I love this kid.” He died six months later.
BBNY: You were union to play Jackie Gleason?
JF: I was non-union at the time and I became union for this project.
They offered me union status. Before that I did not even know what union
was.
BBNY: You cast both union and non-union talent. Any suggestions?
JF: Keep submitting for everything regardless. Since I don’t
run an agency I don’t have the pressure to hold onto people. It
doesn’t hurt me and it helps you. So I will send people to MTV,
VH1, Lifetime, Oxygen, Sundance Channel, Food Network, Much Music, CBS,
NBC, ABC and HBO. I do lot of real-people casting. I do a lot of pilots.
Your goal should be good work. My advice is do not join the union until you have to. You suddenly and automatically disqualify yourself for all non-union work. I was just talking to a guy about this project that if he was non-union he would get $500. He said that was more than he got working on Saturday Night Live, which was $250 for two nights of union work as a bit part. There are a lot of union people who do not have work. A lot of non-union people who are hustling. If you are non-union and you are asked to do union work, it will be arranged for you to join the union. It happens every day.
BBNY: What are your parents saying now?
JF: They are very happy. In the last four years, I have done close
to 250 projects. Well, I own my own company now, Jimmy Hank Promotions,
and I am a partner in a new company—Producer’s Advantage.
We do product placement for TV shows. I keep busy—and that is always
good!
Jimmy Floyd can be reached at (212) 864-2132.
To send Jimmy your headshot and résumé:
Jimmy Hank Promotions
209 West 104, 2H
New York, NY 10025
© 2005 BIGBreakNY, LLC. No material may be reprinted without permission.