Ask Ellen

By Ellen Jacoby

 

Q.  There are so many online casting services, how do I know which one to be on?

 

A.  Although there are very many, not all of them are popular with casting directors.  Your talent agent should be able to guide you as to which ones you NEED to be on.  The casting directors use these services to upload the audition links. 

 

When we upload the audition links, we link it to your headshot and resume.  Most of these services will give you one headshot and resume for free.  Should you want more it will cost you more.  You may want to upload your demo reel, it might be worth a little more money if you have a good reel.

 

What I have found lately,  is that most of you have at least out yourselves on those sites, but have not posted all of your information.  Many of you just have your photo and some stats.  Many do not have resumes posted.  That defeats the purpose.  When you sign up with these services, they give you an assortment of options. 

For example, they will list general sports, singing voice, accents, etc.  Please know that you should only list that sport if you are a 9 or 10 (on a 1-10 scale, 10 being the best).   If it is not believable, we laugh.  Ultimately, you want to be as believable as possible as an actor.  Only yesterday I questioned an agent as I was reading the resume of an actor which boasted EVERY sport listed.  The agent said that , yes, the actor could do all of that.  I laughed.  I continued down to the voice category, and again questioned the agent.  The agent said that, yrs, the actor could sing.  Again, I laughed.  I could believe that she could be an Alto, or even a Soprano, but that she was also a Baritone and a Tenor was just too much.

 

This is you, putting your best foot forward.  You need to do everything that you can do to make a casting director want to see you.  You always need to be positive. . .and truthful.  If not truthful, you better be a really amazing actor that can make us think that you are truthful when you are not.  You do not want to set about any negativity.

 

I have had actors come in with resumes listing actual roles in films.  Some of these films, I had cast, and knew that they were not in the film at all, not even as an extra!  Yet, it was on their resume.  Funny, when I asked them who cast some of these films, they either did not remember, or they were wrong. 

 

This business is tough enough.  You need to make a good impression.  You need to make us believe that you are completely professional.  You need to honestly fill out your resume forms, and you need to have your resume posted.  Often, talent sends us links to include in our casting.  We will do that and we will link it to your headshot and resume on whichever service that we use.

 

The most common ones that I use are:  Breakdown Express, Casting Networks, Now Casting and Cast It System.  Of course, I have my preferences, just like many of you.  However, often the network or studio require us to use a certain one.  Therefore, the smart thing, would be for you to have your headshot and resume on all of them.  There is no charge for that.

 

Your career is just that. . .YOUR career.  You need to do everything you can possibly do, in a positive way, to make your dream come true.  Your talent agents work hard for you, but ultimately, it is you who is in charge of updating your resume, posting it the the different casting services, putting your demo reel together, getting the correct information when you go on a casting, being prepared for that casting, showing up on  time and so on.  It is all YOU, and we will see that effort.

 

 

Please continue sending your questions, as I know there are many.  I will try to address as many as possible.

 

Ellen Jacoby is a Casting Directing in Miami

She can be reached at Jacobycasting@AOL.com