Thursday, May 27, 2010

Casting Director Workshops and Fairness

...if anyone in a field is allowed to PAY for a job interview, the playing field suddenly becomes very lopsided, and unfairly so. Should Rich Kid Sally have a better shot at that coveted office job with flexible hours, high pay, and an understanding that you’re going to need to leave for auditions over Poor Kid Joe merely because she could pay for a job interview? At that point, we are no longer looking at merit (or even connections, social intelligence, whatever) as a reason for hire. Suddenly the well-to-do are able to (ostensibly) move to the front of the line simply because of money. Restricting this practice does not come from a motivation of restricting choice, but rather to protect large portions of the population as well as attempting to have as level a playing field as possible

(Ben Whitehair's post about Casting Director Workshops).

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this posted by David August at 1:20 PM 

comments: Get your head out of your butt!! There isn't a business in the world that doesn't sponsor job fairs, where people pay to attend to give their business cards to potential employers. Life isn't fair- get over it!!!

# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1:55 PM  

In the future, please keep your language polite, and please use your name.

# posted by Blogger David August : 2:44 PM  

This is kind of a tricky issue because actors are often told never to sign with an agent who demands an upfront payment, or requires a certain photographer, and to be extra careful of scams. But these kinds of Casting Director workshops are pretty commonplace. Luckily, most of them aren't as expensive as audition or acting classes, where an impartial teacher just coaches you through various techniques. A CD workshop sometimes carries the possibility of employment, and there are always perfectly good ones that cost less than $50! My advice is to only go if they come well reccommended, and do plenty of research on the panel. Keep in mind, a CD workshop is basically a coaching session, they'll give you a lot of feedback that they wouldn't give during a regular (free) audition. You're basically paying for career advice, and developing your network, not walking into a cattle call. It's actually a better deal than most job fairs!

# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 6:26 PM  

I think it is not right that the Union people targeting the casting workshops are actually friends with organizations of actors who offer consultations for $60 an hour. Directors and producers charge $200 a month for classes and hire their students yet casting people who charge nothing or up to $50 a class get arrested for higher someone they taught? Plus casting agents are not the ones who truly hire the actors. They are just HR. The real employers are the Producers & directors.

# posted by Blogger Laura Tull : 11:46 AM  

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