What is a Casting Agency, and what is GetDiscovered.com?

A Casting Agency is always on the search for new talents (starting from extras, to actors, models, hosts and other type of talents) for their clients. Usually we’re looking for people to book for commercials, tv-shows, movies and otherwise. GetDiscovered.com is an online Casting Agency, ‘new style’, which uses modern day technology and tools in order to fulfill the needs of clients, directors and (media) production companies. It’s a fully automated system, without any intervenience of a ‘live’ casting director, and therefore the intere casting process, from beginning to end, is a much smoother dynamic for all parties involved.

Within Europe (especially the Netherlands and Belgium) we still work with ‘live’ casting directors under the name Dynamic Casting BV.

About registration and profiles

How can I register with GetDiscover.com?

You can register, free of charge of course, by going to our website www.GetDiscovered.com and click on ‘Sign up’ on the top right corner of the page. During the registration process, we’ll ask for some information, and some clear and representable pictures of yourself. We’re going to need a lot of information from you, because our clients will add certain keywords when they’re searching for the talents. Not only do they usually certain looks/ethnicity/gender/etc, but imagine sometimes they have acting parts for bodybuilders or deep sea divers!

Once you’ve completed the registration-process, you’re good to go! You can always go back to your profile to update it, but I’ll talk about this in a bit.

There’s also an option to sign up multiple people under one email address; you can imagine a parent with three children would like to create accounts for all the individual kids. This is possible of course, and I’ll go into detail how one can accomplish that under “I would like to register my child(ren) as well. How do I do that?”

How much does it cost to register on GetDiscovered.com?

Signing up and creating a profile with us is free of charge; no periodic fees, hidden costs, etc etc; we believe that we need each other to be successful, and therefore it wouldn’t be fair to charge you extra for that.

How do you deal with exclusivity? Am I allowed to be registered with other agencies?

Just the way we don’t believe in you paying some extra fees, we also don’t believe in an exclusivity-deal between our agency and yourself. There are multiple reasons to our philosophy, but the two major reasons are:
We don’t want you to feel restricted in any way or form. Sign up with as many agencies as you can, and work on your career, become greatness!
We feel that someone who demands exclusivity should, in return, be able to guarantee you work/success/a minimum amount of pay per month.

So, in a nutshell: we don’t want to restrict you, nor ourselves.

If you want to sign up with us, but you happen to be with an agent/agency who do demand exclusivity, perhaps you can request them if they want to consider signing you up with us. When they create your account, they’ll use their own contactinformation (phonenumber/emailaddress) so that whenever we have a nice job for you, we’ll contact them directly.

Sounds cool! I’m going to register, but what do I need for a complete registration?

During the process, you’ll see what info is required to be filled in. It’s pretty straight forward, like your contact-information (it’s very important you use an email address and a phonenumber where you’re best to be reached), city, measurements, etc.
Try to be as thorough as possible, and don’t forget to mention all the sports you play(ed) as other skills you master. Although exact measurements are important as well, your basic clothing sizes will do in the beginning.

I’ld pay more attention to your extra skills as well! Sometimes our clients are specifically looking for talent who plays baseball or rides a skateboard, for example, and having mentioned this in your profile ensures you’ll pop up on top!

However, please mind that it’s of utmost importance your entire profile is honest, and up to date. If you had two Judo-lessons back when you were 6, please don’t mention you do Judo; one of the worst things that can happen is being booked for something/someone you actually aren’t. When you arrive on set and you don’t look like your pictures/measurements or you’re unable to perform a certain skill,you can endanger the entire production and with that your personal reputation, and in some cases even your wallet.

Because having an accurate and up to date profile is extremely important, there are no restrictions and limitations on to how often you can update your info.
Are there requirements for my pictures?

Well-lit, professional studio-pictures make you look professional, no doubt about it, but it’s not an actual requirement. If you can’t afford a professional photographer, you can still get by.

With the often really good cameras in modern day cell phones, and the following tips and tricks, you may actually be able to take some decent selfies to put in your profile.

