Starting May 10th 2010 we will finally launch our new casting system for industry account holders.

Casting your project has never been easier. A fully ajax based system that will make your experience unique and rewarding.

Cast your next project with Actors Pages.

Sincerely,

Allen

So… After months of development we finally completed a new and improved photo management system. The new system allows actors to upload photos, crop, rotate, and sort order.

The system is unique and probably never seen in any site before as we have developed a fully ajax based platform that allows actors to do all of the necessary action in one page (no page refresh needed).

Check the system and give us a feedback in this forum.

Sincerely,

Jessica

Actors Pages Team

Did you ever ask yourself this question?

I bet you have. At least once in your career.

Actors Pages support team is getting emails of this sort on a weekly basis. “Your site sucks”, “Your casting calls are fake”, “There is a technical issue with the site” and the list is long…

Rest assure that our site is working well, and so do many other casting sites. The issue is not on a technical level, but with the profession itself.

This article is not for the working actor, it is for the non working actor. Yes it’s very frustrating to have such a strong desire to perform and get no real chance. It’s very painful to feel like you’re the most talented actor out there, yet to receive no auditions or not enough auditions.

If you feel like that, then you are not alone. You are in the company of millions of frustrated artists. You have every right to feel frustrated, but you need to wake up!

If you want to be an actor, the first thing you need to understand that you have chosen one of the most competitive professions in the world. For every role there are hundreds if not thousands of actors that are trying to submit their pictures.

There is usually one casting director that looks at the submissions. And in most cases he will look at the first 20-30 and call about 5-10.

In bigger productions he may call 50-100 actors per role, but this is not a usual thing.

What can you do to help your chances?

1) Well, first of all don’t get discourage. It may take a week, a month, or a year for you to get in to the casting office and show your skills.

2) Even before that, you need to make sure your profile looks professional.Your pictures need to look professional, your resume needs to look professional, your entire profile needs to look clean and professional.

We get so many actors asking why they don’t get any auditions, but they have an awful picture and invested 2 minutes to build their resume. This won’t work and it’s obvious why they don’t get called in to a casting call.

3) Register to as many casting sites (legit ones) that you can. Yes, it cost money, but so does any other thing in life. You need to be ready to invest something in your career.

Think about it this way, you have spent 3 years of subscription and it cost you 3 x $12= $36 (Actors Pages is the cheapest deal on the web, other sites might be more expensive). Now you got a role at the end of the 3rd year that paid you, let’s say $100. So basically for an investment of $36 you almost tripled your cost.

of course we are not doing this to receive $100 after 3 years, but this is just a small sample to show you how to go about your career. You will have to invest wisely in order to succeed.

I hope this short article helped you a bit and took a way a bit of your frustration. Keep believing, keep frighting and keep dreaming,

Robin Hood :)

Lindsay Lohan’s parents are at it again! Dina Lohan is engaged in a war of words with her ex-husband Michael after he released private phone conversations about their daughter cutting herself.

RadarOnline.com posted an audio tape on Wednesday, in which Dina is heard saying that she fears for her daughter’s life. Michael says the 2008 phone conversation is proof that Lindsay is in a downward spiral and needs to get professional help.

Dina, who called into TMZ’s live web show later in the day, slammed Michael for recording their conversation and said Michael’s the one who needs help. Dina maintains that Lindsay is fine and denies there’s any issues with her clubbing at night.

Visit RadarOnline.com to listen to the audio tape of Dina talking about Lindsay cutting. Then, leave a message below telling us whose side you’re on!

Over a million users and counting…

It is officially 3 years since the hip site was launched and the popularity keeps raising. The beta version will officially end on Feb 2010.

It has been six years now, that both me and my manger are seeking for THE picture. I have tried it all; students of photography: cheap, but the focus is always off, or the light is too “artistic”. Ironically always on THE picture that was the potential headshot.

I have worked with expensive fashion photographers that are making you look stunning, but somehow the picture looks more like someone else. I remember the day I came to the photographer’s lab to work on the retouch… He wanted to blow my lips up…I was tempted but no. Still, he took out ALL of the lines on my face. Up to this point I was Ok with that, but then, he started to take my freckles off!!!! I shouted out of pain: No! Not my freckles! It is me, I have freckles.

He told me that he just wanted to make my skin look smoother. I surrendered, but not before I was able to rescued the two last beauty marks on my jaw line. The final headshot looked amazing but way too pretty. Not that I am not, it is just that I am different pretty, more like real pretty. After the walk of fame to find the photographer that is going to make you look real without tearing your wallet apart, there is the set up for the frame.

This is when all the actors can be so grateful for the wonders of digital! It is so easy now!

So finally, it took me six years, and finally I have the pictures that look like me, and that didn’t cost me a fortune. After the “too fashiony”, “too artistic”, “too unrecognizable”, the picture that attracts the wrong role… I now have “the working pictures”. It is the one that says: This is me, I am ready to work with you. Because it is all about the work for me.

Till next week,

Jessica

Well, here I am, standing back up after another one of those actor’s chronic pain called “depression”. It was a tough season for me. I had quite a bit of good auditions but booked none and even worse, got only two call backs ( one of them was to play a part were full nudity was required and the only scene written for my character, in this TV series was the one to be bare butt naked….) Ah well! The most memorable moment of the season for me is when I actually refused to play the part and when my manager got mad at me for not accepting such a great opportunity to “get into the door”!!!

“Who are you?” she asked, “who are you to refuse a part in a TV series that is going to be a big hit? We have to build you some credit!”. I have to admit that the most painful memory about this event is that I actually thought she was right for about half a second! I looked at my resume and frankly, I felt completely out of it! And then, I took a deep breath and remembered that she herself (my manager) was an actress. I felt some compassion for her and understood that she wanted to work through me. You see, this woman is a good woman, she worked hard to get auditions for me. The difference between her and I were simply our visions. I was then able to tell her that I would rather get into the door with some kind of clothes on my “back”, because even if I am a European girl, I still have a certain sense of dignity about doors. It is interesting to meet directors and producers when they ask you the lethal question: “Oh, I hear an accent! Where are you from?” Their eyes, for some reason, light up when you pronounce the word “France” and the only french they know is “voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir” or “menage a trois”….

That is when I understood that I will have some more work to do before I can get into the door fully dressed. Someone who supports fully my vision of the art is now representing me. I am ready for a new season coming and for more adventures in the world of LA’s entertainment. Oh yeah! We sure do get entertained in this fabulous city!

Till next week,

Jessica