UPDATE:  Since we originally published this article last November, the landscape of CD workshops in LA has changed. In January, California introduced a law known as The Krekorian Act, which seeks to protect aspiring performers from pay-to-play scams and the like. While the law does not prohibit CD workshops, it requires the owners of the workshop companies to now post bonds to protect consumers from fly-by-night-ers, and the Casting Society of America has established new guidelines for its members to follow when holding workshops. At the end of the article I post links to several resources that explore the finer points of what the new law means for actors.

Casting. Director. Workshops. The opportunity! The hope! The grudging tolerance!

And the controversy.

So here’s the set-up: for a not-so-nominal fee (usually between $30 and $50) actors participate in a (usually one-time) class in which they perform scenes for a casting director (or casting associate or assistant). The workshops are often marketed as opportunities to “work on one’s cold-reading (or audition) technique,” but I have yet to meet the actor whose primary interest is other than getting face-time with a casting pro who may then call the actor in for the projects he or she is casting.

While the thought of this “paying to play” practice makes my heart a bit droopy, I do attend them myself and usually enjoy the process (and have been called in from workshop connections). I know many actors who’ve booked significant roles and have started meaningful relationships this way. With the pace of the business increasing and pre-production budgets decreasing, casting directors have less time for “generals” than ever before and often use their “workshop files” to cast, especially for co-star roles on television.

These workshops are a big investment of time and money (and I highly recommend Dallas Travers’ excellent post on making a workshop strategy) and not all are created equal. Periodically, we’ll take a moment to profile LA’s casting director workshop companies to help you learn which offer the formats and features that shine the best light on your talents. I’ve spoken with the owners of each of the companies below and in the Pros and Cons sections I’ve gathered quotes from actors who’ve shared their experiences with me.

REEL PROS

History:

Reel Pros president Hannah Sussman founded the company in 1994. As a new mom, she sought to create a business that could accommodate her desire to be a hands-on parent while staying active in the entertainment industry. When Hannah was a newly arrived actor in Hollywood, she had many invitations to take a seat on the Casting Couch. Could she create a safe and integrity-filled environment for actors to market themselves?

Format:

· Casting directors bring scenes (agents are not allowed to provide scenes per union stipulations, but see other ‘prepared material,’ I’m told) to the workshop and pair actors up or have them read with a reader in front of the entire workshop class.
· There is no one-on-one time between the actor and the guest.
· The guest holds a Q & A session before the scene work starts.

An audition is not required for Reel Pros membership. Key in your credit card numbers on its slick website and $60 (Reel Pros’ annual membership fee) later you can immediately begin to book yourself into its workshops (which sell out quickly).

While Reel Pros is not discriminating in its entry requirements, it maintains performance standards and fosters clients’ ambitions by dividing its membership into three categories: Reel Pros 2 (for younger actors), Players and Main Arena. Main Arena membership is by invitation only. Reel Pros has an intricate ‘auditing’ system in which designated ‘auditors’ (usually Main Arena members) sit in on each workshop and take notes on each actor’s performance. If an actor is ‘flagged’ four times for poor work or inappropriate behavior, he or she will lose membership. If three auditors recommend an actor’s work on separate occasions, he or she will receive an invitation to join the Main Arena. Several guests choose to only offer their workshops to Main Arena members. So while the journey to become a Main Arena member may be time-consuming (and thus expensive) the incentive is high.

Hannah claims the casting community thinks highly of Reel Pros auditing system because “it holds people accountable” for their work. “Often an actor will be going through something personal,” she says, “and not think it’s affecting their work. But we see otherwise. The auditing system lets us pick up the phone and talk to them about it before it damages their career.”

Cost:

· Reel Pros workshops cost $38 – $42.
· You can purchase as Series 40, a package that enables you to take 6 $40 workshops for $210 (for a savings of $30).

Features:

Hannah says, “I’m married, I have two children, I’m a commitment kind of gal!” The $60 membership fee, she feels, puts actors in the mindset of committing to the Reel Pros community. In return, Reel Pros offers several features in addition to the workshops with which actors can showcase themselves and connect with one another:

· A weekly newsletter which celebrates members’ booking and audition news & offers discounts with area merchants.
· Partners with Now Casting to provide their actor data base (which they call Cream of the Crop). Your nowcasting.com headshot/resume profile is organized into your Reel Pros membership area on the Reel Pros Website, which can then be accessed by the casting community.
· Recently launched ReelprosTV. Members can have scenes and monologues taped in a studio. These are then posted on a youtube channel. You can share the links to your work with the industry.
· Offers the Workshop Acting Workout (taught by Peter Holden), a forum in which to get familiar with the workshop process and improve your cold-reading technique. It’s $20 for members and $25 for non- members.

