Casting the tennis movie.

It's on. Or, as one character in James Markert's hilarious screenplay says repeatedly, "It's own."

Yes, casting has begun for the tennis comedy I'll be directing in June in Louisville, Kentucky. As of today, it's called GAME SET MATCH, according to imdb, though James called it TAN LINES AND TENNIS BALLZ. I like the simple, shorter TAN LINES (sans AND TENNIS BALLS), which is what everyone would call it anyway. "Hey, wanna see TAN LINES tonight?" It's also what would be on the movie marquee at a theater. And, once you've seen the movie, TAN LINES is an even better title. Of course, the trick is to get butts in seats, which begs the question: Does TAN LINES get people to buy tickets? GAME SET MATCH seems so overtly tennis-focused that it's not as interesting to me. TAN LINES!

TAN LINES/GAME SET MATCH reunites me with my long-time producer, Gill Holland, who found the script and shared it with me. It's the story of Owen Match, a washed-up tennis pro who gets fired from his cushy job at the local country club for holding "private lessons" with some of the wives of members—not to mention a few of their daughters, and for general bad behavior. When he takes a new job at the grittier, public Derby City Racquet Club, he meets a ragtag band of oddball pros, led by a smart, attractive single Mom with a fifteen-year-old goth son who needs help getting his serve over the net. In order to get back his self-respect and earn the respect of his co-workers and community, Owen has to learn to put his own needs aside and build a team to take on his former boss in an annual tennis match.

That's pretty much the pitch. Now comes perhaps the most important decision that is made in pre-production: casting. Kentucky native Mary Clay Boland and Gill worked together on a previous film, Spin the Bottle, so he suggested we hire her to help us find the right actors. We held our first auditions in Louisville last month, an open call for locals, then a New York session last week. I saw some wonderful actors for a few roles. The toughest is going to be the 15-year-old goth kid. I had forgotten how adolescent boys can look like they're both ten and twenty.

I have an Owen in mind - and an offer has been made to a certain actor. Fingers crossed his schedule works out. He wants to do it. I want him to do it. He's perfect for the part. If it doesn't work out... well, I've been down that road before, too.

What I know for sure: I hate auditions. I hate the process. I hate seeing actors go through it. I hate being there while they do. It is brutal. I especially hate rejecting them for the roles. That is not fun. The upside of auditions is hearing the dialogue over and over, which helps me see where it can be improved or made more clear.