ACTORS	ACTORS
Last updated 10/25/07
Join the Crowd Through the Free TV Ticket Network for Live Audience Taping; SMS TV Chat; Scripted Improvisation With Flash Mobs
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"The future belongs to crowds"
Don DeLillo in his novel Mao II

Free ticket agents are companies hired directly by the production companies of shows that are taping to supply studio audience guests. Often, they also offer a chance to appear in big movie crowd scenes as extras (check the website or telephone hotline for any opportunities). Free tickets are possible because TV shows are produced to be sold, and they do capitalize on the energy of a live audience, although it is not an event that is specifically made for the entertainment of the studio audience. For this reason, audiences must work around their production schedules and are subject to changes and cancellation. Tapings can require a stay of 3 to 4 hours at the studio and dress codes often apply.

The peak television production season is generally August through March for most of the major networks including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, The WB, TNN, The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Additionally, at various times throughout the year tickets for pilots, specials, award shows and other one-time-only television events can be handed out. In April and May, these are the first episodes of network comedy pilots and new shows proposed for the coming Fall television season. Many of the audience companies can book sizable groups of 10 or more easily through special advance arrangements but request that all members in a party arrive at the same time. To learn precisely just what shows are offered by the various ticket agents check their websites or call the telephone hotlines for such information.

Contacting Free Ticket Agents to Take Part In Live Tapings of Your Favorite TV Shows

Finding Movie Shoots, Hollywood’s EIDC and other State Film Commissions

Made-In-Hollywood movies, tv shows and other productions that need to escape the limitations of studio sound stages and studio back lots send out dozens of film crews out onto the streets of L.A. and Hollywood, shooting key scenes for their major motion pictures, TV shows, music videos, commercials, etc. If you can find out where these crews will be shooting, you can stop by and watch the action. Largely, this kind of information is not readily accessible. In Los Angeles, film companies need a special permit before they can shoot on the streets of the city (and that includes Hollywood). The city office that gives out those permits, The Los Angeles Film Permit Office, is folded within the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation (EIDC). The organization issues a daily list of exactly when and where each movie, TV show, commercial or music video is going to be shot. They call this list a "shoot sheet."

The EIDC (info@eidc.com) coordinates and releases film shooting permits for many jurisdictions in Southern California. The EIDC also supports and cultivates community-based arts organizations. EIDC’s customer base is spread throughout Southern California. Customers include entertainment- related businesses, government, professional and labor organizations, community groups, area residents and local merchants. During business hours (8am - 6pm, Monday -- Friday) the EIDC’s offices are open. They are located in Hollywood at: 7083 Hollywood Boulevard, 5th Floor Hollywood, CA 90028. The phone is 323-957-1000.

The U.S. Film Commissions

While EIDC was established as a way to help production companies navigate government requirements and red tape by creating an institution outside of City Hall or the County Hall of Administration catering to filmmakers and their unique time-sensitive needs, other organizations worth noting include the U.S. Film Commissions which are worth noting. Here are a handful for quick reference:

Joining TV Shows From a Mobile Phone

In European countries where users have been accustomed to teletext services, like France’s Minitel, and in general the continent utilizes the SMS "texting" utilities of mobile phones more readily than their American counterparts, an increasing number of television programmes are now enriched with overlays that display text messages sent in from viewers. Mobile-TV Chat is a concept that has turned out to be a popular in many television channels in Scandinavia. The concept of the Mobile-TV Chat is simple. People can send SMS messages that are showed on a TV programme or on teletex. In addition to chat stream the Mobile-TV Chat show can include some other elements such as live chat commentator, music videos, news flashes etc.

Teletext chat looks like an online chatroom, but it takes place on the television screen. In Europe, television viewers are used to looking up text information via teletext. Teletext is widely used to look up anything from the weather forecast to the latest news from the stock exchange. With teletext chat, users can send in their own SMS (short messaging service) messages which are then displayed by the broadcaster on certain teletext pages.

The popularity of these chats via television demonstrates how eager people are to see and hear themselves. Most of the fun comes from the experience of seeing yourself on screen and in order to achieve this, people are usually willing to spend generously, via their mobile phone bill. TV-Chat can be used to make live programs more interactive or can run unattended as a standalone programme. By sending a mobile text message with a specific command (e.g. TXT.) to a specific number, television viewers can have their messages displayed on television. In the United States, in somewhat related developments, Kodak is experimenting with a service that allows the sending of televised digital photos to friends and relatives, while a British company has invented a system that allows any received SMS message to be displayed on television.

Viewers Chat Over Interactive TV

In the U.S., the offering of SMS (short messaging service) and interactive television software that lets viewers discuss what they are watching is available from companies such as OpenTV (http://www.opentv.com/). Users of this and similar software can send short text messages from their TV to any SMS-capable mobile phone in their region, and is based on a pay-per-use model. For broadcasters, the SMS service allows the transmission of messages linked to specific television programs, with pre-set messages containing the latest sports results, news headlines and the times of favorite TV shows, the company said.

The Mountain View, California-based OpenTV offers a software and infrastructure platform for digital interactive television that delivers content to other digital communications devices. The company said its software has been installed in more than 18.2 million digital set-top boxes worldwide and has been selected by 46 digital cable, satellite and terrestrial communications networks in over 50 countries, including BSkyB in the UK, TPS and Noos in France, PrimaCom in Germany, Via Digital in Spain, Stream in Italy, DIRECTV Latin America LLC, and EchoStar’s DISH Network and USA Media in the United States.

Useful Books

Scripted Acting/Actions On Cue... The Flash Mob

Flash mobs are sudden gatherings of people at a predetermined location at a predetermined time. The messages come by e-mail or mobile phone, pagers and websites with instructions to meet at a specific place and time. People in flash mobs usually perform according to a written or pre-planned script (instructions on the activity of the moment are typically handed out on pieces of paper to people who respond to the anonymous e-mail or text messaged invitation), then disperse quickly. In an act of self-validation, flash mobbers have been known to invoke Dada, the Yippies and "smart mobs," a term coined by the author Howard Rheingold in his book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, to describe the use of digital technology to mobilize people quickly for spontaneous creative gatherings.

Some Assembly Required

Mostly, the flash mob phenomenon is about groups coming together in a creative endeavor. While critics of the flash mobs acknowledge the powerful combination of physical and electronic connection that the mobs spring from, many see the whole exercise as empty of purpose, with feelings that the phenomenon is an example of the herd mentality, and that the effort would be better utilized to have people come together to build constructive social networks. In his book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Rheingold has documented his observations of people interacting and cooperating in ways never before possible because they now carry devices that possess both communication and computing capabilities. Their mobile devices and cell phones connect them with other information devices in the environment as well as with other people's telephones, resulting in the street demonstrators in the 1999 anti-WTO protests that used dynamically updated websites, cell phones, and "swarming" tactics in the "battle of Seattle"; the toppling of Philippine President Estrada through public demonstrations organized through text messaging.

Mobs, whether flash or smart may be worth paying attention to, since, if nothing else, they seem to offer a lesson about the evolving nature of networks if not placing them inside a virtual petri dish. Anyone can start a flash or smart mob through common Internet tools email and discussion boards. Projects are under way to implement what can be called a flash mob search engine that will allow flash mob organizers to promote their flash mob. Feel the need to start your own flash mob geared toward performing artists. You can use the many communication tools provided to you on this website to organize that task. Flash mobs may be a new and truly innovative way for performing artists and performing arts groups to organize and/or choreograph creative interactive improvisations with an assembled audience, and receive coverage as well. Feel the need to learn more about flash and smart mobs before you venture forth, consult the websites listed below: