Fishpond is a represented and independent casting database of professional actors. Set up in 2008 by Ali Coffey, who has over ten years of casting experience herself, the online casting process offers directors, producers and casting agents the opportunity to search for Irish actors.
IFTN spoke with Ali, who explains: “Casting users come to Fishpond to cast their projects. They can post a job brief to all the agents and the independent actors at the touch of a button can search through.
“A whole host of film, TV and theatre is cast through the site all the time, with each casting user looking after their own projects.”
The actors who use the website are all Irish, though in a few cases they travel between the UK and Ireland. Casting agencies can be Irish or international. UK casting directors use the website frequently, and casting agents from New Zealand and Australia have also availed of Fishpond’s unique services.
Ali states: “Fishpond has continued to grow, we have a fantastic wealth of talent with more coming on board every day and we are always pushing for the best jobs to be cast through the site. We daily contact those casting here, in the UK and farther afield making sure Fishpond is fresh in their minds!”
Over 600 companies have registered with Fishpond to avail of its pool of Irish talent for TV, film, theatre and advertising projects. In the past, casting for TV productions such as ‘Primeval’, ‘Camelot’, ‘Pleading Guilty’, ‘Spartacus’, and ‘Mary’, for films like ‘When Harvey Met Bob’, ‘Sidewinder’, ‘We’ve Got Balls’, and ‘Stitches’, and for commercials for Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Guinness, Heineken, McDonald’s, and Meteor has occurred using the website.
Fishpond is constantly updating its database and users can upload videos and audition online, a useful service for casting directors who often have time constraints in choosing key players. Quality control is also maintained on the website as actors using the site are required to have worked professionally or trained as an actor.
Last year Fishpond introduced Pondlings, a database which is for young children to teenage thespians. A number of sign-up days have been organised at drama schools over the country for Pondlings.
As for their hopes for this year, Ali says: “Heading into the last quarter of 2014 we have our 6th birthday and we are planning something special lined up in October for all our loyal members.”
See more at fishpond.ie