Pros and Cons:

One actor said the audit system was “confusing because I got (negative) feedback (from the auditor) that contradicted what the casting director said to me…” Another wrote, “the audit system can, I guess, feel degrading but (getting into The Main Arena was) sooo worth it because they have access to better CDs and the actors are great and I never have to worry about my partner…They always have water, coffee, and hot water for us in the rooms. They always put up the address of the guest on a white board. I like these little touches that not all of the places do…” and another says she likes “…the sense of community in the Main Arena. The work is always good and I can count on running into someone I know.”

Hannah’s Tips:

Hannah says the number one mistake that actors make is not paying attention to the arc of the scene and then “all the levels are the same.” In addition, she reminds us to play to the actual space of the workshop. Often actors with a theater background will overplay to an imaginary back row while others unfamiliar with the workshop environment will calibrate their performance for close-ups that will not transfer to the CD and class audience several feet away. And if you do get a scene from a famous film or TV show, remember, the CD came to get to know you, not to see your best Al Pacino impression! Make sure to deeply personalize your choices.

ONE ON ONE PRODUCTIONS

History:

One on One Productions is one of the oldest casting director workshop companies in town. It was founded in 1982 by actor Steve Duran, who operated the meetings out of his apartment. The enterprising Mr. Duran eventually left acting for law school. He sold the business to actor Robin Hubbard in 1996, who still runs it today.

“In a perfect world we wouldn’t need to have them,” Robin admits of casting director workshops. “But…” And so he seeks to fill the well best he can, even eliciting praise from one of his competitors: “Robin,” says Hannah Sussman, “has integrity.”

Format:

· The guest brings scenes that he or she then assigns to pairs of actors.
· The guest can hold a group Q & A before or after scenes are presented for the workshop group.
· One on One offers each actor a 2 1/2 – 3 minute private interview (hence its name) with the guest before the group work begins. The guest does have the chance to ‘opt out’ of the private interview, but they must make that known in advance and One on One will clearly display that preference on that workshop’s website description.

One on One requires an audition for membership. Auditioning actors are paired up and given a scene to act that is then evaluated by a panel of three One on One members. The members then meet with the actors and inform them of their decision. If one passes the audition Robin then meets with the actor to review the One on One website and booking policies. If an actor is not admitted, the panel and Robin will suggest what the actor can work on in order to have a successful audition in the future. There is no allotted time an actor must wait before auditioning again.

I asked Robin about rumors that One on One has a membership “quota” and will arbitrarily turn away actors so as to “preserve its exclusive image.” I could almost hear the eye-roll through the phone. Robin assiduously denies this and says that, “In general, we turn away more than we take,” but there have been several rounds in which the panel has admitted all the applicants because “they were good.”

Cost:

· One on One workshops typically run $30-$40/session. Robin is committed to keeping prices reasonable for actors and is shocked at the fees some CDs are now demanding for workshops. Occasionally he loses out on a guest because, “I’m stingy.”
· The company often runs package specials. Right now if you deposit $160 in your account, it is credited $180, and $330 earns you $390 worth of sessions.
· While there is no annual membership fee, One on One charges members a monthly fee of $4.95 for maintenance of its complex website.

Features:

Robin isn’t one for bells and whistles (“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he says of the One on One format), but the functionality of its website gets high marks from guests and clients.

The site requires actors to build a profile which includes their resume and headshots. The CDs can then enter into the profiles from their access point and make notes on them, organize them, etc. For instance, after a workshop a casting director can go into her One on One account and add actors she found impressive to her “favorites” list. In one workshop I took the CD, who works with several LA workshop companies, said “I’m always telling the other guys to get a system like One on One!”

For actors:

· The site publishes upcoming workshops far in advance.
· It allows them to store several headshots in their profile and choose ones for their upcoming workshops specific to the casting director.
· Robin also tells me that you can also find follow-up addresses for all your workshops on the website and create an address book to facilitate your mailings.

Pros and Cons:

One actor finds that “the pre-interview can be really awkward” while another says, “I like the interview because it gives me a chance to show who I am apart from a scene that may or may not have been well-chosen for me…the website is extremely easy to use, updated far in advance which is great for planning…” and one says “…the website is impressive.”

Robin’s Tips:

Do your homework on the process in general, and if you are new, perhaps hold back a bit on questions until you get the lay of the land (so as not to come off as inexperienced). Don’t forget to follow up with a thank-you note.

