Frustrations Within Casting

Being an actor or working in the creative arts has always been something of a passion led career path with many feeling they cannot get a foot in the door thanks in part to the ability to gain parts, an agent, or that elusive and somewhat necessary profile with the #1 casting directory. This has come to a head now and people are feeling pushed out with the system being called elitist, we at the lost creatives wanted to share some insights and options that are gaining ground and opening doors to people with a few added options that even at the lowest budgets, can make the dream become a reality with strategic work and a little planning.

As regular readers will know, we advocate for indie film and the creative talent behind it from the cast to the crew with our own allegiances being openly stated.

We are happy to endorse creative and commercial avenues of filmmaking with companies such as New Village Video and HOD TV being two of our favoured routes,

*It is worth noting that HOD TV has parameters that you need to match to get through their vetting process, we have this in a document and will share with those who require it through email.

In casting terms, it is not quite as simple, there are certain sites and companies that have all but cornered the market and are seen as the gold standard, this however, has been changing slowly and we want to talk about 2 of those options and are open to hearing from new services that may appear or alternative options at any time.

vShowcards: a game changing paid for service with a dedicated team who not only help and support their members with advice, but a multi-faceted company that takes on actors and crew giving them a manageable route to showcase themselves and promote their skills to multiple audiences and welcome new and established talent because the site was built by actors, there is more understanding of the challenges out there.

Casting Callback: a free at point of use service for the UK, I personally checked out the layout and actors pages to see how it works and I am impressed, the company ethos is simple, they want to the creative arts to be open to all backgrounds making it one of the best of the free services for its open platform and honest approach to the industry.

With just these 2 options under your belt, it offers up scope in particular to new entrants, and with the media market slowly getting back on its feet with global financial concerns, it shows that no matter what your background, no matter your financial status as an actor or filmmaker, there is a means to promote and market yourself and fortunately, in this content hungry age, platforms available to sell your work.

Lost Creatives will be using these platforms both for casting and for promotion over the next year and focusing on opportunities outside the mainstream with digital TV and film being our goal and of course, supporting creatives across the spectrum with the blog being open to those who need support to promote their projects.

We will be talking in our next blog about commercial avenues for short films and touching on team building for projects with small budget.

Talking Theatre With HeadlessActing

Theatre is a major part of the cultural scene and we are happy to talk to one of the people aiming to put Scottish talent on the map with a series of shows aimed at the stage and building on their own experiences in the field, from sourcing funding to casting, HeadlessActing is pushing the envelope of the creative arts.

Why don’t you start by introducing yourself and telling the lost audience what you do in the creative arts? 

My name is Brandon Ferguson and I’m an Actor and writer.  Recently, I created the production company ‘Headless Acting’ as a way to produce and perform some of my own  pieces of writing. Currently, HeadlessActing is working on two plays with a third being in early development.

You have been talking on social media about your recent Fringe show and plans to do more stage work from a Scottish perspective, can you tell us more about that? 

Yes, I have just finished my first ever run at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I was playing ‘Peter’ in “Alba” which was written by Jack Byrne and Jordan Howat of ‘Action Theatre Scotland’. I had a wonderful time working on that. I’d never smiled more in my entire life, on the stage and off.

Once the Edinburgh Fringe was over I was just so eager to jump into something else, I decided it was time to create my own work. The Theatre industry in Scotland is dying a slow and painful death, whether that’s to do with ticket prices or even just that theatre is seen as “posh.” I wanted to fix that. I wanted to bring in a brand new audience, reach people who may never have stepped inside a theatre before. 

I had written a play about an event in Scottish history, but this play was a huge task. I would need a big team and a lot of funding. So,  I chose to start with something else, something smaller. So I wrote “*Smoke Not Included” which is a Stoner Comedy on the Stage. This play is one act, one location and four characters. What better way to bring in a new audience than putting on a stoner comedy haha.

Something we have noticed is you are very theatre focused with stage being a major part of your social media showcase, can you tell us what made this your focus as a creative? 

I’ve always been interested in theatre.  I never got to see much of it prior to being in high school, but I was always so entranced by the theatre. The sets and costumes, the actors! It’s magic! Buy a ticket, grab a drink and sit and enjoy the show. You might see a perfectly executed performance, you might see actors breaking character and causing everyone to laugh, you might even happen to see a story that touches you in a way a TV show or Movie never could. I like to say that theatre is just a live action book. When someone reads a book they can imagine what is happening and what the world may look like. Well, on the stage it is the exact same! The audience has a suspension of disbelief, you don’t need backdrops and a full room of sets. You just need the actors and a few important pieces of set or prop and the imagination of the audience does the rest. It’s great! 

