UPDATE – 9 May 2024
PROACTIVE PROFILE UPDATES:
Please inform us proactively if you have updated photos or changed your showreel and your former link is deactivated. We have noticed that some talents have updated their profiles without notifying us, which leads to missing important information. Therefore, please keep us in the loop.
SPOTLIGHT vs IMDB:
Spotlight, the most prominent casting platform in the UK and EU, has recently updated its search engine. This update allows producers and casting teams to search for profiles that match specific character requirements, making it easier to find actors with specific looks, languages, genres, nationalities, age groups, and more. We highly recommend that every actor with a good credited role creates a profile on Spotlight and invests in a membership.
IMDB is not a casting platform but an international information platform. Distributors or productions place actors on IMDB. It’s recommended that actors with 2-3+ credited roles in professional productions get a PRO account on IMDB.
UPDATE – 4 February 2024
IVORY TIMES:
We are there for you 24/7, but please be reminded that we also need our well-deserved OFF times. These are our work hours:
Weekdays: 10:00 – 15:00 . 15:00 – 20:00 . 23:00 – 1:00 (US Casting time – only reachable for emergencies)
Saturdays: 14:00 – 16:00
Sundays: 18:00 – 20:00 (Selftape deadlines)
We prefer no WHATSAPPS coming in after 20:00 (8 PM) on weekdays and none during the weekend. (Emails are fine) – EXCEPTIONS are:
– Casting audition deadlines for the next day (and weekends for Monday deadlines).
– Talents on set.
– Essential inquiries that we cannot clarify during busy weekdays.
We handle REELS and HEADSHOT concerns on weekends. Please expect a delay if you contact us during the week.
ROSTER FULL
We receive many emails each day from actors who are interested in joining IVORY, some of which you have recommended. However, please note that we have closed our portfolio for this year and need to prioritize our attention on YOU.
UPDATE – 22 January 2024
Whoever doesn’t have their profile in FILMMAKERS, E-TALENTA, or CREW UNITED, please sign up and attach IVORY PRODUCTION to your profile. Feel free to let us know if you need any help :).
We can submit those talents privately without a SPOTLIGHT profile (every minor for sure!), but let us inform you that some casting directors do not accept private Emails for certain castings.
UPDATE – 8 January 2024
PRIORITISED SUBMISSIONS:
We work 24/7 to find you the best castings worldwide. Therefore, we will focus mainly on our talents with IVORY as our mother agency.
We are referring to talents with double representation in Spain, the UK, and some parts of the USA (and, of course, having double reps in Spotlight).
Please understand that it is discouraging to submit some talents for castings and then see them on a job we had presented them for in the first place.
Of course, we will still represent you externally but will prioritise all talents exclusive with IVORY.
SPOTLIGHT:
A) Adult talents who do not have a Spotlight profile but fit a character in an international project placed into Spotlight will not be submitted directly but privately when the same casting breakdowns come into our inbox.
We have exceptions for talents starting to act without any credits (or just 1-2). And for minors.
B) Once in Spotlight:
1. please decide on no more than five photos! Casting directors are confused when viewing too many profile shots (NATURAL headshots are the best! For fiction projects: No make-up, not even mascara, girls)
2. you will need a GOOD enough REEL. 2-3 scenes are ok, but please make sure they are unique and strong – just YOU, no other actors.
Casting directors will not ask you to selftape or live audition without a REEL.
We aim to find everyone castings, but some profiles have been complex to submit. It may be your age group or your looks; one never knows: there could suddenly be just one role that only fits you. You may think there is a genre for you, and you are right: somewhere. Please be aware that we look into every corner!
Be patient, please. And we will always be honest if we need you to change certain things.
For some actors waiting for bookings, we recommend finding another (side) job that at least semi-fulfils and feeds you and trying to combine your awesomeness of being an actress/actor with that other job until you are up there.