Make sure you have multiple pictures in your account. Sometimes the director wants to see just one profile-picture, sometimes your posture is relevant and they’ll require a full body-shot. So have at least three decent pictures: profile, one full body shot, and one that’s in between.
Make sure all your pictures are in color, and without any filters/shades/sunglasses/hats/caps/other people/irrelevant objects/beers and drinks/etc.
The whole reason of a headshot, is that people who’ve never seen you before, instantly see what you look like (both your hair as well as your face), so please no hats/caps/shades/sunglasses/etc
We can’t mention and stress this enough: no filters! For the love of all that is holy, please don’t use filters on your pictures! Apart from the fact it looks truly atrocious: the sole intention of a headshot is that people can see what you truly look like, as mentioned above. And we are very interested in seeing the real you, so with every dimple, scar, wrinkle and all blemishes. It makes you you. Even the most subtle filter can be spotted from miles away, and directors and clients tend to skip a person when they detect or suspect a filter instantly. It’s in your best interest to leave those out of your headshots (and we’re strong advocates to ban filters altogether, but what can we do?).
Make sure your pictures are lit well. It’s no use you submit a picture that’s too dark or too light. Natural daylight works best.
We love to see different facial expressions! Just keep it natural. Nobody likes the extremes, so keep the overacting for your birthday-parties. Just have some neutral shots, and some smiling shots, and everyone is happy.
It’s not a requirement, but a full body-shot in underwear/swimwear is not a bad thing to have in your profile (regardless of bodytype). They rarely use it, but it’s always good to be able to show what you like underneath all those masking layers.
No matter how good that picture of you is, please don’t submit pictures with other people in it, especially not in bars/restaurants/etc.
Please mind the mess! Best is to use a neutral background (I can only imagine everyone having a plain colored wall in their house). We sometimes receive submissions from people who have a really messy background, and nobody wants to see that 🙂

If you don’t have any professional headshots to upload yet, I suggest googling “headshot photography”, and check out the images. Nearly all photos that’ll pop up are a great example to use as an example when you’re about to shoot your selfies. You’ll see that all of these photos meet the criteria as stated above.

If you do have professional photos to upload, please do mind their size! Sometimes the site struggles when the file-size is too large, so the best tip I could give you is to make them smaller (with Paint for example). You can easily make them smaller, less than 1MB, without experiencing any quality-loss.

What do you do with my personal information, and are they safely stored at GetDiscovered.com?

All of your personal information is safely being stored in our (digital) database. This information remains private and can only be viewed by yourself our employees. Due to privacy regulations, clients and producers won’t be able to see any personal information (like your address, phonenumber, email address, and more). Once you’re booked, the client/production company/director will receive your full name, phonenumber and email address, for the purpose of communication for that specific production only.

In situations where children have to be reported to a governmental form (for example: in the Netherlands they have a department of health & safety services, and children under the age of 13 have to be reported that they’re going to be performing labour), we might need some additional information that needs to be shared with the client. Since regulations differ per country, we’ll inform you if that is the case. For example, in the Netherlands they need their full names as listed in their passports, date of birth and citizen’s service number (BSN). Again, this differs per country.

GetDiscovered.com operates under a SSL-certificate. Therefore your date is safe with us.

Alright, I signed up with GetDiscovered.com so what happens now?

Now that you have an online profile with us, clients can contact you directly to see if you’re available and interest in a job. This contact goes per mail, so we advise you to keep an eye out for any emails.

There’s also a possibility that you see certain castingcalls through social media (like Facebook for example). In the castingcall we make sure to write out exactly how you can submit yourself.

I want to register my child(ren) as well! How do I do this?

Everyone is welcome to register; all ages, looks ethnicities, etc etc even the newly born! There are two options how to do so:

1. You can create a profile with a unique email address per person. That way, in the case you have multiple profiles submitted to a certain job, you get the correct mail (whether they’re booked or not) for the correct profile. The big advantage is you’ll never mix up who is booked and who isn’t. The slight disadvantage is that you’ll have to completely log out and log back in again with a different profile if you want to manage multiple profiles at the same time, AND you must have multiple email addresses in the first place (obviously there are tons of providers where you can create email addresses for free, but we can imagine that may be a hassle to keep a close eye to all of those accounts if you have multiple children).

2. A far easier option is to create multiple accounts under one email address. You can manage multiple profiles far easier this way, and all communication goes through one single email address. There are a couple of drawbacks if you often submit multiple people to castingcalls:
Since most emails aren’t personalized and being sent to multiple people at once, you can’t tell from the header who the recipient is.
In the case when multiple people from your household are submitted to a certain castingcall, but only one person is being booked, you’ll receive one booking-email, and emails that someone isn’t booked. This may lead to confusion, and you always have to check all profiles to see who who’s booked and who’s not. Information like this is displayed on our website.

