The only competitor he could not buy was LA Casting, which today deals mostly with commercials. (Because of this, among other reasons, Marsh is both one of the most highly respected and most divisive people in the industry). Today, Marsh effectively has a monopoly on the entire industry’s process of actor submissions because he was able to buy every other competitor to Breakdown Services, from Showfax to Screenplay Online. Since every agency has its own “grid,” Breakdown’s is rarely used. Grid: Breakdown’s newest product, which lists information on different projects.Casting About: A listing of casting directors, their contact information, and current projects that is used by agents and managers.Screenplay Online: Used by agents and managers, where they have to buy the scripts, if listed, to pass along to actors for auditions.Sides: Has materials that actors use to audition, such as parts of scripts for posted roles.

Actors then use Actors Access to view these roles. Breakdown Express: Used by casting directors, agents, and managers to post roles and projects they need to cast.Today, Breakdown Services includes the following: The black market breakdowns became obsolete: some are still out there but they have no legitimacy. With the internet, however, Marsh changed the game. He would eventually win but not completely the people that were selling the black market breakdowns just got a slap on the wrist and were able to do it again. Before the internet came along, Gary Marsh, founder of Actors Access and Breakdown Services, had been battling for years with actors in court for selling his Breakdown Services in the black market. Don’t be deceived into thinking more is better.Īctors Access goes hand-in-hand with Breakdown Services, both of which were founded by Gary Marsh in the 1990s. The more pictures you have, the more likely they will choose the wrong ones in your submissions. Think about it: they may have hundreds of clients to submit work for. In fact, more than four photos may only confuse your representatives. One that’s different from the rest and shows off your look.The truth is you should have no more than four photos in your file: Yet this idea-the more photos you have up there, the better your chances are for landing a gig-is a lie. For example, the first two photos of an actor’s profile are free, and then Actors Access charges $10 for each after. There’s also Actors Access plus, which costs $68 per year.Īctors Access promotes adding as much material to your profile as possible with the intention of making you pay more than you need to. They have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and they all have to pay to upload pictures, clips, demos, slates, and submissions separately. You can see how they have implemented so many ways to make money within the platform. Most of what you find are short films, student films, independent films, and other low-profile projects that working actors would not go for. At first, this may not seem like much-for new actors, why not submit to a few projects to try and build your resume? Yet these charges do add up over time and can lead to hundreds of dollars lost on the platform.īasically, actors are getting crumbs on Actors Access. Those using Actors Access have to pay $3 for each submission. Actors can also add two photos of themselves for free.

They can upload demos, slates (short videos introducing themselves), resumes, and size cards. In this post, I’ll break down exactly what those are.Īfter actors sign up, they create a profile with some basic information.

As with every platform in the industry, however, Actors Access serves a purpose. Rarely is Actors Access used by established actors to find roles. Yet, it’s very important to understand that Actors Access has significant limitations. For those new to the industry, Actors Access can seem like a great way to get their career started. The platform is one of the few out there of its kind: a place where actors can submit for roles without the need for representation from agents. Every actor and actress has heard of Actors Access at some point or has even used it themselves.

Actor access