Breakdown Services, Ltd., the full-service agency for casting directors -- called the middleman between casters and the agents and personal managers with whom they deal -- is stepping up the fight against the illegal, underground distribution of its product, Back Stage has learned.
The 31-year-old Los Angeles-based company provides one of the only ways for agents and personal managers to discover what's being cast on a daily basis, based on complete synopses of the characters contained within scripts. As one might expect, the information demand is so great that actors -- both with and without representation, and many unaware they are being ensnared in an illegal scheme -- "subscribe" in order to submit themselves for roles or to pressure their representative to submit them.
The result of all of this is rather ironic, says Thom Goff, administrative manager for Breakdown's New York office. Actors, he says, are slowly being completely shut out of the submission process.
"When someone illegally copies a Breakdown and sends it out, for a fee, to actors -- usually by email -- casting directors end up inundated with pictures and resumes which they end up throwing out because they can't handle the volume," Goff says. "So, for that and many other reasons, I really can't stress enough the fact that actors are doing themselves a disservice because they shut off avenues of submission for themselves all over New York City. More and more offices won't even look at an envelope from an address they don't know. Illegal Breakdowns are a rip-off to the actor -- and at prices, I might add, that are extravagant."
And just how much are some actors paying for that long shot chance at being cast? Goff estimates that the prices on the underground market "are really all over the place -- anywhere from $30 a month all the way up to $30 a week." This, of course, is predicated on the idea that the distributor can actually provide the listings in question without being caught. It's a looming question as Breakdown Services "actively prosecutes" anyone caught engaging in such activity.
On the Hunt
"The police are tracking down people," Goff says, "and what's sad is so many actors don't realize this is copyrighted material that's being sold to them. Plus it's the fact that it's distributed over the Internet -- this means the information is going across state lines, which is a federal offense." He says Breakdown Services has, to date, "prosecuted two people -- one on the East Coast, one in California" -- and will continue "going after clients who are in breach of the agreement they sign when they get the service," which prohibits its illegal distribution. "After all, when you have someone in a casting office making money on the side by sending out the information this way, that's a kickback. And we have ways of finding out who they are and we are putting a stop to it."
In addition, Goff believes that the power of market forces will eventually tamp down the illegal activity as well. Goff says he knows of "at least four agencies -- and at least that number, if not more, of managers -- who will no longer allow clients to just call them up and say they want to be submitted for this role or that role." He also claims knowledge of "at least one agency who has just cut clients loose" for precisely the same reason. "Actors have got to let these people do their jobs -- and yes, there are agencies in this city that do not receive Breakdowns anymore because they have been caught selling them."
Anatomy of an Underground
One of the questions that naturally arises in any discussion of the illegal Breakdown trade is: How do distributors find takers?
"People have all kinds of ways to build up their illegal niche," Goff says. "Some send out mass emails to those with 'actor' or 'performer' in their profiles. Others go to actor-oriented websites and send out offerings to email addresses."
Meanwhile, to further combat the underground system, Goff says that Breakdown Services is currently in the process of a radical redesign of its website. "In the new system," he says, "Breakdowns will all be individually coded for each office -- so, as soon as it's sold by someone illegally, we'll know exactly where it came from and we can then act upon that information."
Which is good news for casting directors, agents, and managers. But perhaps there's an even more germane question to be asked: Why can't actors subscribe to Breakdown Services?
"Because our deal is with the casting directors -- to get information to agents and managers," Goff says. "Casting directors basically want agent submissions [and] the studios don't want to deal with individuals."
Still, Breakdown Services does provide a popular service called SidesExpress, which offers sides via the Internet at low-cost fees. Check out www.showfax.com for the requirements to use the service and more information.