So in the last case, whereas you have multiple people registered under one email address, you may never assume that ONE email applies to ALL. If you ever have any doubt, you can always send us an email; we’re here to help.

You can find more information about this subject under “Where on the website can I see what my jobstatus is?”

Managing multiple profiles under one emailaddress is way easier in the long run though. The most important thing to know is that you need to check which profile is ‘active’ when you’re logged in, so you know which profile you’re currently managing. You can find more information about this subject under “How do I switch between profiles?”

To create multiple profiles under one emailaddress, you first need to create the first profile. You do this just like any other profile-creation. After you finished creating your first profile, we can add as many profiles under this emailaddress as you’ld like.

When you’re logged in, you’ll see the name of that person’s profile in the top right corner. Next to that name, you’ll see the word “profiles”. Click on this word, and select “Add profile”. Now you’re able to create another profile, under that same emailaddress. Fill in all the personal information for that new profile and don’t forget to add photos to this profile. Once you’re done, you can repeat this process until everyone is signed up.

I have multiple profiles under one emailaddress. How do I switch between profiles?

Because the way how our website has been built, only one profile at a time is ‘active’. This doesn’t mean the other profiles are deactivated, but more in the terms of “you can only manage one profile at a time”. In the top right corner you see the name of the person who’s profile is currently ‘active’; at this moment you can edit and update this person’s profile, and submit this person to different castingcalls. I you wish to manage a different account (because that other account need an update, or another action is required under that account) you need to switch accounts first.

Next to the name in the top right corner, you see “profiles”. Click on this option. You now enter the screen where you see all the accounts that are registered under the emailaddress you’re currently logged in with, as well as the option to add a new profile. Select the profile you want to manage, and you’ll see that you’ve now switched to that particular account.

So, say you want to submit two of your children for a job, you first have to do this with the one profile, then switch to the other profile, and submit that profile to the job. Easy as that!

You can find more information about this subject under “How can I submit myself/my child to a certain castingcall?”

I would like to delete my profile from GetDiscovered.com but what do I need to do?

It’s always sad to see someone leave, but we’re not going to make it extra difficult for you. Deleting your profile is something you can do very easily yourself. When you’re logged in, you’ll see a name in the top right corner. Click on the name, and you’ll see the option to delete your profile. Confirm your choice, and the profile is deleted, including all the information stored in our database.

Please do mind that, if you want to delete multiple profiles under the same emailaddress, you need to repeat these steps per profile.

We don’t hold grudges though: if you want to register in the future, you’re more than welcome to create a new profile, free of charge of course!

How often can I update my profile?

Because having an up to date profile, you can update your account an unlimited amount of times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year! Oh okay, in the case of a leapyear, you can even update it 366 days a year!

It’s very wise to keep an up to date profile. Most things won’t change as much, like an address or phonenumber, but in the case you’ve changed haircuts/colors or lost/gained some weight, it’s smart to adjust the necessary things in your profile.

Also make sure to add recent pictures periodically. Not only when you just got that new haircut, but sometimes clients want to see multiple recent pictures in different settings and different expressions.

When you look at your own (older) pictures very critically (or perhaps you can have someone you know well have a look at them) and you suspect you don’t really look like them anymore, it’s prefered you delete the old pictures. You don’t want to end up in the position that you’re being sent back home after you were booked because the client has decided you don’t resemble your photographs well enough, and can’t use you any longer for the purpose of the shoot. The implications of such an event stretch further than you just not being paid for that day: you may have endangered the shoot in its entirety as they’re now missing a person on set!

Kids grow and change continuously, and therefore it’s important to update their profiles often. Not only do their sizes change in a rapid pace, also their facial features change at a faster pace the younger they are.

And a special note for the men with facial hair: it’s not entirely redundant to have multiple pictures of yourself in your profile with different lengths of your facial hair if you’re willing to shave for a shoot. That way the client can make a fair assessment how you look in different styles. Make sure your current beardstyle is your main picture, so we all know who to expect on set when you’re booked.

How do I add, delete and alter pictures on my profile?

You’ll notice you’ll land on your personal profile upon logging in. From your profile-page you can basically manage everything. In order to go manage your pictures and video’s, simply click on the “photos/videos”-button you see on the top left side of your screen.

