New Mexico, Film & Entertainment in ©Sindication

Video of the Day: Buyer Be Very Weary

READ & SEE MUCH MORE HERE

Casting company queries raise eyebrows

Buyer Beware: What does work in film cost NM?

UPDATE 5/22/12: via KRQE

Casting company queries raise eyebrows

Boasting “27 years of Hollywood full Cast & Crew Expertise”, “A1 Star Casting” has swept into New Mexico from…Hollywood apparently, asserting big claims, lofty accomplishments, and big promises.

One hopeful OHI reader came away with the following impression after attending the much hyped NM Grand Opening of A1 Star Casting earlier this month:

“A steady stream of people were coming in to have their headshots done and be put in “A-1 Casting” data base…Michael Matinez, 5x Platinum (15 weeks in a row) is a writer and producer, Wayne Kurzeja received the “Anti-piracy Award” from President Clinton, has 42 years in the “business”.

Joe Guinan is “the man”, moved here from L.A. and has many connections all over the world, [boasts an] email list of appox. 2500 names. He has Academy Award movies, worked with stars like: Tony Curtis. He has “Blue Ray” backing and his next three movies are already being backed…with games, etc…He has other financial backers, writers, film producers and distributors… He’s setting up a web site and plans to bring many of them to NM! Joe plans to try his hand at directing while Chuck Erickson takes over the casting. They have several films in the works…” -Anon

Indeed, New Mexico Business Weekly cites a body of work of over 200 productions by A1 owner, Joe Guinan (as listed on IMDb). And multiple websites list Guinan as CEO, COO, Owner, Producer, etc., all at revolving points in time, under various business names; included but not limited to the following:

White Buffalo New Media | A1UC | All Media Distribution | On Facebook

Currently “New MexiCANS” are being offered grandiose looking seminars, classes, and resources, for a price, click here.

Locals hoping to make it in the film industry are being asked for cash upfront for an intangible product. In this case the product is the promise of starting your “A1 Star Casting” career.

It seems that hundreds of New Mexicans have already shelled out their five dollars to have headshots taken and posted with A1 over the course of their initial 2-day Grand Opening, which are to be published on the company’s grade F website by the 20th of May, according to the latest updates on said, sad site.

Also posted there are the new “opportunities” coming our way, including seminars for $10, $20, $40 and $50 a head.

Opportunities are our very favorite thing to present to our beloved home state, but from the get go this duck has been quacking. And not far into a few quick web searches of our own did the duck walking and squawking become more and more obvious…

First and foremost, credit for looking out for our own goes to you our readers, who, like that referenced above share our passion for New Mexico film and our amazing local cast and crew talent base.

In our full May 7, 2012 write-up on this matter, one astute attendee took particular note (and photo evidence) of the interesting questionaire presented to talent that day:

“Will you do nudity?”, pays more if yes, “Do you want to become a Actor”, “Could you or someone you know fund $5K thru $500K for a TV Show or Motion Picture.”

Comments and findings from other attendees were quick to follow. A1 was not approached by our publication for a response, but we happily received one from one Chuck Erickson, a top level associate from within A1, stating in part:

“A1 Star Casting is not merely a casting service that just battles for the jobs that come here. We will be making our own product, we have our own equipment, and we have connections to other producers/directors from around the country that the other local casting people do not. We already have 3 such productions lined up for this Summer in addition to 3 of our own productions.

While it is true that these films are mostly in the lower to medium budget range and will likely not get much more than a small theatrical release at best we have the distribution channels avail that will allow us to make money with these small films which will allow us to make more. Also with the New Media Contract, we will be able to get non-union actors into SAG-AFTRA.” -Chuck Erickson

We feel it only fair and balanced to share with you, along with the boastful claims made by the company itself, the rapidly changing product information as forwarded to us by concerned readers.

Jane Doe forwarded link, after link in regards to conduct unbecoming, or at least in stark contrast to what A1 presents itself to be and what the company and its affiliates actually churn out.

The following are recent screen shots from the pages of “ALL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION”, featuring Joe Guinan and Chuck Erickson (which have now been removed), on set of their credited work now “In Post Production”:

**WARNING**
**CLICK THROUGH IMAGES TO ENLARGE * NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK or CHILDREN**

Sure adult porn needs distribution too, right? Just ask Kim Kardashian.

HOWEVER, buyer beware when asked for cash upfront for purported work in “film”.

Do your research and let’s continue to look out for each other!

NM Casting Call: One event, two distinctly differing impressions

As we previously posted here, straight from the cyber pages of New Mexico Business Weekly, a new Casting Company is now open in New Mexico.

Several readers had sent in the online flyer circulating in promotion of the event and we chose to pass on publishing or social networking the news, until we read the NMBW article.

The contrast between the article and the businesses own promotion of the event were in such stark contrast our curiosity was piqued and we decided to go to post with both versions and very little comment.

