All right, hotshot casting director: You`re catching your breath at your desk behind your mountains of headshots and resumes after spending the past week casting for an episode of the latest network hit sitcom. The phone rings, and it`s the producers calling to tell you they`ve done a complete rewrite, and now they need a female Caucasian brunette, age 21 to 25, under 5`7" who can speak Italian. Taping begins in four hours. What do you do?

This is the sort of crisis that befalls casting directors frequently. However, a pair of online services ­ Castnet.com (www.castnet.com.com) and The Link (www.subitlink.com) ­ are taking some of the trauma out of last-minute casting. Online casting is providing a new, speedy avenue of communication, linking casting directors with actors and their agents.

Although neither web site is more than a few years old, both are already changing the rules of the Hollywood game, and their implications for the future are immense. Other sites are springing up, convincing many people that the web could play a major role in casting in the future.

"The best thing I can compare it to is the early 70s, when messenger services sprang up to shuttle breakdowns and portfolios all over the city," says Richard Horgan, Chief Information Officer at Castnet.com. "Before that, agents beat the streets, delivering the materials and retrieving scripts themselves. At first, they thought they wouldn`t use the messenger and breakdown services because it was such a departure from the way they were used to working. But today, it`s the standard."

Casting services on the web are also a potential windfall for actors, allowing them to have their portfolios on constant call. The services are a way of getting information out there, rather than risking it will be lost in the piles of headshots and resumes that litter the desks of so many casting directors.

"I see online casting as a huge factor in helping actors find work," says Denise Carbone, an actress whose TV credits include NBC`s "Empty Nest" and Fox`s "common Law" and "Herman`s Head." "As more casting directors get accustomed to this way of casting, it will probably end up being a major way roles are cast."

CASTING GETS WIRED

On the surface, casting in the modem era lets the performer go direct to the casting director or CD. However, Ms. Carbone cautions that casting on the web is still in its infancy and even when then the computer is at best a shortcut to a goal. She advises would-be Tom Cruises and Michelle Pfeiffers not to fire their agents yet. Computers may provide around-the-clock ways to view casting information. But that is far from the advocacy and connections of an agent. And casting directors still often shy away from using online archives as a way to fill roles.

"I don`t think these online services in any way undermine the importance of having an agent," adds Carbone. "Having an agent or manager helps you cut through a lot of the scams and sharks out there. This is especially important for women. I have had my agent on more than one occasion say to me, `I am not familiar with this production, I wouldn`t advise it.`"

"I listen to my agent and he has never steered me wrong, nor has he gotten me an audition that was shady in any way," she continues. "If you are going to be in this business, it`s best to go through all the right channels.

Horgan concurs that virtual casting isn`t a force that would, could or should eliminate agents. Instead, he notes that online casting services can be empowering to agents as well as actors. He adds that, although services like Castnet.com may help actors find work, they`ll all still need an agent once it`s time to seal the deal.

"It`ll be a long time before they invent a computer program than can negotiate an actor`s contract for them," Horgan adds. "Most actors can`t, shouldn`t and don`t want to negotiate their own deals. For that, they need an expert, which is reason enough to have an agent."

ELIMINATING THE PAPER TRAIL

Still, online casting services have been growing rapidly as a useful, if not essential, resource. Castnet.com was started up in a Studio City garage in 1996 with the mission of harnessing the Internet`s resources to bypass the relatively slow and labor-intensive conventional casting methods. They only had a handful of actors when they started out, but the idea took off.

Testament to that is the fact that Castnet.com`s membership has grown by 30 percent over the past year. Horgan sees it as a paradigm shift. "The potential of the Internet is unlimited," he says. "People will warm up to it as they learn how much trouble it can save."

Today, Castnet.com boasts more than 32,000 actors, 140 SAG-certified talent agencies and 250 CSA/CCDA/Independent casting directors. Since its modest beginnings, Castnet.com has abandoned the garage for new, larger offices located next to the Screen Actors Guild on Los Angeles` Wilshire Boulevard. Branch offices are scheduled to be launched in New York, Chicago and London later this year.

Although the site can be reached from around the globe, certain areas are more central to it. The web site`s membership primarily operates in the urban centers of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and Florida. But the site is accessible from around the globe and around the clock.

Here`s how the system works. Member talent agents and casting directors get access to the web site for free. Castnet.com offers actors a base $49.95 one-year membership, which includes a resume and a headshot on the site. The site also gives performers the chance to show themselves in action. Member actors have the option to post Quicktime video samples of their work, which go for $74.95 for the first minute and $25 for each additional minute. And for voiceover actors, audio clips are available at $34.95 for the first minute and $25 for each additional minute.

GETTING DIGITAL

Castnet.com digitizes everything from the actor`s own headshots and tapes. Another bonus for actors is an electronic postcard servce, which can be used to notify CDs of upcoming shows or appearances. The web site also offers electronic forums that actors can use to compare notes on photographers, agents, etc.

