Actor Exploitation, Pay-To-Play and the End Of Paying For Auditions?
Are casting sites exploitative to actors?
Yesterday two LA SAG board members - Kate Bond and Christian Jenkins — both of whom are local L.A. SAG board members — along with Robert Fisher, Amber Coyle and Donald Smith filed a lawsuit against Actors Access, one of the oldest casting websites in the industry. Read the lawsuit here.
After Backstage and Playbill, it was one of the first sites that allowed actors to directly submit themselves for roles.
When I first left high school, I was an actor (aren’t we all, originally?) and I purused these sites like my life depended on it. Every day was a chance to find a new role, pay $2 and submit myself - agents be damned! Or I could pay $12/month and have unlimited opportunities!
It didn’t feel like I was being taken advantage of. But I was also an earnest young actor, determined to make it.
And then there were the “additional” fees… $10 for each additional headshot after the first, $5 for each slate shot, $22 per minute of video reel, $35 for something called Talent Link that promised to shoot my materials out to eager agents seeking talent just like me…
Ok, ok… it did add up. Especially on a bartenders salary at 19.
What’s worse, Actors Access is just one of the casting sites I was on. Backstage and Casting Networks were the two other main sites. They charged similar fees for similar reasons. They are also being sued.
The lawsuit filed on Wednesday accuses the casting site of taking unfair advantage of actors and their dreams. According to Deadline, the lawsuit seeks immediate injunctive relief that requires Actors Access to stop their “unfair business practices to permanently protect actors from exploitation in the future.”
The dilemma: Do you think that sites like Casting Networks and Actors Access are predatory? How else will actors with no connections or insight into the industry find roles to start building their resumes? If these sites are forced to relinquish their fees, they will have no reason to post the notcies….
Will this level the playing field or close more doors?
Thoughts?