Breakdown Services, Actors Access, CastingAbout, IMDb-Pro. Are you using these resources every day? Guests Blair Hickey, Brian Wold, Gary Marsh, and Yasmine Hanani detail how actors can execute a tier jump through research. No, it’s not sexy, but it’s “the edge” actors are always looking for on Your Actor MBA.
Researching and Resources: This week, we’re meeting with the creator of Breakdown Services (and all its various sites and services), the creators of CastingAbout, and a real live human from IMDb! We talk about how actors can use all of these sites together to maximize the amount of research they can prepare themselves with before every submission or audition. We also discuss other sites and resources that should be on every actor’s radar.
Breakdown Services: Gary went from kid actor to creator of Breakdown Services by helping out his mother (who was a talent agent) by “breaking down” scripts in the casting offices’ waiting rooms in exchange for $20/wk. in gas money. The “old” way of getting actors pitched on projects is fascinating to consider, for those of us who never experienced it. We’re so used to doing business in the era of electronic submissions that it’s easy to forget that the act of breaking down scripts so that agents, managers, and — eventually — actors themselves could submit more efficiently was created by the man who owns the company. He changed this business in 1971. Love this historical overview!
IMDb: IMDb started as a fan site 20 years ago and evolved into an industry must-have. Many of us use it as our homepage, as it is the launch point for information on projects in development, transitions in representation on the part of the “name” actors out there, and loads of industry news available much earlier than we ever had access to such information before. With 57 million visitors monthly, its impact cannot be overstated.
Use Your Resources: Know what your membership includes at all the sites you choose to use and take full advantage of the features and perks. Use them together to maximize their power. IMDb is a public site, while Breakdown Services and Actors Access are private sites. Both sites are fed information by the source itself! CastingAbout employees call casting offices daily to ensure they have the most updated information. IMDb vets submissions before publishing them, Breakdown Services checks the background of new producers listing projects for casting, so as to protect the users from less-than-legitimate “wannabe producers” who may just want to troll for actors willing to do nudity for no pay. At the core of both sites’ reliability and top reputation in the industry is that they filter information before making it available to the end-user. Not all the sites out there do that! Buyer beware.
Actors Access: It’s a must-do. It’s free to post a profile at Actors Access, and doing so helps your representation supply casting directors with the best photo for the submission, appropriate demo reel footage, accurate credits, etc. If you do elect to have a Showfax membership (highly recommended), your $68/yr. gets you unlimited submissions and unlimited download of sides, which is an incredible resource for studying up on the tone of shows, not just for downloading whenever you’re auditioning! For our enrolled students outside of North America, Breakdown Services is affiliated with Showcast in Australia and Spotlight in the UK.
Video: Video is currency, especially where feature films are concerned. Gary talks about the globalization of casting and how the speed of TV turnaround has made feature film the leader on this trend. (That said, you’ll learn in Auditioning for Television about how even TV producers and showrunners will push for actors to be flown out by the network, should they feel very strongly about their taped auditions.) Gary describes a “virtual preread system” and Mitchell discusses vid clips being offered up for specific types of roles, showing that he’s a good fit, based on past work. Actors worry that they’ll be called in less frequently if their video footage (whether self-shot for a specific audition or produced demo reel material) is a pre-screener. Maybe. But consider that when you are called in, you’re more likely to book, because we already know you’re right for the role! A higher booking ratio is a very good thing!
Maintain Your Info: Yasmine recommends you use the “other works” area of your IMDb profile to include information about award-winning performances on stage or notable commercials for which you may be remembered. Did you know that with an IMDb-Pro/IMDb-Resume account, you can choose to hide your birthdate from the IMDb-Pro side of your profile? Many actors were feeling their age being “out there” could cost them opportunities in casting, so IMDb responded by making the information hideable from the side of your profile that is most likely the one the industry is visiting (the Pro version).
Empower Yourself: You have more control than you think you do! Use the resources you have. There is now no excuse to be unprepared and unresearched when you take a meeting, go on an audition, meet anyone at a networking event, target a project with a submission, or target an agency for representation.
CastingAbout: After saying farewell to Gary and Yasmine, we bring in Blair and Brian from CastingAbout. We discuss how CastingAbout popped on Bonnie’s radar, while she was working on an article about using the upfronts and information in the trades to predict pilot success. Blair developed CastingAbout out of his own target list as an actor. He became obsessed with tracking data most actors hate to track. Actor friends started buying copies from him, and then he connected with his neighbor — tech and PR guru Brian — to bring it to the web and offer it to the masses. Just like with Breakdown Services, CastingAbout was created by smart people doing something that made their job easier, then brought that convenience to interested buyers, organically. Brilliant.
It’s About Relationships: Find and target the 20 people in the industry who need to know about you. Know enough about them that you’d be able to chat with them and deliver your elevator pitch. Blair talks about knowing the names — and credits — of the people you’re meeting as something that “changes the air in the room.” Get specific in your knowledge of what they’ve done. But don’t get caught up on getting it right 100% of the time. We all forget a name now and then. In the end, people remember how they feel when in your presence more than anything else.
Make Seven Impressions: Brian talks about Bonnie’s favorite “billboard analogy” for getting your brand in front of the potential buyers and the value in doing that — not to create an immediate action, but to add to the number of impressions you’ve made over time. While it’s hard to quantify that a certain number of impressions will yield an audition, certainly, you’re building a relationship over time and each encounter counts. “You don’t need to meet 300 casting directors,” Brian says. “You need to be tight with ten.”
