By Carla Sinclair
Actors can easily spend US$1,000 a year sending out head shots in hopes of an audition. But casting directors are so bombarded with these resumes that they throw out 95 percent of them after a glance. This haphazard system results from a lack of technology, according to Nick Morf of Global Talent Guild Inc., who hopes his new Interactive Casting Directory will clean up every director's desk in Hollywood.
After two years of research and interviews with people who work in the casting field, Morf has hooked up with Philips Interactive to create the directory, where casting directors can look for talent electronically, by choosing from 50,000 head shots and resumes on one CD.
Here's how it works. Actors fill out a lengthy application, describing in detail their looks, experience, skills, and training. They give this to Global Talent Guild along with an 8-by-10-inch photo and an introductory fee of $100, which keeps them on the disc for a year. They can add a video clip for an additional fee. The discs are then given to selected casting agencies for free. Prominent users also receive a free Philips CD-i (compact disc interactive) player.
To use the directory, an agent points a remote control at a screen of categories and clicks on the characteristics and skills of the talent they need (including an all-important "union member" checkbox). The system searches through its thousands of head shots and resumes until it lines up a "slide show" of candidates.
Will the directory have a big impact on the casting industry? "Absolutely!" says Liz Lang of Mackey-Sandrich Casting in Los Angeles. "The greatest thing about it is it'll save mountains and mountains of paper, and it'll make the submission process much more efficient." Over 50 agencies are currently using the system. Global Talent Guild: +1 (310) 476 8959.
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