SELFTAPE UPLOAD SIZES:
Please do not continue to upload casting videos as heavy files. In the last few days, we again received uploads that exceed 500MB….
100-150 MB – MAX, PLEASE.
You can easily record in 1080 (not 4K), and then some Apps convert your videos into small sizes and keep the resolution. Just search for a video converter. A good one to use for iPhones is FOCUS VIDEO.
SIGHTING ALTERNATIVE CASTINGS:
We welcome casting breakdowns as screenshots you see privately when you think we may not get them ourselves. This often happens when a casting breakdown comes from a minor casting team or smaller provinces of Spain or any region in the EU, UK or US.
POST AUDITIONS:
Sadly, some Casting teams do not get back to agencies after you have auditioned for a role (lead roles included).
Some actors continuously ask us if casting teams have gotten back to us after auditions. We promise to get back to you ASAP when we hear back from the casting director or production, and we are usually in contact with them for some other projects, but do not (and will not) ask them how they liked your tape.
Sadly, agents usually do not get feedback when auditioning for more minor roles, not even if you were optioned/pencilled.
Commercial Castings – there has NEVER been any feedback, only if you are optioned/pencilled.
We aim to change this mindset of casting teams!!!
MESSAGES:
We still receive WhatsApp messages as several texts and loud beeps becoming a bit irritating.
Please try to sum them up as ONE, and be reminded that we have at least 30-50 WhatsApp messages open per day.
UPDATE – 5 December
NEW WEBSITE + ONE PHOTO
We have been in a few Zoom meetings with casting and production professionals worldwide and have concluded that an actor’s profile in an agency platform only needs ONE – TWO headshots (unlike model websites).
This headshot will be pure YOU. It should continually be updated depending on your visual change (but your face remains your face, so that’s what one wants to see).
On our new website, casting directors and producers can view your profile photo (in HR!), maybe two or three other photos) your name, and one REEL! If you don’t have a good enough Reel (NO NEED TO PLACE SCENES WITH PROMINENT ACTORS, this Reel is about YOU!) you will most likely not be asked to selfape much unless we push you with clips. However, we encourage you to keep your Reel professional, short and informative.
If a CD or producer is interested, they will contact us directly for a Sedcard (which we always use for submitting you).
We would also like to place your social media in your profile.
Prominent talent agencies have changed their websites accordingly (not Spanish agencies yet). Have a look at the big ones.
HEADSHOT SELECTION
After you head to a new photo session, in the future, please only send us a maximum of 10-20 headshots for new selections.
In the past, we received 40 – 600 photos in one folder. And maybe in that selection, there are only four actors’ headshots. We are sure that you feel which photos best fit your character.
Remember that a headshot is just your face and expression. (Girls, please use minimal makeup.)
WEEKENDS
Since we work 24/7 (including nights and weekends) to keep IVORY going and to not miss out on anything important that needs to be addressed, we kindly ask you not to WhatsApp/call us anymore during weekends or international holidays, UNLESS you are on set or are casting for deadlines, we are, of course, available at all times.
Or for those that have something important to ask, of course.
IN-PERSON MEETINGS
We are focussing on your careers and want to put our precious time into finding you castings and booked jobs; therefore, it will be difficult for us to meet you in private in the future when you are around Barcelona. Even though we love seeing you live, we automatically neglect other tasks. Time is precious; you are precious!
If we have not met up in person yet, it is, of course, necessary to schedule a first meeting ????
Zoom is still preferred to clarify specific contracts or other important issues. And WhatsApp voice notes are always welcome, even if as podcasts.. ????
SELFTAPING
We still receive self-tapes that need better light, audio or backdrops. If you cannot record your tapes correctly, take advantage of IVORY being a family and text/call one of our talents to help out.
