Los Angeles, CA—For those that don’t know this I am a member
of SAG-AFTRA. That’s the union that
represents actors and other talent for motion pictures, broadcast and web
related entertainment.
My union has worked to fight extortion when it involves sex
in order to work but they’ve failed miserably to prevent actors from being
forced to pay cash. Young actors are
usually broke and desperate as they try and compete for various roles.
Only a small percentage of actors have agents and those
without agents have to get roles before agents will notice them. In order to get seen and considered actors
must audition with casting directors for he less important parts. If you don’t get the small parts you can
never compete for the larger roles.
The problem is the casting directors have set up a criminal
enterprise and gotten away with it.
Actors are met with solicitations the moment they enter casting offices
for acting classes. The classes just
happen to be run by the casting directors!
For the most part the classes are simply a sham but those
paying for the classes get parts and the others don’t. If actors don’t pay the casting directors
they simply don’t get to play!
There are very serious civil and criminal penalties involved
but casting directors have been escaping any and all scrutiny by law
enforcement. The most obvious crimes and
torts involved are extortion, restraint of trade and criminal racketeering.
I ask why is a demand for sex in order to win an acting role
and different than a demand for cash?
Actors want to work and making waves by asking the casting directors to
end their extortion will in effect blackball the actor out of business forever!
Acting classes are absolutely necessary. Actors must run through the repetitive
process of learning lines, speaking them understandably and timing the
dialog. There are lots of issues that
actors must overcome to avoid becoming caricatures rather than the
characters. However it should never be
the casting directors running the acting schools! That is an obvious conflict of interest.
I ask where has the LAPD, FBI and California Department of
Justice been? I know that is impossible
for them to work undercover to dismantle this criminal racket without first
joining SAG-AFTRA.
The victims here are young actors that are often struggling
to avoid homelessness. They are
understandably afraid to complain about the people that have the power to
banish them from acting altogether.
Law enforcement has not been effectively been able to deal
with this institutionalized decades long crime wave. Perhaps SAG-AFTRA and the talent agencies
need to recognize their responsibilities in this area.
The Los Angeles City Attorney, Mike Feuer is asking that
actors come forward if they have paid for classes or acting workshops run by
the casting directors. If you’re an
actor and have the courage to report the casting scoundrels send an email to
Feur’s assistant at karla.cortez@lacity.org.
The only way to stop this crime is not tolerating it in the
first place! Perhaps sending a bunch of
these miscreants to Club Fed for a few years might send a strong message!
Comments
People should be able to work and show their talents anywhere whether that be in the acting profession, or politics, or in education without having to put out or pay out to be considered for work or forwarded to the front of the line - for the best perks or roles!