Agents can also work online via the site. They can access breakdowns posted by the CDs and forwared them along to their clients electronically. Usually, about a dozen breakdowns are submitted daily. Once a CD agrees to audition an actor, Castnet.com can e-mail the sides to the actor so they can begin practicing for the audition immediately. And if the actor doesn`t own a computer, it`s no problem: Castnet.com also has a faxing service.

The Link, another key casting site on the Internet, is even newer than Castnet.com. It was started up in early 1997 as a collaboration between the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and Breakdown Services Ltd. Breakdown Services` agent members receive an automated daily e-mailing of fresh breakdowns submitted by the CDs ( a few hundred breakdowns weekly). Agent members can then forward their clients` information to the CDs electronically, using the actors` listing in the online version of the Academy Players Directory, which currently lists about 38,000 actors. Online entries include a complete resume and up to three headshots. SAG, AFTRA nad AEA members can get themselves listed in the director for $25.

Although casting on the web is still not central to casting in general, many observers believe it could become increasingly important. One of the main benefits of electronic submissions is that a few clicks of the mouse can get your portfolio to the CD in a matter of seconds instead of the hours conventional methods require. Even the fastest messenger service in Los Angeles won`t get your competition`s portfolio there sooner.

Much of the time, electronic submissions reach the casting director four or more hours ahead of any paper submissions. That can be of critical importance during emergency, last-minute casting sessions, which are an everyday occurrence on episodic television programs, or during commercial castings, which are routinely completed in only a few hours from start to finish.

CASTING AT THE SPEED OF SOUND

Casting in the digital age also offers some other benefits. The Internet`s speed ­ in addition to being a plus for actors ­ is also a boon for the CDs responsible for filling these roles in a pinch. Not only does the Internet make it much easier to view a large number of portfolios in a short timeframe, but search engines allow the user to locate he most likely candidate quickly. Every word of every actor`s resume on Castnet.com and The Link is searchable, which means no more frantic zero-hour rifling through stacks of portfolios to find that Italian-speaking brunette.

And about those stacks of portfolios? You won`t be needing them anymore, at least for these services. Another advantage of online casting services is that there`s no paper involved. Paperless casting can be a godsend to CDs who are accustomed to working with the entire surface of their desks buried three-deep in headshots. It also saves costs and labor for the agent who, instead of calling and paying a courier to deliver a portfolio across town, can get the job done without lifting a hand from the mouse. And the actor gets a shot at a job without having to spend on a headshot. Everybody wins.

"Being an agent requires a lot of envelope stuffing and filing and other busywork involved with the trafficking of paper portfolios," says Horgan. "Offering a service that streamlines that task can be a great timesaver, freeing up the agent to solicit work more effectively. It creates more time for meetings with clients, screenings and phone pitches, instead of being consumed by mundane chores [such as] reproduction, resume printing and postage.

Nevertheless, despite the generous advantages of online casting, the market is still fairly small. Estimates place the proportion of CDs who use services such as Castnet.com and The Link at about one third. Often, CDs aren`t yet comfortable with the technology, or they complain that there aren`t enough agents online. But as the Internet becomes more a part of day-to-day life, this young casting tool is unlikely to remain tiny for long.

SHOPPING FOR MONOLOGUES

So now the Internet has helped you get an audition. But what do you do next? You need something special to make an impression on the casting director, but your entire portfolio of monologues is looking pretty tired, and you can`t go out and buy a new monologue book because you just spent last night`s tips on pizza.

Not to worry ­ the Internet can help you there, too. One good bet is Colin`s Movie Monologue Page (www.lclark.edu/~ryono/mono.html). The web site is a library of a couple hundred favorite monologues from both classic and modern movies. It`s all here, from Bogey`s famous, "Here`s looking at you kid" scene in "Casablanca" to the one about how Emilio Estevez taped the school nerd`s buns together in "The Breakfast Club." It`s even got some monologues from TV shows including "Dawson`s Creek," "The X-Files," "Monty Python`s Flying Circus" and "The Simpsons." If you`re feeling charitable, transcribe your favorite film monologue and send it over to Colin. He welcomes submissions.

Or, if you prefer Moliere to John Hughes, slide on over to the Monologue Shop (www.themonologueshop.com). The material here tends to be more of a classical bent, with monologues from such literary heavyweights as Shakespeare, Euripides and Jean-Francois Regnard. The site also features some original works by longtime acting and writing veterans. But this site isn`t an example of free speech: The only downside is access requires a $6.95 monthly membership fee. If all else fails, you can try to impress the CD with your potty mouth by spouting George Carlin`s notorious "Seven Dirty Words You Can`t Say On Television" monologue (www.webveranda.com/barry/seven.html). Just try to avoid using it when auditioning for the networks.