There are many scams in the film industry. People take advantage of desperate actors and filmmakers who want their promises to be true. Some of the likely scams are:
- Any agency that requires you to pay a fee. Agencies make a percentage of the work you book. 10% for union and 20% for non-union are the industry standard.
- Any agency that guarantees work. No one can guaranty you get work. Not possible.
- Facebook posts that are hiring crew for major movie companies. Miramax, HBO, Paramount, etc do not hire through facebook posts.
These are just a few, but there are more and others pop up regularly.
Non Scam, Scams
There are other things that I consider scams, but they are not called scams and are “normal” in this industry.
No budget and low budget filmmakers that tell you that the film they are making are the next big thing. Most low budget and no budget films will not make money. If they are seen, it’ll usually be on Tubi or Amazon Prime and it will only be seen by friends and family of the people who worked on the film. Movies who are seen by the masses have marketing budgets. Take these projects with a grain of salt. They are just for experience, a resume builder and potentially some footage for your reel.
Deferred payment. As mentioned above, most films with no or low budgets will lose money. Backend profits will be non-existent and you won’t make a dime.
Getting IMDb credit for background work. Credit for background work is usually listed as uncredited. At least it is supposed to be. Background work never goes on your resume and casting directors and talent agencies don’t care about background work. The only benefit is it’s something to show off to your friends. And while we are on the subject, you can’t get IMDb credit for theater work. I’ve seen a couple of posts that offered it, but it’s not a thing.
Nationwide casting calls that want you to work as a local hire. I get local hire only casting calls all the time, but they are usually from my manager (based in CA) and my agency in STL. If the project will make me money after my costs for travel and boarding, I will absolutely do the project. Nationwide casting calls should always pay for travel and boarding.
Anyone that tells you they can help you book more. I took a self tape auditioning class and I loved it. I found it helpful and I think it made my self taping abilities and auditions better. But there was no promise of me booking more. Booking has so many factors outside of acting, things you can’t control and can’t change. Anyone who says they can help you book more are full of shit.
And while we are on the subject, I saw a post a few months back of a guy who was promoting himself with exactly this promise. I looked him up and found he had only two credits from the 1990s. My question to him would be, if you can’t book yourself, how can you help others book more?
Simon Shih 