“There’s also what I said before about the theatre industry in Scotland dying. I don’t think I could just stand back and watch that happen. I had to create. I had to try and show people that theatre isn’t scary, it isn’t too posh for you and it shouldn’t be too expensive.”

You recently talked about a crowdfunding campaign for your projects. Can you tell us more about the project and what is being planned?  Will you focus solely on theatre or expand into other areas of work? 

We are raising money for our first production, “*Smoke Not Included” , on Kickstarter, we still have a few hundred pounds left to raise. I couldn’t even describe this play to you if I tried, it’s quite silly, lighting and sound is used in a way to emphasise humour, there’s a lot of fun moments but at its heart, there’s a nugget of sadness. Neil, Jacko, Lauren and Aaron are our characters. They all have quite interesting relationships with each other. I won’t say too much haha. We’re currently casting for Aaron and Neil, submissions are open until 20th October. We are planning on going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next year as well as having a few performances in Fife. We also intend on filming the production and posting that on YouTube sometime after we finish doing the show. This is a way to combat theatre shows being short lived. We’re kind of immortalising it on YouTube haha. 

I do believe that HeadlessActing will remain working in theatre, but that’s not to say there isn’t a short film or two in the works.

What does the future hold for you and your team in media and creative terms?  What can we expect to see from you?

Currently HeadlessActing has a 4-Year plan. We aim to cast, rehearse and perform a show every year for the next four. We want to work with as many Scottish creatives that we can! I can’t say too much right now but we are working with a Scottish Artist and a Scottish Musician on one of our projects right now. We are also aiming to cover a wide range of genres. Starting with Comedy, then Horror, then History, Then Noir. If you’re following our Instagram (headless_acting) and our Twitter (@HeadlessActing) you’ll see we post updates all the time! Right now we are casting for *Smoke Not Included. We’ve received a lot of submissions and the self tapes are coming in now. We’re very excited for what the future holds.

To learn more about HeadlessActing or to support their work see:

*Smoke Not Included Crowdfunding Campaign.

HeadlessActing Instagram.

HeadlessActing Twitter.

The House of iKons September Show 2023

London fashion week is the social event of the fashion calendar with House of iKons standing high in the field with good reason, this top 6 show worldwide has become the go to event for buyers, designers and creatives of all stripes to showcase their talents to an audience that spans the globe.

“From the simple to the sublime, House of iKons has new reached new heights with The CEO of the Company Savita Kaye was honoured to receive a prestigious award from the Government of Thailand on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Sirkit of Thailand. Making this show and CEO Savita Kaye Herself an iKon of regal proportions.”

From the catwalk to the big screen, there are no limits to the range of the House of iKons show as this September has shown, there are no limits to creativity and each season they continue to outdo the last and leave the audience (in person and online) in awe.

Sponsored by Girl Meets Brush & The Fashion Life Tour.

Segment One Show

• Grand Opening: Jhay Layson 

• CLC Couture 

• Fantasma 

• Grand Finale: Love Collection 

Segment Two Show

• Grand Opening: Celebration of Thai Arts & Culture by Bangkok Event Management Co Ltd

• Kat Couture 

• D’BPHOR represented by The Fashion Life Tour 

• Jennifer Younger 

• La Petite Wardrobe 

• Hafanana represented by The Fashion Life Tour

• Postcode Fashion

• Anvi Couture represented by The Fashion Life Tour 

• AU10TIC

• Grand Finale: Stephan Russell

Segment Three Show

• Grand Opening: Zaira Christa

• TSafari

• Wanda Beauchamp

• Perry Jones represented by The Fashion Life Tour

• TAMTA

• Saima Chaudhry represented by The Fashion Life Tour

• Adrianna Ostrowska

• TUVZA represented by B20 Events 

• Shameless Opinion represented by The Fashion Life Tour

• Grand Finale: Andre Soriano

  Image credits: 

  London Show: Ram Eagle

  New York Show: Johnny Jones

  
  For further information on The House of iKons or opportunities to get involved in the show see:

  House of iKons Website.

  House of iKons Facebook.

  House of iKons Instagram.

