A call for willing actors/actresses
The Talent Database picks up speed
Matthew Balz
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: Film
Milwaukee is known as a widely-developed cultural hotspot for arts and creativity, but to achieve higher success, one must first start small. From this logic, the campus organization SCAN (Student Cinema Action Network) decided to lend a hand to student filmmakers on the UWM campus and organize students, alumni and other patrons of the community who want to help out in front of the camera.
SCAN consists of students based around the Film Department and a mutual ambition to strengthen communication and success throughout the student body. The problem of finding willing cast members for student films arose, and the idea of the Talent Database came to be.
The Talent Database began in the fall of 2007. A general call was sent out to attract people interested in acting for any given range of student work, but word of the first Talent Database auditions did not spread sufficiently. The task of informing the surrounding community fell astray and only the UWM campus buzzed with news about the Database. Since then, the auditions have been held every semester to keep the Talent Database alive and functioning, slowly gaining more participants.
"I think this is a great opportunity for further cooperation in the Peck School of the Arts between the Film and Theatre Department," he says Dannon Raith, the current president of SCAN.
The process of auditioning is simple and effective. When a participant arrives to the audition, they are asked to provide a minimal amount of basic information in order to set up a profile. A profile picture will be taken, and the participant will have the opportunity to stand in front of a video camera and introduce themselves to those who will ultimately use the Database to find and contact possible cast members. After the session is finished, the information and video footage is loaded onto the Talent Database website where each participant has their own profile and the ability to alter and update the information that they provide.
"It's a place where somebody interested in film production can find people to work with," says Eric Wescott, head of the Talent Database Committee and creator of the website.
From SCAN's inception, a group of members branched off and began a Talent Database committee in order to work on the project more thoroughly. Though the Talent Database was created primarily for the students in the UWM Film Department, it has gained the potential to expand from classroom assignments to provide a convenient resource for connecting local filmmakers with striving actors.
The next scheduled Talent Database session is on March 28 from 12:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. in room 183 of the UWM Student Union. Monologues are encouraged but not required.
The SCAN organization, as well as the Talent Database committee, has its doors open to anyone interested in cooperating or curious about their procedures. The Talent Database can be found at scan.uwm.edu/talentDB/.
SCAN consists of students based around the Film Department and a mutual ambition to strengthen communication and success throughout the student body. The problem of finding willing cast members for student films arose, and the idea of the Talent Database came to be.
The Talent Database began in the fall of 2007. A general call was sent out to attract people interested in acting for any given range of student work, but word of the first Talent Database auditions did not spread sufficiently. The task of informing the surrounding community fell astray and only the UWM campus buzzed with news about the Database. Since then, the auditions have been held every semester to keep the Talent Database alive and functioning, slowly gaining more participants.
"I think this is a great opportunity for further cooperation in the Peck School of the Arts between the Film and Theatre Department," he says Dannon Raith, the current president of SCAN.
The process of auditioning is simple and effective. When a participant arrives to the audition, they are asked to provide a minimal amount of basic information in order to set up a profile. A profile picture will be taken, and the participant will have the opportunity to stand in front of a video camera and introduce themselves to those who will ultimately use the Database to find and contact possible cast members. After the session is finished, the information and video footage is loaded onto the Talent Database website where each participant has their own profile and the ability to alter and update the information that they provide.
"It's a place where somebody interested in film production can find people to work with," says Eric Wescott, head of the Talent Database Committee and creator of the website.
From SCAN's inception, a group of members branched off and began a Talent Database committee in order to work on the project more thoroughly. Though the Talent Database was created primarily for the students in the UWM Film Department, it has gained the potential to expand from classroom assignments to provide a convenient resource for connecting local filmmakers with striving actors.
The next scheduled Talent Database session is on March 28 from 12:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. in room 183 of the UWM Student Union. Monologues are encouraged but not required.
The SCAN organization, as well as the Talent Database committee, has its doors open to anyone interested in cooperating or curious about their procedures. The Talent Database can be found at scan.uwm.edu/talentDB/.
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