If you’re signed up to the Team J mailing list, you already know this, but the 2018 Stonehenge Auditions dates are set and registration is open for both producers and actors:

  • Session One: Monday, March 5th, 6:30 – 9:30pm (during WIFV’s Narrative Directors’ Roundtable)
  • Session Two: Thursday, March 29th, 6:30 – 9:30pm (during WIFV’s Talent Roundtable)

If you’re an actor, you can check WIFV’s event pages or StonehengeAuditions.com for the deadlines to register. Audition slots are assigned by lottery as always. For producers, space will be limited, so if you want to see the actors in person and otherwise network with your peers, you should register earlier rather than later.

If you just want to know that registration is open and where to do it, click the links above and rock on.

There are a few major format changes to the auditions this year which we hope will make Stonehenge Auditions a sustainable community resource for years to come. If you want to learn more, please read below.

A Format Change was Inevitable
This may come as a shock to actors, but the day-long event is not equally beloved by producers. Don’t get us wrong. They like to see you all audition… and they love to see the videos after the fact. It’s simply that, again and again, producers tell us they can’t set aside a whole day to watch auditions.

Combine that with the fact that, for the past few years, most of you actors tell us you’ve gotten additional work and auditions from the online videos not the in-person audition itself.

A new Stonehenge Auditions model: Multiple Sessions hosted by Area Organizations
So we have a service that both actors and producers tell us is valuable: we tape and post dozens of audition videos online.

If anything, people want more than the roughly 120 videos we get from the day-long event. Only we can’t support the day-long event. Oh, and we need a space to hold the auditions that is both inexpensive (or free) and available. And could we have more audition dates?

Enter many organizations around the area that regularly hold events in mornings, afternoons, and evenings. They already have mechanisms to register people for events. They already have spaces to hold their events. The Stonehenge event is arguably a benefit for their members and the resulting online videos are a benefit to the community as a whole…

You may see where we’re going here.

Women in Film & Video (WIFV), the organization that has partnered with us for the past few years to put on Stonehenge Auditions, has volunteered to pilot this new format in 2018. Our goal is that next year, 2019, other groups will join in. Ideally, every Spring, there will be four or five sessions of Stonehenge Auditions. There will be more videos, more producers finding actors, more actors finding work, and all the related goodness that comes from those connections.

Nevertheless, this format means changes — some more significant than others.

Non-members have to pay this year
Area organizations like to hold events to benefit their members and, not surprisingly, often charge non-members to attend those same events (or they charge members AND non-members, they just charge non-members more). Since the organization is securing the space and managing the registration for that session, we don’t mind that the event benefits their members.

Most producers, even non-member producers, will probably wind up paying less to attend Stonehenge with this new format, but actors who aren’t members could, for the first time, have to pay to attend Stonehenge Auditions.

For 2018, we’ve confirmed with WIFV that everyone that doesn’t get an audition slot will have their registration cancelled and non-members can have their fees refunded around the time we release the lottery results (a week before the session).

Actors who get guaranteed, standby, or waitlist slots will need to cancel with WIFV if they can’t attend — and non-members will need to do that 48 hours before the event to get their fee refunded.

Does this mean that mean that actors who are not WIFV members would need to pay $10 to attend the event — and thereby have their audition taped and put online?

Yes.

Does this mean non-members will still want to cancel within 48 hours even though they won’t get their fee refunded  — because otherwise they get on the Mud List?

Yes.

Actor registration is entirely through WIFV this year
Unlike the past few years, actors do not need to update and submit through their StonehengeCasting.com profile. It’s done entirely through WIFV event pages this year (see the top of this post). You’re not entirely off the hook for being tech literate, however. (see below)

There are no physical headshots and resumes this year
This makes logistics exponentially easier, but that does mean adjustments for actors and producers.

Actors will need to upload their headshot and resume to a DropBox link that will be provided when you register. Headshots should be in PDF, JPG, or PNG format — and resumes should be in PDF (preferred), DOCX, or DOC format. Plan on labeling your files YourfirstnameYourlastname_headshot.pdf (or .jpg or .png) YourfirstnameYourlastname_resume.pdf (or .docx or .doc) Your headshot file size should be 1mb or less and your resume should be 500k or less. Combined files could be 1.5mb or less and would be wonderful as a PDF (YourfirstnameYourlastname.pdf).

Producers need to have some means to view the headshots and resumes, whether it’s a tablet or laptop — and they should probably have some offline or analog method of taking notes if technology and WiFi connections act up. We’ll email out a spreadsheet list of everyone who auditioned as well for reference.

Actors must provide a signed release to audition
As should be clear at this point, we’re now doing Stonehenge Auditions to make sure we can provide the community with online audition videos. If an actor doesn’t want to be taped, they shouldn’t register. We will collect actor’s signed release when they check-in.

The usual policy for the online videos remains: the videos can be taken down from our YouTube channel at any time for any reason, usually within 24 hours of the actor’s request.

If you have additional questions, feel free to check out this year’s Stonehenge Auditions page as well as the Actor FAQ and Producer FAQ. We hope to see many of you at the henge.