Acting Danica Riley Contributing Writer FOUR years ago, West Vancouver residents Susan and Aerock Fox started a lit- tle software company in a one-room office at North Shore Studios. Today their company. On-Line Film Services, is booming with busi- Ness trom casting directors, produc: ers, talent agents and actars, Their product, The Casting Workbook, is a software package that helps members of the film industry select casts and locations. Actors pay S42 per vear to have their profiles fearured on the data- base. The money scems well spent. Approximately 700 acting jobs are filled cach month for series such as X-Files, Millenninm, Poltergeist, F- X, Total Recall and feature films such as The Neg and First War. “We've seen names like Steven Spielberg and Gearge Lucas on here,” said Susan Fox, vice president of marketing. Using the software, casting diree- tors type story lines and character descriptions into their computers for the roles they want to fll, When thev’re done they hit send and instantly broadcast the information to every major Canadian calent agency. Talent agents may respond imme- diately by sending the casting direc- tor dozens of suggestions. Stuart Aikins, a Vancouver-based casting director, has used the Casting Workbook tor the last vear to fill voles for the film, Duets starring Gweneth Paltrow and After Shock a four-hour television series. “We're notorious for doing a lot of work. People are amazed we can do so much. It’s all because we're on-line and we're computerized,” said Aikins. In the old days script breakdowns were sent by fax, loading alent agents down with stacks of paper. Hundreds of dollars were then spent reproducing actor's photos and demo tapes and rushing them by courier to casting directors. In the final leg of the process, producers and casting directors met, often flying from one city to anoth- er, and browsed through gigantic phota albums of prospective actors for their production. With the Casting Workbook, pro- ducers and casting directors meet privately on-line to discuss options under password protection. Thev can access up-to-date pho- tos, resumes and voice clips to ge sense of actors capabil Eventually they will be able to view video clips. Agents can scout our new talent to represent ina section reserved for talent on tap with software actors new in town or fresh out of acting school. The fee actors pay cach vear to have their protiles teatured ins the Casting © Workbook drastically reduces the high cost of reproduc- tions, couriers and travel sinee every: thing is archived on the database. Vhere were 7000 actors on-line two years ago but the numbers have skyrocketed in the last two vears to 13,000 actors represented by 175 agents. : Getting the film industry interest- ed in the software was tough at first said Fox, According to her, most of her cHents didn’t know how to click and point or what WWW meant when she first approached them, “Ht vou think about it, they have got their own system they have had in place for 73 vears. Even though it’s archaic, it works and it gets their job done. said Fox. “But we're going to show them a better, different: way. [t's faster, cheaper and vou’re going to save all these courier costs. It’s instant and you know the casting director gets 1” On-Line Film Services has bent over backwards to get the techno- phobic tim industry plugged in. They give free Internet accounts to all their clients and they have an arrangement with a computer hard- ware manufacturer to provide com- puter systems at wholesale prices “We install all the Web browsers, e-mail programs and our software. We set it up, bring it over and put it on your desk ready to. click and point,” said Fax. Bur producers and casting direc- tors can have the software installed on a laptop as well, lowing them to work anywhere. “fromeans Po can be our of my office but still in my office,” said Aikins. On-Line Film Services will soon acquire a software company that assists production managers in the field with scheduling and budgets. The software will be improved upon and incorporated into the Casting Workbook to assist: their clients as they move through production. Susan and Acrack Fox are no strangers to success thar starts small. Aerock Fo. founded Video One Canada, the largest prerecorded video cassette distributor in Canada, out of his basement in Lions Bay. When he sold the company Standard Broadzasting in 1985 reportedly grossed S80) million a year. As for the most recent venture, its originators say they are pleased with the Canadian response to the prod- uct. They plan to infiltrate the American market next year. “Whee the whole industry starts moving this way those who don’t move won't be able to keep up with their peers,” said Fox. Buys You Used Hard Drives Srom $15 Office 97/Windows 98 $249 Ce/system purchase) Microsoft Office 97 - $199 Windows 98 - $110 NEWS photo Terry Peters SUSAN Fox, vice-president of marketing at On-Line Film Services, demonstrates an actress’ work profile on the Casting Workbook. The software helps members of the film industry find actors to fill roles for their productions by archiving profiles of 11,000 actors. 72 PIN EDO RAM Best Prices Guaranteed! ey Used Monitors New Pentium 14". 20" Mainboards Srom $59 Srom $85 20% OFF ALL USED MONITORS WITH THES AD FEB. 10-20