Screen Test Online Inc, a newly formed San Francisco-based interactive video communications company, has launched the first interactive talent database for the entertainment industry. It will deliver a digitised portfolio of quality video auditions onto the desktop computers of producers, directors and casting professionals. Although Screen Test Online’s video database system does not aspire to replace the face-to-face audition interaction, it will enable casting professionals to narrow the field and avoid the chaos associated with the normal cattle call approach to casting. Via a desktop computer, and using icon and menu commands, specifiers can create a profile for the type of talent they are looking for. Whatever the requirements might be, the graphical interface enables the user to check off a few boxes, plug in specific requirements, then hit the search key. At that point, the computer then searches its massive database of talent files, looking for as many potential matches as possible. Next, the user is presented with still head shots of the computer’s choices, along with names and pertinent talent data. The user can then choose to see the actual video audition of one or all of these actors. Via an extensive media campaign, a call has gone out to actors, singers, dancers and models to get themselves included in the database, but they must pay a registration fee that covers video production costs. The casting community will also be charged a monthly or annual subscription fee for access to Screen Test Online’s service.