In this overview you can add, delete and crop pictures, and also rearrange the order of your photos by dragging them in the order you want them to appear.

Please keep in mind your pictures are being shown in a square size, so you might need to crop the accordingly to make sure your face is shown properly in the center.

At this moment, you can only add one link to a video.

Can I upload my acting resume in a PDF-format to my profile?

Unfortunately, currently that’s not an option. We’ve chosen to let that out because from our experience clients don’t want to download individual PDFs (every extra action costs time, which they don’t have), so we decided that you can simply paste your resume in a designated field. That way, clients can directly see what they’re looking for, without wasting time having to download something first.

You can paste your resume in the designated field “Experiences/Resume (in text)”.

Maybe the feature to add resumes in PDF-format will be added in the future.

Workflow

You’re now registered with Get Discovered. What happens next?

When your profile has been fully finalized with all your details and photos, you’re ‘visible’ to our clients. Due to the GDPR a client can only see your pictures, some basic information (like your measurements) and an ID-number. That ID-number is not publicly seen: only to our clients and us.

You don’t have to worry about anyone having access to your personal data or random people being able to view your profile; only our registered clients can view a redacted version of your profile.

Submitting yourself to castingcalls.

Basically there are two ways to get work:
– You can be approached per mail by us or our clients for a castingcall.
– You can submit yourself to castingcalls when you see them (on social media for example, or on our website).

The first part is almost self-explanatory: you receive an email with a castingcall. All the currently available information (date, location, fees, etc) is provided in that mail, including how you can submit yourself (usually just with the click of a button).

The second option is a neat feature, but it also means you still need to act (no pun intended). When you’re logged in on our website, you see a button “Castingcalls” on the top of your screen. When you press this button, you get to an overview, and if you select “New”, you get to see all the castingcalls that are currently open.

Select one, and you’ll see all the info about the call that is currently available. If you’re interested and available, you can click on the button “AVAILABLE”. Two things happen now:
First of all you’ll be placed on the shortlist for the client to review.
Second, you’ll notice the button changes to “NO LONGER AVAILABLE”. Have you submitted yourself, but you’re no longer available? You guessed it: click the button “NO LONGER AVAILABLE”.

That button is only visible as long as the client hasn’t decided yet.

The amount of open castingcalls is subject to a lot of variables. It depends on the actual open castingcalls, but also whether or not you fit the wanted profile. Make sure you complete your profile as thorough as possible, and make sure it’s always up to date!

I have submitted myself to a castingcall. Now what happens?

After you’ve submitted yourself to a castingcall, either through the button in the mail, or through our website, your profile will be added to the clients shortlist. The client has real time access to that shortlist, and sees all the headshots of the talents who are in this shortlist (so make sure your headshots are clear, representable and up to date).

Before the client is able to decide who to book, it often happens that the shortlist passes through multiple teams who would like to have a say in the decision. Did you know that, depending on the type of production, it’s not uncommon that about 20 people have seen your face before they can finally decide who to book? That’s why it’s of utmost importance you remain available the entire period that you have to wait for a decision, and that you let us know as soon as you’re no longer available.

Clients are extremely allergic to people who can’t be trusted to remain available, and have a knack for remembering faces of the people who are and aren’t trustworthy.

After they have finally decided who to book, and who to let go, you receive an email. This means you will ALWAYS receive an email after you submitted yourself. Sometimes it may take a bit longer before you hear something, especially when the shortlist has to be approved by multiple departments. Please be patient and remain available.

When you receive an email that you’re booked, it’s quite possible (but not very common) you already receive all the definitive “call info” in that mail. “Call info” is all the information you would need to make sure you arrive on set prepared: exact address, time of arrival, name + phonenumber of your contact on set. In the case you have to bring your own clothes, a briefing in regards to wardrobe can be added to that call info, as well as other requests. It’s important you always read all the emails you receive from front to back, and at accordingly!

What is “call info”, and when do I receive this when I’m booked?

At least one day prior to your shoot, you’ll receive a confirmation email with all your call info. “Call info” is a fancy word for the “information of your call on set”, a briefing if you will. It states all the relevant and necessary information you need to arrive at your shoot, like the definitive call time (time you have to be on set), address, name + phonenumber of your contact on set, but also some additional information like parking-information and other important things for you to know.

