Casting

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn

I spent several hours the last couple days researching and e-mailing casting directors in LA and NY.  The Hollywood Creative Directory is a great resource for gathering contact information for casting directors, managers, and agents.  I cross-referenced IMDb credits with other websites and educated myself on each of the agents to whom I sent a link to my current demo reel.

Is it worth the time?  Out of the 35 e-mails I sent, the optimist in me (he’s pretty small) hopes at least 5-7 will actually follow the link to the reel while only about half will be annoyed to be bothered with another e-mail from another actor trying to get his foot in the door.  The pessimist in me (the optimist’s bigger, stronger bully) thinks all 35 will be annoyed and none will click the link.

So why bother?  Because optimism and pessimism aside, the success rate if I don’t try is 0%.  I’d rather take my chances by trying than passively wallow in self-pity because Hollywood hasn’t come out to find me yet.

This blog entry from Bonnie Gillespie destroys a good chunk of my optimism, but it’s still a numbers game.  The more hooks I put out there, the better my chances of getting a bite.