The official web home of Team J, a frabjous transmedia company.
Stonehenge Casting is an online service designed to help actors and producers connect.
We’ve been testing the latest version of Stonehenge Casting (Team J’s online casting tool). We’re especially excited for producers to start using the new project module.
We were really hoping to get this up and running in May. However, there’s some new features, including some users like you have asked for, that aren’t working quite as we’d like them yet, so hang tight and watch this space for the official launch date.
Given the April Showers we’ve been getting, those flowers better be impressive.
On the happier side of things (for us anyway), we’re very hopeful that the work we’ve been putting into the next version of Stonehenge Casting will put you in a mood, if not exactly the same as receiving a bouquet of flowers, at least in the relatively cheery mood.
We’re finalizing code and checking it twice, but expect the official launch date before the end of May.
We should be able to announce the release of version 0.3 of Stonehenge Casting, Team J’s electronic filing cabinet and casting tool, before the end of this month.
In the meantime, Team J’s Bjorn Munson has been talking with groups about conducting seminars and workshops in the DMV in conjunction with some of the area’s great film and arts organizations. Potential topics could include:
If you have ideas, go ahead and comment on our post on Facebook or via Twitter.
As previously mentioned, our hosting provider is upgrading the Web servers that StonehengeCasting.com is on. It appears they are on schedule and the site will be back online.
We’ve been informed by the company that hosts StonehengeCasting.com that they will be doing some hardware upgrades which include the servers we’re on.
That means on Wednesday, March 5th, from 10pm Eastern until Thursday, March 6th at 1am, you can expect the site to be unavailable.
We will confirm the start and end of this three-hour window. Yeah, it’s longer than we’d like, but they do this very rarely and we’re sure the Web server is super-groovy-keen (that’s a technical term).
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons we have this blog on separate hosting.
We know many of you have created profiles at Stonehenge Casting.
However, for many of the profiles, we’ve noticed they’re missing the all-important headshot and resume.
Simply put: if you don’t have a headshot, casting people will ignore your profile.
In case you are one of those actors, here’s a couple tips to help you in uploading your headshot and resume onto the site.
First, make sure the file format and size are correct. Just in case you missed it on the Attachments page:
In addition, we are investigating a newly discovered issue when uploading a file with a long filename or with special characters — i.e. ( & _, etc.
We’re not sure if it’s either or both, but if you rename your files “headshot.jpg” or “headshot.jpeg” or “resume.pdf” as the case may be, that may do the trick. As you may have noticed, the system renames your files anyway.
(We’re looking into the exact root cause with our developers).
Second, as of version 0.3, you no longer need to upload both your headshot and resume at the same time. However, you do need to click the “Save” button for the new headshot or resume (or both) to be saved to your profile.
We hope you continue to find Stonehenge Casting useful.
Last updated: 2014-09-27
We’re thrilled that over 1,000 of you all have joined Stonehenge Casting since it launched on April 1st this year… and we fully expect to see some of you in the upcoming season of House of Cards.
However, we understand that several actors are having trouble with resizing their headshot. For that, we’ve added a handy guide for how to re-size your headshot. However, more troubling are some anecdotes of actors not wanting to re-size their headshots or thinking it’s “not their job.”
The only casting directors who don’t appreciate the smaller headshot size emailed to them are:
Guess how many headshots are getting emailed to the fine folks trying to cast you in House of Cards?
So here’s the tough love portion: If you are an actor, your job, now and for the rest of recorded time, is to know how to resize your headshot or find someone who can.
We’re well into the 21st century and further still into the age of computers. Analog isn’t coming back. As with any other job in the modern economy, actors have to be reasonably tech-savvy. Your age is no excuse. Your dislike of technology is no excuse. For every actor who thinks they don’t need to know this, there are at least 10 –if not dozens– who are happy to learn.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because we said it last year.
All of those tips on submitting have a common theme: making the casting director’s job easier. Resizing your headshot is just one step you can take in removing unnecessary barriers from you getting the acting job you want.
If you have to have a friend or relative help you with resizing your headshot, go right ahead, but don’t forget: you’re the one who’s responsible for making it happen.
For Stonehenge Casting, other casting sites, and even responding to casting notices by email, you’ll need to upload or send your headshot.
For that, your beautiful original headshot, perhaps 5mb or larger, simply won’t do. Resizing it should be simple (grammar police will point out it probably should be “re-size,” but they seem to have been overruled by the denizens of the internet, so we’re going with the flow).
Option A) Use whatever you use now for photos
If you’re like the vast majority of Americans, you haven’t seen a roll of actual film –much less used one– in ages. So what do you use to send the family some pictures or upload something to Facebook, etc.? Whatever you use, check and see if there’s a “resize” button or menu option. Go for 50% of the originals size OR 600 pixels or less in width. Either resulting file size should be good to upload (but hey, check the file size to be sure) .
Option B) Resize it on a PC with Paint
Okay, if you’re on this page, odds are, Option A isn’t working for you, so if you’re like most people, you have a PC with some variety of Windows. One of the built-in apps they have is called “Paint.” To resize your photo:
1) Open the “Paint” application (for Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers, click on the Windows icon in the bottom-left of your screen and type “paint” into the search box. None of us are here at Team J are hip or foolhardy enough to have a Windows 8 machine).
