On one of our conference calls, we discussed getting on the radar of casting directors and producers.
Here is a great example of someone who wrote, produced and acted in her own film. Nobody says it better than Bonnie Gillespie, a respected casting director. She wrote a fantastic post in her column, The Actors Voice, at https://bonniegillespie.com/back-to-basics/
Bonnie says,
First, there’s the willingness to put yourself out there. You want to get your brand on the radar of the Hollywood buyers. You want to show the industry exactly how to cast you. You want to score meetings with agents who know how to send you out and with CDs who know they’ve called you in for the role you’re most likely to win, because they GET you already.
But how do you get anyone eager to see you when you don’t have a SAG card and you don’t have an agent and you’re already doing standup and plays and showcases and workshops and drop-offs and eventually it’s just all so much stuff and people still don’t get you? Exhausting, right?
So you have to decide, finally, that you’re ready to put all of that energy into creating your own work. Mount your own play, produce your own short film, create your own webseries and GET ON THE MAP. The willingness to work hard for that has to come first. But if you think about all of the energy you’re probably spending going to endless workshops, doing mind-numbing mailings, and attending every open call you can find, you’d realize it’s not a huge leap to simply shift that energy into ONE thing.
Here’s an excellent example of someone who did that and is well known and loved by Los Angeles casting directors because of it.
1.29 million hits?! That’s a lot of eyeballs watching you. Casting directors and Producers are watching who is attracting viewers. She had a script, had a cameraman, and shot the whole thing in one evening. Impressive.
Etta Divine (the actor) also did a smart thing and that was to get her video featured on youtube.com. That started the numbers growing. Great job Etta!
You can do something like this too! Come up with a concept, write a script (or have it written for you) and shoot it! Get yourself out there!
