You should know…
Last week we faced some questions regarding 800Casting that made us take an honest look at how the changes we are making might be perceived from the outside looking in. In a nutshell, a talent regretted paying $20 as it seems we’re using it email newsletters and nothing else. These comments really stung at first, but did make us consider how it could appear if you don’t know what’s actually happening on this end so if you’re interested, here’s an explanation:
CONTACTS AND SUBMISSIONS
We use 800Casting on a daily basis for submissions to clients and casting directors and to build projects. Our using it for mass email (amazing and CRAZY efficient) is an added benefit but by no means is it what you pay for.
The usefulness of 800Casting really cannot be gauged by how much, or whether or not we contact you through the system. To point out what I mean – we use QuickBooks, StarTracker and Outlook on a daily basis and you don’t see the background through those programs either.
AUDITION AND JOB TRACKING
We’ve asked our contact at 800casting to provide a way we can track auditions and submissions so we can make sure we are doing all we can for each of you. This way, if you find your auditions have been limited and want to know why, we have the ability to review the history to see if it’s a lack of opportunities for your type, clients not selecting you from our submissions, or if we’re submitting you properly.
THE BLOG IS FOR YOU…
The email/blog ability are a very effective ways to get information out to talent. The blog allows us to address a broad range of topics – independents, photographers specials, networking opportunities, insight from industry experts and even housekeeping matters – all things we’re trying to do to help you thrive in the marketplace. To date, there are approximately 50 informational posts on the blog – things that our entire staff otherwise could never hope to cover with our entire talent pool. I really don’t want the value to be missed or to appear to be self serving. If you have had any of these same questions, just know that we are evaluating going forward how we use the services available to us so our efforts are not misconstrued.
WHAT’S THE STATUS ON SIGNING PEOPLE UP?
For over two months getting everyone up on 800Casting has been a huge focus. We’ve even hired people to come in and enter resumes for actors who have not done theirs – even so, we are still only two thirds complete on talent sign ups. This complicates things considerably on our end. The good news is for the talent who have listed, the feedback from clients and casting directors has been really good. They particularly love the ability to easily view clips.
We’re bound to experience some growing pains but please don’t hesitate to call or email us to ask when you have questions… Thanks, MB