2) Open the image you want to resize. (You may want to be sure to make a copy of the headshot first, so you don’t overwrite your beautiful original).
3) Note the current size of the image. In Paint, you should see the width and height in pixels (e.g, “1024 x 746px”) as well as the file size (e.g., “Size: 826.1KB”) on the bottom edge of the window.
4) Click the “resize” button and a “Resize and Skew” box will pop up (located under the “Home” tab on the ribbon on the top of the application, in the second box from the left marked “image”).
5) Make sure the checkbox “Maintain Aspect Ratio” is checked (It should be checked by default, but if the checkbox isn’t checked, your re-sizing will look awful).
6) You can resize by “Percentage” or by “Pixels.” Paint usually defaults to “Percentage,” but we suggest switching to Pixels.
7) In the “Horizontal” field, replace whatever the number is with “600” (the original number is usually well over “1000”). No matter what size your original is, this usually makes the resized image small enough.
8) Click “OK” on the “Resize and Skew” box, this will bring you back to the main window.
9) Select “Save As” from the menu items and save the image with a new title such as “yourname_headshot_small” (Unless your name is, in fact, Your Name, please go ahead and put your first and last name).
10) Check the bottom edge of the window. The width and height in pixels should now be “600 x [some number]px” and the file size should be much smaller, possibly under 200KB.
11) Rejoice in the knowledge that you now have a headshot that is perfect for emailing or uploading onto web sites.
Option C) Update it on a Mac with Preview
Let’s say you do have a Mac. One of the nifty built-in apps they have is called Preview, which is used to view photos and PDFs. You can also resize your headshot.
1) Open the Preview application (It should be on the row of apps on the bottom of your screen by default… or you can look for it in the Applications folder, you know, the folder with the non-scarlet ‘A’ on it).
2) From the top menu, select “Menu” then select “Open.” Browse and open your beautiful, original headshot.
3) Once you’ve opened said headshot, select “Tools” and the “Adjust Size” from the top menu. A window should pop up.
4) Make sure that the “scale proportionately” checkbox is checked and note the “Resulting Size” box (which presumably indicates your headshot is over 1mb)
5) Enter “600” in the “width” field. The height field should automatically be updated
6) Confirm that the resulting size in the “resulting size” box is indeed under 1mb
7) Select “Save As” from the menu items and save the image with a new title such as “yourname_headshot_small” (Unless your name is, in fact, Your Name, please go ahead and put your first and last name).
8) Rejoice in the knowledge that you now have a headshot that is perfect for emailing or uploading onto web sites. Also, you did it in slightly less steps than the PC user, but that could be our explanation.
Option D) Just Google It
If any of the options above don’t fit –or if you’re tempted to contact us for tech support– type “resize photo” or “resize image” into Google. You will get no end of search results including tutorials, software to download, and even online tools that will resize your image through your browser. We cannot recommend or guarantee any of these solutions, but it does give you plenty of options.
In conclusion…
Get help from a tech-savvy friend or relative. But remember, you and no one else is ultimately responsible for re-sizing your headshot.
(If you need some tough love as to why, feel free to read more.)
As mentioned last week, we recently updated to version 0.2 of Stonehenge Casting. It’s updated a number of fields, which is good, but that does mean some of you have your Stage Name blank.
Why does this matter? Well, all the actors have their display name as their Stage Name (e.g. Screen Name).
This affects more actors than you might think about. If your full name is “Robert E. Actor” as far as the IRS is concerned, but you go by Bob Actor on your acting resume, “Bob Actor” is your stage name.
With an update we’ve made with the latest version of Stonehenge Casting (v0.2), you can correct this in less than a minute (in fact, it might take longer to read this than to do it):
It’s that’s simple — and it means producers will be able to find you that much quicker.
We hope you continue to find Stonehenge Casting useful.
Now that version 0.2 of Stonehenge Casting is online, we thought we’d take a moment and mention: if you’re actor with a profile at SC, your job isn’t over yet. Regular updates from you are part of the plan.
Producers are using Stonehenge Casting as their online filing cabinet. After over a dozen Stonehenge auditions, many producers confessed to us that they didn’t do the best job of keeping all the collected print headshots and resumes organized pristinely.
Yes, we know some actors would prefer spending their money on headshot duplication or overpriced printer ink, but producers have told us that being able to organize your profiles into e-folders is very convenient. And luckily, it’s convenient for you as well.
You see, whenver you update your profile, it’s not only updated for one producer, it’s updated for them all, in whatever folders they have you in.
From the Stonehenge Casting FAQ, you’ll know we suggest updating your profile on a regular basis, really whenever you are changing your resume or headshot. However, as we’re expanding the searchable fields within Stonehenge Casting, you’ll find you may want or need to update your information after each release.
In fact, some of you might be getting emails from our staff in the coming weeks about just that.
While we can’t promise we’ll always examine each actor’s profile in turn (there’s close to 1,000 of you now), we’ll do our best to point out how to improve your profile to show up more accurately in searches. It helps you and it helps the producers.
But it all starts with you periodically updating your profile, just as you update your headshot and resume from time to time. In fact, as we add features to Stonehenge Casting, you’ll find you’ll want and may even need to tweak your profile.
So take note whenever there’s an update to the site. That’s an excellent time to give your profile a once over.
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