Always read this email from front to back, twice if you must! You always have to respond to this email to confirm everything has been read. There are multiple reasons for you to respond to this particular email, and sometimes some extra questions are being asked, like maybe a confirmation of your clothing sizes, questions in regards to transportation, etc etc.

One thing that is standard, is that we always ask for your full bank account-number. Because you can choose freely to which bank account we transfer your payment to with each assignment, we never copy/paste a bank account-number from a previous job. You could’ve switched banks since the last time you worked for us, or there may be other reasons you decided to use a different number the last time; either way the consequences of us not asking you for the correct bank account-number may result in some inconveniences for all parties, which we would love to avoid.

Another reason to always respond to this email, is because by responding to it, you automatically agree with the digital version of a quitclaim. The quitclaim is a waiver you need to sign/agree with prior to a shoot, because it basically states you agree you’re being recorded and the client may use your image as agreed upon, for a fee as agreed upon.

Back in the day productions had you sign a quitclaim or waiver on set, but modern days require modern solutions, and more and more productions would rather not haul unnecessary paper on set. Some productions still do it the old-fashioned way, which they are allowed to do so, but just in case we have them digitally covered.

If you don’t reply to this confirmation mail in a timely matter, we’ll try giving you a call to make sure you do. If we can’t reach you in time, a client may decide to replace you, so please don’t wait too long to reply.

Why do I have to be and remain available the entire day?

The moment you’ve submitted yourself to an assignment, it’s very important you are and remain available for the entire day, until you’re notified whether or not you’re booked. As soon as you’re no longer available, you’re obliged to inform us immediately, as we need to inform the client instantly.

Naturally, you let us know before you’ve received the notification that you’re booked. The moment you’re booked, and you haven’t informed us you’re no longer available, we trust that you uphold your availability and commitment at all costs.

We try to add as much as info in the castingcalls as possible, like for example the indication of a start and an end-time. Now, in this business nothing is more subject to change like the planning of a shooting day, and that’s why it can occasionally happen that the times (and sometimes even the location) change, even when it’s last minute.

Like we trust that everyone is professional enough to be supporting, flexible and remain available, and to let us know as soon as you’re no longer available, so can you trust that we will inform you as soon as we know that something has changed, or if you’re definitely booked or not.

To make this work, we need each other, and we need to be clear in our communication, both ways.

I did a job the other day. When can I expect payment?

Payments usually take place within six weeks of the shoot. Officially, casting agencies have a maximum terms of payment of three months, but we’ll do everything that’s in our power to ensure you’re being paid as soon as possible.
We’ll pay as soon as the client has paid their invoice, and they have a term of six weeks to fulfill that payment.

Usually, the clients pay much faster than those full six weeks, so it rarely happens you have to wait ridiculously long for your payment.

Unfortunately we can’t pay anything in advance, so it’s necessary for us to wait until the client has paid, before we can pay you. Once more, and we can’t stress it enough: we’ll do our utmost best to make this process run smoothly and swiftly.

General Questions

What are my clothing sizes?

It’s absolutely possible that you may not know some of your clothing sizes. The best way to know for sure, is to actually go to a clothing store, and try on different clothes while writing down the sizes. Most stores are willing to help you out on your quest to find the right size.

A handy website for measuring instructions (for both men and women) is http://www.sizecharter.com/clothing-fit-and-measurement/how-to-measure-your-body-for-clothing-sizes

What is the difference between a confection size and a ‘normal’ clothing size?

Formal attire like suits are usually never measured in sizes like S/M/L/XL/etc, but have numbers. Depending in which country or region you life, suits for men can be a size 50, and for women a size 38 for example. Dress-shirts for men may have a size like 40. We would recommend visiting a store that sells suits if you want to know what sizes you wear.

Can I upload multiple videos to my profile?

Unfortunately, at this moment it’s not possible to actually upload a video/showreel to your profile, but you can add a video/showreel to your profile through a Youtube-link. The current limit is one.

I suggest making sure your showreel is uploaded to your Youtube-channel, so you can add the link to your profile. If you have more links to material, we recommend adding this in the field “Experiences/Resume (in text)”

It’s quite possible that, at a later stage, we add the possibility to add more links of videos to your profile, or even upload clips.

What do we mean with an “Acting Resume”?

