As mentioned in “Networking in Hollywood East,” countless mingling opportunities are just a few clicks away thanks to the wildfire popularity of social media. But one website has gone above and beyond the casting call of duty, building a platform for members of the New England acting community to promote their talents, share tips, and get hired.
Enter industry mogul Bradley J. Van Dussen–actor, professional speaker, voice-over artist, host, team-building facilitator, print model, and founder of NewEnglandActor.com. According to Van Dussen, NewEnglandActor.com started as a social networking site in May of 2008, but quickly left Facebook in its dust with favorable features for acting talent.
“I started working and manipulating the site to begin promoting myself as an actor,” said Van Dussen. “Uploading my acting reel, voice-over demos, modeling photos…I soon realized this site can be used by the actors to promote their talents.”
Testimonials on the site’s homepage emphasize the benefits of such features. “Tools like [this site] help make talent more competitive in this industry,” said John Campanello of BetweenGigs Casting. “[NewEnglandActor.com] was a big help to the producers of The Pond when they were looking for talent to call in for auditions.”
Matt Boudry of CP Casting echoed his sentiments: “…[I]t would be foolish for me not to look at NEActor.com for every job I’m hired to cast.”
As the website’s success stories accrue, membership continues to grow; NewEnglandActor.com currently hosts over 450 member profiles. But membership isn’t for every actor and his brother; according to “My Pledge to You” on the site’s “About” page, “New members must demonstrate their sincerity to the craft of acting, modeling, or voice-overs” by completing tasks like uploading professional-quality photos, presenting a resume, and taking acting classes or auditioning.
One last requirement: members must be from New England, of course. So make the move, west coasters. Big things are happening here.
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I just wanted to say it is a pleasure being involved with new England Actors–It is Awsome!! keep up the good work.
thanks!!!
Frankie Imbergam,o/Actor/Boston
No offense
but neactor.ning.com is just another knock off Ourfilmspace on the ning network. There’s literally about one for every movie that has come out in Boston. Ourfilmspace came out first, has nearly 3000 people, and doesnt have all those stupid requirements. Anyone can join, from novice to pro (and they do). Neactor has some + but could learn from the model of Ourfilmspace which is truly an acting Community.
You should have wrote the article about OFS instead!
while i agree with ourfilmspace being a better site neactor is in no way a knockoff. what’s wrong with someone wanting to create their own network even if the network is still based in the same area? if one person can do it where is it written that no one else can create their network for new england actors? while i agree the requirements for that site is ridiculous, the fact that OFS has been around first and has more members doesn’t make it better. it simply means that this site got pretty lucky, but there are more sites that has even more members than OFS. i’ve even been on sites that has even more content than OFS. you liking that site more doesn’t give you the right to down talk another site whether or not you think one site is better than the other. i have my own network for the film industry in my own area that’s not the new england area with more content than OFS but it still open to anyone, and even though it doesn’t have as much members i still value my site very much and will dare anyone to call it a knock off or rip off. the actual administrator of OFS did that as if he was the only person that can have their network for film and tv. the point is another site may be more popular, that’s not what makes it better. what makes it a good site is what you put into it, and how much you believe in it. and in time it will grow just like OFS did. if the moderator of neactor believes in what he’s doing than the site will continue to run strong regardless of what anyone thinks. opinions doesn’t make anything true. . .
Ourfilmspace is full of thousands of people, many without any acting experience — I can’t use it to search or find talent at all — I’ve had better luck searching on FaceBook
– BUT, NEActor.com I can search for what I want and find it instantly… That’s why I recommend it, and because everyone is PAYING to post their photo and resume on another useless website…
The reason people respect neactor is because the have a screening process when allowing people to join. It weeds out the people that like to call themselves actor but in reality they are anything but. It’s not quantity it’s quality that counts!
Thanks Neactor!
Thats a great point it knocks off agency pro as well. Agency pro is also free.
neactor
Youll never get fresh faces if you keep such a stringent policy. All the people on that network are the same old faces in Boston. At least OFS has some real characters (not just actors).
Matt I think youre a great casting agent but if you can’t cast people off OFS then you’re simply not using it right. Plenty of films have been cast using OFS. RPM uses it and it seems to work fine for them. Not like they are any better (I actually have a few beefs with them).
By the way why doesnt CP have an online system? It makes thing so much more streamline.
Just to clarify
I don’t hate neactor. I just dont think that there is anything ground breaking about it at all as the title of the article implies.
Great Article! Thank you!