Advice from a Casting Director to aspiring Actors/Entertainers and Writers

 This as you can see is David Cassidy a collegue and a long time friend, David's father  the late Jack Cassidy was also a great friend of mine and my families too! David is a consummate professional and always fun to work with, although he really does like his "privacy"!

As you can see this is Michael Douglas and Kathleen  Turner in a still taken when we filmed Romancing the Stone! They are long time acquaintances of mine, and although a very nice man, Michael can be quite demanding! Kathleen Turner is a real gem of a person and has a great deal of compassion for everyone, really cares about life and all people!

 The Partridge Family, Shirley Jone's was actually David Cassidy's real life Stepmother! 

 This is Jeff Chamberlain a good friend and former neighbor, great actor and model too!

David Cassidy, We took this shot at the Talk of The Town  Restaurant in London England,back in the 70's.

 This is David Cassidy riding at the Sunset Ranch in the Hollywood Hills about 1 mile west of the famous  'Hollywood" sign in the Hollywood Hills. This was taken in May of 1977

Hi everyone,I'm Anderson Lomarca a Professional Motion Picture and Television Commercial Casting Director.

I am writing this Blog in hopes of saving aspiring Actors/Entertainers/ Models and Writers from many different kinds of unscrupulous people that are found everywhere in all capacities of our beloved Entertainment Industry.

First a quick note about myself.I grew up on the back lots of several different Movie Studios in and around Hollywood back in it's glory days as my Grandfather and some of my Uncles were either Directors,Producers, Film Editors or Franchised Agents of the Screen Actors Guild.

I always loved being around Film making and Live Entertainment so naturally I followed my families lead and got into the business too!

I specialize in the Casting of Television Commercials and Print Modeling Advertisements but have worked on many Major Films and Television Series over the past 30+ years that I have been in the business!

I recently relocated to Las Vegas where I work for an Independent Production Company and I created a new Television Series that we have been producing over the past 6 months about Missing Persons. There are so many missing people in every state in the country and many families need all of our help in locating these missing people! 

I intend to make this show as interactive for the viewers as possible and at this point in time I and my crew fly all over the country searching for missing people and I also do the interviews!

I write under the Pseudonym Anderson Lomarca thus allowing me to keep some privacy in my life and I also Cast under several different Pseudonyms as well.

I wrote this Blog especially for those of you who are just starting out in the film and television industries who want to Act or Model or perhaps Write!

Because there is so much BS in Hollywood and the Film Industry everywhere, I would like to try to streamline the getting work process for all of you who are seriously interested in working in the Film & Television Industries.

The first thing you need to do after honing your craft be it Acting , Modeling, Performing, or Writing is to join AFTRA, that's an acronym for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

This is a theatrical Union that has an open door policy which allows anyone interested in show business to join. After filling out some basic initiation forms and paying their $1,600 dollar membership fee you're in!

There are also dues that have to be paid annually to AFTRA they can be paid in a lump Sum or be paid in quarterly installments.

Now the reason you want to join AFTRA as soon as possible is once you acquire their Union card you can seek out legal representation from a Franchised Agent of the Screen Actors Guild. This is a must have.Without this or any other theatrical Union affiliation you can only apply for work in non union film and television productions and there aren't a whole lot of them around these days!

Also it is illegal for a Franchised Agent of the Screen Actors Guild to represent anyone without a Union Card

and it is also illegal for Casting Directors to interview non Union actors for union film and television roles.

There are 3 Entertainment Unions in the film Industry.

1.The Screen Actors Guild commonly known as (SAG) this is the most powerful actors union in the industry.

2.The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA)

3. Actors Equity

All of these Unions are AFL-CIO Affiliates.

Also I wrote this Blog to make people aware of all the Scammers especially the 2 most prevalent and so common it's almost unbelievable!

Never pay anyone money that claims to be an Agent or a Personal Manager to get you work in the film or television industries.Or to get you an interview with a Casting Director who can grant you work in Films, Commercials,Videos,Theatrical Productions etc..

Franchised Agents from the Screen Actors Guild work on a percentage basis only, that means if they get you a job in a film or anything they will get a percentage of your earnings, usually 10 to 25% , every gig is different.

There is no such thing as a "retainer fee" with any real Agents.

However Scammers will often have really nice offices with pictures of famous people they have met at parties or wherever and display them so that prospective clients think, wow, he/she is a friend with "whoever"!

