One On One Oh Boy!

Occasionally I pay attention to these mailings I get from a place called One On One.  Its among several outfits here in New York that have set themselves up in the last two decades or so.  There mission is to host a forum for aspiring actors to meet and audition with casting professionals, and of course, as all businesses do, to make money.  Casting peeps get paid to be there, the actors pay. At first the casting industry was shy about this crossover into a seemingly shady world of pay-to-be-seen. But over time they have, almost to a peep, dropped their aversion to the syphoning off of cold hard cash from the young, the hopeful, the unrepresented masses that New York attracts to its theatrical shores.  Once casting directors, agents and managers had paved the way, in came the directors. Just like anybody else they too can sniff out a revenue stream.  Why not?  All you have to do is nail your shingle on a door frame declaring yourself a director, wrangle a few credits from the world of indie films or off off broadway or assist someone with a recognizable name, and you can fund your trip to the world cup in 2014 on the dreams of the aspiring. Recently an email notice informed me that the playwrights are now in on the game.  Sign up!  Pay your money and shake hands with a real live playwright! 

Its beginning to strain credulity.  Casting people can, theoretically, further your career.  Directors can in most instances, offer you employment.  But playwrights?  They can write a role for you, sure.  They can recommend you to the producer or director or both.  But the power to hire was almost entirely beaten out of them by the emergence of the director post WWII.  So what are we to think?  That actors need to begin to pay for social connections which may, however tenuously, lead to a job someday?  Where does this leave us by logical extension? Who else feels they have something so valuable to offer a room full of wanna-be's that its ethical to pocket a couple hundred bucks an hour for the privilege of being met.  

Some of this is mitigated by purchasing a class.  Casting directors do have valuable feedback regarding the audition process, no doubt.  Directors as well. Agents, not so much. But by and large thats where it ends.  None of these people should be attempting to teach acting in any meaningful way.  They can actually be doing much more harm than good, and that is truly unethical.  Plastic surgeons get sued when you pay them money to help, and they make a mess of your nose.  There are many many directors out there who should be sued for malpractice when engaged in attempting to teach acting.  So buyer beware.  If you feel you need to pay money to meet these people at least have the good sense to protect yourself from harm.