NOW CASTING, AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!

These terrible people are scammers to the actor, nothing more. If you pay them money… they say they will submit you on auditions, and build you a website… NOT TRUE, and they kill your name when people search for you. This means that the effort of buying your own domain name is useless. In a matter of weeks, you will not be able to be searched for anymore… as this CRAPPY Company Now Casting… is using her NAME to promote themselves. NOT COOL at all.

If you want more info on this get in touch, I am happy to explain in more detail.

Thank you,
-Frank

Film Actors moving to TV?!?!!?

Its been an amazing thing to see in the last year, how many MAJOR Film Stars are deciding to make the move to TV, Commercials, and Voice Over.  Is it due to the fact that the scripts in Hollywood these days are nothing more than just another remake of another film, and adaption of a book, or some other totally NOT Original piece???  Or is it the Money?

Its been something that has really interested me over the last year… also seems that people that were once a star of a show, are not making it onto another one.  Or having to take guest spots on shows… Watch TV you will see for yourself.

Is the industry changing?  Is money just the overall factor?  Take it for what it is, and find your opportunity to shine!  You can get work, there is NO Shortage of TV, Films, and Commercials being made, and now things for the Web.

Do well, work at your craft and you WILL SUCCEED!!!

-Frank

How many auditions per week should I have?

This is a great question!  If you agent is doing their job, and you are doing your job (of getting call backs, and booking a gig here and there, and are in good touch with your agent on a regular basis…) you should be getting out at least two times per week, and even more for commercials.

You need to be promoting yourself on a constant basis… via the web, your own web site, twitter, blogs, actors access, etc… and I would still suggest sending out no less than 25 hard copy head shots / resumes on a weekly basis to the casting directors.

If you are not getting out at least twice per week, you should take a deep look at what you are doing to assist in that.  Maybe you are sitting and waiting for the phone to ring… wrong… you need to make it ring.  No agent owes you anything at all.  You need to be an active participant in your acting career for absolute sure.

Your agent will bust their ass for you if you help them and keep in good contact with them.  If you are a “I’m waiting for the phone to ring kind of person” you will not have that agent for long.

Again this is just my two cents, but it has kept me from the need to get a day job for over twenty five years now…   And I’ve had the same agent the whole time!

-Frank

Why do I blog?

This question has been sent to me a few times now, and I was like, its not obvious?  I want to help!  I want Actors to make it, and do what they love to do.  It is that simple.  There are so many people that are nothing more than scammers out there, that are trying to take undeserved money from actors that it just kills me.  There are handfuls of people that truly want to help, and I am hopefully as can be seen one of them!

I want to work with one of you guys on the set, and here the statement, “Hey, I got some great advice at this guys blog”  That would make me very happy!

This is why I blog!

Here are two sites that I feel are a huge help to actors:

www.actinghelpcenter.com – this is a bulletin board system, full of great topics, totally free!  Great advice.

www.myactingsite.com – The only real place to get your website done, Made by great actors, for all actors!  And they answer the telephone!

www.headshots101.com – The best resource I have ever seen on the topic of head shots.  Its free, and it will answer all of your questions!

That is it for now!

Peace! – Frank

What is a good acting website

A good acting website, should be a very simple layout, and very clean.  The pages that you really need are the following:

Home page – Introduction of who you are and what you do.

Bio – Which is the one page of you!  Who you are, what are your dreams, and where have you come from, and why are you a great actor.

Resume – Just like the one on the back of your head shot, same format, and have the ability to print it right from your website

Photos – do not over do a photo gallery, put up your main shots that you have on your 8 x 10′s and maybe 10 more, that show you much different than the others.  You want variety… do not put up 100 of them either, as its just too much.

Contact – a way for people to reach you… and for god sake do not put your address or phone number, have them send you an email.

Mailing list – so you can inform everyone that signs up what your next appearance will be.

Demo reel – Where you can show at least one 3-5 minute reel of what you have done.  And maybe eve have two or three, but no more than that.  You can also and should also put up your voice reel if you have one.

That really about covers it.  You do not want that site in 100% flash, otherwise no search engine will list you and it will be harder to find you.  And you need to register your name as you .com or .net address.  Do not use this site for anything other than your acting career… if you want more than this build another site.

Hope this helps!  Again the ONE PLACE I have found that does all of this right for $19.95 per month is here:  MYACTINGSITE

Here is a good example of a great website

Here is a good example of a poor website

- Frank

 

actor website template

Interesting topic…  here is the funny part… if you are an actor you need a web site… but you do not want your site to look like everyone else’s site?  OK… but you are an actor and you have a a head shot and a resume and guess what… it looks like everyone else’s, except for the data inside.

 A web site template is smart, why? because not only does it save you a ton of money and ton of time, but it has been well defined in the industry of what is exactly needed on an “Actors Website”.

The key elements of the site are the following:

A home page, which introduces you to the world.

A Bio page, which give s the nuts and bolts of who you are and why you are an actor.

A resume page, which shows all of your work, and can be EASILY printed right from your website.

A photo gallery page, which shows you off.

A demo reel page, which shows your demo reel to the world, but is big enough too be seen well, and downloads FAST.

And pages to get ahold of you and keep people interested in you. like a contact page, and a mailing list page.

The layout of the site should be EASY to navigate, and the color schemes should fit your look and feel.

I looked at all kinds of places for a web site before going to myactingsite.com but to be honest they are the absolute best, and have like 40-50 different overall looks or “Templates” for you to choose from, and if you decide to change it… its free…  And they add new ones all the time.

I had a quote from a good firm of $5500.00 to make this kind of site for me on a custom basis… well for that kind of money if you have it go for it, but for the rest of us $20.00 per month is kind of easy.

There is nothing cooler than having your own website, and showing yourself off to the world, and getting auditions as a result of having one.

The idea that your site will be the same as someone else is not a good idea… I hope this helps.

-Frank