AGE-CREDIT STRATIFICATION IN HOLLYWOOD

AGE-CREDIT STRATIFICATION IN HOLLYWOOD, NY & LONDON

A common misunderstanding among novice actors who arrive in Hollywood aged 18-22—a notion still relevant to those aged 22-35—is that their current volume and quality of auditions will continue unimpeded, even if they fail to book a meaningful percentage of them.

Actors who start around age 18, in particular, are often able to secure an agent at one of the mid-level agencies. For a glorious few years, they have access to a wide variety of major roles, simply because the role calls for someone 18-22 to convincingly play 15-18.

While a few "winners" (e.g., the casts of The Hunger Games or similar franchises like Divergent or Maze Runner) emerge from this period with significant credits and bookings, the great majority of those invited to audition will wrap up this phase (say, around age 25) with no significant or major credits. Typically, mid-level agencies drop talent at this age, as they are already moving on to the next crop of 18-year-old "lottery tickets." If an agency signs 100 actresses, it only needs two or three successes to justify the agencies’ activity. And to be clear: there are always hundreds of other aspiring actors arriving in Los Angeles (or New York) at age 18-22.

The truth is—and all experienced agents and managers know this—that access to roles (i.e., auditions for major projects) changes significantly with each three-to-five year increase in age. Casting directors will be reading a wide variety of talent for a role that plays 16-18. However, if the age of the character is increased to 25, the talent invited to audition will be limited to actors and actresses who have the prerequisite credits for such a role.

Increase the age of the fictional character (role) again, say to 30, and the prerequisite credits will become even more stringent. Read: if the role calls for someone 30 or above, CASTING CAN ALWAYS FIND A NAME.  ALWAYS.

The exceptions would be “last minute emergency castings or cast replacements” and “roles casting in regional markets” - the latter being effectively “invisible” or “hidden” to agents at CAA, WME and their respective clients.

Consequently, with each passing year, the aspiring newcomer (who arrived in L.A. aged 18-22 without any credits) will receive fewer and fewer major auditions. At a certain point, without any mitigating changes or differentiators, the number of so-called "major auditions" effectively drops to zero.

At that point, the actor primarily has access only to union day player roles, which casting directors are effectively forced to audition "all actors" for under union casting rules. This, however, does not mean that talent without credits have a viable chance of booking such roles, because there will always be an actor who looks "just like you" but happens to have ten or twenty entry level credits compared to your one or two credits.

The exception is if you have a "look" that is distinct and marketable and is not saturated with competing talent. Or have a special skill.