Hi all, just wondering if any of you know the way in which things are cast via Spotlight, as I have never been exactly sure of how they work!
When a breif gets posted on Spotlight, is it available to all agents, or only the agents the casting director wants? In this breif, does the casting director specify how much experience/credits they want actors for the project to have? does an agent only usually suggest one person for each role, or do they maybe submit ten people for a role so that the casting director has more choice? and finally why do all auditions seem to be so last minute? because surely the casting director knows weeks in advance if they're casting a project, and surely they have to book casting rooms in advance for audititons, so why do they leave so late to inform actors?? thanks! x
A General question about Spotlight castings!
Moderator: busybusybusy
-
Jellybabies
- GRAMMY Award
- Posts: 327
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 10:16 am
Re: A General question about Spotlight castings!
Hi Jellybabies
Here's my opinion:
The person who puts out the casting brief via Spotlight is the one who chooses who gets to see it. The CD or director may specify a particular list of favoured agents or all agents or all subscribers (which means that unrepresented adult actors will also see the breakdowns). Commercials and low/no budget work tend to get the widest dissemination. One of the reasons CDs don't send the breakdowns to everyone may be that not all agents are very selective in who they submit - which wastes the CDs time. Unrepresented actors also have a bit of a reputation for submitting themselves for things they are not really suited to in the hope that the CD will make an exception or overlook a requirement - that's another reason why CDs tend to send out more to agents rather than to everyone.
Agents then decide who to submit - and this will depend on the brief. The agent's experience comes in to play here. The CD may well specify how much experience they want the actor to have - you quite often see a requirement for "names" or some other way of describing actors with an established profile. Generally, however, if the breakdown has gone out to agents then the agents decide who to submit. The canny agent who wants to establish a good reputation with a casting director will be very particular about who they submit. They want to be sure that their clients create a favourable impression. One would hope that an agent wouldn't have ten actors who would all be suitable for the role. You don't really want to be competing within the agency for roles (obviously if the brief is very broad then this will happen, but usually it's fairly specific). CDs want agents to be particular about who they submit. They will inevitably have plenty of choice (because there are hundreds and hundreds of agents) so they don't usually want to see people who don't fit the brief and will get fed up pretty quickly with an agent who submits unsuitable clients (though they may, of course, ask to see particular actors they already know). There does tend to be a lot more leeway for commercials where CDs are happy to see inexperienced clients/actors in many cases.
Not all auditions are last minute. Commercials do tend to be - it is infuriating, but that seems to be the way they work. It won't usually be the CD that wants to work this way - it will be the advertising agency/client. They leave it late to inform actors because they can... Because there are far too many of us, and if we are not available at short notice it won't really matter, because there will be many hundreds more who are available at short notice!
In my experience, auditions for TV, film and stage tend to be booked further in advance - though occasionally they are still last minute. I've generally had at least 3 or 4 days notice of TV and film auditions (sometimes more) and often a week's notice (or more) for theatre. The further down the pecking order you are as an actor, the more last minute things tend to be - I think this is probably because they have concentrated on the important roles first and then will fill in the gaps. Often CDs and directors know exactly who they want and will spend time securing this talent first.
Here's my opinion:
The person who puts out the casting brief via Spotlight is the one who chooses who gets to see it. The CD or director may specify a particular list of favoured agents or all agents or all subscribers (which means that unrepresented adult actors will also see the breakdowns). Commercials and low/no budget work tend to get the widest dissemination. One of the reasons CDs don't send the breakdowns to everyone may be that not all agents are very selective in who they submit - which wastes the CDs time. Unrepresented actors also have a bit of a reputation for submitting themselves for things they are not really suited to in the hope that the CD will make an exception or overlook a requirement - that's another reason why CDs tend to send out more to agents rather than to everyone.
Agents then decide who to submit - and this will depend on the brief. The agent's experience comes in to play here. The CD may well specify how much experience they want the actor to have - you quite often see a requirement for "names" or some other way of describing actors with an established profile. Generally, however, if the breakdown has gone out to agents then the agents decide who to submit. The canny agent who wants to establish a good reputation with a casting director will be very particular about who they submit. They want to be sure that their clients create a favourable impression. One would hope that an agent wouldn't have ten actors who would all be suitable for the role. You don't really want to be competing within the agency for roles (obviously if the brief is very broad then this will happen, but usually it's fairly specific). CDs want agents to be particular about who they submit. They will inevitably have plenty of choice (because there are hundreds and hundreds of agents) so they don't usually want to see people who don't fit the brief and will get fed up pretty quickly with an agent who submits unsuitable clients (though they may, of course, ask to see particular actors they already know). There does tend to be a lot more leeway for commercials where CDs are happy to see inexperienced clients/actors in many cases.
