Only Actors and Activists Will Care

[Dixon Carter Lee]

California recently ruled (finally!) that cold reading casting showcases are illegal.(For those of you who might give a rat's tushy) here's what a cold reading casting showcase is:

A group pays some casting agents to come to a studio somewhere for night, then charges actors to come take a "class" or "get advice" from the agents. For their money the actors get to do a little monologue or two, usually "cold", meaning the material is provided that night by the casting agent.

Now, the cool part is that actors who normally don't get seen that often by casting people actually do get seen, and very often end up getting called in for future auditions.

Here's the illegal part: Casting agents are already paid by the studios to find talent. Charging actors directly is a violation of the law, even if you make it "look" like a class.

Imagine if you're a secretary and you want an agency to send you out. Instead of giving the agency yourresume and waiting for calls, you're suddenly expected to pay money once a month to come and type in front of a bunch of employment agents who just might, one day, find you a job.

It's like the unscupulous agent who won't represent you unless you get new pictures taken, and those new pictures have to be taken by his brother. It's a scam that casting agents have fallen into over the last 20-30 years as a way to make a little extra money, and to save them the trouble of actually having to do their job and hustle to find talent.

And, of course, actors are so stupid and despeerate for attention that they have happily paid for these showcase in the grand hopes of landing that burger commerical (which does happen, I'll give them that).

This practice started back in New York in the late 70s, and I remember thinking then how unfair it was, and lazy it was of the casting agents. It's their JOB to go out to plays and showcase and see actors, not to receive a salary and make the actors pay money to come to some dinky room and read two minutes of copy they haven't had a chance to work on.

The morality of the practice has always been an ambigious issue, and has allowed the practice to continue. But now the State has ruled it an illegal work practice. The ambiguity is over. Cold Reading Showcases all over California have been ordered to cease and desist. And Casting Agents have just lost a tidy little side buisness.

The bad news, of course, is that everyone is going to have to work a little harder now. Agents are going to have to suddenly start attending (gasp!) the theatre again (they get free tickets), and actors are going to have to (gasp!) actually start rehearsing and performing in plays instead of picking their toes.

And, again, for those actors out there that might care about any of this -- this has nothing to do with legit showcases you pay for where casting people are invited to attend. The difference there is that the scenes and monologues are rehearsed, and, more importantly, the casitng people aren't being paid a salary.

So, there you go, a little activism for a Thursday morning.

 

[Rambling Rose]

Neither an actor or an activist, yet here I am.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Yes, but do you care? LOL

 

[MunchinMark]

Yes I care. If you're making them pay then your sure they'll turn up. If that's the case then you can send them some material to learn.

That way you can also see how well they can remember lines and if they can be creative with it.

The agents have been too lazy, but not in a way that jurisdiction can prevent.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

But that's the point, jurisdiction can prevent it, and is. Casting Agents are no longer allowed to accept a salary to audition actors. You don't pay a Human Resources person when you go in for an interivew for a job, do you? Actors shouldn't have to, either. And now they don't have to, because it's been make illegal.

Of course you can still fuck a starlet if you promise to give her a "Frasier" walk on. That tradition, thank God, will always be with us.

 

[MunchinMark]

You can prevent them taking money by law. But you can't make them give people lines to learn.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Yes you can. Techincally the Screen Actors Guild does not allow Casitng Directors to ask actors to improvise, because they are not being asked to audition as writers. However, NOBODY follows this rule becuse improv is an important performance skill for many projects. The rule was created to prevent casting people and producers from using actor's creativity during the audition process to actually finish writing their projects, which happens. (I can't tell you how many commercial auditions I've been to as a magician where the client asks me to "come up" with a way to make something disappear. When I point out that they're going to need to pay me a techincal fee for helping to produce the spot, they actually look astonished.)

As for "Cold Readings", they, too, are an important measure of an actor's skill, and are permitted. But, the point I was making was this -- by having cold reading showcases, as opposed to rehearsed showcases, the casting agent's motivations were not to test cold reading skills, but to do as little work as possible and to make the evening go by as fast as possible. It was clear that most casitng people weren't really trying to assess talent -- they just wanted the paycheck. If you're asked to particiapte in a "cold reading showcase" you KNOW they're not all that serious about finding talent.

So, my point is not that the law needs to legislate such a thing, only that it's a barometer of of the legitimacy of the enterprise you're entering into.

 

[T.H. Oughts]

California recently ruled (finally!) that cold reading casting showcases are illegal.

About time they sorted that out.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Yes, but do you care? LOL

Although I am not personally involved in the "business", I have many friends who are actors, trying for their "breaks" for years. I have heard some of their horror stories (especially regarding agents), and I'm glad to learn that something, somewhere is being done.

