Just say NO to ACTOR RECYCLING!

Just say NO to ACTOR RECYCLING!

I've received tons of e-mails asking what prompted me to start my this site. I was inspired to create a website dedicated to a small group of people (high level studio & network executives, top agents, managers and even some casting directors), in an effort to dispel the notion that there's no fresh talent in Entertainment....and to create a platform for every actor out there who deserves recognition (recognize that spiel from my site?).

In a nutshell, I think that becoming a successful actor is one part talent, and 99 parts 'who you know'. It's an insider's game. The 'powers that be' and/or Casting Directors often bring in the same actors for all their projects, actors that they're already familiar with and their abilities. Which is why you see the same recycled actors over and over and over again.....some of which even play college students but are well over 30 in real life (shout out to the cast of Stomp the Yard).

So not only is it monotonous to see the same 45 actors over and over it again, it's also frustrating because most of them suck. And to make matters worse, isn't it depressing and quite scary knowing that Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Angela Bassett, Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey and Martin Lawrence are all up there in age and there's no new generation worthy of replacing them? I mean we have rappers playing action hereos now and Flava Flav has a new sitcom. C'mon. Remember Malcolm X? Die Hard? Indiana Jones (puleese pass that franchise down to Shia Lebeouf, Mr. Lucas, please)? Shawshank Redemption? Rain Man? What's Love Got to Do With It?, Steel Magnolias? Kramer vs Kramer? Fatal Attraction? Coming to America? and Ace Ventura? ....um did Martin ever have a classic movie? ......uh, well, remember the show Martin?

So Hollywood you mean to tell me, that the only replacements we've found so far are for Julia Roberts and the Wayans Family? Don't get me wrong, I'm more than willing to swap out Julia for Rachel McAdams and Marlon and Shawn for Damon Wayans Jr. but two is NOT enough!

ACTOR RECYCLING is going to completely ruin television and film. It's frightening when I go to the movies now and watch the trailers for new movies. Remember when going to the movies was an event? Remember when there was a time you could sit through a whole movie completely entertained and never once think: "If I leave now, I might be able to get my money back"?

So I say all this to say, that I started this site because I'm tired of seeing the same recycled actors over and over again. Yes, it is an insider's game to make it in Hollywood. And yes, Casting Directors primarily do bring in actors they're used to....So I've decided to show my cards . I'm posting one new actor a day and I'm saying: "This person is good, add them to your rotation. This is what they look like, this is what they've done before, they've trained with this person or this company and these are the roles they can play". Success does take a long time, but I'm trying to speed the process up.


Wish me luck!


-Amber Bickham