December 17, 2006
Auditions Come to YouTube
Agents are asking actors to post auditions on YouTube or MySpace, hoping to gauge actors' potential popularity by monitoring the reactions of average Internet users. The WSJ reports.
"It's the latest twist on an entertainment trend that's taken off in the past two years -- unknown, often amateur performers who are discovered by the music, television or film industries after capturing an audience online. Now, rather than scouring sites like YouTube for fresh talent, some companies are experimenting with a more direct approach.
"The online auditions make it easier for actors outside New York and Los Angeles to audition for national casting calls without driving hours to stand in line for a tryout.
Teenagers have begun posting audition tapes on YouTube and MySpace for a series called "The New 22," . The casting call was placed through koldCast.com, to let actors post online auditions. In exchange, the company gets dibs on selling product placements in movies and TV shows that use actors found through the service.
... Dreamscape Films, an independent production company, is asking those auditioning for "The Interior" to download a script page from its Web site and upload an audition video to YouTube. So far, 250 people have submitted auditions for the show's four main roles."
Geert Heetebrij, co-creator of the show, says at first he and his co-creator intended to judge the clips in part by the number of hits they got on YouTube and the number of stars viewers gave them. After seeing those numbers fluctuate, he now says he suspects actors are pumping up their own hit counts and giving bad reviews to others. So he'll focus more on comments from viewers instead of the other metrics."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2006/12/014382.htm