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<DIV>I guess I opened a big old can o’ worms when I posted my opinion (and that
of SAG-AFTRA) about the posting I made about Cleveland Style Casting charging
for the privilege to audition for a project, It turned into a debate that Fred
should or shouldn’t screen all such postings, which it shouldn’t have.Sorry,
Fred. That’s not possible on a free forum such as this. It does allow us to make
people aware that there are “agencies” that try to pull the wool over people’s
eyes, and the vigilance of the members who know better can point out that this
is not right.</DIV>
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<DIV>From the Cleveland Style casting website, your membership gets you:</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><U>Basic Club Membership </U>In addition to
allowing you the opportunity to register with Cleveland Style Casting, we will
also ask if you would like to become a member of our exclusive Cleveland Style
Casting Club. Club membership is $54.99 annually and allows you to take
advantage of discounts and services that are not available to non-club
registrants. Benefits include:</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">1. Private audition times for exclusive
CSC projects.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">2. Special invitations to CSC Networking
events and engagements.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">3. Exclusive pricing on workshops and
classes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">I can understand the discounts on workshops
and classes, although I have never seen workshops or classes EVER being offered
on their site, outside of headshots, which are available through Tina Hobbs’
makeupbar website (and I, personally, was not impressed by those, but that’s my
opinion) and the only networking event, a December 13, 2012 Holiday Mixer, was
open to all. So what is the advantage of the annual fee? The private audition
times for “exclusive CSC projects”. Really? In my experience, the casting agent
is NOT in the business of making casting decisions, production is. The casting
agent looks at their roster, and forwards info about people who may fill the
role to production to look at for consideration. If they have people who are
particularly strong for that role, they may ask them to come in to tape
something, but that would be a private audition time regardless, which every
talent agency does anyway as part of their service WITHOUT CHARGING THEIR
TALENT!!! Then, if talent is cast from someone from their roster, they negotiate
with the producer the best rate for the talent, and make their percentage off
their best negotiation. That’s the way it works. I’m guessing that CSC doesn’t
know that, and they hope that nobody else does, either.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">You may want to check out somebody lie The
Talent Agency instead. You can submit through their website, and they don’t ask
for a dime to be considered. If you are looing for experience without
necessarily being paid, Ray Szuch’s North Coast Casting is a great place to
check out.</FONT> <FONT face="Times New Roman">He opens his doors to any
producer, no matter the budget, and does what he does for the love of film. I am
not affiliated with either of the 2 entities I mentioned, but have worked with
both before, and never heard complaints about either from anybody.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Spoke my piece. Good night.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Alan</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Alan
Tuskes<BR>Cell phone 216-701-9192<BR>Special Make-Up and Creature FX /Visual
Effects<BR>www.creaturecorps.net<BR>www.kurtzmaninstitute.com<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>