Brave New World - On-Line EPA Sign-ups

Another no-brainer.

Actors waiting at an extremely early hour in an office building lobby for said building to open up, so that they might sign-up for Equity Principal Auditions (EPAs) are mystified as to why Equity seems to be dragging its blue and white derriere when it comes to providing on-line sign ups.

 If ever there were an obvious need which could be easily met, it would seem, this is it.  Please pardon the New York City-centeredness of this post, but this is where the big problem is. EPAs generally last 7 ½ hours and have audition slots for 6 actors every twenty minutes, or 18 per hour to fill the contract requirement of 115-135 actors in a day.  

All things being equal, this provides each actor with 3.33 minutes to show him or herself in a good light.  In addition, if there is time and monitors are pro-active, they will fit alternates in when enough people have not used all of their 3.33 minutes.  With a typical monologue or 32-bar cut song taking between 1-2 minutes this usually happens.

During high season - i.e. summer stock season from late January to early April - the competition is heavy and to have ones choice of the day's appointment slots requires a pre-dawn get-up.  The timing is more critical if there are multiple calls and at different locations about the city.  On top of this comes scheduling the rest of ones life.  Some of us have full-time jobs. Some of us have to take the kids to and from school.

The benefits of signing up in your bathrobe at home and having your day planned before you walk out the door are patently clear.  Here is the down side:

Before I continue, I want you to know that I am in favor of going on-line (the internet on-line, that is).  But before we throw all to technology, we should be aware what we're trying to put in place.  With every technological advance comes new problems.  Here are some which will surface right away:

• Some members do not have access to the technology.  

For many calls, being logged on at exactly the right time will be imperative to guaranteeing a preferred audition spot. As opposed to a physical line, where members sign up in the order that they arrive, in the digital world, hundreds will "arrive" at exactly the same time and will have to vie for their spot in the virtual line. There is a large number of people who do not have smart phones (or data plans) and so cannot be on-line at will. Some do not have home computers or have spotty or no internet.  There are those, especially older members, who rely only on the public library for any internet access. One argument says that this being the modern world, one must have these tools to compete.  My mother was in the business back in the early 1950s and did not have a telephone.  This was not uncommon then. Certainly, making accommodations today for those with no telephone would seem ludicrous.  Some day everyone will have access to the web everywhere, whenever they desire, but we are not there yet.  Until the day when having personal, mobile high speed internet is commonplace, the playing field will not be a level one for actors when it comes to EPA sign-ups.

• Your competition just increased ten-fold.

With the analog version of EPAs one has to physically show up.  Inherent in this circumstance is a geographic limitation.  If one lives in Boston, a four-hour drive from New York, one would have to leave in the wee hours to sign up for an EPA in NYC.  There is a risk, that one could drive all that way, buy gas and parking and still not get an appointment.  Obviously if you have a guaranteed appointment, you might be more likely to come a greater distance, and help swell the ranks of those vying for an appointment slot.  Right now there are close to 30,000 AEA members in the Eastern region.  More than half of that number live in New York City.  A couple thousand more live within commutable distance to the city. Let's say one-fifth of this number attend EPAs.  I know NYC-based actor who will not go to an audition below 14th Street.  But, I also know actors who will fly across the country for an EPA.  If actors in Sacramento, California can obtain audition appointments in New York City, we will start seeing Golden Staters in the NYC Audition Center.  Not that Californians or Montanans or Mississippians are not welcome to NYC auditions.  This scenario will not be a daily event, given the expense of time and money, but multiply this times a couple hundred additional people vying for one of those 115-135 slots and the arithmetic is clear.

