Identify your current 5 most important sources of information and blog a critical reflection on their importance to you and your practice.
1. People from work-
At the moment I work front of house at a west end theatre, a job that I have been working on and off for the last three years. I find that the majority of people who work front of house tends to be out of work actors. I have found this an amazing way to make connections with people in the business. We socialise in and out of work and we take the opportunity to pass on any information that we think will benefit each other, for instance if we know that a show is casting that we think they would suit we would tell them incase their agent hasn't already put them up for it. I find working front of house and the connections I have made have helped my carer develop to the next level. For example:
• Gianni - I first meet Gianni working on Sister Act nearly three years. Gianni originally started off in musical theatre but has crossed over to focus on his singer/song writing carer focusing on a more commercial pop sound, inspired by the sound created by Adele. Over the years I have noticed that more and more auditions are starting to ask for pop songs as well as musical theatre. The modern day musical way of writing has developed along with the pop industry. More shows are starting to adopt that pop/ rock sound; We Will Rock, 9 to 5 the musical, Looservile, Mama Mia, Viva Forever, The Body Guard etc.
As I am classically trained I have a very strong operatic tone to my voice, so using my connections- Gianni, we have been working on different techniques to help create a softer, lighter sound that can be applied when singing pop material.
• Clark Devlin- a couple of years ago I was trying to change my agent. Clark and I sat down and made a list of everything I should be looking for in an agent, then we researched agents using the internet and also the knowledge he had from past agents and friends in the business to create a short list of agents. Together we then spoke about the best way to approach agents and with his help I sent my CV and headshot off to the agents and managed to transfer to a better agent for me at that particular time in my carer.
These are just two examples of how I have used the connections I have made working front of house to my advantage to help the development of my carer. The wonderful thing with front of house is that the turn around is rather high so you keep meeting new people and it offers the opportunity to meet different people in the profession at social events. Theres no real down fall to this way of networking- the only way it won't benefit people is if they are not active. It's down to you to make the connections work, like many things in life you can't just sit back and expect things to happen.
One down fall I have found is not having your evenings free. This restricts you to the amount of theatre you can go and see; many times I have had to pass down the opportunity to go and watch small scale theatre/ fringe as I was working. These were events that I had been invited to by either an actor in the production or the director/ producer of the show and it just means that I wasn't able to use the connection to my full advantage and you never know who you might meet at these events.
2. Agent-
Another connection that I use is my Agent. My agent is basically the person who will find out about auditions and submit me for any parts he thinks I'm suitable for. They are your representation. Your agent technically should be your strongest connection in the audition world. Unfortunately with me this is not the case. At the moment I feel my connection with my agent is rather weak, all the active communication happens on my behalf and if I'm completely honest he doesn't seem to be working for me. I have been with this agent for the last 6 months and have only had two auditions under his representation, auditions that I found myself.e At the end of the day this is my carer so I approached this subject matter with him and he claimed that he was submitting me for auditions but I wasn't getting called in. I then asked what steps I could take to help my chances, change of headshot, alter my spotlight, alter C.V etc but no advice was given. It's a very difficult situation as you have to completely trust your agent to do his job. I haven't got a clue what is happening behind closed doors, it might be that he is submitting me and I'm just unlucky and not being called in or he might not be reading form the same page and submitting me for things that I'm not right for. As your agent is your representation a lot rides on his/hers, if they are unknown/ have a tainted representation it will reflect on the client.
I personally feel this is one connection that I need to re-view and have been in talks with people from work to try and get them to put in a good word for me with their own agents.
3. Facebook-
Facebook is a really good way to keep in touch with people in the business. It allows me to receive information from people in the industry that they think I might dean useful. It's also a good place to advertise small scale/ fringe productions to spread the word. Casting organisations have also started to set up their own pages that allows them to post auditions to the public - opening the doors to people who sometimes wouldn't get a look in.
Over the years open auditions have started to vanish. After speaking to people who have been working along time in the industry I have discovered that casting directors used to do open calls once a year for every major musical, this is something that is slowly vanishing from the profession. Hopefully casting directors will start to use Facebook and other sites to their full advantage and will realise that sites like these can be used to help inform people about auditions but also maybe once a week or month they could post a 'top tip' to help people get the most from auditions, therefore making it more beneficial to them in the audition process.
4. Websites-
The websites I mainly use to find out about auditions tends to be 'Spotlight' or 'The Stage'. These websites are easy to use and are updated daily. With 'The Stage' it tends to be holiday parks and cruise ship auditions, which isn't really the field I can see myself working in. It's very rare that you will find auditions for main stream musical theatre or even fringe productions, for this reason I only tend to check this web site once a week, the plus side is that the web site is free to access and I can download an app onto my phone that takes me to the audition page in seconds and I can access it on the move.
With 'Spotlight' I tend to get a wider selection of casting break downs for all fields- tv, film, adverts, musical theatre etc. With the membership me and my agent receive casting breakdowns daily via e-mail, and I have my own personal spotlight page where I can upload my headshot and C.V. This is a really good connection and without 'Spotlight' I wouldn't find out about the majority of auditions that take place and have allowed me to cross over into different fields that without I properly wouldn't have considered. As with most things these days there is a year subscription fee. I do think it's very beneficial to be a member of 'Spotlight' and most casting directors will only accept applicants via the web site. It would be amazing if it was free but then again I feel that this might jeopardise the quality of service that it provides and could end up being like 'The Stage'.
5. iPhone-
This is my life line so to speak. It wraps up all my connections and helps me to make the most of them. It allows me to have access to the Internet on the move and also means I am able to be in touch with friends and my agent no matter where I am. As I said before I can download apps that help provide me with information such as 'the Stage'. In the future if more apps were to be created that help provide information on the business and auditions this could enhance this way of connecting with the industry.
