Workshops are just pay-to-play auditions.
Ready to sing it? 🎶 Nopity nope nope 🎶
Before we dive more into today’s myth, let’s first properly define a casting director workshop:
A casting director workshop is a class taught by a casting professional (casting associate & above) with the intent to teach and inform actors of varying casting perspectives.
Now, you may or may not remember the 2017 lawsuit. It was big news. And there was a lot of words being floated around, most notably: pay-to-play.
Pay-to-play essentially means you are “paying” for an audition or job opportunity.
Prior to this time, the Krekorian Act was in place (a CA law that protects actors from being subjected to pay-to-play), but the specific rules & guidelines didn’t account for technicalities in speech within the classroom. This means, if an actor asked a CD how they can get an audition on their show, the CD might not know exactly how to properly and legally respond in the moment, in front of group of people. They might have said something along the lines of “well, it would first start with your agent… etc.” Unfortunately, responses like this resulted in lawsuits for many innocent CDs and associates.
Were there a SMALL few who may have taken extra advantage? Unfortunately, yes. And thankfully these people are no longer casting professionals.
But since these lawsuits, there are now specific guidelines in place for knowing what can and cannot be answered in a workshop setting.
So then what is the main purpose for taking these workshops?
It’s simply to gain perspective.
If you’ve ever taken more than one acting class in your life, chances are, you will hear differing opinions on one subject. It can be confusing. And when it comes down to it, there isn’t a “right” answer for everything.
We say “the more you know” a lot around here and here’s why: in an industry that can feel hard to navigate, knowledge is incredibly empowering.
You, as an actor, need to take these differing opinions and trust what speaks to your intuition the most.
Workshops are meant to give insight, direction, and tips from the perspective of a casting professional. Taking direction from a CD can feel different than taking direction from an acting teacher. Both help you grow, both help you train different “muscles.”
Want to take a break from workshops and focus on classes? GREAT! Feel like taking a break from scene study to learn more about the casting process? GREAT!
Do what makes the most sense for you in your journey.
The most common piece of information across the board and one that you can trust is universal:
Casting directors do this because we love actors and we believe in you.
We are on the same side.
And more than anything? We want you to succeed.
#themoreyouknow #TheCastingDirectorsCut #mondaymythdebunkers