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November 8, 2002

Fix It

Ah, the pleasures of living in an old building in the Hollywood Hills!

As I type this, I have no Internet access (so, I'll be copying and pasting into the ol' Blogger template at a later time). See...it's raining. Yup. First rain since, oh, July...and it's been constant for 24 hours or so. I LOVE it. LA does not. Old wires do not. I guess that's why we're offline. The phone line is working, though, intermittently, while the Pac Bell dude walks around with his hardhat and tool belt. Eh. It's probably good for me to get some non-computer work done for a minute. Just addressed postcards to 20 of the casting directors in the new book, letting them know I'll be sending a copy over and confirming their addresses, etc.

Now I'll offline Blog and then do some more book work.

Oh, back to the pleasures of this building. I did say pleasures right?

Yesterday, 8am, I am awakened by the sound of rain. In our bathroom. No, it's not raining...the maid upstairs has put something into the drain that has caused a blockage below us...and the whole building's water flow is headed up through our toilet and our tub, filling the room with not-clean water...fast.

Ugh.

I was on such a high from Wednesday's event (details below) that I couldn't get to sleep at a decent hour, so by the 8am flood wakeup, I was really soundly sleeping. So, I spent the morning trying to do phone interviews with three different casting directors while plumbers and landlord types traipsed through the apartment, having to step over Archie, who decided that right in the middle of everything was the best place to flop. Oh, to be a cat!

It was an interesting challenge, but we survived the morning. My poor bladder was so angry by Noon. You do the math. ;)

Okay, so about the Take One Event. Wow. Wow and more wow. Tim and Keith counted 130 people (standing, sitting on the floor, leaning against walls) in attendance. Wow. The panelists were charming and witty and well-spoken. It was just delightful! So nice to meet many of my readers. They were so generous to say thank you to me for putting the thing together, and also to say thank you to me for writing my column each week. That's a really nice confirmation that I'm doing the right thing.

The casting directors were just great. They stayed and answered questions for a half-hour beyond the scheduled time. They chatted with actors who ignored my request that they NOT rush the table and did so with smiles. I did finally have to provide extraction services to the casting directors who were less-likely to say, "Hey, I gotta go. 'Bye." Such a great mix of casting directors: broad experiences, great backgrounds, styles, casting projects, just really good mix. And they didn't mince words. That was really nice.

I hope actors learned a lot from the experience. We'll do another one on Wednesday, December 11th.

There was a moment when I thought to myself, "Hm. There's a lot of this information that I take for granted that actors (should) know. I think, having been inside the offices of these--and 150 other--casting directors, I have a visual picture of what they mean, when they advise actors of their process. Then I realize, that for an actor who has never been inside that office, some of what I assume they know, they haven't a clue about.

Here's what I mean: Actors focus so much on the tiny little things ("Will a casting director care that I only used three staples to attach my resumé� to my headshot, rather than four?" "Is the clasp envelope better than the adhesive-sealed one?" "Does font size matter, on my resumé?") and I think it's because they want to control what ever tiny thing they can, since so much of an actor's journey is outside of her control. Honestly, if these actors could just SEE how these offices work, really, they'd realize that it doesn't matter A BIT what sort of font they use; that no casting director cares about the type of envelope they use (why? Because no casting director has to open the envelopes... ask the assistants and interns which types of envelopes THEY prefer); and staples, glue stick, printing directly on the back of your photo... whatever! None of that is what wins an actor a role.

So, I think that's given me a little clarity on the focus of my second book.

As for the second edition of the first book, I'm already getting excited to do it. I have done so many interviews since the cut-off point for this book, that I really do want to share those articles with a wider audience. I wonder if anyone outside of the entertainment industry finds casting directors as fascinating as I do. I just really think their work is amazing. Their passion and their courage and their entirely behind-the-scenes work goes unrecognized by so many people.

Oh! Here's a mainstream look at some casting director work (though this piece will be about casting director workshops, which are being called "pay-to-play" illegal by the state of California, rather than about the actual work of casting directors): ABC's 20/20 will air an undercover investigation of these workshops tonight. Their website has a really cool article already...I have no idea what to expect from this show's coverage. But the pro-workshop folks have already begun to mobilize; trying to get people to go on record in support of workshops. It's just a really complicated issue.

Technically, casting directors do NOT hire actors. Therefore, the law that's supposedly being broken (potential employers receiving money for job interviews) doesn't technically apply. However, thousands of actors spend millions of dollars (yes, millions) to see these casting directors, associate casting directors, and assistants; hoping this exposure will increase their chances of getting cast.

The sad thing is: the TOP casting directors have NOTHING to do with these workshops. They are far too busy to attend workshops to see actors who, frankly (by majority), are NOT ready to be seen. However, their assistants and associates "advertise" that they have the ability to bring actors into their offices...and when I interview their bosses, I learn that this just ISN'T true.

The people who are really making money off of all of this are the workshop owners. Actors pay $30-$50 a night in order to get in front of casting directors. That's 20 actors at a time (minimum). The casting directors get a $150 honorarium for their time, and the workshop owners keep $450-$850 per night for "expenses." Now, keep in mind that MANY of these workshops have three and four classrooms, in which workshops take place simultaneously...and this stuff goes on five nights a week in most cases. So...doing the math JUST on the MINIMUM end of the scale: we're talking $450,000 per year (conservatively) for the workshop owners. No wonder they are desperate to keep workshops in business!

Listen, before anyone gets upset with me for being anti-workshop, let's make this clear: I did workshops, as an actor, a few years ago. I paid for access to casting directors (and their associates) who I knew I couldn't get in front of via my agent at the time. Did I book work this way? Hard to tell...as this business is all about relationships and some were established during workshops. Who's to say what caused the end result of a job? The issue is, as the labor law is written, workshops where no instruction takes place are in clear violation of the law. But they still operate.

So, I think the ABC show will be a big eye-opener for a lot of people. I look forward to seeing it.

Okay, so enough of that, for now. Bottom line: if you're a workshop supporter and want to stand up and be counted, email Kathryn Joosten. If you want more info on the campaign to shut down workshops, check DoNotPay.org.

On to the quizzes!!

what f***ed version of Hello Kitty are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh, so so so much fun! ;)
--
Bon
The Book Is Coming!

"Welcome to the humiliating world of professional writing." - Homer J. Simpson, food critic, to Lisa, his ghost writer

Posted by bonnie at November 8, 2002 3:20 PM