Hi, Bonnie. As usual, your column this week is amazing and awesome and makes me think! Seriously, I quote you to so many people.
Anyway, in the question portion you posed something that many of us in Atlanta struggle with. Many of us totally get the whole workshop with a casting director thing — we do it often out here. But in our region, we have very few casting directors. There is one in particular who is next to impossible to get an audition for (and as a former Atlanta actor, I’m betting you know who this person is). This CD’s office hosts workshops throughout the year and it is no secret in town that there is a “pay to play” attitude along with these workshops.
I have done two of these workshops with this particular CD’s group of teachers and have learned very, very little. I personally find great training in other classes and am willing to continue paying for it. And for other CD’s workshops, I know that doing it once will help get their attention and am therefore more willing to pay for it. But with this particular CD, I know I have to do many, many workshops before I’ll start getting any chances, if any at all. Do I keep paying for these workshops knowing the CD is not personally in the room and may never hear about me other than through my checkbook or do I spend my money on ones that may pay off (knowing that this CD controls almost everything that comes through town)?
As always, you’re amazing. Thanks for the help.
Jessica Smith
Hi Jessica. You’re amazing too! 🙂 Just by being open and writing in. So, thank you. And thank you for your kind words. It’s my pleasure to help out.
Yes, I know exactly who you’re talking about, but let’s say I didn’t. My advice would be the same, for actors in any minor market trying to get seen in the one big office that does all of the casting in that area. Obviously, in a market like Los Angeles, actors have the advantage of attending a casting director workshop with an assistant or associate in a very busy office and — even if that particular assistant or associate doesn’t call actors in — there are still another half-dozen people in that office to get in front of, and at some point one of those folks could be the one who will make the call. And if that doesn’t happen, so what? There are another dozen casting offices that cover as many network TV shows, each with another half-dozen folks in ’em, doing workshops! So, just the volume of options helps in a market this size.
So, in your situation, where 85% of the casting is done by one office, I’m not sure that it is in your best interest to keep writing checks to be seen when the follow-up isn’t positive. I mean, if you could track that actors are getting in after taking X number of classes or doing Y number of workshops with a particular CD in her office, that’d be one thing. But if evidence is showing that it’s a closed door and the experience you’re having isn’t actually contributing to your craft or your opportunity (and certainly one of those two things should be served, in a workshop situation), sink your money into self-producing! Build your fanbase out of the people who hire that casting office. Those producers will have you on their lists and they will tell these casting folks to bring you in! No faster way in than to be on the list of the producers. Once a producer tells a CD, “I want to be sure to see so-and-so for this role,” it’s our job to make that happen. Whether or not you’ve ever spent a penny to get on our radar.
And yes, I think the money is much better spent creating your own short film or web-based series pilot! Bonus: It can get you on the radar of MANY more offices than just this particular one. In MANY more markets. 😉
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000980.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.