• Frivolous sign-ups and no-shows

Getting up at sunrise to audition is a serious commitment.  Obviously, those who wish to be seen for a given show or season of plays have read the breakdown and have in mind roles for which they might be a good fit. One of the reasons that EPAs have become more effective hiring tools over the past couple of decades is that actors are focusing in on giving casting directors viable choices instead of just showing up to be seen, as used to be the case when EPAs started.  For this reason, CDs are taking EPAs more seriously than ever and using the EPA system as a real tool in casting a project. Casting is entirely subjective, of course, and there are roles for which one could possibly be right, but the role may not be an exact fit.  The only way to know is to show up and audition.  Appointments on the internet increase the likelihood that an actor might not be as assiduous in his or her assessment of the role's appropriateness.  And in the virtual world of obtaining appointments, it is more likely that an actor might sign up "just in case" he or she feels like showing up.  Virtual sign ups will increase the number of actors who show up for a role that is all wrong for them, or who will sign up and not show up at all.  In either case, if one of these gets an appointment which could have gone to you - you're still out in the cold. (Maybe literally)

• Tech glitches

I am sure you do not have to be told that networks go down all the time.  If the system crashes during sign-up due to an over-loaded server which would come from too many people logged-on, there would be nothing that could be done in real time.  The sign up would have to start from scratch when the problem gets fixed.  If some how there were  glitch where the completed sign-up list goes away into the ether - nothing could be done.  We all know this situation will happen a few times, no matter how many safeguards there are in Equity's IT Department.

• Sh*t happens

We're all busy. The best laid plans get way-laid.  Auditions run long, making our appointments later in the day stack up.  Trains stop dead in tunnels.  Traffic is insane.  Assuming that on-line sign ups were in place, what procedures would there be for missed appointments?  There do come times when one misses an assigned appointment and desires to obtain a later one the same day.  With virtual sign-up it would almost be assured that all appointments would be gone before the actual call even begins.  Would there be a virtual alternate list, too?  It is possible that leaving the system to a computer could prevent human remedies to human problems that arise in a given day?  Perhaps if the alternate list were not virtual - that one must physically show up to be on it - this could be one remedy.  Signing-up virtually would make ones schedule more rigid in this case, and not less.

• Solutions

"Alright already, enough!" I hear you say, "I want on-line sign ups NOW!" One of the most important elements in getting on-line sign ups to be a reality is member involvement.  Too many policies and systems for those who attend EPAs have been imposed by those who have no experience with same.  This is where we come in.  We have to be a part of this march into new technology.  Get involved.  Join the EPA Committee, write Council, go to membership meetings.  Tell the powers that be that we want to be involved in crafting this new system.  Here are some suggestions that I would offer:

• Partial On-line slots

Until we live in a world where on-line access and speed are more equal and ubiquitous, perhaps in every block of 6 audition slots, we start out with 2 out of the 4 being on-line accessible, with the remaining 4 of the traditional variety. This might be a good get-your-feet-wet test toward the move into on-line sign-ups.  Let's start with a call that usually would not have a high turn out. As Equity gets the hang of administering the system, it could expand to more calls and maybe eventually more slots being virtual and fewer early get ups.

• Geographic Limitations

Based upon member numbers (on our Equity cards) on-line sign-ups could be limited to - say people within a 100-mile radius of New York City.  Similar limitations could be applied to the L.A. or Chicago memberships.  Outside of these groups members would be required to physically show-up.  Actors who move around could petition to be included in any of these geographical groups.

• No-show policy

Let's establish a policy aimed at those who abuse the system, where those who blow-off three or more auditions are prohibited from signing up online for 6 months.  We all have times when time and circumstance collude to make us miss appointments. There are those, though, who selfishly game the system and this policy is aimed at them.

• Bar-coded or magnetized stripe membership cards

If everyones union card could be scanned at the audition, many benefits could be in place.  If every audition monitor had a digital reader, check-in for virtual appointments would be fool-proof and instantaneous; getting bumped for late-check in would save vitriol being hurled at the monitor; all demographic information would be updated instantaneously (no more white cards!); work search records for unemployment purposes could be printed out from ones account through the Member Portal.

