Opinion: Spotlight on a catalogue of casting issues.

Guest blog; Andy Clark on the cost of casting.

This is not a defence of Spotlight’s pricing structure or business model. In my opinion, it is too expensive and unfair. Workers shouldn’t have to pay to access & apply for jobs. I was also surprised to hear that agents and members of the Casting Directors Guild do not appear to pay to use Spotlight. I had assumed, like many others, that everyone who has access to the website paid a subscription. Industry professionals previously paid for copies of the old Spotlight catalogues, so why and when did that change?

Spotlight fees have always been a bone of contention. The recent introduction of a near-£300 ‘Premiere’ membership tier and the subsequent backlash and withdrawal that followed culminated in Equity’s statement last week calling for a change in the law and a ban on directories from charging their members for use of their services. This has provoked a welcome discussion about how casting directories operate. A question central to the debate is whether Spotlight is primarily a hosting site for performers’ details or a job-finding service.

Until relatively recently Spotlight was never a job advertising platform. Pre-internet, it was an Encyclopaedia Britannica-style directory of headshots and agents’ contact details. A Kays catalogue of actors. Like the closed shop-era Equity card it was compulsory for getting work; most, if not all, agents insisted on clients being listed and actors groaned when the renewal forms came through. Being cast directly from your headshot was about as rare as a well-drawn female character in a Martin Scorsese film but it was a tax-deductible expense grudgingly paid, like commission or your TV licence.

Within this cumbersome set of tomes, you had a half page with your headshot on one side and your agent’s contact details on the other. Old copies from the 70s & 80s could often be found in theatre green rooms and were a source of great amusement. A memorable but confusing entry included a full body shot of a gleeful actor swinging on a pub sign. I hope he found his niche.

‘Contacts’ was also another necessary purchase. A directory of every employer in the industry imaginable, it was a vital resource, and I would thumb through it regularly looking for which Artistic Director to pester next (usually Hamish Glen at Dundee Rep)

Other casting opportunities included the classified section of The Stage (cruise ship entertainers and the occasional open audition for Starlight Express) and Production & Casting Report (PCR) a weekly (or monthly?) publication that cost nearly £20 and printed on red paper so it couldn’t be photocopied. Actors were advised to save money, club together and buy a copy between them.

The internet changed all that. Spotlight moved, first, onto CD ROM before becoming a fully digital several years ago as the catalogues were discontinued. No more chuckling at ridiculous headshots when we should have been learning lines.

Since then, Spotlight’s services have expanded and, despite the year-on year rise in cost, it remains the dominant platform in the UK. Agents and casting directors swear by it and performers can update their CV, add multiple photos, showreels, and audio clips. They can also access the Jobs Feed. This is where it gets trickier. Actors without representation can submit themselves directly. Actors with representation have to submit through their agents. Companies & Industry professionals can be listed in the directory for free, or upgrade to an ‘enhanced listing’ for £480 per year.

There is also the question about whether Spotlight can legally be defined or perceived as a monopoly.  Several casting websites serving a similar function now exist; The Mandy Network, StarNow, Casting Network and Backstage to name a few. None, however, currently have the same reach or depth in quality of casting.  You could argue that Spotlight has a monopoly on casting in the same way that Greggs has on bakery chains. Others are available, but you always end up going to the same one everybody else does.

In addition, all major casting platforms in the UK are now owned by larger US parent companies via private equity firms and the harsh reality is, investment companies are only concerned with one thing; financial returns. Bleak news for performers. It appears that Spotlight’s now-abandoned attempt to introduce a ‘Premiere’ membership tier costing almost £300 was profit-driven.

Some sites have free entry-level membership with access to jobs opportunities but – here’s the rub – to submit for a role you need to upgrade to a paid subscription. Throw in Amazon-owned IMDb Pro and you could be £500 out of pocket before you’ve even had a casting.  As I understand it, in UK law, no organisation can charge an up-front fee for finding or trying to find a candidate work. I am unclear, then, how many of these platforms can currently operate. Perhaps the law doesn’t necessarily need to change but be properly implemented.

A new site, however, has reversed the model.  Casting Callback, for example, has pledged to make viewing and applying for castings ‘Free Forever’ (with an ‘Optional’ package of around £60 p/a to upload images and video content). 12,000 performers have already signed up (I would join myself but my headshot is so old, I would be sued under the Trades Descriptions Act)

Much like Fiat currency (money backed by nothing except faith), however, the current system is based entirely on consumer confidence. If the industry were to collectively lose faith in the current model, companies will have no choice but to rethink. Without voluntary change, things could well end up in the courts. Lawyers, I imagine, have already seen the pound signs.

For the time being, however, the burden of cost lies mainly with the 90,000 or so performers, the vast majority who are out of work at any given time. That needs to be looked at. Whilst some casting directors have indicated that their work is just as precarious as other freelancers, others have indicated publicly that they would happily absorb some of the cost (non-CDG affiliated casting directors already pay over £400 for a two-year subscription).

Turkeys, sadly, don’t traditionally vote for Christmas. It’s significant, however, that it was casting directors who mobilised and petitioned Spotlight to remove the ‘Premiere’ membership tier. As we approach the season of goodwill, let’s hope the casting industry remains in listening mode and a fairer pricing model can be found. Tiered membership subscriptions? Humbug…

Andy Clark is a freelance actor and member of the Cairn Executive Committee.