Hey I wanna know if you guys think a subscription for Mandy is worth it. I had it for 3months and realised I've applied for almost everything in eligible for, but I've only had two auditions and I've sent in a bunch of self tapes but didn't hear anything back.
Is it really worth the £20.40 per month?
Hi Joshua, I'd really advise you to get some professional headshots taken to go on your profile. Although you have a great look, your headshot suggests you're not a pro, and I think, as that's the first thing employers see, they won't take you seriously! A professional set of headshots and a showreel is essential in this industry. Good luck.
I had premium membership for a year. Not a single job. Cancelled membership a couple of months back, and site emails have tripled!? Of course, I can't see full details without paying again........
FYI if you are a member of Equity you can get a discount on Mandy - 20% annually, 25% monthly or under 18 or non-performing theatre professional. Onn the Equity website click on "At Work," then discounts, then Casting.
3 months really is too early to judge. I agree with Meryl. Hi Meryl!
What you have to appreciate is that there is no 'pattern'.
If I look back over the year(s), one year I will have been strong in Acting, another in VO, and another in Modelling - and there is no pattern to the times of year that the work has come up either.
I'm enjoying a fantastic run at the moment - out of 7 consecutive Castings/Auditions have been booked on 5! But it's almost never like that, and certainly wasn't like that this time last year.
I am very concerned at the quality of work advertised on Mandy/CCP at the moment, 95% is dire, and a waste of (a professional's) time.
Some things to consider:
1) Almost all of the decent, well-paying jobs advertised on Mandy, will have been posted to Spotlight, if not first, but certianly as well.
2) Applications on Mandy run into the several hundreds for a single role. Casting Directors/Producers simply don't have the time to view all applications, no matter how good yours might be.
3) Therefore, one need to apply IMMEDIATELY one sees a suitable Casting Notice to stand ANY chance of getting your Application/Showreel seen.
4) Do not rely on the Mandy e-mail alerts alone, Castings are posted on the website, sometimes several hours, before you'll receive an e-mail.
5) So you'll need to constantly monitor Mandy, and/or follow them on Twitter.
6) Unfortunately, this means that you will have to trawl through everything, even all the (upwards of 95%) dross jobs.
I joined Mandy 8 years ago, back when it was CCP. I've found it has generally resulted in me getting a few jobs per year, and I always used to find it unfailingly paid back more than I put in. It allowed me to build a CV, and helped me get my first commercial/corporate/roleplay credits. Directors I have met through this have in some cases re-employed me and this has been useful both in terms of building and cultivating contacts and also extra money that these jobs pull in.
A former agent didn't really like me using Mandy so I stopped using it for acting work 1 and a half years ago. Now with a new agent, I am back to give it another whirl.
I tend to find this website quite user-friendly and it helps me feel productive on a day-to-day basis. I haven't really perused the Jobs Board yet as I am busy with other acting work at the moment, so I cannot comment on the present state of affairs regarding quality of jobs, although I have had discussions in the past with Mandy on this very subject and found them to be generally co-operative in investigating what ends up on the jobs board.
Based on prior experience, I would definitely say it's worth it, providing you give it time to bring back revenue...a few months without a job is nothing unusual.
It's been a while since I first got on Mandy. And I've gotten a few different crew positions ever since. There are tons of "unpaid" positions that you can apply to gain experience, then move on to more serious and/or paid positions with you experience. It'll be up to you to get on set and learn all you can in order to do so. I had an issue with my account at one point and was promptly assisted by an online representative. You Amy not get call backs right away (and in some cases, ever) but, if you put in the work (apply as much as to can to as many positions that apply to you, the or annual subscription will be worth it.
It sounds like most of the responses to this post are from people in the UK? In the US, Mandy is only really used for crew. They were pretty big in that regard maybe 15-20 years ago, is what I remember. Then they were offline for a while and came back all revamped and haven’t gotten a lot of traction again. I still use it to find crew when I’m producing. But definitely would not use it to find actors. In the US, there’s really only Breakdown Services and Casting Networks. Backstage was big 15-20 years ago too when it was a print publication, but they didn’t transition to online very well or quick enough and fell to the wayside as well, and really only post no/low paying gigs, student films, and Equity open calls.