• Texts/Twitter/Email notifications

Many AEA members use the excellent service, Audition Update, to keep abreast of how crowded calls are, who is in the room and other info helpful to actors.  Through the above-mentioned Member Portal, ones account could be set to be notified, in real time, on ones smartphone as to the progress of alternate lists, availability of appointments, last minute changes in audition preparation, cancellations, et al.

• Archiving

It's a small business and people move around a lot.  If there were a searchable archive of EPA/ECCs, one could see who they met and on what date, thus allowing them to better keep records and be on top of their careers.

• Do ECCs NOW

All the caveats above about EPAs are, for the most part not germane to Equity Chorus Calls (ECCs) Right now, an open list is posted on the board at Equity and members sign up first-come, first-served. On the day of the call, the list is read and members receive appointments as soon as their names are called.  We could have on-line sign up for these calls today with very little effort or cost to the Association.  Just like now, the list would open at 9:30am, a week before the call. A computer terminal would be made available and members could sign up just as they always have.  (And illegible handwriting would no longer be an issue, nor would scratch-outs, repeat names or fake names like "Seymour Butts")  At the close of business, the virtual line would open and anyone could sign up from anywhere in the world.  On the day of the call the list would be read just as always.  If my dream of bar-coded cards were in place, members could swipe to check-in at a half-hour before the call just like now. Those who were not previously signed-up on line would be given appointments in the order that they checked in.  ECC virtual sign-up is something that is actually doable right now.

• ECC cards

While we're on ECCs, another element that could be streamlined is the Chorus Call Card. Right now every auditioning actor at an ECC is given a card to fill out - a mini resume, if you will - to be filled out by hand.  This is sometimes given to the auditor(s) in addition or in lieu of of a traditional photo/resume.  If there were chorus cards available in ones Member Portal account page that could be printed out, this would make every actor's presentation that much more professional and slick.  Few of us got into show business because we had good penmanship.

You probably have ideas and solutions that I didn't mention here.  What do you think?

EPAs

1560 Broadway, New York City
February 20, 2014, 7:30 am
NYC temp 18˚ F,  -7˚ C

There are approximately 80 people, mostly Equity members, some EMC, some non-union, all lined up and waiting for AEA's Audition Center to open.  At least it's warm in here.  Two years previously, before the current construction of the Equity building, we would all have been lined up along West 46th street, smelling the sickly sweet aroma of bags of restaurant garbage.  Some have coffee and bagels; some newspapers, headphones attached to iPods.  It is stock season, and we are participating in a daily ritual.  I have already figured the optimal time to schedule the auditions upstairs because in addition to these two, there are two more shows that many of us are interested in being seen for at different venues in the city.

The various types and experience levels vary like the EKG of an A-Fib patient.  There are newbies - one who literally disembarked at Port Authority Bus Terminal this morning.  One guy, a nodding acquaintance of mine for years now, has done at least four Broadway shows that I know of. There are a few former leading ladies who are in process of morphing into a new type - what ever that is.  "Type" of course, being a marketing word that agents use which does not serve the scope or depth of what we do.  Reading a paper up the line from me is a rather unremarkable looking woman who I recognize from a call yesterday.  She has a rolling drag-bag, the kind that adds to the precariousness of walking in this city.  Inside this pink coffer printed with purple flowers she has all the wherewithal to perform wonders.  Once she plies her necromancy she will morph, larva-like, into a magnificent butterfly.

The energy vampire is here.  He talks endlessly and seems to suck all the life and concentration out of the room.  He knows everything and wants to tell you about it.  There are at least a dozen that I have worked with personally.  To see a cross section of the acting community in New York, come have coffee with us here one early morning.

I have been going to EPAs literally for decades.  Like many here, I have my arsenal at the ready.  I have around 30 speeches of varying lengths from 20 seconds to two minutes that I keep well-oiled.  I have as many 16-32 bar cuts in my book of songs that I stay up on.  I can pretty well jump into any EPA, tailor my material toward the role that might be right for me, and present myself well.  This is a skill set that I have honed over many years.

