Interview with Joana Soares - Additional Casting and Acting Manager of TIMELESS LOVE
If as a child she dreamed of being a veterinarian, life changed her ways and she ended up finding her path and entering the world of television and entertainment.
Joana Soares is responsible for all the executive and creative work involving the integration of additional casting and figuration in the telenovela TIMELESS LOVE.
Tell us more about your career path.
My dream was to be a veterinarian, but I realized that I dind't had the stomach for it, not only to see blood, but also to emotionally overcome the loss of an animal that I couldn't save. Besides the passion for animals, I also loved television and unraveling mysteries, so I thought of pursuing something related to Television and/or Investigative Journalism. I graduated in Social Communication in ISCSP and after graduating, I went to Cenjor to specialize in Journalism. When I finished, the opportunity arose to start working in the world of business, in an internationally known magazine, but in the area of communication and brand management. I realized that this was not the way to go either, and a year later I left the magazine and went as an intern to CBV Produções Televisivas, in entertainment production, where I ended up staying after a three-month internship. I started by doing several programs for the Panda Channel and then the first The Voice Portugal came along, which I loved doing. After that, I thought it was time to try out a new side of production and I went on a short course at Restart in fiction production, in an attempt to get some grounding in fiction, before applying. When I finished in 2013, I had the opportunity to attend an interview at SP Televisão, where I ended up staying until today. I started as an office production assistant in the project WINTER SUN and in the next project - DAY BY DAY II - I moved to the production of Additional Cast and Acting, a position I have held ever since.
What is your main function in the team? What are the main difficulties in your work?
The role of Additional Cast and Acting, within the production, is a slightly more specific role, even though it involves several things. The basis of this function is the hiring of actors for secondary characters that will appear throughout the story and all that it involves from there. It starts with a creative process, unusual in the production area, of thinking of actors with the right characteristics for that particular character, and then suggesting them to the acting director and the project coordinator. In my opinion, this initial process is perhaps what makes this role most interesting, since it involves not only the more practical part of execution, but also a more creative part.
Another aspect that also makes this role so challenging is to think about and try to anticipate what each director has in mind or will need for each of the scenes in the recording plan, whether it be with regard to the characterization, the need for doubles or even animals on set. But this function doesn't end here. It goes through many other stages, such as accompanying the guest actors who remain in the story; acting as an intermediary between them and each of the other sectors; managing and fulfilling the budget allocated for each of the items in this function, which depends on the needs of the project in question; etc.
What new challenges did the telenovela TIMELESS LOVE bring you?
Each project brings a new challenge, mainly because of the different themes addressed in each novel. In the case of TIMELESS LOVE, we have several new themes that I had never come across before: Padel, Diving and Sailing. For example, finding Padel athletes, with availability and interest in participating in the soap opera, as extras of this modality, was one of the new challenges that this project brought me.