|
The Rock Agency is now on Twitter!
Follow us by signing up yourself. Just log in to:
http://twitter.com/therockagency
How much do you really know about the industry?
Are you being marketed to your fullest potential? Are you being
marketed correctly? What photos are needed for your portfolio? What
photos should be put on your composite card?
How do you alter make-up for video or print? What’s the difference
between editorial and fashion? What do catalog clients look for? What
do commercial clients look for? What’s the difference?
How do you save the client money on prepress? What is prepress? Would
you work in Milan? Would you work in Los Angeles? Would you work in
Kuala Lumpur? What’s Kuala Lumpur?
The Rock Agency holds monthly workshops that answer ALL of these
questions and more.
We at the Rock Agency are proud to announce that we
have discovered the COOLEST product ever invented. It is called
sunscreen. It comes in all kinds of varieties and guess what! If you
use it every day and every few hours it will allow you to maintain the
same skin tone color that you were born with. Yes, the same skin tone
color that is shown in your photos. You know the photos...the ones
that we send out to clients who want to hire you.
Yes, those clients are interested in hiring the people in the photos.
The clients assume that when they choose a person to hire, that person
will look like the photo.
I know it seems insignificant, but it is actually a very big deal.
1,) SKIN CANCER!
2.) Tan skin looks muddy on camera...natural skin glows and is more
even.
3.) tan lines ruin shots If the shot involves a piece of clothing that
shows your tan line, you can not be hired.
4.) SKIN CANCER!
5.) 99% of the bookings that are taking place right now and through
the summer are for advertisements that will be seen in the winter, so
if you are tan, you are not even in the running to get the booking.
Tans completely 'date' the picture. clients are always striving for
seasonless shots.
6.) SKIN CANCER! Oh and premature aging!
|
Assessing Your Risk By Tony
Hodges, Creative Director, IMTA
You are just starting out and not yet a star. You are
hoping casting directors will hire you, producers will want to work
with you, and agents and managers will want to represent you. You
worked hard to prepare, picked out the clothes to wear, have just the
right hair, and feel ready to take on the world. You get callbacks and
follow-up interviews. Now you are waiting to see if they want to hire
you. What’s going on? What are those casting directors doing that is
taking so long? Well, if they are smart, they are doing their
homework.
People who interview looking for new faces have this
really cool job that allows them to see hundreds of aspiring models,
actors, singers and dancers from so many different cities and with
incredibly varied looks, skills and abilities. And when you think
about it, a large part of their job is about risk assessment—assessing
the pros (and cons) of casting an actor in a film, or using a
particular model in a campaign. They must constantly answer the
question, "Who's going to end up causing me more headaches?" You might
argue that’s a really cynical approach to their job, but look at it
from their point of view.
Producers hire casting directors not only to help them
find the best-matched actor for each role but also to help them
predict the level of risk involved in each casting decision. Just like
actors, Casting Directors and Agents build a reputation by having done
a great job on the last gig (and all the ones before that). The more
often they are "right" in their risk assessment and recommendations,
the more weight their opinion will carry.
Managers and Agents sign models and talent that they
will put up for fashion shows, print work, movies, pilots and
commercials. Their reputation is on the line that the people they have
just signed to a contract (but don’t know very well) will show up, be
on time, be prepared and able to do the work, be an asset rather than
a negative, be able to actually do that special skill listed on their
resume, make people comment what a pleasure it was to work with them
rather than roll their eyes and try to think of something neutral to
say, be professional in a business where time really is money.
The concept of having your “risk assessed” can be
difficult for many models, actors, singers and dancers to grasp. After
all, you’re drop dead gorgeous/handsome, have a runway walk/talent
that knocks their socks off, have always been able to deliver, have
references from your teacher/pastor/dentist saying what a good person
you are, and are ready to show the world who you are and what you can
do. So what’s the problem?
Next question: How do you come off in public? Yes, you
may still be below the tabloid radar and paparazzi might not (yet)
shout your name when you dash for your car, but you probably have a
MySpace or Facebook account, right? What do people see there? Are
there compromising photos of you, semi-conscious after doing body
shots? Photos showing you drinking when you are underage? Do all of
your blog entries begin, "I was so wasted..."? Are you going to make
the casting director/manager/agent worry that you won't make it to set
on time if you had to "get your party on" the night before? And how do
you talk about and describe friends, family, your job, experiences?
Does your page exude personality, fun, positive vibes…or negativity,
four-letter words, “I hate my life and everyone in it.”
If you think producers, agents, managers and casting
directors aren't on Facebook, think again. This is part of their
“homework” that I mentioned. In networking with dozens of casting
directors and producers, tons of actors, and many agents and managers
with whom I’ve worked, the majority say they have visited Facebook or
done an internet search to get to know the people with whom they will
be working. And even if your profile is set to "private," there are
Internet Archive services and cached pages that leave a trail of your
online footprints.
One producer I know told me about an actor she was
considering casting but, after going home and doing a web search on
him, she became certain she didn't want to work with him. Turns out he
had blogged a pretty negative experience that he had during a
production once before…and even if he is 100% in the right in
everything he blogged, it was enough to scare off this producer. What
if she were to be his next victim? She wasn't going to risk her
reputation on this actor's "right to blog" about personality
conflicts.
In another instance, I did an internet search for a
young actor who attended IMTA, won talent awards, received numerous
callbacks, and signed with a well-known LA agency. I had the idea of
writing a press release about his work on a short film, a film in
which he had been cast by a Casting Director who had seen him at IMTA.
Imagine my reaction when his MySpace page contained remarks belittling
his IMTA experience, pictures of him drinking (he is 16),
expletive-filled postings, and comments about how he had done some
small acting jobs but he was so bored with the whole experience.
Readers were also admonished to “get a life” if they were reading his
profile. Hmmm…what was that question? "Who's going to end up causing
me more headaches?" Don’t get me wrong. Sites such as MySpace.com are
cool, fun places to chat with friends, post pictures, blog about life,
family, school, job, anything and everything. You can express
yourself, show your spirit, your approach to living, be open about who
you are. Millions of people go to MySpace for the movies, music,
books, games and IM. It’s truly a place for friends…and also where
people can do their homework on models and talent they may want to
hire or sign for representation.
Keep in mind that it is no longer simply enough to be
talented and/or good-looking. Producers, agents, managers, casting
directors—all are looking for talent or models that have the potential
to become a “total package” and who can be successful in the business.
And it is a business—a business in which you are asking that producer,
manager, agent or casting director to invest in you, to promote the
package that is you, to help you get jobs, to take a risk to their
reputation that as a model, actor, singer or dancer you have what it
takes, that you will work hard, that you will be responsible,
respectful, diligent. It is a risk they take because the rewards for
them and you can be great when you become a working professional. But
it is nevertheless a risk. And you must assume that part of the risk
assessment that's going on these days (in any potential employment
situation) includes a good Googling. So, what’s on your MySpace/Facebook?
|
