On-Camera in Minneapolis/St. Paul
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Where to get work in the Twin Cities Agents Actors Plus/Voice
Plus Agency Models
& Talent (Non-Union) Camelot Talent
Development Caryn Model
& Talent Agency Joe Katz Models Lipservice,
Inc. Meredith Model
& Talent Agency Moore Creative
Talent, Inc. Nuts, LTD. (Non-Union) Richter Casting
(Non-Union) Talent Poole
Talent Agency (Non-Union) Talent Temp,
Inc. Wehmann Models
& Talent, Inc. Casting Akerland &
Associates Casting, Inc. Bab’s Casting Hall, Jason
Cooper JR Casting Lynn Blumenthal
Casting Extras Casting Acker Erin Brave New Workshop Lacey, Joyce
Lynne Important Links Minnesota Film
Board Equity Office SAG Branch Office TIP: For Theatre Auditions check the job listings sections of the local rags (i.e. Star Tribune) |
BY BEN WINTERS
Bottom line, there is not as much paid acting work in Minneapolis/St. Paul as there is in Chicago: fewer commercials, fewer voice-overs, fewer opportunities to get on TV or in a movie. But at the same time, there is a distinct advantage to a smaller talent pool; on the auditions for those jobs that do exist, there’s simply less competition.
The end result is that, while there are approximately half as many talent agencies in the Twin Cities as in Chicago, actors making a living acting are no more rare there than they are here.
"There’s a lot of work going on here, and [whether an actor is successful] just depends," says Cindy Burke of Minneapolis-based Caryn Model and Talent, a union-franchised agency. "Typically when people move here, they move here for theatre reasons more than on camera. But there’s a lot of on camera work, a lot of movies–it just depends on what time of year you come and how talented you are."
"Obviously with the strike being on…there wasn’t a whole lot of commercial or major motion picture work, but normally that is a large part of it," says Stacey Meredith of Meredith Model & Talent Agency. Meredith describes the work available in Minneapolis/St. Paul as "very diversified…and extremely professionally. Voice-over, commercial video, print, catalog work. The bulk of work we do is commercial print, catalog, TV commercials, both national and local, and regional."
Leah Otto at the St. Paul Film Office says she "averages three or four commercials a week," and the same is roughly true of Minneapolis: Not a huge amount of shooting, but a fairly steady stream. Otto points out that the combination of Twin Cities skyline and rural Minnesota snowscapes is appealing to many a commercial producer.
"I think we all know that commercials are driven by concept," Otto says. "In this most recent one they needed a beautiful Midwestern looking neighborhood and home, and that’s what we have here. We try to be film friendly here as well–if it’s between one city and another, we try to make productions easy here in St. Paul."
As much as Chicago actors and agents bemoan the lack of opportunities in that realm, relative to Los Angles or New York, we’ve got it all over Minnie-St. Paul. Sure, they did A Simple Plan and the Grumpy Old Men movies up there, but in 1999 Minnesota saw six features shot versus the 20 shot in Chicago alone. Similarly in the television arena: While our glory days of "Early Edition" have slipped away for the moment, the bulk of shows shot in Minnesota seem to be PBS or Discovery specials about snow.
Meanwhile, the area is dealing with the same ailments we are–runaway production and the fallout of a six month union strike.
But they’re working on it. Minnesota has the only non-profit state film commission in the country, and in recent years they’ve eliminated the sales tax on production for commercials, and offered the so-called "Snowbate" of up to $100,000 to features or TV movies shot in the state. If there’s to be a boom in shooting in Minnesota, it’s going to happen soon.
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