THE ACTORS KEY

The Actors Key just celebrated its two-year anniversary. The studio was founded by actors Katie Shaw and Kristen Caldwell, two east-coast transplants who met…in casting director workshops! They became “fast friends,” often brainstorming on how to make the workshop experience better. Kristen’s husband eventually told them to stop talking and start walking and two months later they were making calls to friends in casting and advertising their first workshops. Oh, and did I mention that Kristen is getting her Masters in English and Katie embarked on the business after only six months in LA?!

Format:

Kristen and Katie’s biggest qualm with the workshop process was that, while it’s often billed as a marketing opportunity for actors, having one’s scene assigned quickly by a veritable stranger can force an actor to make an uphill climb in showcasing their type and strongest skills. “It was hard for me to show my type when I was being asked to play a 50-year-old (she generally plays in her 20s) with ten minutes to prepare.”

They also wondered how, for the time and money actors invested, could they give them more concrete educational take-aways?

Thus, they settled on the following:

· Prepared scenes are read with a reader in a private meeting with a casting director.
· Actors choose their scenes from the Actors Key website after they’ve paid for a workshop and then sign up to read in the order they arrived at the studio the day-of.
· The casting director holds a Q & A before the readings begin.
· Immediately after one’s reading & interview, the casting director fills out an evaluation sheet of the actor’s performance. The actor is then free to go after she receives her sheet.

The Actors Key does not audition members, though Katie says that newbies are wont to call The Actors Key with questions before embarking on the process, and if she detects they’re not ready to showcase themselves, she’ll make other training suggestions.

Katie says casting directors always seem surprised at the high levels of performance they see at The Actors Key, “and our little secret is that we know it’s because the actors are prepared!”

Cost:

· Workshops can range from $20-$100 with “most in the $40-$50 range…we sell discount packs that get the price down to $32-$35 per workshop,” says Kristen.

Features:

The written evaluation form asks casting directors to rate different aspects of the actor’s performance such as scene interpretation, preparation, and ability to take adjustments. Recently, in response to a client survey, The Actors Key added spaces for “type” and “age-range” on the evaluation form.

Katie and Kristen are always on the lookout for how to make the experience more educational for the actor and have big plans afoot. They shared one with Minerva, but then told her they’d have to kill her if she did the same with you. Sorry. But it’s promising!

Pros and Cons:

“Great home-y space in Burbank”… “You sign in based on the order you arrive…this is great for people who can come early and sucks for the people who have to wait”… “Their website is really poor. It’s not super user friendly or pleasing to the eye… It’s rather sporadic when they have new workshops. Sometimes they send out an email, but you mostly just have to check their website to see if they have new ones”… “When I see casting directors who I have met before but haven’t seen in a while, those few minutes of one on one time are really valuable for re-establishing a relationship.”

Katie and Kristen’s tips:

Use your money and time wisely – do your research so you can choose workshops given by CD’s who are working on things you’re right for. Also, try and make a genuine personal connection – be prepared to talk about something other than your acting!

After talking to these three studio owners, I can’t say my ambivalence towards the process has, um, evaporated, but I can say that they all seem truly committed to helping actors showcase themselves well and get work. They went out of their way to remind me that casting director workshops are the icing on the cake of your acting training – in no way should they replace scene study and technique classes if you are still building your acting foundations or seeking to solve specific craft problems.

Let’s face it – we didn’t go to acting school, spend a gazillion dollars on headshots, and another gazillion watching the great performances to aspire to hand over $40 after working all day to read a three-minute scene from a pilot we’ve never heard of. Or did we? Attending casting director workshops is not a sexy part of the acting life, but it is our job to get seen by the buyers one way or another. And maybe by adjusting our expectations and choosing the formats right for us, we can have a little fun and do some good work in the process.

Updated resources on CD Workshops and The Krekorian Act 2010:

Bonnie Gillespie’s column in Showfax on CD Workshops is definitive. With sources from the CSA, the government and Bonnie’s own years of experience as an actor and casting director, the article leaves no stone unturned.  She gives a great account of the history of CD workshops, and her knowledge of the the town’s seedier side of pay-to-be-seen opportunities blew my mind.

Actor Ben Whitehair of www.playbillsvspayingbills.com has a great post on questioning how CD workshops affect the levelness of the  ‘playing field’ for the LA actor.

Actor David H. Lawrence has developed an entire website, Be Free to Choose, to explore the issue (though the title kind of  lets you know where he stands!).

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