It would be good if during the Covid-19 lockdown we could have some group sessions with casting directors rather than a series of 1:1 Mandy Surgeries which seem rather exclusive and smack of a selective clique.
Acting may be a difficult industry to get into but so is journalism. During this Coronavirus lockdown I have been attending a series of open journalism workshops with News Associates on Zoom, who yesterday had Kay Burley from Sky News speak to a group of 150 people for an hour and in the near future will also have Chris Mason and Christian Fraser from the BBC. By her own account, Kay Burley is getting up at 3am at the moment and the BBC journalists are probably also fairly busy having to report on Covid-19. Yet somehow, in spite of this workload, they are able to give advice to aspiring journalists for FREE! I am not affiliated to News Associates, I just think their workshops have been thoroughly excellent - check them out if you are at all interested in journalism!
It would be nice if maybe one or a few casting directors would be prepared to give a group talk, especially at a time when they are a little less busy during lockdown!!
Cristof, Casting directors arr doing LOADS of 1-2-1s and Q&As and lots of agents and schools are organising group zooms for clients/students. Maybe get your agent to reach out or send some emails yourself to organise some.
Lauren, In this situation Mandy ARE acting as the agent! If Mandy would like to send me their contact list and people would like to start paying me £20.40 per month then I will happy start organising some sessions!
Mandy isn't an agent though, they're a casting platform. Utelise the contacts you have to create your own paid workshops, lots of people have.
It seems you want a lot for free and/or people to pay you, I trawl through social media and create daily threads of free/PWYC 1-2-1s, workshops, Q&As, readings etc so people can find them all in one place and I don't charge a penny.
In time were many are struggling you can't expect them all to just serve you because you pay £20 a month.
P.S. you can get a payment holiday
P.P.S use a discount code, you get a fiver off
I could do without the new thing of listing Every.Single. Blasted. Role. in each casting separately, presumably to try and pad out the Job Listings. It just takes ages to scroll past.
We all know there's not much out there, Mandy, stop trying to fiddle how it looks and instead do what Spotlight did and offer 3 months free membership.
I have canceled my membership/subscription as too many faults with this platform. I updated my info months ago, and they are still sitting with 'pending' status. Contacting CS has been pointless. Only the runaround for getting rid of the glitches. And I constantly receive email 'audition' notices for everything, including male truckers and biker people. Nowhere CLOSE to my profile specifics. Mandy has become a joke.
Editorial Comment Hello Leanette,
We are very sorry to hear that you are unhappy with our service. It sounds like your credits have not been verified, to reassure you, the 'Pending' status only refers to the fact that we haven't yet received confirmation from the employer you agreed to list as your referee on the credit input page, via our automated system. Your credits will still have updated and be visible on your profile.
As regards your alerts; there are two sorts of Job-related emails we will send you. Our Daily/Weekly Opportunities roundups are not tailored to your profile and include all opportunities posted to our Low-paid and Voluntary roles board. You can turn these off or change their frequency via your Profile settings. Your Job Alert emails, on the other hand, are tailored to your profile and are sent out as soon as the job is posted. If you would like us to take a look at your profile and make sure you are receiving the right mailouts for you profile, please do reach out to us at emails@mandy.com
Mandy has over 3 million subscribers and a large proportion of those will be people all looking to find work and opportunities in the industry.
There simply isn't enough work for everyone. Every job advert is likely to have an overwhelming response from people, all competing for the same job.
- far too many for anyone to be able to respond to.
This makes Mandy.com more of a lottery. A place where you may find work, and where you may be able to recoup your membership fee.
But really, Mandy.com is a vast resource of talent, aimed at organisations looking for people, and its less about truly finding people work. Unless you win the lottery of course!
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