Online Castings Jobs And Opportunities Portal For Sale

Business description

Online Castings, Jobs and Opportunities Portal for the TV, Film and Photographic Industries Specializing Only in Paid Work

Launched in January 2009 by the current Owners, both of whom have long and established backgrounds in TV and film and casting for TV and film productions in particular, this web-site is one of the very few services portals dedicated to the film, television, photographic and associated industries. It brings casting directors, production companies, photographers and other entertainment professionals who have work opportunities together with actors, extras, models, presenters and dancers who are looking for them – catering for both experienced artists and those just starting out in the business.

This service is free of charge to those looking to advertise the opportunities they have, whilst actors, extras etc can access the service on two levels – by creating their own on-line profile which includes personal details, pictures and career history, all of which can be viewed by all users of the site and at a paid for level which allows the subscriber to apply for castings, jobs and opportunities and to appear in the ‘Artists Gallery’ a powerful search facility within the site. Once on the site casting directors, production companies etc throughout the world are able to browse at will to identify suitable talent and with contact details readily available, arrange to call in suitable candidates for castings etc. Accessed by hundred’s of production companies on a daily basis, appearing on the site could be the difference between getting, or not getting, the break all actors wish for.

Similar functionality exists for all those looking to fill work opportunities with the facility to post a short description of the project including location, duration of the assignment, the detailed requirements of the performer, casting details – date, time, location etc.

Not surprisingly for a business operating in the film, TV and entertainment sector, the site is well designed and easy to navigate with password protected areas for the key functionality. Despite being relatively new this web-site’s credits include placing actors in several high profile TV and film roles and in commercial for leading brands.

It is however the core philosophy behind the business which sets it apart from the competition. Unlike the vast majority of its competitors this site offers only paid work, having taken the view at a very early stage in the development of the business that even though the competition to work in TV and film is huge, the key people in the process – actors, models and dancers deserve to be paid for their efforts just like anyone else. Similarly all castings submitted on the site are checked for their bona fide nature and are featured very prominently on the site in date order – with the most recently posted assignments to the fore ensuring that users are constantly reassured by the effectiveness of the site in obtaining castings and can quickly identify the most current and relevant postings as they are made.

Despite being in operation only a few months this site is already enjoying significant traffic with several hundred opportunities placed already, over a thousand registered artists and over 350 on-going subscribers. Perhaps more importantly it is enjoying significant word of mouth recommendation across all areas of the industry. As such it represents an excellent opportunity for anyone looking to get involved in the TV, film and entertainment sector or for an existing services provider within the sector to extend their portfolio of services by acquiring a fledgling, but increasingly established business with significant growth prospects.

Key strengths:

There is a considerable volume of established actors, extras, models, dancers and presenters constantly looking for their next assignment – not to mention those that are searching for that elusive first break. Traditionally the accepted code of practice was for an actor to create a pictorial portfolio, which was submitted via the Agent to various Production Companies for viewing by Casting Directors and their Team who then viewed these albums to shortlist suitable actors. These albums were often out of date with a particular chosen actor being unavailable due to a long-term acting commitment, change in appearance etc. This site harnesses the power of the Internet to enable actors to keep these details up to date and their profile as high as possible.

Similarly there are literally hundreds of production companies in this country alone – ever growing due to the increasing demand for productions as a result of the explosion in film and TV, satellite broadcasting etc and it is impossible for an Agent to network with the Casting Directors of all of them. This site streamlines these practices and offers Casting Directors a one-stop shop to identify the right actor for their production.

This is a very carefully thought through business model which has set out to differentiate itself from the competition – not least by focusing only on paid work. Being a free service to Casting Directors ensures a constant stream of quality controlled castings – which encourages high volumes of quality subscribers. High volumes of quality subscribers ensure Casting Directors secure the talent they are looking for possibly at a fraction of the cost, time and effort it would normally take, encouraging them to return with other assignments generating a snowball effect – as more and more ‘buyers’ and ‘sellers’ are attracted to the site. Indeed this site can already boast successful castings for some of the biggest names in the industry with assignments for a BBC online soap and including commercials for leading brands such as Nokia, Johnny Walker and Pimms.

The site itself is extremely professional looking and has been carefully developed to provide scaleability – the volume of castings and profiles that can feature is virtually endless – and the right level of functionality. It already performs very well in all major search engines for all appropriate search topics. It has a good in-built Content Management system enabling the Owner to upload and amend content on virtually every page but perhaps more importantly is low maintenance with castings and profiles virtually self loading. In short it provides a very affordable but high calibre service to all ‘stakeholders’.


Key opportunities:

Having established the site within the industry the next stage of development is to raise its profile amongst its various target audiences to encourage further use. The potential for this site is enormous – with innumerable actors, actresses and other professionals with portfolios all looking for that all important break or next role and Casting Directors looking to place opportunities.

An awareness building marketing and advertising campaign and further search engine optimization work would significantly increase both site registrations and subscriptions as well as drive traffic to the site from Casting Directors and production companies.

The site has also been developed to facilitate advertising on the site through banners, sponsored links etc – a revenue stream that is currently entirely undeveloped.

Financial Information:

The business is offered for sale as a going concern. All financial discussions will take place directly between the vendor and all interested parties under the auspices of Turner Butler.

The Asking price of £55,000 merely reflects the investment made in the site to date and the enormous revenue streams that will undoubtedly accrue to the new owner.

Full financial information relating to performance to date is available subject to the usual Confidentiality formalities.

Business Operation

Competition / Market:

To date, access to investment has been limited to the owners’ own resources and marketing activity has therefore been limited. The website is indexed with all major search engines ensuring prominent listings and traffic has been further boosted by highly targeted banner advertising on related sites and other e-mail and newsletter based communications. By far the most effective and strongest form of marketing the business enjoys however is through strong word of mouth recommendation particularly from actors and actresses that have secured opportunities through the site.

Reasons for selling:

The developers of the site have invested substantial sums in its development to date. They feel they have taken it as far as they can within the constraints of their own limited funding and reluctantly feel the time is right to pass it on to new Owners with the right expertise and resources to take the business on to the next stage and realize the full potential there undoubtedly exists.

Employees:

The web-site has been developed and is currently managed by the two founders of the original concept.

Years established:

2009

Other information

Support & training:

The owners will provide full and comprehensive business familiarisation, training and handover to ensure a smooth transfer of the business.

Relocatable:

This business can be relocated.