The Long Haul: Blair shares a story about an encounter with a casting director on a studio lot and how — because he kept up with what was going on in her career — he could stop and chat with her, “just talking shop,” and continue building on the relationship they’ve had for years.
Marketing: No one likes to hear this, but you’ll work more doing community theatre in Maine than you will in Los Angeles. You’ll pursue work much more — and much higher-end work, with much greater rewards for booking when you do get cast — in Los Angeles, but Hollywood is a machine and it’s important to respect the marketing the machine requires. Mitchell talks about scoring generals with casting directors due to relationship building over time. Blair brings it back to storytelling and targeting the storytellers with which we want to work, to — again — make our target lists manageable. Bonnie says, “It’s not who you know, it’s who they know.” There’s a ripple effect.
Research Resources: We touch on sales vs. marketing, just like we did last week. We also go through a long list of great sites and recommended reading, and Brian explains that these are “global sources to bring us together.” Of course, there are more resources and there will be more always popping up. Just be sure to do your research on the teams behind the sites you turn to for information. Anyone can post a website or create a Twitter account, claim they have expertise worth sharing, and steer folks in dubious directions. Check the industry cred of anyone who is asking you to part with your money for information or opinions on your career path.
If you have an IMDb-Pro (or IMDb-Resume) account — which you should — be sure to “claim your name” with a vanity URL, add a link to your website, upload photos, update your bio, even add your Twitter feed to your IMDb page. There are many ways to use your profile to help cement your brand in the eyes of your potential buyers. Many actors enjoy creating “StarMeter Campaigns” with friends. By clicking on one another’s pages and posting messages on each other’s IMDb message board areas they can create a hearty boost in StarMeter rankings, if there’s a big meeting coming up and need to be seen as “on the rise.” Publicists do this for their up-and-comers. Simple enough for actors to do too. Does it turn the industry’s collective head? Probably not, because we all know how “inflatable” StarMeter rankings are. But it’s a few seconds out of your day that could make you feel good. All in good fun.
Gary says, “There is no one way to be successful or to manage your career. You have to take advantage of the resources that work for you. It’s not about one company or the other, it’s really about what works for you. Sample what’s out there then make informed decisions about what’s really working for you.”
We talked about the many, many other ventures Gary has tried to launch that didn’t become “hits.” Well, a .300 hitter in baseball goes to the hall of fame, but that ratio means they’re going back to the dugout two out of three times at bat without a hit. It’s the same for actors. If you book three out of ten jobs, you’re truly in the hall of fame! The point is: Keep creating, keep taking your at-bats. The successes are what everyone will remember.
Set up Google Alerts for the shows you’re targeting, plus the word “upfronts” if you’d like to become aware of how each show is faring in up-front sales to the advertisers. Check out excerpts from pilots using a video search online, so you can get an idea of the tone and vibe of each show. Also look up the producers’ credits and writers’ credits on IMDb, and you’ll see patterns of collaboration over time.
If you set up your online profiles to include video clips, consider labeling them very specifically, based on what you’re offering up (comedy, drama, single-camera, multi-camera, action, etc.) so that your agent can be sure the right clip goes over with the submission on each particular project. Showing decision-makers that you’ve already done something similar — and well — helps with our assessment of risk, in bringing you in for a read.
Your “elevator pitch” is the brief (usually less than one minute) logline for who you are and what you offer. Basically, it’s the answer to, “So, tell me about yourself.” If you were pitching a series, it’d be the logline of the pilot and a bit of exciting information about the biggest series arc. For a film concept, it’d be the logline and a “leave ’em wanting more” cliffhanger.
“If all you’re doing is submitting yourself, you’re already behind,” Blair says. Brian reminds actors to focus on the specific services you want to use, because there are so many of them out there, it can be overwhelming. We get “option overload” if we try to use all the information sources at once. Pick your favorites! (After doing research, of course.) Blair mentioned that not targeting your mailings, as an actor, is like driving down the 405 and tossing headshots and resumes out your car window, hoping they land on the windshields of the right buyers at the right moment.
Blair says there are two ways to contact buyers: One, as a professional working actor who knows what’s going on, and looks forward to collaborating someday. Actors are freelance professionals and casting directors are too! The other approach is as an actor whose every contact feels like, “Pleeeeeeeease, you must hire me!” As for that “bad” type of marketing plan, Bonnie says, “Needy is what makes it feel seedy.”
If you have family members or friends in other markets and could reasonably stay with them while on a location shoot, you should make it known to the buyers in those markets (or, better yet, tell your agents and managers) that you will work as a “local hire” there. Now, that means you’re responsible for getting yourself there, putting yourself up, and you’ll get no per diem like the actors who are flown out from Los Angeles to the location will, but if you’re at a stage in your career where scoring your first studio feature film credit is worth more than just the paycheck, you’ll be much more attractive as a local hire, than if you’re seen as an actor who comes with a pricier tab, due to production having to cover your travel, accommodations, and lunch money.
Back in the days of the Cricket Feet Showcase, one of the things Bonnie recommended actors do with the advance RSVP list was to perform a Google Image Search on the industry pros who would be in attendance, so they’d be on the lookout for their target folks during the schmoozefest after the show. Some actors went so far as to print out photos and create a posterboard collage of “who’s who” and put this up in the green room. Other actors would write out to the side, “Oh, I know him. He’s my old agent. Let me know if you want an introduction,” and then sign off, so together these actors could conspire for one another’s success, via introductions. Love this community conspiracy! It can make such a difference just knowing who you’re looking for, before walking into the room.
This episode of Your Actor MBA with your hosts Mitchell Fink, Bonnie Gillespie, and Marci Liroff was recorded on August 7, 2010.