"DIALECTS ANYONE?...."
Here is a useful web site devoted to dialects. Thanks to Sara Betts for passing it along to me. http://www.ukans.edu/~idea/index2.html

"LABAN ANYONE?..."
Peggy Hackney's company, Integrated Movement Studies, is
beginning a graduate level training in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies in Berkeley. Laban Movement Theory is very good stuff for actors, dancers and animators. For info, contact Peggy at 707-944-8473, or send her an e-mail at PJHackney@aol.com.

HOOKS INTERVIEWED FOR WIRED MAGAZINE ARTICLE..
I was interviewed recently for an upcoming Wired Magazine article on photo-real animation. In particular, the article is about facial photo-real animation, which is the wave of the future. My input has to do with acting issues, empathy, expression of emotion and such. The writer is Lawrence Weschler, and the piece will appear in the June issue.

NEW ACTOR-DISCUSSION BOARD
Check out the following Internet discussion board, run by the Showfax people. Showfax is owned by Breakdown Services in LA. Good folks, well laid out discussion board:
http://www.2nd-tier.com/showfax_bbs/

HOOKS ACTORS WORKING
JOSEPHINE DE JESUS (s.stdy -"01) portrayed Darrell in Playback Media's "Customer Service Series". EYTAN LASCA (s.stdy - current) has been cast in an indie film entitled "Truth is Beauty". JEAN ROSE (commercials ' 01) appeared in " I Hate Hamlet" at the Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito recently. ANNAN PATERSON (comml -'97) will perform her solo show, "Deep Canyon", at the U.C. Irvine Cancer Center in Anaheim, CA. On June 6th. NATASHA BAKER (comml - '01) shot an industrial for Long's Drug Stores and a PSA for the Oakland School District. STEFANI BISHOP (s.stdy - current) is appearing in Barefoot in the Park, through March 2nd, at Palos South (Illinois) Middle School. For ticket info, call 708-403-4421. KELLY BANKS (f/tv - 02) landed an industrial for MacDonald's.

AUDITION IN HOOKS' CHICAGO STUDIO...
Sketchie.com Productions will be hosting auditions for The Pickpocket Union, an experimental comedy group dedicated to 21st Century projects. The PPU will work on character and scene work to create short DV films with a strong satirical perspective. Pickpocket will also develop into a professional sketch group. This is an opportunity for dedicated artist to hone their craft, and generate global visibility via the web. Opportunities for cast members to build a reel will also emerge making a move to NY or LA less painful.

Auditions will be held on March 19 and March 21 at 7:00 - 9:00 pm at: Ed Hooks Studio @ 2908 N Broadway in Lakeview in Chicago.

HOOKS CHICAGO CLASS SCHEDULE
SCENE STUDY -- Monday or Wednesday, 7-10:30, on-going. Free audit, start any time.
COMMERCIALS WORKSHOP -- March 16-17. 9-4 Saturday and 10-5 Sunday.
FILM DEMO WORKSHOP -- Develop your own demo reel while working the differences between acting on stage and acting in movies. Next start date: Tuesday, April 2nd. Nine-week class.
PRIVATE COACHING -- Any time. $75 per hour. Work on monologues, career strategies, whatever.

CRAFT NOTES
"Casting Director Showcases"

The California State Labor Commission is coming down hard on casting director showcases, and it will behoove actors everywhere to keep an eye on the proceedings. If the events are banned or regulated in California, there is every likelihood that they will in turn be banned or regulated by other states.

Casting director showcases are events in which actors get the opportunity to pay to audition for a casting director. It usually is a cold reading from "sides", pages out of a movie or TV script, and the typical charge in Hollywood is $25 - $40 per class.

The problem is that this kind of thing sounds a lot like a paid audition, and paid auditions are a big no-no in our industry. Screen Actors Guild has a flat out rule that prohibits its members for paying for auditions. Talent agents are prohibited by California state law and performing union regulations from conducting workshops because of the inherent conflict of interest. Screen Actors Guild also has contracts in place with movie and television producers that specify there will be no paid-auditions when actors are being considered for roles.

