Soliciting Star Interest

Taormina -

I guess we disagree. The concept of this interactive, constantly updated Cold Zone list has never existed. No casting agent in the world is walking around with the names of 3,000 Cold Zone actors.

And I've never met a casting agent who thinks in these terms. I tell my casting agent "go for this actor. He should be inexpensive and I'd like to work with that person. Do you know their agent?"

In my experience casting agents aren't data analysts. They're consumate "people persons" who love acting and are good at matching character descriptions with actors. This is a data analysis situation.

However, I respect it if you think something like this is only worth 20 bucks to you. I respectfully disagree.
 
Prodigi Pictures said:
This has the potential of saving an indie director tens of thousands of dollars for each actor cast in an indie project. I would hope that is worth more than 20 bucks.
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Well, not only that... if it's truly a good script / project, then it has the potential to help a "cold" actor rejuvenate his or her career - much like what Pulp Fiction did for Travolta.
 
Maybe the "cold actors" could also pay a fee for the service. Afterall, once they're on the list, it's pretty much a blinking advertisement that they're available for producers to seize upon (and seized upon they likely would be).
 
Seriously - not trying to sound like an ass. Just let me know what you'd pay for that service and I'll chew on it and see what I think. I really don't know what something like that is worth.
 
taormina said:
Seriously - not trying to sound like an ass. Just let me know what you'd pay for that service and I'll chew on it and see what I think. I really don't know what something like that is worth.
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Maybe high, maybe right but I'll throw out a number I believe to be reasonable.

1 year = $1k
6 mth = $600
3 mth = $400
1 mth = $150

or some kind of breakdown like that.
 
Few actors are pragmatic enough to want to be on a Cold Zone list. Their agents wouldn't like it either, because it ruins their ability to negotiate. Their part of the entertainment industry is built on the illusion that all famous actors are busy, therefore scarce and therefore expensive. It's easy to see this from our point of view and say "but, this is good for them! It will get them work!" however, that isn't how they'll interpret it. They'll see it as branding their actor as cheap, rather than a great value.

If they admit their actors are incredibly cold they're also admitting that they're incredibly inexpensive.

I think it's more realistic to assume that agents would resent the existence of such a list, badmouth it between each other, badmouth it to their clients...and quietly, in the recesses of their mind, be thankful that interest is being generated in their clients again! And they'll never admit it out loud...not even to themselves.

I also think a list like this is only valuable if the list can only be accessed by a limited number of directors. If 5,000 directors pay 1K for access to the list, and then copy it and give it to their friends, the list is useless to everyone. Suddenly, thousands of low-budget projects are bidding on the services of Cold Zone actors and their agents can bid up their rates...

...this only works if the list is in the hands of VERY few, perhaps 50...and those 50 have to sign a contract to not disclose it to anyone. And security measures need to be in place so if a list leaks, it can be traced back to the director who leaked it. Then, the list has maximum value to the 50 directors who have it. And I think the buyers of the list would value it more if they knew that only a select few could get access to it.
 
This is starting to sound an awful lot like the movie and music industry's attempts to stop bootlegging.

I don't see it happening.

BTW, if the list is periodically updated, doesn't that alleviate the issue of bootlegging the names?
 
shutterspeedfilms said:
This is starting to sound an awful lot like the movie and music industry's attempts to stop bootlegging.

I don't see it happening.

BTW, if the list is periodically updated, doesn't that alleviate the issue of bootlegging the names?
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Superficially, anything can sound like anything...however, there is a world of difference between something that is only distributed to 100 people and something that is distributed to 100,000.

I've already been speaking with an engineer. We're close to resolving the major issues around this and just want to make sure there is interest in this. If there is, we think we'll be going ahead with this. On top of that, we think there are additional features that this "list" could contain, such as:

1.) private reports from directors, talking about how easy the actors were to work with...were they prima donnas? Did someone show up drunk? Anything that helps other directors make an informed decision, because this is one of the few industries where you can't do proper reference checks on someone you are hiring for employment.
2.) co-operative bidding...meaning, directors talk about their schedules and make sure they don't bid on actors at the same time in order to avoid driving up the price on an actor.
3.) agent reports. We can report on which agents are indie-friendly and treat indies with respect.

I think the Cold Zone list would be the center of this, but it could evolve into something larger...something that gives indie filmmakers the same inside information that experienced Hollywood producers have (who know the inside scoop on every agent and every major actor.)
 
I was just wondering how feasible this would be if you didn't live in a major filmmaking city (New York, L.A.). I live in Ontario, Canada, so does this mean soliciting stars is not even a remote possibility. Or should I look to actors that reside in Canada?
 
EricM said:
I was just wondering how feasible this would be if you didn't live in a major filmmaking city (New York, L.A.). I live in Ontario, Canada, so does this mean soliciting stars is not even a remote possibility. Or should I look to actors that reside in Canada?
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All it means is you'll have a few additional expenses. As long as you're willing to pay airfare and hotel accomodations then many Cold Zone celebrities should be open to your project.
 