Sons of Adonis Concealer: A Kit Must Have

We are incredibly proud of our association with the Sons of Adonis range, so much so our creative director JamesC, was able to consult and is extremely grateful to have a concealer brush with his name on it as part of the collection. As a concealer aimed at the men’s grooming market we can see the advantages for both the consumer and professional and will address key aspects of this here.

With a current 3 shade range, this is a good pro starting point for mixing and will easily fit into your working kit and offer up a premium product that not only works but suits a wide range of different applications.

In what has become an increasingly HD world, men are more and more expected to be camera ready for meetings and presentations, TV appearances, film work and family photographs to name but a few occasions that are integral to life now.

Something as simple as a touch of concealer can wake up your look for an interview, or presentation in the office, and lets not forget the ever present Zoom calls that we are frequently asked for these days. Yes, I too have had to “Zoom” and give speeches and needed that little extra edge that Sons of Adonis gives to make me look respectable.

From a makeup artist perspective JamesC understands that a product like concealer needs to be pro grade (which this is) and stand up to the rigors of a shoot as well as look natural in the real world.

The Sons of Adonis range is our personal go-to for work across genres and features heavily in the work of the lost for good reason and we plan to show why with a Q and A blog with founder Shakti Sood who developed this range and has put a huge amount of time into the product to meet the needs of his clientele.

To learn more about the range or to purchase see:

Sons of Adonis Website.

Sons of Adonis Instagram.

Timeline Updates

While the blog and other elements have been very quiet of late, we do apologize for this, it does not mean we have been idle. In fact it is the opposite with so much in the works we have had to set deadlines for projects and new launches before time really ran away and we lost track of what is being done.

Some of the domains we own are now due for renewal and we are using that as the baseline for soft launching websites and taking down some of the older work to make things as clean as possible.

With a wedding under our belt, in what will be a two-part package, there is some really beautiful images coming from that which will showcase our creative director and founder working as well as our beautiful bride.

Lost Creatives is going to be changed dramatically as well with new galleries being worked out to match the upcoming Lost Project Media site that will be the home of our video and print work, a mix of editorial and commercial campaigns, more on this later.

James will be launching a fresh new site which as a makeup artist he wanted to be a whole set of new work all tailored to the lost identity and brand and completely different from his previous site with a focus on the commercial.

In the next week we will be doing a very interesting set of blogs piece about indie brands that popped up on our radar and will be playing a part in the working kit of our house artist. Both of which are interesting and will offer very different perspectives on a makeup kit as well as product usage and placement.

With an end goal of updating not just the websites but our other networking sites such as Vshowcards, by August we will be well on our way to the whole new look and entirely different brand identity than when we started and it is truly exciting to see how things have developed from where we began.

Building Your Team Featuring Vshowcards

Something I have seen quite a lot of when on social media is the individualist aspect of marketing, by that I mean promotion of just one aspect of what you do as a creative, forgetting that when it comes to a shoot be it film, TV, or photographic it is a team affair.

One of the biggest reasons we say this is because our own creative director JamesC has reached out to the team behind vshowcards and will be working with them to assess a proposal for upcoming projects.

Networking, promotion and just old fashioned relationship building over time can be a difference maker in the world of film and TV, we rely on each other to make a shoot run smoothly and efficiently so having good relationships with the team make a huge difference.

With Vshowcards you have access to the a huge number of professionals within industry that will support your moves and if you reach out are willing to help and support, you just need to ask.

From an industry standpoint there is so much more than just your skillset to consider, you are a part of a team, the machine works because we do and supporting each other is the way to move forward and building your team is a lot easier when you have all your information at your fingertips and know you can reach out to others with questions.

To learn more about the Vshowcards set up or to join see:

Vshowcards Website.

Vshowcards Facebook.

Vshowcards Twitter.

Vshowcards Instagram.

Vshowcards YouTube.

Project Notes

A habit our creative director JamesC picked up when living in India that we are actively pushing again, is keeping a notebook and pen to hand, ideal for writing down phone numbers or emails, sketching ideas for photos or as we know he did frequently, outlining plots for TV or film projects.

JamesC has in the last few weeks come up with ideas that will work as short films for festival entry or expanded into a much longer concept that need to be padded to suit the plans for 2023.

Festivals are going to be a very heavy focus of the work ahead, we have spent a lot of time checking options of annual, quarterly and by far our most favoured, monthly film festivals that take film and photo projects.

