I’d like to share my story of the research of a company that I recently received an email and signed up for online called HollywoodProfiles.com. They advertised that their site had a network of casting directors and production companies that were actively seeking for new talent of all kinds. I decided that I wanted to sign up but before that I first wanted to check out who their competition was……..and let me tell you it wasn’t pretty.
The reality was that most sites were nothing but a waste of people hopes and dreams because they had no casting calls listed on their site. So in essence you were paying to have a profile hosted and I can do that on MySpace for free. Aside from that they had no unique technology behind their service and most if not all seemed outdated compared to todays standards.
But I’m not here to just deliver the bad news. Not at all. Hollywoodprofiles was actually different. As soon as I joined and uploaded photos and interests onto my profile I was contacted for work by a casting director wanting to hire me. Also their Talent Support Department gave me a welcome call without me even having to ask them to and answered all of my initial questions.
Hollywood Profiles and HollywoodProfiles.com maintains one of the largest online databases of Casting Calls and Audition Notices in the United States of America. They have casting calls in nearly every entertainment sector including TV, Movies, Theatre, Fashion, Runway, Modeling, and quite a few others so there is sure to be something of interest for almost everyone.
I must say that the Talent Support Department of Hollywood Profiles is truly unmatched by any other online Casting Company in the country as they always seem to have a friendly and knowledgeable representative available to answer any questions that you may have. Whether you have a question about setting up your profile, or how to interact with a Casting Director, what to wear to a shoot or how to negotiate pay they seem to have all bases covered. If you are new to the industry or even if you are already experienced Hollywood Profiles and HollywoodProfiles.com is an amazing way to get your foot in the door or maximize your exposure. I can’t say enough about how amazing and helpful their support team is! Time and Time again they have proven to observer best practices that keep their members loyal.
They also have some really amazing technologies that make it very easy to get cast in all sorts of productions big and small. They talk a lot about this Auto-Profile Submission which is a way that you can electronically submit your interest to a particular casting call in their database. A lot of people don’t realize how cool this is because they don’t understand what it used to take to get cast even as a movie extra in small productions. In the past, you had to literally trek down to an open casting call to compete with a room full of other people, all while not knowing whether or not the casting director had any real interest in you……thereby you could most of the time be in for a huge waste of time.
But with their unique technology, you can just start by searching their massive casting call database for casting calls that might interest you. When you find one that peaks your eye you simply click one button to send an automated note of expression to the casting director who posted that casting call along with a link to your unique profile. That’s it! Then you just wait to hear back from that casting director. If you don’t hear back then no harm, no foul, because you didn’t waste any of your precious time trekking to an open casting call only to not get chosen. Amazing!
Another really amazing technology that I must mention (although this is just the tip of the iceberg) is a technology called Text-Casting! This is another major time saver and utilizes communication technologies in conjunction with their massive casting call and audition notice database!
Here’s how it works! First, you create criteria for the casting calls that you want to receive. For instance……..all movies, TV, and Commercials, that pay within $50 to $100 an hour that are within a 75 mile radius of Witchita, Kansas. Then you enter your wireless number and pick your wireless carrier from a dropdown box. That’s it. When a casting call enters the database that matches your criteria it will be automatically text messaged to you!
If I had to rate Hollywood Profiles on a scale of one out of ten I would have to give it a twenty, only because Ive seen it work first hand. Where most other sites just talk, they deliver! And they don’t lock you into anything long term either. They let you try the service for on a trial basis first so that there is no major risk. To all the nay sayers out there those are just the people that were probably too lazy to even post any pictures at all on their profile and they expect a casting director to take them seriously! Its ridiculous.
John G. Smith>>> Superstar!
