Volunteers from the local entertainment community would like to register you so that film makers and live event promoters can find people who have 19th century period costume and who would be interested in appearing in live events or films in the local area.
Why bother? The last Western film to shoot on the Comstock imported a re-enactment group from the Grass Valley area in California because they were known to the producers. We could have provided most or all of the extras for this film from the Comstock if only the producer knew how to contact you.
What do you want me to do? We want you to provide your contact information, keep it current, let us know what you can do, what you would like to do, what times you are available (for example, after work only), and provide a photo of yourself in-costume.
How does it work? Producers will be able to see your particulars -- except for your contact information -- and if they think they could use your services, they will ask to make contact with you on a project-by-project basis. If our volunteers FIRST determine that the producer isn't a fake, all-hat-no-cattle puffer, and SECOND the producer really has a project in mind with a definite schedule and isn't just fishing for information then THIRD we will provide their information to you and FOURTH you decide whether or not to contact the producer with your interest.
Likewise, producers don't want to be swamped with unqualified applicants, so we will screen the statements of interest before making initial contact with the producers.
Fees. There are none, for you or for the producers. We are doing this on a volunteer basis. If we get tired or pissed off we will quit doing it, so be polite to us, please.
Pay? It ranges from nothing more than a bad lunch on the one hand (in the case of short film projects) to many hundreds of dollars per day (for feature film projects). Short films don't have a market, and so the pay comprises whatever pizza or fast food the film-maker wants to provide out of savings from his day job. But it's a way to get your name and face in the filmed entertainment community and build a film resume without you having to put up any money for it. And, in the case of feature films and TV projects, you could get paid up to and perhaps even better than union rates.
What do you guys get out of it? We get first dibs on contacting you, silly. This gives us an advantage in the competition to be the first to find good folks.
How far away can I live and still register for this database? We have no set limit. You have to be willing to get yourself to the Comstock or the local area for film or TV shoots. So, we don't care if you live in Munklingen, Germany as long as you can get yourself here.
Tell me your database privacy story! The contact database is kept in an encrypted file on a local computer (not a server) and is not accessible via the Internet. Only the public information is available to producers, and then only in a document (.pdf) format, not as an online searchable database. Data transfers in and out are all done manually by the volunteers. The guy setting this up was the chief technology officer at a Fortune 50 company before retirement, and he knows for a fact that no online database can be made perfectly secure.
So how do I register? Send an email to: Franz.Steurer@cryptogang.com containing the following:
Stage name (required if you have one) and/ or actual name (required if you don't have a stage name). Neither will be publicly shared information.
Photo of yourself in period costume.
Town or region of residence
A short paragraph describing prior acting experience. That includes all kinds of acting: From film and theatre to street gunfighters to just wandering around town playing a cowboy or sheriff or lady of pleasure to selling tickets at a museum. All retailing is show business and if you are in retailing, you are an actor!
Any dialog training or self-study, and / or any knowledge of 19th century speech patterns or slang.
The nature of your day job and any flexibility or preferred work hours you might have.
Your contact information. Your phone number, as a minimum. If you check email several times a day, seven days a week, email is an acceptable substitute for a phone number.
Anything else you want us to know; example, "I cannot stand so-and-so and won't work with him."
If your typing skills are too poor, then you can write all this down in long hand and mail it to:
Franz Steurer
Tradecraft Films, Inc.
216 Lemmon Dr., Unit 179
Reno, Nevada 89506