In the days following the “Grand Opening”, the opportunity to compare and contrast continues as two OHI readers were kind enough to share their very different experiences/impressions of the event.

On one hand, $5 headshots? Sure. On the other, “Will you do nudity?”, pays more if yes, NOT SO MUCH. “Do you want to become a Actor”, “Could you or someone you know fund $5K thru $500K for a TV Show or Motion Picture.”

Lest this attempt at a fair and balanced look at what is reported as a new opportunity for locals interested in film and media be presented with any bias, by someone who DID NOT even attend, I will cease any further personal comment, and present two distinct impressions from two separate OHI readers who attended the “Grand Opening – Open Call”, respectively.

Reader A1′s impression from the opening weekend event:

“A steady stream of people were coming in to have their headshots done and be put in “A-1 Casting” data base…Michael Matinez, 5x Platinum (15 weeks in a row) is a writer and producer, Wayne Kurzeja received the “Anti-piracy Award” from President Clinton, has 42 years in the “business”.
Joe Guinan is “the man”, moved here from L.A. and has many connections all over the world, [boasts an] email list of appox. 2500 names. He has Academy Award movies, worked with stars like: Tony Curtis. He has “Blue Ray” backing and his next three movies are already being backed…with games, etc…He has other financial backers, writers, film producers and distributors… He’s setting up a web site and plans to bring many of them to NM! Joe plans to try his hand at directing while Chuck Erickson takes over the casting. They have several films in the works. I think it will be a good thing!”

Reader A2′s impression from the opening weekend event:

“Right off the bat, the mood was very panicked and rushed. The office is quite small, and the “casting director” wanted things to move at a fast pace. He was busy taking the $5 headshots and bragging about his film industry experience. (See attached photo of the “casting director” in action.) There were 3 other employees working with him. There was a very young blonde girl, an older —- man, and a Native American woman. The older man was doing the “interview/intake,” and giving an overview of what was going on.

The older man said they were casting 3 movies. I had never heard of these movies, which were scrawled on an large ink board at the back of the studio. The older man was going on and on about how most of the movies they cast are low to medium movies, which go directly to DVD.

I asked if any of the movies were being filmed in NM, and they all started to panic a bit. I also was blatantly taking photos w/ my phone, and they didn’t like that at all. They kept trying divert me to something else, but I told them I was just there for my daughter. Every time I asked questions, they changed the subject.

We were told the $5 “headshots” were being taken for their website, but there are NO photos on the website currently. They also claimed to be a production company. There was also talk of classes being provided in acting, and production skills.

The sign-in/info form (see attached photo) was full of grammatical errors, and mentioned comfort level w/ nudity. The assistant didn’t know what to say when I asked him how much they paid the actors. The “casting agent” then got mad at him delaying the process because the battery on his camera was dying.

Me and another woman (who did some extra work for EG Casting) both bailed. It has all the hallmarks of a scam. I looked up information online about the “casting director.” He does have a Facebook page, and an IMDb page. I have never heard of a single movie that he claims to have cast on the IMDB page. They may be very low budget and off my radar, or they may be entirely fake.

I don’t know. It could be legit. I could be wrong. But I doubt it. [Joe Guinan] updated his website recently. Worth checking out. www.a1starcasting.com. Everything on it looks FAKE.”

Related: White Buffalo New Media | A1UC | All Media Distribution | On Facebook

A1 Casting opens in Albuquerque “at the business location listed…”

From New Mexico Business Weekly:

A casting and production company that has opened in Albuquerque will hold an open house May 5 and 6 at its offices.

A1 Star Casting LLC is owned by Joe Guinan and is located at 6921 Montgomery Blvd. NE. Guinan has run a casting service and payroll company in Los Angeles and worked on more than 200 productions, according to his bio on the Internet Movie Database. He said he moved here to take advantage of New Mexico’s 25 percent tax incentive for qualified expenditures on film and media productions.

During the event, Guinad plans to raffle off $10,000 worth of services, including voiceover reels and actor reels that his company produces inhouse, as well as offering headshots for $5 that he will upload into three online databases for use by production companies.

Guinan said his firm is casting the film “Roboboxer,” starring Leo Fong, who trained with Bruce Lee. His company is also casting the film “Vampire Vigilantes,” and “Them,” apparently a remake of the classic sci-fi movie from the 1950s that involved atomic tests in New Mexico. All of the films will shoot later this year in New Mexico, he said. Guinan is also casting what he called a female “Animal House” entitled “Patrol,” which he characterized as women in lingerie behaving badly.

“I came here to New Mexico to get more New Mexicans hired instead of New York and L.A. people,” he said.

His company also does its own productions and is working on a Web series called “Casting Office.” He is looking for interns who want to learn the casting business.

The open house is from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Please also see the list of casting resources we follow and suggest here.