Grasshopper, what we’re talking about today could kill your career before it even has a chance to get off the ground…
It could also be the thing that launches your career to levels you never imagined were possible.
The topic of today’s special report has been around a long time but most of the industry is still unaware of it. There have been rumors but nothing has been verified publicly.
You won’t hear about this from the union, or even from your agent (that has your best interest at heart).
Here’s why.
I’ve thought long and hard about how to say this tactfully, but I can’t think of a way so I’ll just come out and say it…
If your agent hasn’t told you about this yet, they may not be big enough players in the industry.
If your peers aren’t talking about this with you, then it may be time to consider a new circle of people that match your goals.
The industry is pretty tight lipped about this and with good reason. If it became “public knowledge” pandemonium would ensue. People would feel discriminated against, they might even feel belittled by the information that the industry has gathered.
I’m not intending to drag this out for the sake of theatrics.
I just wanted to give you some background as to why you may not have been in the know thus far.
I’m talking about your Castability Index.
Rumors of this have been floating around the industry for a long time and with good reason: it happens to exist.
You may have even heard traces of it around town, such as “X agent won’t even consider you if your IMDb STARmeter is above 20K.”
Perhaps, you have known people in casting that let you in on the casting criteria for the productions they’ve worked on.
Those are pieces of the Castabiity Index. The number of people that know exactly what goes into the castability index can be counted on one hand.
Before we get into what goes into your index (and yes, you have an index even if you’re brand new to the industry), let’s go over what it is.
Simply stated, the Castability Index is the industry’s attempt at systematizing casting decisions. It is a numerical value that is assigned to you and it is aimed at advising Casting Directors as to whether or not you should be considered for a particular production.
One of my favorite people in the industry, Cheryl, is very old school and all but disregards the index unless she is pushed into it by her superiors. However, she mentioned that almost every one of her colleagues completely disregard every actor with a castability index below 75.
They won’t even look at their headshot or even skim the resume. A simple click of the mouse eliminates those actors from the running altogether.
This is why it can’t be made public.
Agents would be upset that their clients never even had a chance. Actors of course would be upset that their fate was decided by a computer that has no way of even gauging their talent.
See, the industry has evolved. Perhaps a bit too much.
I’ve seen many emails over the last couple of weeks from actors expressing their frustration about this very thing: talent seems to kind of be taking a back seat to other things.
Your Castability Index is made up of public perception [of you], the public’s likely acceptance of you in the role being cast, the likelihood of you being a profit center in the role being cast, the relational capital you may bring to the production, and many other factors. These are the main ones that are weighted the most heavily, when calculating your Castability Index.
See, when George Clooney earns $20 Million for a film, it’s because the studio expects that having him attached to the film will produce $40 Million or more at the box office.
While that’s an extreme example, they are doing the same with everyone (even one liners that may only be on set for one day).
Let’s assume that you would be paid $1,000 for a role on a production. The castability index will favor you over someone else if it determines that you could potentially sell $2,000 worth of tickets while your peers may only have the potential to sell a couple hundred dollars worth. More on that in a bit.
It will also favor you, if it determines that your “public perception” is better aligned with the production. To determine this they take a reading of your social media, amongst other things.
While I’m not in the practice of telling anyone what to do, ever, I know that your Castability Index will be impacted by things like an extreme political leaning (whether it’s left or right) and the support or renunciation of key issues.
The truth is, let’s assume the country is split exactly 50-50 left and right politically. If you lean hard one way and shout about it all over social media, you’re alienating half of your potential audience.
The way the studio sees it is that you are eliminating half of their potential profit center. The folks that you see doing this have already built a platform that is indestructible.
Chris Pratt’s career will not suffer nor would Robert DeNiro’s if they alienate a few people.
These are actors that have more work available to them than they can handle. When you are in the career building phase, you have to take a different approach.
You have to maximize your chances of being cast. That means you have to play the odds and play the game well.
So take the key factors that I shared here in this special report and use them.
Start by asking yourself how you might measure up against the competition.
How is your social media standing? That’s how your profitability to a production is determined (X number followers=X number of tickets sold or viewers tuning in live)
What does your platform think of you?
What does the industry think of you? The lower your STARmeter, the better.
These 3 factors make up most of your Castability Index. Everything else kind of stems from this and is weighted accordingly.
So if your IMDb doesn’t match your goals, here’s a quick fix for that.
How does your social media standing measure up to your competition?
If you feel that you could use some improvement in that department too, here’s how I can help with that.
Focus on the key things that I have mentioned here and you may end up in a better casting position than ever. Don’t worry about the minutiae and I’ll be sure to…
See you at the top,
Scott