Start a Background and Extras Casting Company

1. 1

   Understand the legal line before anything else

   In California, the Talent Agencies Act requires a license from the Labor Commissioner to procure employment for artists, backed by a bond, and New York has its own employment agency licensing regime. Unlicensed operators who solicit work for performers have had contracts voided and commissions clawed back. Many states also regulate talent listing services and forbid charging performers upfront registration fees. Get local legal advice on how your specific model is classified before you take a dollar from anyone.

2. 2

   Decide who pays you

   The cleanest and safest model is to be paid by the production, not by the performers. Charging aspiring performers fees is where the industry's scams live, is restricted or banned in many states, and will destroy your reputation with the professional community even where it is legal. Bill the production a booking or coordination fee per performer per day.

3. 3

   Build the database that makes you useful

   Photos, measurements and sizes, vehicle ownership, special skills, availability, and above all a reliability record. The value you sell is not access to people; it is confidence that the two hundred people you booked will actually appear on time, appropriately dressed, and behave professionally on a closed set.

4. 4

   Learn union and payroll realities

   Productions may be SAG-AFTRA signatories, which brings specific rules for background performers including rates, minimums, and the number of union background slots on a given day. Payroll is usually handled by a production payroll company, and how workers are classified is a serious compliance question. Know which side of the payroll line you sit on before you promise anything.

5. 5

   Run the day like an operation

   Confirmations, call times, parking and holding locations, wardrobe instructions, weather contingencies, and a no-show backup list. Overbooking by a planned margin is standard practice because attrition is guaranteed. The production judges you entirely on whether the correct number of correct-looking people were in holding at call time.

6. 6

   Serve the adjacent demand

   The same database and logistics serve commercials, music videos, print and catalog shoots, corporate video, brand activations, live event staffing, and crowd work for sports broadcasts. That is what keeps the business alive between productions in a market that does not shoot year round.

7. 7

   Protect performers and your reputation

   Publish clear pay rates, never charge for auditions or registration, respond to complaints, and refuse work from productions that treat background people badly. The professional community is small and talks; the agencies that last are the ones performers trust.

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