Is California the only State with a ruling like this? Many actors wind up heading there from NYC, and most feel they have a better chance of getting employment out west. (I only heard one success story so far!)

Within the last few years, however, a lot more of my friends have benefitted from the filming of more TV shows from NYC, and the few that have decent agents have benefitted from appearances on "Law and Order" and "Third Watch".

Thanks for this info, DCL.

 

[Rambling Rose]

Yes, but do you care? LOL

I'm here, aren't I?

(using the handy dandy evasive tactic of answering a question with a question, no less!)

 

[T.H. Oughts]

I have heard some of their horror stories (especially regarding agents), and I'm glad to learn that something, somewhere is being done.

Just like the book publishing and music industry there are some people that play on the fact that these industries are full of people who "long" to be part of it all and be out there doing it.

I own my own book publishing company and it is sad some of the stories I get from wanna be authors about how they have been lead on by other publishers.....

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Is California the only State with a ruling like this? Many actors wind up heading there from NYC, and most feel they have a better chance of getting employment out west. (I only heard one success story so far!)

The practice of charging actors to audition (which, essentially, is what a "cold reading showcase" is) exists in New York, though not nearly as much as it does in L.A. The reason is because New York City is a theatre town, and actors are constantly on stage, everywhere, and agents can't really justify not going. In other words, in New York actors are seen all the time. There's little reason to pay to audition.

In L.A., however, there's very little theatre (compared to NY), and actors are desperate to be "seen", so they're willing to pay a bit of money.

I should say that it's not a lot of money, and actors actually do get work out the whole thing. It's not exaclty a "horror story", but it has gotten out of hand. What used to be a tiny practice has become a big cottage industry.

The other difference between NY and LA is that actors in NY actually want to be on stage, and go out of their way to do theatre. For most actors in LA getting on stage is just so annoying and all, and all that rehearsal and junk gets so tiring. They'd much rather work in a three camera studio with lots of takes and no audience and no real pressure to do any, ya know, "acting" and stuff. So your typical LA TV actor is perfectly willing to do an easy cold reading showcase, and not have to worry about being talented enough to actually get in a real play. That's why the practice thrived here, more than in NY.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

...
The other difference between NY and LA is that actors in NY actually want to be on stage, and go out of their way to do theatre. For most actors in LA getting on stage is just so annoying and all, and all that rehearsal and junk gets so tiring. They'd much rather work in a three camera studio with lots of takes and no audience and no real pressure to do any, ya know, "acting" and stuff. So your typical LA TV actor is perfectly willing to do an easy cold reading showcase, and not have to worry about being talented enough to actually get in a real play. That's why the practice thrived here, more than in NY.

Thank you for giving the best and most honest explanation of one of the "differences" between NY and LA acting! It's so true about wanting to be on the stage here, and the television shows that film here have allowed many actors to remain here to do both (stay on the stage, plus get some residuals and onscreen coverage!).

I find it hopeful that a LOT of TV/LA actors who are already established in television have ventured back to the stage when their shows are on hiatus! A lot of Broadway producers are working overtime to draw in a larger audience by enticing the tv stars into their shows (it's been another tactic to keep marginal musicals stay open ala the revival of "GREASE" a few years ago).

Anyway, thanks!!

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Sure.

Of course, I'm speaking quite generally. There are plenty of excellently trained actors in Los Angeles (though most of them were trained in New York).

It's a matter of what the market "rewards". In New York you are rewarded for an excellent turn on the boards. If you nail MacBeth your friends are going to wine and dine the hell out of you and you will get majorly fucked for many weeks. In LA everyone will say "it was too long, and there weren't enough jokes", and then, when they find out how much you got paid, well, then the real disrespect starts. No, in LA you're rewarded for getting a guest shot on a sit-com or a speaking part in a film. That's what gets you laid. So that's what actors here aspire to. "Training" is just annoying to them.

I used to teach a method class here in town, and I can't tell you how hard it was to convince LA actors ages 18-30 that acting was actually a craft, and that it was possible to cry on stage without glycerine. It took weeks to get some of them to stop talking as if a camera were two feet in front of them. Hello! It's called projection, Skippy! And I couldn't believe I had explain basic vocabulary terms like "Wing 1" and "French Scene" and "Leko" and "Rake" and "Sense Memory" and "Aside" and "Counter Cross" to professional actors in their 30s, not to mention things like "upstage" and "downstage".

Not that there's anything wrong with shooting for sit-com work and having nothing under your belt but a nice smile and charisma and the abilty to nail a joke. It's perfeclty honorable work, and lucrative. I just get all heated when performers who care only about that like that start talking about themselves like they're artists.

