LA CASTING & CASTING NETWORKSLA CASTING & CASTINGNETWORKS.com HIDDEN FEES AND OVERPRICED AND UNREASONABLE SERVICE CHARGES LOS ANGELES California

As a Commercial Actor, I can CONFIRM this complaint. I'm a user of the system, and let's just say pricing 'leaves a whole lot to be desired'... at best, it's a useful tool that has a near lock on the Commercial acting space... at worst, its pricing is unethical / predatory / "gotcha" type fee structure. Talent are just 'forced' to use it currently in LA at least though because Commercial Casting Directors don't care about the fees Talent have to pay (which itself is a problem too).

The problem with pricing is not merely about the $50 'premier photo' charge (essentially, having your photo appear in search results and as default image). There are MANY other fees along the way to building a decent profile. It's nuts really; http://lacasting.com/frontend/act.asp?content=/frontend/act_registration.htm

The counterpoint here is that system is generally liked by Casting Directors and Agencies that use it. They don't care that the pricing is predatory. The idea that ANY system would cost e.g. even $50/yr to maintain a profile is purely overpriced. This one costs lots more... minimum $96 to register for a year, then pile tons of fees on top.

These are VERIFIED claims I know personally or have heard from other Talent and Agents:
- Fees to add content, post new photos, even CHANGE a photo add up VERY FAST. A talent can easily spend hundreds on a full profile. Hello!! I can put my entire life story on YouTube / Hulu / Facebook and other online resources entirely for free.

- LACasting / miamicasting / sfcasting / nycasting castingnetworks.com attempts to charge talent MULTIPLE times to be listed with different agencies, claiming the "agents want it that way". Entirely UNTRUE and counter-intuitive; why would agents want a third party to collect another fee for the same profile if the talent wanted another agent listed? It's purely predatory pricing - welcome to Hollywood.

- Alas, there are over 100,000 profiles in LACasting.com according to my agent in LA... the industry tends to use it and is indifferent to this overcharging that is going on; they don't care too much if the talent gets ripped off it's not their problem.

- LACasting try to 'get a lock on a market' by forcing agents and talents to use it, making them join telling them they 'have to be on the system' or will miss work. Worse, they make casting directors post their castings in the system and it actually requires agents to use only that system to see them! Suspiciously, one Casting Director in the market strongly endorses the system too, pressuring agents to get on apparently...

- LACasting told agents in Miami they needed to "hurry up and get all their talent in the system" or they would have to charge them just to be listed, trying to grab up the market. SAG apparently has some problem with this, but has been a bit diplomatic about it.

How much does it cost to offer a simple posting / casting system? I suppose a more OPEN system that Talent prefer will come along, they'll just need to tell their Agent that they prefer to use that one vs. getting ripped off for using such a simple solution. Pricing model is totally off the wall, they're just charging as much as they can and hoping nobody makes a stink about it.

Again, LACasting is legit. However, it has EXTREMELY questionable pricing model that they want to look cheap, but in the end can cost big buck$ for aspiring talent... "sorry kid you came to LA to be a star... now fork over your credit card number and start paying hefty fees first." Sad really.

The result? Agencies (many care, and have problems maintaining their talent data because of system, but don't have to pay themselves usually), Casting Directors (don't care too much / don't pay), and Talent (end up getting screwed).

Fundamentally, this is what LACasting is all about IMHO:
http://www.gotchacapitalism.com/

The only solution at the moment is for us to demand our Agent also offer a free alternative vs. endorsing this "Internet Toll along the way" model. ANY business model where you're told "you have to use that system" and it costs big money should be questioned / investigated. I've heard nowcasting.com is a decent alternative, and so is actorsacess.com... but LAcasting is used alot for Commercial work. The key to changing the bad behavior of LACasting.com and sister properties is to break the Casting Director's habit of posting their castings in one place only; they've created a real pricing monster on the other end and should wake up! I don't like paying so much for it either, just a 'necessary evil' .. keyword being evil currently in the business.