I love the idea, but you may have an economic contradiction on your hands...

If you need to keep the subscriptions small to not let the cat out of the bag then can you really turn a profit to make it worth your while? You are describing features that would add substantial research costs to the project as well.

I think you might be better served by keeping it simple. A web access database that can query by artist profile and measures taken to prevent it from dumping out a huge list. I think I would only offer 3 month subscriptions, and advertise through word of mouth and personal references, with the occasional posting on this forum.

I'd go $400 for three month access to such a DB, especially if it listed the agent and maybe a slight discount to a casting agent. If is becomes an effective tool you could get several casting agents to sponsor it and improve your profit margin.

If you got 800 clients that subscribed once every two years, that would pan out to $160,000 a year. If it took 3 days a month to update the list (once the system is built) then that would be a pretty good pay rate indeed.


Bob
 
Prodigi Pictures said:
And only someone who doesn't understand actors, acting or directing would write off someone because they're cold. Quentin Tarantino hired Harvey Keitel and John Travolta while they were in a Cold Zone. Bruce Beresford hired... Morgan Freeman (who had only completed one major feature film after years on The Electric Company) for Driving Miss Daisy.
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While much of your information is helpful and very good, let's not confound things here.

Harvey Keitel was a producer on Reservoir Dogs, and he was part of the reason it got $1.2 million dollars to get made.

John Travolta had been doing the Look Who's Talking films just before Pulp Fiction. While they were not great films, they were doing well enough at the box office to keep getting made and attract bigger stars like Bruce Willis, Diane Keaton and Danny DeVito to B-list fare.

Morgan Freeman had done more than one film at that point. He was in Brubaker with Robert Redford, Harry & Son with Paul Newman, Teachers, That Was Then, This is Now with Emilio Estevez, and had received Oscar and Golden Globe noiminations for his work in Street Smart.

I have my eye on Freeman, since we want him for a project we are developing up here.
 
EricM said:
I was just wondering how feasible this would be if you didn't live in a major filmmaking city (New York, L.A.). I live in Ontario, Canada, so does this mean soliciting stars is not even a remote possibility. Or should I look to actors that reside in Canada?
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Are you serious?

You don't have to go far to reach actors.

Just last night, Picture Claire was on. It was set in Toronto, starred Juliette Lewis, Gina Gershon, Mickey Rourke and Keith Callum Rennie (a Canadian actor by way of England who had just been in Memento with fellow Canuck Carrie-Ann Moss). The budget was over ten million, if I recall correctly, and it was shot in locations all around the downtown...College Street, Spadina Ave, Kensington Market...

It didn't get released in cinemas due to some disagreements between the director and producer, but it was released on DVD.

You'd be surprised at the connections you can make here. A friend of the family runs a talent agncy and used to represent Moss until she became huge and moved to the U.S. He still sees talks with her from time to time as she drops in to visit when she is in town. Many big name actors started out up here, don't forget.

You even bump into actors on the street.

I once had a 30 minute conversation with Billy Connolly when I ran into him on Yonge St. I was going to school and working on John Q at the time. We chatted until a buddy arrived,...and then the three of us chatted some more. He was very laid back, and even asked me to get a message to Robert Duvall for him...but I explained that I wasn't exactly important enough to speak to Mr. Duvall directly, but I did pass it along. It didn't even enter his mind that I might not have access to Duvall...that's how regular a guy he is.

I did end up in the lunch line with Ray Liotta and we chatted a bit...nice guy. I also bumped into a buddy from High school and an aquaintance from College Street at the same time. The world can really shrink sometimes. Right after that I bumped into Anne Heche as she walked in the room...actually, she bumped into me. She is tiny, even wearing a parka. I kept seeing Duvall there, regailing the director with stories...but I didn't want to bother him. He is very animated...lively guy.

Sorry to ramble, but the point is that you can get to actors up here...and sometimes they are more approachable, since we don't hound them as much as they do in L.A or NYC.
 
Hey DeSica, who are you kidding, you know nothing worth talking about happens in the big T.O.


Ha! gotcha. Born in East York, St. Michael's hospital myself! (smart enough to leave, though - LMAO)
 
Another point is that a cold name isn't going to help your project much, especially in a small role. IMHO you need one big name actor in a major role to be able to sell your movie.

I've found out that it's very hard to get a letter of intent from actors if you don't have a personal contact.

If you want just a cold name actor, do a casting call and you may get lucky.

I agree with the advice given by prodigi -- there's a lot of valuable info there.
 
I posted too soon

I posted too soon

I'm still new to dvxuser and I'm not used to the interface. I didn't mean to ignore the other advice given.

Yes, there are a lot of ways to get name actors to be in your movie, but $$$ is the best way.

First things agents ask is: is the movie financed? "I don't want you raising money on my actor's name."

The second thing they say: "Make us an offer, then we'll decide if we want to read the script."

Ha!:nads:
 
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