Whether you’re already a master of your craft or you’re still learning, events and workshops are a great way to add some new skills to your repertoire.
Here we’ve rounded up 4 events happening in November for actors:
YouTube is a great tool for learning new things, getting the inside scoop on your industry and finding out what’s going on with your fellow actors.
Whether you yourself have a YouTube channel or not, you should make the most of it. So we’ve rounded up 3 great channels that’ll get you started into your YouTube foray.
1. Backstage
Backstage has over 50k subscribers already – and it’s easy to see why. With a selection of acting tips, insider info from casting directors and one-on-ones with agents, you can spend days going down this rabbit hole of information.
Just keep a notepad and pen at the ready to jot down any great new ideas!
2. Tips on Acting
Run by Amy Jo Berman, who spent 20 years as a casting director and former VP of casting at HBO, she posts videos that answer a whole bunch of questions from the wider acting community.
Her mission is to take the “struggling” out of “struggling actor” – if that sounds good to you, you can find her channel below!
3. Act on This – The TV Actor’s Network
This YouTube channel is run by Ross Grant, a very enthusiastic Brit who has pulled together an online community of TV actors and populates his Vlog with a series of videos on what you need to know about the acting business and how to pay your bills using acting (and just acting!)
A bit of a newer blog, but with over 1k subscribers already, surely one to watch!
Happy watching!
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
As an actor, chances are you’re already either thinking about booking jobs, searching for jobs to book or actually booking jobs.
Regardless of which stage you are in the process, we’ve rounded up 4 websites that you need to keep in your bookmarked folders at all times.
These websites list free casting calls that you can come along to without necessarily needing agent representation.
And whilst, yes, that means there might be some stiff competition – it’s nothing you can’t handle.
So let’s dive in shall we?
Membership: £150 a year
A list of casting websites wouldn’t be complete without Spotlight holding the Number 1 spot.
Generally speaking to book jobs in the UK you need to be a member of either Equity, the actor’s union, or Spotlight. It’s not a pre-requisite, but it’ll certainly get you taken more seriously when you’re giving it your best to the casting director.
Spotlight is the home of casting in the UK. Big productions like Episodes and House of Cards used Spotlight to book their talent.
So keep that in your number 1 spot.
Membership: £100 a year (6 months free here)
Backstage requires you to be a member, but it posts casting calls from all over the world. You can, of course, narrow your fields down (unless you’re willing to hop a flight to LA as and when) and it also boasts “over 6,000 industry jobs” for you to take a gander at.
Create your talent profile, network with fellow professionals, get email updates about upcoming roles and auditions and apply to casting calls quickly, all through their online portal.
(Free registration, paid memberships too)
Mandy Actors (formerly CastingCall Pro) is a leading casting website in the UK . Find and apply for acting jobs, create your own portfolio; showcase your skills and get noticed!
Just like the others you’ll receive casting notifications to your inbox, but you can also create your own website through the website (which includes hosting) which is pretty cool!
(Free registration)
The Stage features the latest film, TV and theatre auditions. The Stage Castings is packed with auditions and casting opportunities for anyone looking for acting, singing, dancing or presenter jobs.
The great thing about The Stage is you can access all their job vacancies and casting adverts for free (and read up to 5 articles!) without opting for the paying membership.
Happy booking! 🙂 And let us know if you think we’re missing a gem in our list 😉
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
We know you’re busy – August is nuts for anyone performing. If you’re not touting your show on the Royal Mile, performing or having a well earnt post-performance beer, the last thing on your mind is probably tweeting, updating your Facebook or even (heaven forbid) posting a blog.
Who has time for any of that?
Well…
You do.
Edinburgh Fringe creates a lot of its own buzz – people are excited to be there, they’re excited to see new shows and they’re wandering around looking for something new. Even those not at the Fringe will be following what’s going on, whether that’s through something like the BBC or through the Instagram and Facebook posts of their mates who are there.
So this is no time for a social media blackout!
You don’t want to be the person that misses a great reviewer because they’ve tweeted something about having a free slot and you’ve missed it, do you?
No.
So listen up.
If anything, you need to be more active than usual. Remember, social media is a key tool in your arsenal for promotion. And that means:
Now we’re not saying every second of your spare time needs to be spent on Twitter or Facebook. Here are some things you can do:
1. Set up some rules on IFTTT – such as “whenever someone mentions you in a Tweet, send them a thank you as a reply”
2. Schedule some Tweets/Facebook posts using Buffer so that you’re never silent (more on how to do this here)
3. Schedule a blog post to drop in the middle of the Fringe, and then go in and add some news images just before it posts. You might want to write something like “Having an awesome time” or “best night ever so far at the Fringe,” or even “Funniest moments of my Fringe so far” – you’re scheduling it, so you’re going to need to get *cough* creative *cough* with the content, but reason images will add authenticity. You can change this where it says ‘Publish Immediately’ on WordPress, click the arrow and select ‘Schedule’.