Not all auditions are last minute. Commercials do tend to be - it is infuriating, but that seems to be the way they work. It won't usually be the CD that wants to work this way - it will be the advertising agency/client. They leave it late to inform actors because they can... Because there are far too many of us, and if we are not available at short notice it won't really matter, because there will be many hundreds more who are available at short notice!
In my experience, auditions for TV, film and stage tend to be booked further in advance - though occasionally they are still last minute. I've generally had at least 3 or 4 days notice of TV and film auditions (sometimes more) and often a week's notice (or more) for theatre. The further down the pecking order you are as an actor, the more last minute things tend to be - I think this is probably because they have concentrated on the important roles first and then will fill in the gaps. Often CDs and directors know exactly who they want and will spend time securing this talent first.
-
Jellybabies
- GRAMMY Award
- Posts: 327
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 10:16 am
Re: A General question about Spotlight castings!
Hi pg, thanks for your brilliant reply!
That's really great to hear - I've recently joined an agency which is a bit more selective than my last one and so I was hoping that would be the case!!
That's really great to hear - I've recently joined an agency which is a bit more selective than my last one and so I was hoping that would be the case!!
Re: A General question about Spotlight castings!
Hi I have another question about spotlight- thought I would put it on this topic!
You know how on Spotlight/Starnow you can see how many views someones page has had, or their popularity? Is this the same for Spotlight?
As in could an agent or CD see how many views a person has had?
thanks
You know how on Spotlight/Starnow you can see how many views someones page has had, or their popularity? Is this the same for Spotlight?
As in could an agent or CD see how many views a person has had?
thanks
Re: A General question about Spotlight castings!
Not as far as I am aware. It would be interesting, wouldn't it? Especially if you knew who had been looking.
Spotlight is a bit different because it's not searchable in exactly the same way as Starnow or CCP. You can search within Spotlight - providing you have CD access to it - and as a member of the public you can find out who an actor's agent is if you know their name - but otherwise you need to know an actor's pin number to see their page. In other words, you don't come across someone's Spotlight profile by searching on Google (either by their name, or by something they've been in). I think it's quite canny of Spotlight really - it keeps it exclusive.
Sometimes the Starnow and CCP view numbers are very misleading as the search terms that lead people to profiles can be bizarre. People are not necessarily searching for the actor. I can remember seeing that my profile (when I was a CCP member) had been viewed by someone googling "Brown teapot"
. Both these words appeared on my CV, though not together. Also, the pages are regularly viewed by bots (not people) - which causes concern if you don't know about how frequent this is on all websites - it looks as though some individual in California is fixated on you!
Not only that, but the "employers" are very often students, so being viewed by employers often doesn't mean much either! You can also view actors' profiles on CCP with your employer "hat" on - without being logged in as an employer, so that profile view will just register as a general one. View statistics are "interesting", but I think that's all. I don't expect Spotlight to offer it, though you could always ask whether they have any plans to do so!
Spotlight is a bit different because it's not searchable in exactly the same way as Starnow or CCP. You can search within Spotlight - providing you have CD access to it - and as a member of the public you can find out who an actor's agent is if you know their name - but otherwise you need to know an actor's pin number to see their page. In other words, you don't come across someone's Spotlight profile by searching on Google (either by their name, or by something they've been in). I think it's quite canny of Spotlight really - it keeps it exclusive.
Sometimes the Starnow and CCP view numbers are very misleading as the search terms that lead people to profiles can be bizarre. People are not necessarily searching for the actor. I can remember seeing that my profile (when I was a CCP member) had been viewed by someone googling "Brown teapot"
. Both these words appeared on my CV, though not together. Also, the pages are regularly viewed by bots (not people) - which causes concern if you don't know about how frequent this is on all websites - it looks as though some individual in California is fixated on you! Not only that, but the "employers" are very often students, so being viewed by employers often doesn't mean much either! You can also view actors' profiles on CCP with your employer "hat" on - without being logged in as an employer, so that profile view will just register as a general one. View statistics are "interesting", but I think that's all. I don't expect Spotlight to offer it, though you could always ask whether they have any plans to do so!