“Friday Night Lights” Casting Director Can’t Find Mexicans In Brownsville, Texas. Also Can’t Shoot Fish In A Barrel Or Hit The Side Of A Barn.
A news item about a Los Angeles based casting company for the ABC TV NBC show, “Friday Night Lights” not being able to fill 400 Mexican extras roles in Brownsville, Texas made us chuckle. Mainly because Brownsville, located spitting distance from Mexico, has about a 98% Hispanic population. (Full disclosure: some of us were raised there.) This on the heels of the news that the United States Census Bureau has ranked Brownsville the most impoverished city in the nation with more than 40 percent of the city’s 171,000 residents living below the poverty line. (The town itself will play the role of Mexico in an episode of the show where White, high school jocks visit our neighbors to the south—which gives you some idea of the vibe.) Casting director Tina Kerr of On Location Casting blames a sudden thunder storm on the poor turn out, but in a town with an over 90% Hispanic population, two feet from the Rio Grande and everyone flat broke, if they couldn’t find 400 people who want to get paid to stand around and be on TV, we think “Friday Night Lights” might want to think about finding a new casting agency.
Few answer TV casting call [The Brownsville Herald]
Brownsville ranks poorest in the nation [The Brownsville Herald]
5
- Managing Editor
Daniel Mauser
- Editor
Cindy Casares
- Associate Editor
Alex Alvarez
- Contributing Editors
Gabriel Caro - Camilla Rowan
- Video Editor
Marcelo Cunning
OUCH! lol
Friday Night Lights is on NBC by the way …
Posted by Jupiter-2 | August 29, 2007
they probably listed the casting call as one day and then the network switched it to another day, much like they do with the show itself.
but in all seriousness, watch the show. it’s a great show.
Posted by el smrtmnky | August 29, 2007
The problem was they went to the mall. Maybe they should have gone to walmart during mid afternoon.
Posted by dzosef | August 29, 2007
You know what’s really pathetic is people say things without thinking. Hello, if the census says Brownsville,Tx. has 98% Mexicans then that’s because they are legal and being counted. And guess what there is also a college campus blocks away from where they are filming. Maybe the Mexicans are in class on a Tuesday afternoon!! Not at Home Depot or Wal Mart, Whose going to hire them if they are there, another Mexican?
Posted by STproud | September 12, 2007
Perhaps you should check your facts before reporting misinformation.
The storm was not blamed for the poor turnout at our initial casting call, nor did we ever mention that we were having trouble finding Mexicans. In all, we saw over 800 people between our two casting calls which was more than enough to film our scenes to rave reviews from our Producers & Directors.
Perhaps if your paper had posted a notice about our first casting call, rather than bashing us after the fact, more people would have shown up.
Try to do some real investigative reporting in the future and next time be sure to check your facts.
THANK YOU to all of the extras that turned out for our casting call and who were able to work with us on the show! We had a great time in Brownsville and appreciate all of the locals who were involved!!!
Posted by Tina Kerr | September 14, 2007