Advice to the applicant

I have been monumentally distracted recently. I seem to be doing little bits here and there, and I have to say, keeping track of it all is rather exhausting. I find it hard to keep focussed on one thing at a time, so when I have to research something that could have been provided…

One of the many little things I have been working on is the recasting of a film. Within a few hours of posting a call for applicants, I was swamped with far more applicants than we were prepared to handle, so I called a deadline. Still got a few afterwards, but you never know, someone may pull out.

All this comes to an interesting point. Some of the applications have provided me with all I need to get an initial impression – a solid CV, with a photo. Admittedly, some photos were rather large, but at least they were there.

What was surprising, or maybe not so, was the number of “Here is my StarNow/Agent Profile/Web Site” type references. I love the fact that these people have a profile online, it’s great. I have one myself. Actually several. I understand that it is very easy to simply say “Please see my… link.” However, it does mean that you are now asking the Casting Consultant, or in this case, Director, to go do some research.

I want to put this into a little perspective. There are a number of reasons why this is really bad.

• It demonstrates laziness. I know, I can almost hear the cries now. You’ve put a lot of work into your website profile, and maybe even spent a little money on it, and it seems rather pointless to not share it. You also should have a CV, which you have also invested a little time in, and very likely cost you nothing. The Web Site should be your final destination, not your first port of call. Sending your CV shows that you care about your career and are prepared to put in that extra bit of effort. Think of it this way, you are on of many applicants and many WILL be sending photos and CVs, which will make them stand out more than your “Please see my web site.” Think professional, because that is what you are meant to be right?
• You are one of many. For you, it may seem like a simple thing to send a link. For a casting consultant, when they receive dozens to hundreds of applications, they want to have them all there in one place (their email most likely) where they can quickly file, collate, and store. When you say “See my link”, you are asking the casting consultant to do extra work, load your page, download what they need, or try and find what they need from the generic nature of your web site, then add that to their collation, which usually means having one storage for those who took that extra step, and those that didn’t. Putting the casting consultant off-side does not serve you well.
• It is simply unprofessional. Similar to being lazy, by taking the easy option and just sending a link comes across as not really being that serious. When I am casting a show, I want people who are going to take the show seriously. If you can’t take an application seriously, and show a bit of professionalism, then can I trust you to take the show I’m cast for seriously?

In addition to the above, when you are asked to provide a CV, DO NOT take a screen shot of your WEB SITE and send that in. I mean seriously, when you have 80% of applications taking the process seriously, and someone does something like that? Have a think who is going to be a preferred applicant even before they have walked in the door.