Myspace or LA casting?

          In everything concerning acting or anything in the entertainment industry, you have to promote yourself like you are already the hard-to-get star that you are. Lucky for us, we don’t have to land an endorsement deal to do that anymore. All you need is some online access. There are countless websites that SELL the dreamy promise of giving actors direct access to casting directors and agents. They allow you to post those pretty little costly headshots, your training, and experience with only a small fee of what is equivalent to lunch at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. So you might have heard of them: Nowcasting.com, LAcasting.com, Backstage West, etcetera.  Then there are those home grown sites such as Myspace and Facebook that give you all of the same rights and privileges as those fancy actor sites, but at no cost. Videos can be uploaded. So can those same pretty little costly headshots. So what do you do? Let’s weigh the pros and cons.  

         Today’s industry is all about branding. Whoever said image is nothing, thirst is everything was liar! Image is everything. Think about it. Donald Trump began as a real estate developer. Now he markets everything from primetime TV shows to clothing, none of which have absolutely nothing to do with buildings. If you haven’t noticed, it’s not enough for artists to sell records anymore, they have to swing a couple of movie roles, launch a commercial clothing line, sell somebody’s skin care products, maybe open a restaurant chain, and make a band 3 times! And why can they do all of these things simultaneously? Because they have BRANDED themselves! If you didn’t like Jennifer Lopez as an actress you wouldn’t buy her clothes, or her fragrances, or her albums. Lucky for Jennifer, she knows you love her. And once you are a fan, you are a fan of everything because of branding and marketing, so what are you selling as an actor? YOU! Which takes us back to Myspace vs. LAcasting.

           

     The truth is that neither one are a bad choice. Sure LAcasting MAY tell you about some auditions and castings that Myspace will not volunteer, but you still have to make it to the audition and land the job. LAcasting is not going to get you hired. You are simply paying them to give you access to some things you might not have found out about. And that’s a good thing. We’ll come back to that. Myspace is free promotion. We can’t get over the fact that it is free. However, if you are posting party pictures with all of your friends, it could be bad for business. If you are posting pictures with all of your goodies out for the world to see and calling it “modeling,” it will definitely tarnish your branding. Myspace also has more users than any other membership site to date. Granted, everyone on Myspace cannot help you further your career, but there is the potential to meet someone who can. The difference between Myspace and an exclusive actor site is the difference between a resume on regular printer paper or resume paper. One just looks better, but that doesn’t no subtract for the content presented through the medium.

            For more information, see Tiffany’s studies on Privacy in Self Disclosure  . Also, see our comprised list of websites that help you promote you!