Casting Director Workshops

[pg]

Following up on a the thread started by Titania about UK uncut, I though it might be useful to flag up the following statement from the Casting Directors' Guild about workshops run by Casting Directors that actors pay for.

"The intent of the workshop is educational and should not be considered a job interview or audition. Attending workshops is not a way to obtain employment as an actor. The presence of a Casting Director is neither a guarantee nor a promise of employment. Contact with a Casting Director at a workshop rarely results in any further contact with that Casting Director or any company affiliated with that Casting Director."

This is obviously different from "generals" or "meet and greet" where an actor has been selected for an interview by the Casting Director.

[islandofsodor]

I think that these kind of workshops can be useful but only to give people an idea of how auditions are run and what kind of thing casting directors are looking for.

At the college where my dh works they have casting directors from the West End in to do workshops with the students. The sort of thing they covered was how to conduct yourself, choosing repertoire etc etc. Dh as a teacher found it interesting as well as the students.

I am against the ever increasing come to our workshop and be a star type things that are so misleading. I am sure that we can all name a few of these companies amongst us. They lead children and their parents on and give them false hopes.

It is a difficult business and at my dd's age my focus is not so much in finding her work, but getting her the best possible training in order to prepare her (if that is what she still wants at 16/18 for auditions to drama school. Anything that does come along is a bonus.

[Irishdancer]

I feel that these work shops might give dc a disadvantige as next time they go for an audition might just be thinking in that work shop I was told I should be doing this or that, but what most casting directors and directors really want is a child that is natural, so feel a child that goes to these work shops might just think too much about what they are going to do or say and not be spontaneous. It just seems to me that these cd are trying to make more money at parents expence I no it may only be £25 but when u are talking about a 100 or more children £2500 I no that they have to pay for the venue but still after that still a good amount for there pocket for a few hours work.