EPAs scare some of us.  And not everyone has or wants to develop this type of EPA skill set.  There is nothing lacking in them.  We simply approach EPAs differently.  I am not necessarily a better actor just in this case, more adaptable vis-a-vis these types of auditions.  Some feel uncomfortable about "not being invited to the party" as one is in an agent appointment audition.  The feeling there is that at an agent audition, someone in a position of hiring has picked you.  EPAs smack of ones being pushy and insinuating oneself upon the casting director.

That's right - decades of EPAs.  

Equity Principal Auditions (EPAs) were started to provide access for the many actors who do not have agent representation, though there are many represented actors here.  All Equity agreements have mandated EPAs.  Being required, people ask, are they not taken seriously by the auditors?  Do they not resent being here - a resentment which sets them immediately at an adversarial relationship with whomever comes before them? Not according to Tara Rubin, Bernie Telsey and James Calleri in a recent edition of Theatre Talk where they discuss how much they rely on EPAs.

It's not necessarily a one-for-one proposition. Getting the job for which you audition is not the only possible outcome of an EPA.   Some CDs do all their casting from these calls.  Some less.  Very often, EPAs are but one arrow in the casting director's quiver.  Very often they are used as screening auditions.  Think on it:  A casting director, who is doing what we're doing, (i.e. going from job to job) is paid to bring to his or her bosses some possible candidates for a role.  These actors must be right for the role and pleasant to work with.  (The latter often being more important than the former.)  Bringing someone in who is neither will make this the last job this CD does for this producer.  So if a casting director does not know you, an EPA can serve as a first date, so to speak, and if it goes well - perhaps a second.  The casting director puts trust in the actor that that actor will make the CD look good.

Most casting directors have hundreds of actors rolling around in their brains.  Getting to the top of his or her mind is the trick.  So, your agent did not get you an audition for this play.  Your attendance at the EPA might jog the CD's memory enough to get you called in to a subsequent audition. Very often I have been called in for an unrelated project because I had met or re-met a CD at an EPA for something else. Every theatre CD in New York at least knows my name, and many because I had initial contact at an EPA.

I find this preferable to paying for a "class," which puts the casting director in the position of teaching me as a "student."  With an EPA, we are on an even plane.  There are many casting directors who teach great classes and are both knowledgeable as well as excellent teachers.  There are informative and valuable seminars, classes and one-on-ones.  But if you are trying just to get access, go to an EPA.

Two sugars

"Who's in there?" is a frequent question among actors at EPAs. Many are angry that after waking up early, waiting in line, warming up and preparing for an audition they enter the room and only to find the coffee boy sitting behind the table.  Most of our contracts say that EPAs...

"...shall be conducted by the director and/or Producer (or designated representative); any such representative shall have the authority to set up a subsequent audition and to share in casting recommendations..." 
     --- AEA Off-Broadway Contract, Rule 4 (D) (12)

There's the rub - casting authority.  We all know that sometimes we do, in fact, get the coffee girl or boy to audition for.  But I can enumerate any number of big time CDs who were, once upon a time, assistants to the assistant. Though I may be thrust into a state of high dudgeon at such an occurrence, it's a small business and casting personnel migrate from job to job and though my audition may be between coffee runs today, I am making an impression that might pay off down the line.

EPAs are not for everyone.  For some, these calls are too frenetic; too crowded. There are also those who have never been to an EPA due to some perceived idea that those who attend these calls are inexperienced, boorish, low-class or other epithets.  Not all who go to EPAs are unrepresented, either.  Some signed clients of agencies use EPAs, too.  Agents don't always submit us for things that we are perfect for, or do not realize that something in our experience and talent could give us an upper hand in a given role.  Some agents don't have clout with certain casting directors.

EPAs have improved over the years.  There are two main reasons for this: Equity has been enforcing the EPA clauses in the contracts and AEA members have been upping their game and showing up prepared, professional and for the appropriate roles.

If you have not been taking advantage of this marvelous opportunity - I urge you to.  People are getting work.