Thursday, April 22, 2010

Hmm... Cracking Down on Workshops?

Variety has an interesting article today: L.A. cracks down on 'pay to audition' scams

I've written many times about attending Casting Director workshops since this is often the only way for new actors to get in front of CDs.  They are usually viewed out here (by actors anyway...) as necessary evils.  Apparently there used to be a time in 'the good old days' that casting people would have general meetings where they would meet new talent -- for free!  But, now of course these workshops are held, and actors pay $30-40+ to meet and read.

Anyway, the article reads in part:
The city of Los Angeles is warning casting workshops and talent services that it's serious about enforcing tightened state rules barring "pay to audition" scams.
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich sent out about 200 letters this week, notifying the operators that the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act had gone into effect on Jan. 1.
He warned that a willful violation could bring both jail time and a $10,000 fine. "Please note that the talent service is not the only potential offender," Trutanich said in his letter. "A person who aids and abets a violation of this statute is also criminally liable."

I don't know that anything will really change however.  It just seems that workshops cannot "guarantee" work for those attending, thus it's not really even an official audition, per se -- but I don't know that any legitimate workshops ever did guarantee anything anyway. While I wish that those general meetings of yore would come back in vogue, or that workshops would be held for free (or at least cheaper), I won't be holding my breath.

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