Let’s talk how do castings and media requests work !
Everyone wants to know how it works behind the scenes when we submit talent and the step by step process so here it goes!
Step one: a client either emails us directly , posts a casting on a website like casting networks , or goes through a casting director to find talent for their campaign. So they might have specs like “ we are looking for a real family with 2 kids 6-10 Caucasian , Asian , or Hispanic.”
Step 2: if they contact us directly we make a project in the system that includes ALL our talent that fit the specs and send it to them. Sometimes we might go up or down a year on the specs if the child can look the right age. If the job is through a casting director and on a website like CN we submit all talent through the website that fit the specs.
Step 3: if it’s through a casting director the casting director weeds through all the submissions and picks out the families he/she thinks would be best suited for this project. This is one of the main reasons clients use casting directors to utilize their professionalism in picking talent so they don’t have to sort through hundreds of talent themselves . If the client is not using a casting director and contacted us directly they sort through the project we sent them of talent and let us know their “ favorites “.
❌❌rest in comments ❌❌
Let’s talk managers ,
Ok so this is a tough one to write about because years ago before I was an agent I was a manager. I do keep getting asked about the difference between both and should you sign with a manager ? This is a two sided anwser because if you are talking a manager in Florida the very quick anwser is NO ! I’ll touch upon that first. This is nothing against managers in Florida I’m sure they work hard and are super nice but here is the issue. Years ago when I managed there were a lot more agencies. There were one or two exclusive agents at the time and everyone else was non- exclusive. The benefit of being managed at that time was that I worked with those exclusive agents so your child had the benefit of being signed by the exclusive agents and the non exclusive agents at the same time. It was great for a short time. Fast forward about 2-3 years later and about 3-4 more managers popped into the scene. Now everyone’s kids were with managers. Here’s the problem…. All of those children were showing up under 5-7 of the same agencies. So let’s pretend you are a client like Target for instance and you call 4 Agents saying “ please send me a project of girls 5-7” and all 4 of those agents send a project and about 90% of all the kids in the project are the exact same faces because they are managers kids, now you are pissed! Why call 4 agents if you are just gonna see the same exact kids over and over. You just need to call one exclusive agent and get all fresh faces. Who wants to sort through hundreds of kids to find the ones that are not multilisted? Certainly not Target ! So as this was happening agents started getting emails on the daily saying “ no more manager kids in our projects .” I mean I saw these emails sent to Agents multiple times a day. They didn’t listen and they kept submitting the managers kids as those kids were the majority of the Agents rosters. Florida starting loosing clients quickly to other states. I knew if the agents weren’t going to listen I had to do something or the state would loose our industry quickly. That’s where Sprout began!
❌part 2 in comments section ❌
If you move on they will move on !
So the other day we had this big casting. It was for a feature film and let’s be honest booking it would have been super cool. We had one of our kids get to the final 3 and in the end didn’t book it. The mom was really let down. Dare I say mad. Being totally honest she seemed mad at us ? Me and my assistant were talking trying to figure this out ? Why be mad at us ? We worked with you on your tapes and got you to the final 3 but in the end we can’t put a gun to a clients head and force them to book your child. I promise we are bummed too. What really upsets me was the reaction by the parent and in turn how it’s going to affect the kid. What I have learned after years in this business is that the kids move on, the parents don’t. Kids look to us to see how we are going to handle things ,and their reactions tend to mirror our own. So if you seem angry , devastated, and anxious so will they. If you have an attitude like “ hey that was awesome you got to the top 3 “ they will think they are awesome and quickly move on. I know in the end the mom really wasn’t mad at us but man it really can be a stab in the heart when you put so much into a child, try to help them ,and they seem mad at you when it doesn’t pan out. Honestly I’m not sure what more we could have done? But man , it feels like a lot of pressure. The truth is, this business comes in waves. You can have a year or two of booking everything then next year you slow down. My biggest advice is appreciate the times your child is busy ( it doesn’t last forever ) and the times they don’t book it look at it as some extra one on one time with your kiddos they grow up so fast and the time goes quick. If you’re bummed about a rejection be bummed for 5 minutes and then let it go. If you feel the rejection so will they. I promise it’s nothing an ice cream cone can’t fix !