One of the biggest and most common scams in Hollywood and the film Industry anywhere is those that are perpetrated by people claiming to be Personal Managers, They run ads claiming they can help you get work in the Industry and will be your personal manager, many people fall for this and they charge a lot of money, up front of course! Most of these Personal Management Companies are legitimate businesses.

Bear in mind that Personal Managers are for well established professionals who are so busy they need a manager to help them with countless things in their professional as well as in their personal lives!

With that being stated it should be clear that if your just starting out you don't need a personal manager, only those who are well established in the film,television, or music industries will ever need a personal manager.

Another expensive scam Personal Managers do is to refer actors/models to photographers for Head shots or a complete Portfolio. The personal manager and the photographer split the photographers fee, usually on a 60/40 percentage basis with the photographer getting the 60%.

 Professional photographers are quite expensive. There are countless Freelance photographers that take beautiful photographs who can shoot all the Head shots you'll ever need or a composite for your resume or a complete portfolio at a reasonable price,like anything else you have to shop around, seek and you shall find!

Be advised that it is illegal for a Franchised Agent of the Screen Actors Guild or Casting Director to refer you to photographers!

Now another trip that has always been around the Casting Offices and will always be, is the Casting Couch.

Many of you will be offered work in Film or Television or a Play or whatever in exchange for Sex, all I can say on this matter is that you are an adult and have to make your own decisions, and will have to live with whatever the consequences might be!

Hollywood's Film and Music Industry and the Entertainment Industry in general everywhere are very social businesses with countless parties daily, and often times partying with the right people can open a lot of the right doors, But one must be aware of who they are partying with,because there are a lot of Scammers out there claiming to be a lot of people that they are not!

Also be yourself when you go to an interview, but do your best to get into the character of the role you're reading for. Be nice and respectful, but don't be a kiss ass!

Always remember to not be afraid to be original, invent and create yourself into a persona bigger than life.

This kind of person makes it more often than not because they are not sitting around waiting fro someone to grant them permission to try to be whoever they want to be, they just become it! They act the part, they dress the part, they talk and walk the part of the persona they created for themselves!

You see they had the guts and the talent to be different and really stand out, take a chance,reinvent yourself!

No matter what never ever let anyone stomp on your dream of becoming a working actor, just think of the role your going to read for as you would any other job, someone has to fill that position, why not let it be you!

Keep in mind the old cliche, nothing ventured , nothing gained!

Also be leery of Agents who call you often on a social basis and want you to help them clean their offices. homes, pick up their brats from school, do their yard work because they're to busy partying big time,seriously this happens all the time, don't let yourself fall into that category, it will get you nowhere fast!

Now just a short quip for those of you ingenious people who will be writers and create wonderful things for us to read and to view , once what you have written gets produced into a viewing format!

Be aware of the Writers Guild Of America, this is a major Union for Professional Writers, in order to be eligible for membership you must have written something that was bought and published by a Union affiliated Publisher or Studio that made you a professional writer.

The Writer's Guild of America is also for the freelance Writer in the sense that if you write Scripts , Treatments, Novels or any kind of Text that you need to protect, you can go get it registered at the Writers Guild of America West in Los Angeles or East in New York. There is a fee of about $18 dollars to register a script or any thing else basically for non members.

Be advised that anything you take to be registered at the Writers Guild, no one at the Writers Guild is going to read anything you wrote, they will take what you submit to them and put it into a proper sized envelope and stamp it with their electronic time stamp and then seal the envelope and stamp it with an adhesive seal that says "Writers Guild of America' on it.

 That seal will be placed over the flap of the envelope and then your script or whatever you registered will be filed away, you will also be given a computer printed receipt from them.

I n the event that you ever enter into any kind of litigation and have to prove when you authored whatever, you go back to the Writers Guild and get your registered copy to take to court with you, and remember only the Judge in a court of Law can break that seal from the Writers guild, never open it yourself!

Having your written materials registered with the Writers Guild is a great way of protecting yourself from being ripped off by Studios and Publishers alike!

Also I would now like to bring to your attention another theatrical Union, this one is known as (SEG) which is an acronym for the Screen Extras Guild, this is a Union solely for Atmospheric Background people better known as movie "Extras", members of this Union never have any dialog in films or any other productions that they appear in,

Professional Extras can earn a very decent living and getting into this Union is more difficult than getting into some of the others as they have a membership quota, thus enabling there members to have steady year round employment!

Well,thanks for reading my Blog, if I enlightened just one person and saved them from getting scammed, it was worth writing!

You may email me at andersonlomarca@gmail.com

Kind Regards to All.

Anderson Lomarca