DoNotPay.org
was founded in 2000.
The site was created nearly two decades ago to inform and educate actors everywhere about the casting director
pay-to-play racket in Los Angeles, and help to put an end to the rampant greed and entitlement by many in the casting profession.
After
three decades of abuse and exploitation by casting directors, in 2018,
18 casting professionals including
9 members of the Casting Society of America were charged and prosecuted for charging a fee for an audition.
As a result, nearly every major workshop company in Hollywood facilitating the illegal scheme is now gone.
Every CSA member prosecuted and convicted in these recent cases is still a member of the organization, although their bylaws
explicitly
require expulsion. The CSA leadership has ignored its
ethical and professional responsibility in failing to discipline these
casting directors.
Hardworking casting
directors, working on Oscar worthy motion pictures, will continue to struggle for true recognition by the
industry - and the Academy -
until
the Casting Society of America recognizes its ethical lapses and
makes the changes necessary to restore respect to the profession and
craft of casting.
These casting directors should be angry at the spineless ineptitude of the leadership of the CSA, and the manner in which the willful ignorance
of a handful of clerks has undermined and disparaged the image and reputation of the profession.