SPOTLIGHT PROFILE
Many Casting teams request Spotlight submissions; therefore, we will request a few actors with an international profile, age 20+, to have a profile in SPOTLIGHT as of 2024. Please ask us for contacts (EU-based actors do not have to pay UK tax and can clarify with Spotlight via phone or Email)
Update: 19 Oct 2023
SLOW CASTING CALLS
In the past few days, inquiries came in quite often from a few actors who haven’t gotten any casting requests lately. Please let us remind you that we submit you ALWAYS when a character fits.
We are working nonstop to find auditions for you, wherever the production may film, from the smallest budgets to high-budgeted productions. Located in Spain or any parts of the EU, the UK, Canada, and the US.
You chose this line of work because you love it, and we love it with you in it! However, remember that it has its waves.
Some of our talents suddenly have a lot of castings and bookings, and we are all working non-stop, signing new contracts, etc.. Others have nothing coming in or are waiting to hear back from cast directors they had auditioned for. Sadly, mostly all CDs do not send us their feedback. We understand your frustration, but we can do only so much.
Please hang in there, don’t lose hope, continue to work on yourself, socialise with others in our industry, and join their classes, online or live. Anything that can help you flourish.
But: BELIEVE!
PS Talents with double or triple representation; sadly, we cannot submit for many jobs.
Update: 16 Oct 2023
CELEBRATIONS
IVORY is on fire, and we are grateful to all of you for believing in your DREAM and hanging in there!
Last month, we had over 10 bookings for lead- and supporting lead roles in fiction productions internationally and mostly everyone that auditioned for roles had been “pencilled”.
Last week alone, we celebrated seven new lead roles for different international projects. Amazingly overwhelming!
Please know we do not forget ANYONE; we continue to submit day and night.
SELFTAPING & DEADLINES!
We only send out professional material from IVORY. We often receive some of your Selftapes at the last minute, and then they arrive in our folders very unprofessionally. We will no longer have time to edit them for you if they come in late. Please, therefore, always watch specific criteria:
- No video can exceed a file size of 150 MB (sometimes CDs ask for up to 100 MB versions). We will not have the time to export your videos into smaller sizes.
- Sometimes, your framing is not correctly filmed or edited, or your focus point (slightly off the lens!) is way off the norm. We will not have time to re-edit your videos anymore.
- Often, your audio is too low in volume (or your reader is louder, the background sound is too loud, or you don’t have a reader). We will not be able to send off unprofessional videos anymore in the future.
- Slates/Presentations/Idents: Please refer to IVORY, not Ivory casting/production.
- For ADVERTISEMENTS: Casting directors usually require you to fill out forms with questions we cannot answer for you. Therefore, please always upload your selftapes yourself.
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR VIDEOS ARE 150% ready for send-off!
REELS (creating and updating)
We have Sedcards for all of you and send them off with your links when submitting for castings (usually IG and REEL). If you change your REEL links, please get in touch with us proactively so we can re-arrange your NEW link. If you have a REEL in VIMEO, it is easier to keep that link going forever (rather than YouTube) ????
When submitting you for fiction, casting directors accept profile photos (good headshots) without Reels if you attempt acting; however, they will always ask for clips.
For those that don’t have anything to show, please record short scenes of GOOD enough quality so that we can send them when we submit them.
This CASTINGS Info Page has become quite a task to update; We have therefore stopped posting our Castings.
IG
When on set or anything related to a job booked, please don’t forget to mention Casting Directors in your posts now and then.
– Be reminded that the procedure of having you booked starts with IVORY submitting you, constant pushes from our side and CASTING TEAMS believing in you.
– Usually, actors tag producers and the crew, but they get jobs BECAUSE of you, not FOR you. Please keep that in mind.
If you post something where IVORY is involved, it would be lovely if you tag us as well. We are still small in IG and would love some more movement.
– It’s the same with placing us as your primary agency in your profile so that CDs and producers know who reps you.
We are so very grateful and proud of you and everything happening around us.
Thank you for your work and trust in our precious family.
Team IVORY – creating dreams!