[NEohioPAL] Setting the Record Straight for Mr. Tooney RE: NewsChannel 5 Casting Practices

[via NEohioPAL]

Dear Talent Community,
I just wanted to take the time to set the record straight for Mr. Peter Tooney, who in a recent post suggested that NewsChannel 5 is somehow taking advantage of local actors. Mr. Tooney could not be more inaccurate. While it is true when the station produces promos intended to promote its newscasts we do seek unpaid extras or "fans" of the station to appear as we do not have a the budget in the promotions department. However, we are very up front about that and thus do not specifically seek out ACTORS for such projects, but rather regular folks who love the station and our anchors and want to participate in a fun project and meet our talent.
On the other hand, when we shoot commercials for our paying advertising clients, we always pay our actors. Typically we hire them through an agency such as The Talent Group. Actors for a commercial shoot with WEWS are usually paid on average around $600-$800 per day depending on the length of the day and extent of the role. Some clients we have hired and paid local actors for are Volkswagen, Gorjanc Comfort Services, Universal Windows Direct, Larmco Windows and others. 

As a film producer it has always been my mission to produce projects that pay local actors SAG wages, regardless of their status with the union. So it pains me when folks like Mr. Tooney spread false information about myself and the station. Furthermore we have hired many actors for paid roles after they have participated in some of the unpaid extra promo work as a token of our appreciation. 

So if you'd like to submit your headshot and resume for future commercial consideration please do so by emailing me at eric.swinderman at wews.com Thanks for reading...
Eric SwindermanProducerWEWS, NewsChannel 5
1031Films, LLC

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