Technically an acting resume isn’t that much different than a “normal” resume. Just like a “normal” resume, an acting resume consists of your relevant experiences, specialties, education, etc, but from the viewpoint of an actor. Your acting resume is an extended version of your IMDb-page.

Apart from including your acting experiences, you need to add past relevant education and special skills. Naturally we’re not interested if your proficient with Word or Excel, so you can leave stuff like that out on an acting resume, but attended workshops, acting-techniques, and special skills (like horseback-riding or fencing) should be included.

Don’t forget to add the languages/dialects/accents you speak, and what level; being able to carry a conversation in French if your mother tongue is English is quite a feat, but is it on a native level, or is it just really really good?

I did an acting-gig recently. When and where can I see the results?

Excellent question! Up until the moment footage is actually ‘live’, it’s really difficult to guarantee if, when and where the results can be seen. This has to do with numerous factors.

Usually commercials air sooner than tv-shows and movies. Sometimes a production can give a crude estimate (ask your contact on the set!) but this isn’t an exact science.

In rare cases, for whatever reasons, a production decides to pull the plug even after the recording has been finished.

Since we rarely get the footage (unless we cast the lead), it has no use to email us to retrieve that footage. Instead, I’m going to give you some tips:

You can ask your contact on set if they know the estimated release-date, channels and (in case of a commercial) if they are allowed to share the exact name of the product/campaign.
Under no circumstance contact the production directly after the shooting day! If you have any questions, always contact us; we might not be able to give you the answers you need, but we will always do our best.

Financial questions

How much do I make per job?

We think it’s important that everyone always receive a minimal fee for any job, and that’s why we only offer jobs with pay. Sometimes the fees are minimal, enough to cover transportation, but sometimes the fees are substantial.

The bigger fees are common for (bigger) parts in commercials or TV-shows and movies. All the fees you receive, are viewed as gross income; perhaps handy to know when you’re doing your taxes.

We try to be as transparent as possible when it comes to fees; it’s good to know where you stand financially before you accept a job. That’s why we always state the total and complete fees for any job; what you see is what you get. If anything isn’t mentioned (for example that transportation costs are covered on top of your fee), it’s not part of the pay-out.

How am I getting paid?

For extras, there are a couple of possibilities:
Cash. It’s getting rare these days that cash payments are being approved by production companies. This has mainly to do with some changes in tax-law, and because of that it’s very difficult for production-companies to pay fees cash on set. We’re not saying it never happens, it’s just very rare. Therefore, unless specifically mentioned, all payments are per bank transfer.
Bank Transfer. Most jobs, if not all, are being paid by bank transfer. Usually it’s paid within six weeks after the shooting day.

Actors, presentors, hosts and models can use the same method, but it’s usual they send an invoice as they’re usually a registered independent. If you aren’t a registered independent and can’t send out invoices, you can check if there are payroll-service available in your country (in the Netherlands you have Raakvlak, Tentoo or You Name It! for example). Extras can send invoices as well, obviously.

When will I be paid?

Payment usually takes place within six weeks of the shooting day. In the Netherlands, the legal term for payment is a maximum of three months, but we’ll do anything in our power to pay you as soon as possible.

We always pay as soon as the client has paid; they have up until six weeks after the shooting date to pay their invoice. Usually they don’t take up that entire period to pay, so we usually pay sooner than the mentioned six weeks.

Unfortunately we can’t front all the payments, so we have to wait until our clients have paid our invoice. Our system is automated so you don’t have to worry: the second an invoice has been paid, we automatically pay you.

How about the transportation and parking costs I made?

All of the fees are always including transportation and parking costs, unless otherwise mentioned. In the case the transportation and/or parking costs actually are being covered (again, if this is the case, it will be specifically mentioned) you need to contact us directly once you’re finished with the job, with receipts of the exact costs.

All tickets (bus/train/parking) need to be submitted on the same day of the shoot, since the invoice for the shoot will be sent the next day.

What is “buy-out”?

This is a little tricky, but I’ll do my best to explain it. The short simple version: it’s basically a fee you get for a period of time because they use your face in commercials. This buy-out fee is only paid if the scene you’re being featured is used in the final edit. If you were cut in the final edit, the fee for the buy-out is being waived.

A buy-out can be reoccuring: usually they pay for a certain amount of time/region/outlet – and they can choose to extend the buy-out. In that case, you’ll receive a notification from us stating the buy-out is extended, and you can expect the payment shortly.