Of course our favourite book for filmmakers “Don’t F*ck Up Your No Budget Film” by Ivan Peric, plays a heavy part in our thinking because this insightful first hand account of low budget creation is designed to shape your work into a commercial project and works well with our own thinking and add to this the very savvy and again, first hand account of Patricia Jones book “Opening Doors for Working Class Actors” which when combined with Ivan’s book has the scope to create a great combination and open up the projects we have to fresh talent and with the right focus and marketing (kept within a budget) see a series of smaller films and Web TV projects built with a commercially viable slant that will benefit all involved.

We will be using the Vshowcards site for casting and actively encourage people to check them out not just because we think it is a fantastic network site, but for the various casting calls that are available.

Expanding notes on our plan will be slow released through the blog and we will be working hard to get this push running with the Lost Agency supporting it and of course led by our own JamesC who will be front and centre with upcoming interviews including the Behind The Scenes Podcast, amongst the other elements at play.

Stay tuned for more updates and sneak images of our notes.

The Lost Creatives Christmas

In the last few weeks of 2022 (where has the time gone!!??) The Lost Creatives has gone from strength to strength, don’t get me wrong there have been pitfalls, but overall we have been able to create a network of people that is amazing, offer PR and other forms of support to fellow creatives that was after all the goal of the site.

Christmas for us, will be a time of relaxation with a heavy focus on what will be done in the new year, with commercial work and PR for clients having been the heaviest part of our workload, our creative director JamesC, will be returning to work as a makeup artist on a more open basis and taking on smaller projects to bolster the public side of his work and spending time on some personal projects that will be featured not just here on the Lost Creative but his own site and our partner site The Lost Agency who will be taking a heavier hand in our own marketing and internal affairs. *This means we will be returning to Instagram soon!

We have had some disappointments lately, with meetings and reaching out to potential collaborators falling through mainly due to scheduling issues which as you can imagine as a freelancer, has been a pain, however that will not stop us from pushing forward and with our ties to HOD TV, we will be focusing on that for the future and tackling things in a much more hard-line manner.

Our passion for the arts is not waning, far from it, we have collated magazines, festivals and other information that we intend to make full use of for ourselves, up until now we have put a vast amount of time into clients and not been able to put the lost concept at the forefront but, we are incredibly proud of the fact people have trusted the team.

In the next few weeks we will be releasing our goals and a schedule for this through the site along with a few snippets of art projects to test the waters.

For the moment we are going to allow ourselves a little breathing space for the festive season and release more information soon and options to get involved.

Working The Makeup Dept Budget With Desired FX

In the world of film and TV, budgets can be the biggest constraint alongside time, to the creative process. For the makeup department often this means we have to search out cost-efficient options to create a particular look or downgrade the process to fit the money available, thankfully, there are services like Desired FX that can help with this and give you a budget-friendly, professional add-on to your kit that will push the department ahead.

From silicone wounds to scars, tattoos including bruising and standard designs, Desired FX offers up a range of products that will work for most scenarios and even offers a studio custom service to allow further scope for creativity on a budget.

With increasing options in the digital market from Amazon to HOD TV (Horror on Demand), the indie film sector has never been so popular with the on-demand film/TV sector becoming bigger year on year, but budgets being tight in the circuit, having the option of a team like Desired FX who can provide cost-efficient options for the FX department, there is scope to bring a different dimension as a department head working smart with the available funds.

To learn more about Desired FX or to purchase see:

Desired FX shop ( 10% off on all products with the promo code "JamesClark10")

Desired FX Instagram.

Desired FX Facebook.

Nepal Cultural International Film Festival 2022

As they move into their 4th year, Nepal Cultural International Film Festival 2022, has showcased films from across the globe and given a new voice to the people in the film world from their base in Nepal, the jewel in the crown of South Asia.

Bringing not only the beauty and culture of Nepal to the global stage, but the NCIFF is also now amongst the most coveted festival awards received in the region, showcasing a wide array of films both feature-length and short with awards in multiple areas including:

• Best International Women’s Film.

• Best International Children’s Film.

• Best International Human Rights Film.

• Best International Cultural Film.

• Best International Environmental Film.

This 3-day event has attracted audiences from across the world and with new options available for sponsorship there are now even wider opportunities to get involved and not only promote your work as a filmmaker but to showcase your brand to a wider audience.

To learn more about the festival or opportunities to get involved see:

Nepal Cultural International Film Festival 2022 Film Freeway.

Nepal Culture and Film Center.