Should I pay to meet industry? Is that throwing money out the window?

Casting director workshops are often THE MOST USEFUL, and most accessible, tool that an actor can use. These are workshops that you pay for, and in turn you have the chance to meet, and to perform for, the casting director of your choice.

In the good old days, casting directors would schedule time out of their week to meet new actors—also known as general auditions (or generals). Some casting directors still do generals, but much less frequently than they used to. The recent trend is toward meet-and-greet seminars, where you pay a nominal fee to spend a half-hour listening to a particular agent or casting director tell you about their business and asking questions in a group of about 20 people. Then you get a five-minute one-on-one meeting with them to perform a monologue, scene or song.

There are many formats to these workshops, but the end result is the same: For $35 to $40, you can guarantee that you and your work are seen by the person who decides who gets the audition appointments. It is 100% more likely that you will get called in by a casting director if he/she is familiar with you and likes your work. These workshops are the best way to make them aware of you, and mailings should be used in conjunction with these workshops to reinforce the casting directors’ familiarity with you.

Now, some people say, “I just don't feel comfortable paying for an audition.” What we say to those people is that they should change their mind. It is naïve to think that you will be miraculously discovered. You must think about the industry like a business and understand how it works.