The buy-out is usually only applicable to leads or featured extras. A regular extra may be recognizable if you freeze frame, but that doesn’t qualify for an extra buy-out fee.

On set – tips from the pros 😉

Clothes

Us you know, you usually have to bring a couple of different outfits to the set. It’s smart to already be wearing the outfit you think is most suited for the particular scene/role. It often happens that you picked well, and they’ll approve that outfit and not even have a look at the other outfits if you did well. Don’t break your habit of bringing extra outfits with you to the set though; you never know if they deem a shirt not fit for your character/the scene, so you must be able to show some alternatives. Sometimes they shoot multiple script-days, and it looks silly if you wear the same outfit every script-day.

Often you know if the scenes are in- or outdoors. Dress accordingly. If you live in climates where it can get cold outside, you’re wise to wear thermal underwear under your clothes. Also don’t forget to bring an extra pair of (warm) socks, you’ll thank me later!

Due to legislation you won’t be allowed to wear clothes with any (big/recognizable) branding/logo’s/company names on your clothes. Even if it’s just a simple drawing, it’s not allowed (unless you own the rights to that design, and even then they may opt for something without any prints).

Furthermore, on the list of banned clothes: fine lines/stripes/checkered patterns, all black outfits, or really bright (neon) colors – most of these items do not look nice on camera, and usually they don’t want you to stand out too much.

Waiting

It’s common knowledge that once on set, you have to wait… A LOT. This is the case for both actors and extras. There are a lot of reasons for this, but instead of telling you what the reasons are, I think it’s more important to give you some tips on how to deal with this.

If you have a script, obviously reading and studying it is a prefered method of passing time. If you don’t, it’s smart to bring something with you that can entertain you (quietly) for a long amount of time; bring some books to read, writing material, or perhaps even homework. As long as it’s something you can do silently.

Some people bring games to the set, but this is actually being discouraged – a lot of people really enjoy a quiet moment “alone”, and really don’t want to socialize. More importantly: sometimes pastimes like that are SO much fun that it can become a distraction (soundwise) to the other people that are working, or even on the set. It’s also a bit more difficult if people from production, or even the director, needs to grab everyone’s attention.

The usage of your mobile phone (silently) is ok, as long as you don’t use headphones (sorry Netflix-bingers!) – you need to be able to hear cues from the production at all time.

Food/catering

Make sure you’ve already eaten by the time you arrive on set. Depending on the production, there will always be the bare minimum when it comes to catering, but it may take some time before they set that up, so make sure you’re not hungry when you arrive.

Also, pack some snacks or a light lunch for yourself and some water. You just want to make sure you’re not starving or dehydrated of course.

These days they try to cater to most diets wishes, and if there is a full catering, options like vegan are more and more common. But just in case, if you’re not an “allround eater”, bring your own lunch, especially if you have certain allergies. These are all just tips for you to be most comfortable.

Also, please be considerate to your colleagues: if you aren’t vegan yourself, please refrain from trying those dishes. It really sucks when you’re vegan, and there was a vegan option, but some meat-eater decided to try it out, and now you’re left without.

If you’re not booked for the full day, it may very well be possible that your scenes are scheduled right before or after “lunch”. The “lunch” is being used as the term when they serve warm food (most common with the bigger productions). The lunch usually is halfway during the shooting day, but the times may vary of course. If they shoot from 10PM till 8AM, they can have the lunch at 3AM!

You may notice a certain order the lunch is being served. This has nothing to do with arrogance or status, but with efficiency.
Crew eats first. They spend the least amount of time eating too, as they have to make sure the set is ready for the next scene after the lunch.
Cast (lead actors) eat second. Usually they have a wardrobe-change, hair and make-up, or scene-rehearsal before shooting the next scene, so it’s important they get their food down as soon as possible as well.
Last, but certainly not least, it’s time for the extras to get their lunch. It may feel like extras are unimportant, and therefor eat “what’s left of the lunch”, but that’s not true; once more its all about efficiency. Usually the extras are already in the right wardrobe, don’t need to rehearse, no need for hair and make-up, etc, so they’re not really in a rush to eat.

I have a question, but it’s not listed.

We tried to cover as much as possible in this FAQ, but I may have missed something. You can always send an email to info@getdiscovered.com and we’ll do our best to answer you as soon as possible.