Let me say right away that I am personally opposed to casting director showcases and have been since they first surfaced back in the mid 1980's. I favor either an outright ban on the events or, at minimum, the kind of regulation that is currently applied to talent agents. Let me explain where I am coming from on this, please.

First, let's define the players in this game:

CASTING DIRECTORS work for producers. They are paid a fee for going out into the world to find actors for whatever project is being cast.

TALENT AGENTS work for actors. Agents make their money from commissions on the work that the actors book.

ACTORS are in search of paying acting work, and there is no other way to access that work other than via talent agents and casting directors.

In an efficient marketplace, casting directors would earn 100 percent of their income from the producers, and talent agents would earn 100 percent of their income from commissions. The problem with the casting director showcases is that, in the guise of "education", the casting directors are charging the actors to meet people they might not otherwise be able to meet.

The entrepreneurs that promote the showcases basically function like pimps. They bring in the best-connected casting directors and then advertise their presence to the acting community, usually in trade press like Backstage-DramaLogue, Callboard Magazine in San Francisco and so on. The actor writes the checks, and the entrepreneur/promoter and the casting director split up the dollars. It's a nice racket, like taking candy from babies.

Because they know there is the appearance of a conflict of interest, the casting directors at the showcases make a big deal of their objectivity. They make announcements to the effect that "the presence of a casting director is not a guarantee or promise of employment." But that doesn't change anything. They can make announcements all day long, and you still have actors paying to meet casting directors. In my book, and now in the book of the California State Labor Commission, that amounts to a paid audition.

I have had many conversations with actors that regularly pay to participate in these showcases. Their justifications usually boil down to the following:

(1) "I can't get an agent to represent me, and I've been trying for a long time. At least at the showcases, I can audition for the casting directors. I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING for my career!"
(2) "I can afford it. It's only $30."
(3) "Who better to learn from than a casting director, a person that is actually working in the industry?"
(4) "I've known people to land good jobs after going to the showcases."

When you scratch the surface of these arguments, however, the showcases quickly lose their luster. Here are my primary objections:

1) The casting director showcases imply that casting directors are looking for fresh talent at the showcases. Usually, this is not the case at all. When paying acting work is being cast, the casting directors will always call talent agents. That is because the talent agents have a financial incentive (commissions) to represent the actors most likely to book the jobs - i.e. the best actors in the marketplace. When paying work is being cast, the very last thing a casting director will do is start checking the enrollment lists for the showcases.
2) The showcases can actually be COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE for an actor's career because so many loser-actors participate in them. A great many of the participants are actors that, for one reason or another, cannot get agents to represent them. If the actor were any good, goes the logic, he would have an agent. Therefore, an actor who shows up at showcases runs the risk that the casting director will actually respect him less, not more.
3) Casting directors that do the showcase circuit claim to be motivated by a love of actors. "I just want to help the actors", is the line I have heard more than any other. Well, given that the casting directors work for producers, why don't they go help THEM? I am immediately suspicious of casting directors that express their affection for actors. It seems to me that, if the casting directors really want to help actors, they would offer the showcases for free. Let the producers pay for them.

The casting director showcase people are not taking this lying down of course. One does not take a dog's dish away while he is eating, if you get my drift. The promoters have banded together and hired a big anti-labor law firm in Hollywood. There is going to be a battle royal in the California legislature over this, with plenty of big time faces testifying. Don't be surprised if you start seeing stories about it in the general press and on CNN.

Thomas Kerrigan is an attorney for the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and he is the one carrying the water on this deal. If you want to let him know you support what he is doing, drop me a line and I'll tell you how to contact him.

If you're interested in following the industry debates on this subject, I recommend several avenues. The first is a web site run by Hollywood casting director Billy DaMota. The address is http://www.DoNotPay.org. The second is alt.acting, an un-monitored Internet user-group. I post there from time to time. The third is a List-Serve on which you will find many acting professionals, so the level of dialogue is higher. It is called ACT-PRO. To subscribe to ACT-PRO, send email to listserv@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM and in the body of the message, put SUBSCRIBE ACTING-PRO.

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