The Online Casting Couch?
New Web-Based Services Match Actors With Roles
By Herb Mendelsohn
Not so long ago, theatrical agents had to drive all over Hollywood, knocking on doors, begging to read scripts so they could find out if there were parts available for the actors they represented.
Two actors, one of them with a master`s degree in Computer Science, changed all that. Going studio to studio, sometimes hiding in bathrooms while reading scripts, Peter Weiss (the computer scientist) and Gary Marsh founded Breakdown Services Ltd. For over 23 years, they have been in the business of reading scripts, writing character descriptions, and selling that confidential information to subscribing agents and managers.
Now that they don`t have to drive around reading scripts, talent agents have the Breakdowns delivered early in the morning, pore over 1040 pages of job listings as soon as they get in, then run around pulling pictures, sticking on labels, typing or scribbling pitch notes, attaching them to actors` photos, and recording where they submitted it all so there`s a record when the actor invariably calls complaining that he or she never gets considered for anything.
Feeling a bit stressed, the agent then stuffs this mountain of papers in an oversized envelope and runs out to catch the messenger who just left because he`s late for his next twenty pick-ups.
These overstuffed envelopes are then sorted and re-messengered across town, across the country, up to Canada, or even over to England. Casting directors receive as many as 1,000 pictures for a starring part. Precious forest products, fossil fuel, time, and money are being wasted snail-mailing information which could be easily be exchanged over the Net.
Paperless Casting
Take heart Hollywood, relief is here!
CastNet (http://www.castnet.com), a super-fast Internet service for actors, casting directors and agents came online last October, and the LINK became fully functional March 10. Both services saw the need to solve the same problems:
- Saving actors money by eliminating the need for often-discarded 8" x 10" glossy photos (about $1.00 apiece)
- Helping casting directors organize the "A" piles, "B" piles, and circular-file piles
- Letting agents match up jobs with their candidates` pictures in a fraction of the usual time
President John Sloatman and CEO Harvey Kibel have raised millions of dollars for CastNet, the first digital casting solution. Based on a sound-corporate business plan and much show-business experience, CastNet is serving actors at lightning-fast speed. Its secure network can handle 400 channels of ISDN simultaneously. Only Multimedia, CastNet`s parent company, is the largest provider of ISDN to Southern California (other than Pac Bell) and will provide large entertainment organizations a free ISDN link.
CastNet has 120 casting directors online, with a goal of serving 30,000 actors by year`s end. It is free to SAG-franchised agents and Casting Society of America members. Those people also receive Internet access as a value-added service. CastNet costs actors a base of $69 per year.
The LINK is the brainchild of Breakdown`s creators Weiss and Marsh. By marrying Breakdown Services to the other behemoth of the show-business information industry, the Academy Player`s Directory, they have offered Hollywood compelling reasons to upgrade into the digital age.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brought its Player`s Directory online with the help of editor Keith Gonzales on January 1. This presented the opportunity to link more than 16,000 existing actor-picture/info files to all the casting news which became available at Breakdown Service Ltd.`s Web site about the same time. The Internet made it possible to bring together these long-independent but complementary information resources.
"It has to be practical to be possible," explains Marsh. "We`re not replacing the casting director or the agent, we`re enhancing them. We can`t take the soul of the business out of the business."
Both services significantly cut the work time for agents and casting directors. Agents log on and see a list of the current projects being cast. They can then open a specific project, say a Movie-of-the-Week. The agent sees a list of all the characters and their descriptions; a plot sketch; location; studio; director; producer; pay; and a time frame for starting said Movie-of-the-Week. Clicking on a command will bring up all the agent`s scanned-in clients in a general category, say, "young leading men." Agents scroll through, choosing the two or three actors they think would best play the part.
The agent has electronically compiled a file-folder of submissions, and can now type in a short pitch for each actor submitted: "You gotta see Herb, he`s perfect...was born to play this part!" He then clicks "SUBMIT," and the TIFF files fly off to be considered by the casting director.
Casting directors view the electronic submissions, which have arrived and been prioritized by time stamp. They can look at each agency`s submissions in several different modes: a text list of names and credits; full-screen pictures; or photo combinations with as many as six-up per page. The casting director can now comment on each actor: "Mendelsohn...Who`s he? Looks perfect, hope he can act! We`ll make him an A-2."
The casting director`s ideas can be printed and shared with the Movie-of-the-Week`s director for input. Auditions can then be confirmed by return email, phone, or fax.
Comparisons And Caveats
Carrie Stein, an agent at ICM, loves the idea of digitizing the submission process but cautions that some elements of the old system will probably have to remain intact. "I like to pass an 8" x 10" glossy picture around, just before the real actress steps into a room full of producers, writers, and network execs," she remarked recently on a busy Saturday afternoon after finishing three of the twelve scripts she had to read for a Monday meeting.
Each of these two digital casting solutions have good points and drawbacks. CastNet is brand new and to date has only a small percentage of the L.A. talent pool signed up. They don`t yet have access to all the projects casting daily.
But CastNet provides many other services which the LINK can`t. Actors on CastNet can scan in as many as six pictures, any of which can be in color. Actors with Internet access can update their own resume online, fresh for immediate posting. It takes at most two weeks for CastNet to scan in new pictures, while there may be as long as a five-month wait for a new Player`s Directory to be printed and changes to appear on the LINK.
CastNet subscribers can provide agents and casting directors with voice and video demos of their work online. Also, all elements of an actor`s resume are searchable through CastNet, while the LINK allows searches of only ten acting credits and twelve skills.
Because the Player`s Directory has been the standard actors` registry for over 40 years, the LINK has far more actors in its files--a database of over 16,000 registrants. The LINK provides more job listings because Breakdown Services Ltd. has been the only complete casting information provider for over 23 years.
Neil Bagg, a theatrical agent at the highly reputable Don Buchwald agency, says, "It`s a sign of the times. We have to embrace this idea; what we need is the equipment."
Heads-up to computer stores, consultants, ISPs: get a list of the Hollywood agents and casting directors, call them, train them, and hook them up. Who knows, you might just get discovered!
Copyright © 1997 by Herb Mendelsohn. All rights reserved.
| Recent News |