I feel the same way when some porn queen calls herself an "actress" and talks about her "movie", which is really just some fat dude with a digital camera filming her suck some guy off.

I'd better stop now. I'm starting to sound like Gus the Theatre Cat. LOL Still, it is the big diff between the Left Coast and the Right Coast. Come ot LA to make money. Go to NY to train.

 

[Hamletmaschine]

Is it too late to amend the law to make agents themselves illegal?

Most of my friends in the biz loathe and despise their agents, and I'm sure they'd support such an amendment.

Yes, DCL, I care. Too many of my good friends and former students have been fucked over by this awful practice.

 

[CelestialBody]

Dixie,

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

You understand that you're not supposed to project with your vagina? That's a whole different kind of show.

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[SexyChele]

Well, I'm glad to hear this, and I do care! My ex is an actor and he's told me about these "classes". He went just to get work, but it always seemed some sort of scam to me. *sigh*

Have to agree with you, DCL, on the training vs making money bit. I might have disagreed a few years back, but after meeting, though my ex, some of what are passing for "actors" in LA, I have to agree wholeheartedly. I have had the pleasure of seeing a small number of actors on a few stages around LA who are actually quite good - all trained in either New York or Chicago. My ex received most of his training in Chicago, some in New York. BIG difference from people who attempt to get their training in LA.

And I know what you say about projection! Went to production of "Othello" in an extremely small playhouse - and I do mean small! One "actress", who had been told she need stage experience on her resume, could not be heard a mere 10 feet away. And when I told her that I had difficulty hearing her and that maybe she should work with my ex (very good at projecting), she got insulted and said the stage or actors should have been miked! I mean, the theater only held 100 people!

Oh well. Good news - thanks, DCL!

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Most actors without any sort of training (and by that I mean more than classes, I mean a couple of years in rep) think projection means "talk louder", and they usually can't understand why they still can't be heard after screaming out their lines.

Hey, wanna hear a name-dropper story related to projection? I was at a party with Francis Fisher, and our kids were playing in some big jumpy-castle thing, with about 30 other kids, and it was getting really loud and dangerous in there. She was yelling "Careful! Careful!" to no avail. So I threw some air into my diaphragm, pretended I was working an outdoor crowd during a college campus mixer somewhere, and bellowed forth "Alright Everyone Quiet and Out of the Castle!" I got instant compliance. Francis stared at me in wonder, and asked if she could buy my voice.

I always loved that scene in "The Dresser" where the acting troupe is rushing to catch a train that's already leaving the station and Albert Finney, in his best King Lear, calls out "Stop! That! Train!" in a booming, echoing voice that commands the Engineer's attention, and stops the train.

The power of the voice.

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Both. Training with a vocal coach is the best -- it's all about the breathing, and supporting the air in your diaphragm. A good acting voice takes years. A good singing voice -- a lot longer.

 

[Nigel]

DCL:

I was ecstatic when I heard the news. My former agent (I hated the woman with a passion) dragged out a "calendar" from a casting workshop...and circled the casting directors that she wanted me to go and see. At 40 bucks a pop, I was looking at over 400 dollars that she wanted me to spend in one month!! Needless to say, I didn't go to but a couple of them....then had a meeting with her and explained that I thought it was her job to get me in to see those people WITHOUT having to pay for it - and I would go and read and book the job. I had brought her an "in" with several casting directors that I knew and was friendly with from auditioning with them previously - people that she didn't have a working relationship with. I told her that the "in" that I brought with me alone made it possible to develop her own relationship with them.....and that I shouldn't have to pay for the workshops. She agreed...but thought I was being "difficult."

And I agree with you that proper training - and theatre experience - are essential to honing the craft. This was an argument that my ex and I went round and round about - it was her opinion that "anybody" could act....and that "she could act tomorrow." When I begged to differ, she got all upset....go figure.

As for voice and speech training, I have trained with coaches who trained with Linklater, Lessac, and Skinner....and taught the undergrad class when I was a grad student. Essential for stage work, and useful in film and TV as well.

Nigel

 

[Guru]

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Nigel, let me know if you experience a certain amount of grumpiness during your next several casting office visits. I think the loss of the little side buisness is going to result in agents spending less on donuts for the secretaries, who will take it out on us. I bet every Polaroid they take for the next few months will be intentionally crappy, and all the cue cards will have typos.

My commercial agent has just asked me if she can rep me legit, which means (I guess) I'm going back to being an actor for while. Fuck. New headshots. Well, at least it's just in time for pilot season.

Guru: of course that line still works LOL. I love this bit, too, from "Finding Forrester":

Kid: "Women will sleep with you if you write a book?"

Connery: "Women will sleep with you if you write a bad book."