All of these things will help you be active on Twitter, Facebook or your blog during what’s going to be a very, very busy month!
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
It’s very nearly Fringe season, and if you’re a performer or a freelancer working with one, chances are ‘promotion’ is pretty high on your agenda right now.
But what should you have wrapped up and sorted before you move into August and the feet-slapping groundwork begins?
We’ve created a handy list to help get you started.
July is a great time for some publicity stunts, guerilla marketing, and the like. The Fringe is close enough for people to have it in mind, and this is when the media starts to really ramp up their coverage. So why not create some quirky social media chatter around your show?
No, we’re not saying send out the time-old “Make sure you get your tickets to @myshow in time for the Fringe”
We’re thinking:
Temple Newsam House in Leeds, UK brings its characters to life in a staged Twitter show
Flyers are vital for the Fringe, as well as the lovely friends/boyfriends/girlfriends/distant third cousins once removed who will be helping to hand them out. Make sure you have the following ticked off your list as sorted this month:
Think about how long your show run is and how many people will be touting for you when you’re considering quantity. If you run out, you can always order more, so make sure you use a local printer (and check the price of reprints).
When your show takes off as “the next big thing” people are going to want to know who you are, what you’re doing and why it’s so awesome.
So here’s what you need to prepare in advance:
If you have this all prepped in advance it means you can respond quickly and in a timely fashion when people need it, which is a BIG priority for journalists.
For your full guide, hit up the Edinburgh Fringe promo pack here.
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
Did you know that if you’re an actor or actress you’re entitled to the same NUS discounts that students are?
If you’re on Spotlight or are a member of BECTU you’re entitled to an NUS extra card.
NUS Extra is the number one student discount card in the U.K., and with it you have access to over 200 discounts.
A card costs £12 for a year but you can also buy 2 year and 3 year cards.
Discounts include:
Just got to https://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/ and put Spotlight or BECTU as your place of study. And say hello to all the perks of being a student again!
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
This May, new Data Protection laws will be coming into place, specifically, the Data Protection Act will be replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation.
What’s the difference? The GDPR will have new rules around the storage and handling of personal information and there will be stricter punishments in place for those who fail to comply.
Why the new law? The short answer is because hackers are more easily able to access data from small to medium businesses than they are to hack huge, well-protected corporate networks.
At the moment it’s sufficient to ask someone to tick or even to untick a box in order to consent to the storage of their data.
Under the new laws, consent means active agreement. This means you cannot pre-tick a ‘subscribe me’ button.
Not only this, but companies need to be able to show a clear audit trail of consent, including screen grabs or saved consent forms.
Individuals also have the right to withdraw consent at any time, and it has to be effective and efficient. When someone withdraws consent all of their personal data must be immediately and permanently erased. It is not enough to remove them from the mailing list.
If you are subject to a data breach, you also have to inform the relevant authorities immediately and you must notify all individuals affected within 72 hours of the initial breach.
If you have a newsletter that people subscribe to, or if you send e-mails to a database of people on whatever basis, this concerns you.
And it doesn’t just concern all the new data you might collect. It concerns all the data you currently have.
Any kind of personal data you keep has to follow these rules and you and you alone are responsible for being able to prove that someone has consented to have their data kept on file by you.
This means you can no longer capture e-mails through a competition and then add them into your mailing list, or you cannot auto-subscribe (for example) people that have bought a ticket to your show to your newsletter.
The GDPR applies to all enterprises. So if you run a business from home, or if your blog/website is engaged in “economic activity” i.e. you use it to make money – this applies to you.
It does not apply to people processing personal data in the course of a purely personal or household activity. I.e. if you have your plumber’s email address on file, that’s fine. If you’re sending your plumber an email telling him that you have a new kind of product available for sale, that’s not fine.
For every e-mail address in your system, you need to go back and seek explicit permission from the person to continue to send them whatever communication you are sending them.
If you cannot provide evidence of consent, you cannot send them emails and you must delete their data permanently.
This means you will need to launch a re-permission campaign and bring your entire database up to GDPR standards.
Fines. These are tiered based on the level of non-compliance and the severity of the violation, and they are capped at 4% of an annual turnover of €20million.
Ouch.
Check out our next post on how to run a GDPR compliant re-consent campaign.
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email:info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
Social media is a black hole for time.
You can spend hours pouring over the same 10 videos and you barely even notice the clock ticking.
When it comes to running your own social media, however, time is a huge factor. Because the more time you spend on social media, the less time you’re spending actually doing what you do (unless you’re a social media maven. You do you.)
Given that most creatives are time poor, so we’ve pulled together a list of 10 social media tools that will save you time and effort. Meaning you don’t have to spend your life flicking between apps. Yippee!
