In the last few years, there has been a proliferation of online casting sites springing up all over the Internet. While some of these are legitimate sites, many are just ‘wannabe” sites that don’t begin to provide the services you need to start or further your career in the entertainment business. Worse yet, many sites are just scams that will take your money and provide absolutely no value in return. We’ve discovered sites that claim to have talent search engines (which is what casting directors, agents, etc. use to find the talent they’re looking for) and found these so-called search engines don’t actually work! Many sites claim to have a lot of members, but when you do an actual search, very few people are actually found. Worst of all; many sites have a serious track record of complaints with their local Better Business Bureau.

So how do you tell the difference between a legitimate casting site that will give you real value, and a “wannabe” or scam site? Here’s a good place to start: ask a few important questions before joining any online Casting Site!

The following are some questions you should ask about any online casting company you are considering joining:

• How much money does the site charge?
• Is the company a member of the Better Business Bureau? Have complaints been filed against it?
• How large is the company’s online database of members?
• Does the site’s search technology really work all that well?
• How much traffic does the site receive?
• Are people being discovered & really getting work from the site?
• Does the company protect your privacy & is it child safe?
• How long has the company been in business?

1. How much money does the site charge?

Most sites will give you a free basic membership but then charge you a lot of money to upgrade and get a membership that will actually give you access to the features you want. At SSC we have eliminated the cost barrier by creating an innovative program that allows any member to upgrade to any membership level without paying any money at all. Click here for more details on upgrading your membership for free.

2. Is the company a member of the Better Business Bureau? Have complaints been filed against it?

We can’t stress enough the importance of the BBB seal of approval for online casting sites. In the past few years, the industry has seen a proliferation of casting sites who are happy to take your money but don’t have the technology or integrity to back up their claims. With close to a decade in business, Star Search Casting is, to our knowledge, the only site of its kind that has gone through the rigorous scrutiny necessary to become a member in good standing with the BBB. Our excellent track record proves that Star Search is a company you can trust!

Click here to search BBB complaint records for other companies.

3. How large is the company’s online database of members?

You wouldn’t shop at a grocery store if their shelves were empty. Similarly, without an extensive inventory of talent, casting directors and agents will simply not show up. The Star Search membership base is in excess of 295,000, and an average of 322 of our members are contacted each week for work in hundreds of different productions. This is an indication of the large numbers casting directors, talent agents, producers, and other industry professionals that are using SSC every week to find talent!

4. Does the site’s search technology really work all that well?

This is critical because industry professionals just won’t bother with a site that doesn’t have a dependable, state-of-the-art talent search engine that will enable them to find who their looking for instantly at the click of a button. The technical requirements and sophistication needed to successfully operate and maintain a casting site like Star Search are enormous and have taken years of refinement. The ease with which Casting Directors can search and access our talent is one of the reasons these industry professionals rate us #1 and why over 117,000 contacts for work have been made to our members in the past 6 months alone!

Please click here for further information on the state-of-the art technologies, Star Search Casting provides it’s members to help them them be successful.

5. How much traffic does the site receive?

Star Search Casting was created with one purpose in mind…to help talent be discovered, showcased, and find work in the entertainment industry. In order to facilitate this, you need a tremendous number of people coming to your site. Star Search’s tracking system shows that over 270,000 visitors come to our site each month and with over 1,060,000 page views in the last month alone (Note: these are not “hits” which total over 20 million monthly). These amazing statistics are proof that our members are getting the kind of exposure they need to make it in the entertainment industry.

6. Are people being discovered & really getting work from the site?

This is something that may be hard to determine just by looking at a site, but again, if it’s one of the many relatively new, unknown sites that doesn’t already have tens of thousands of members; you can bet that not many industry professionals are using it to find their talent.

Another consideration: does the site have valid statistics of how many of its members are being contacted for work? Probably not. Unlike Star Search Casting, most sites don’t even have the technological capability to monitor and collect these kinds of statistics, and therefore have no way of really knowing if their members are getting work or not. Compare this to Star Search Casting which is not only equipped with the most sophisticated technologies of any company in the business to internally track the success of our members, but updates these statistics daily on our Homepage. The numbers there tell the story – as well as the many unsolicited testimonials that constantly come in from SSC members. Click here to see our Member Success Stores.

7. Does the company protect your privacy & is it child safe?

This needs to be one of your biggest concerns when joining an online casting site and it certainly is ours. Our experience is that few sites pay much, if any attention to this important consideration. However, as a member of Star Search Casting, you can be assured that our technologies and monitoring systems go beyond what is necessary to protect your privacy in every way possible. Click here for further information.

For more information on the benefits Star Search Casting offer you, Click here.

8. How long has the company been in business?

This is important because if a company hasn’t been in business for at least several years, it’s highly unlikely that it has a large enough talent data base to attract Casting Directors or even be known to entertainment industry professionals. What that means is that you are far less likely to be discovered on such a site.

By contrast, Star Search Casting, having been in business for close to a decade, is one of the first, longest running, most experienced, and best known online casting sites in the industry. And with a huge membership base and thousands of incredible success stories, Star Search has become the #1 site casting directors and agents use to find new talent. This means your chances of being discovered by the entertainment industry are far greater as a SSC member.