Sunday, May 24, 2009

Commercial Agent Weekend Update 5/24/09

Working commercial actors in Los Angeles may find this helpful, and some may be curious if I really do what I say and need more specifics, so either way here's a weekend update with some highlights of the week that was...  If you guys like these, I may make a habit of them.   

-The first Casting Frontier breakdown ever was released on Monday to agents: Joe Blake's Del Taco.   Once exclusively an audition uploading system for casting directors, much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued amongst most agents who are at various stages of ready/willing/ and/ or ableness to use Casting Frontier as a submission system.  Many agencies ultimately sent Joe a list of talent from LA Casting's "create a project" agent feature that Michael Daly of LA Casting's earlier letter recommended instead, or simply called in pitches.  As this was the first "test" of the system, Joe accepted all attempts.
(To any newer actors, I'm discussing the systems commercial AGENTS are able to use to submit their talent to casting directors.  I clarify this because LA Casting also has a different service where actors submit themselves, but this is not the same thing nor are the projects we view the same.  Actors cannot use the agent side of LA Casting, or any part of Casting Frontier, to submit themselves.)

-Beau Bonneau (owner LA Casting) sent an email to all agents on LA Casting late Wednesday apparently in response to an email that was forwarded to him by one casting director from another, and which he believed contained some very inaccurate about his system and wanted to set the record straight.   I will not post the letter here but I will say that in it he countered the letter point by point, as well as compared how much actors would spend keeping their profiles updated on LA Casting vs. Casting Frontier using his assumption that the average life of a headshot on either system is 2 years and actors want 5 headshots on their profile.   Under those circumstances LA Casting is less expensive for the actor.   Although I'm not sure it really matters which is cheaper in the long run though because unlike most competitive products its not as if there is going to be a choice in which system actors want to be on.   If any casting directors are going to start *exclusively* using Casting Frontier as a submission service, actors will have to be on BOTH systems if they want to be submitted for everything (well, actually, three systems since there is still Breakdown Services but two headshots have always been free to the actor on Breaksdowns because *agents* pay for the system, different business model but I digress...).   

-Michael Daly of LA Casting forwarded the following letter to all agents on Tuesday from the newly dubbed "Casting Brothers" Alan Kaminsky & Joshua Rappaport:
Since Danny Goldman has gone off into a happy and healthy retirement, the original series Danny Goldman and Associates has spun off "Casting Brothers."  And in the tradition of great spin offs, "All in the Family" to "Maud" + "The Jefferson's" or "Cheers" to "Frasier", we feel you will enjoy the spin off as much as the original. The name is new but you already know and love the cast.
Talk to you all soon.
Thanks,
Casting Brothers
Alan Kaminsky + Joshua Rappaport
Good luck Alan & Joshua!!  We'll miss you Danny!!!
(As a side note I'm also looking forward to hearing more from Laurie Records, Danielle Eskinazi's former associate who has also spun off into individual casting land recently.  She is a joy to work with.)

-Craig Colvin, the only real commercial casting director still *exclusively* using Breakdown Services (fiercely loyal to its owner Gary Marsh, this will never change), sent an email on Friday telling us to watch out for callbacks notices for JC Penney sent over the weekend as they will be held this Tuesday.  Not that agencies aren't on call 24/7 these days anyway...

-Karen Manseng (the lovely casting director who took over Martin Casting after the heartbreaking loss of casting legend Melissa Martin) released an addendum (revised role) on the Sprint/NASCAR breakdown late Friday night to audition Tuesday & also emailed to agents via lacasting that the entire project might book over the weekend.  My phone is ready to hear from you Karen! :)

-Times that have already gone out for Tuesday include- Ross Lacy's Angel Soft, Coors Light AND VW, Liz Paulson's Clear callbacks, Spot Casting's "wanchai ferry" and "espys" callbacks, ASG's "Old Country Buffet", and Kathy Knowles "Video Game".

That's all for now.  What do you think, do you like these kinds of detailed updates?  Not sure they might be too time consuming but I'll do my best to keep you posted of the most important updates... be sure to follow me on twitter if you aren't already! www.twitter.com/TalentAgentLA






2 comments:

  1. I'm thinking I like these kind of updates - they are seriously up to the minute and alleviate needless worries.

    Great Job!

    ReplyDelete