The best bit is… they’re all free!
Buffer is an awesome scheduling tool that allows you to post Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts at a later date.
With the free version you can link up to 3 accounts and schedule up to 10 pieces of content.
There’s also a handy content inbox where you can follow your favourite blogs (*cough*) and schedule to share their content online with a simple click. You can also link your own blog and re-share old content as well as broadcasting new content.
Audiense figures out when the best time for you to Tweet is. What’s even cooler is that it then links up to Buffer, and gives you a handy schedule.
This means you know all of your planned tweets are getting sent at exactly the best time for people to like, comments and share them.
Not only this, but it lets you search for people to follow (to grow your community) and also tells you who isn’t following you back (meanies.)
Hootsuite is great if you’ve got loads of different accounts and you want to keep them all in one handy place.
It offers the same service as Buffer but also includes a handy reply function – meaning you can keep track of all your conversations, all in one place!
Hootsuite also allows you to target subsets for channels like your Facebook page.
Ever wondered what people say about you online? Googling is so 2014 – you need Social Mention. It’s a eal-time platform that searches across the whole of the social interweb and organising it into a handy list for you. Influence is measured by Strength, Sentiment, Passion and Reach.
Not only this, it gives you a score for positive vs negative sentiment and your overall influence.
Pretty great if you’re trying to manage your brand or someone else’s.
You know that 31 people liked the picture of your breakfast. But do you know how many more likes you when you use Mayfair, instead of Nashville?
Iconosquare delves deeper than your ex into your instagram and analyses your posts, measuring the type of post vs the level of engagement.
If you’re monetising Instagram or even just using it to help build brand/personal awareness, this is one for you.
Now you’re fully armed – fly, my social media mavens, fly! (And let us know if you think we’ve missed anything.)
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
Thanks to client Tangled Feet for this image of their Pinterest profile
Pinterest began in 2009 and is a social media network that is image based! Hurrah and hurray for creative people who work in visual mediums. Pinterest isn’t just for discovering wedding ideas, it can be used for your career too. Here are five things you need to know about this social platform
1. It’s FREE
Like almost all social media networks it is free so just go to www.pinterest.com to set up an account. Why wouldn’t you?!
2. It’s easy to use
You create online pin boards, you know like the cork ones we had when we were kids. You then pin images from the internet to you your online pin board. You can have an “inspiration board” where you can pin images that inspire you (does what it says on the tin) and wonderful work by other artists/creatives and this can be useful when pitching projects or devising your own work. You can also create boards of your own work perhaps labelled by the year or theme. You can also follow other peoples boards (and they can follow you) and you can use snazzy images from other people’s boards and pin them on your own board to share the love. You can even comment on other people’s images to tell them how wonderful they are.
3. It’s useful
It is a great way to promote your work visually – we can see images of all your artworks/performances/make up in one place. Just think of the impact! You can also promote the link to your board via your website and other social media to engage with followers.
It’s a wonderful tool for raising awareness of your work and gathering an online fan base, as other people can comment on your images and re-pin them to your their own boards ie. sharing the image with their friends and followers.
4. Some things are private
A couple of years ago Pinterest introduced private boards. Private boards mean that you can create a mood board for a new project and keep it to yourself until the work is finished. After completion of your product you can publish the inspiration board behind it so your followers get an insight into your process. Cool, huh?
5. Copyright?
It is definitely worth putting your copyright in the title of the image or adding your watermark/logo to the image so that others cannot reproduce it. This also means that when other profiles pin your images they are also promoting your brand and logo.
Enjoy promoting your work and please do tweet or facebook us the links to your boards!
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
We are delighted to welcome new social media clients, The APHP to the Penguin in the Room team. We will be managing their Twitter and Facebook page moving forward. Photographers and actors check them out!
About:
The APHP Association is a non-profit group created in 2016 by the UK’s leading headshot photographers. Founded on principles of education, expertise and excellence, it establishes and celebrates recognised standards of professionalism, offers a path to qualification for photographers, advocates for members within the entertainment industry and promotes the highest standards in casting portraiture, to benefit actors, drama schools, agents & industry bodies.
APHP members include the most experienced photographers in the actors headshot business, expert image makers who possess not just decades of photographic experience, but also un-paralleled insights into how casting photos are used in the industry.
Look out for the H to show that your photographer has been APHP approved!
Penguin in the Room @prartsmarketing is a group of creatives with an arts marketing dream: penguin stepping our way into the arts industry and helping other creatives flourish! Specialising in online marketing, social media, branding, copy writing, media coaching and web design for actors, artists, casting directors, agents, production companies, theatre companies and creative individuals.
Contact us any time for penguin chats via email: info@penguinintheroom.com or Facebook.com/penguinintheroom or waddle over to our website: www.penguinintheroom.com
The Penguin in the Room Blog 