Players Directory, a casting directory used by agents and casting directors, has enhanced its presence with a new website and a recently-formed alliance. The new site (www.playersdirectory.com) launched last month. It now features a database of more than 120,000 professional actors worldwide and more than 250,000 photos. The site also includes resumes, demo reels and resume clips.
Qualified actors can obtain basic listings that can include up to six photos and a resume. Through its parent company, Now Casting, the Players Directory also offers actors free inclusion in an agent/manager submission system and an online audition system. Additional premium services are also available.
Players Directory's agreement with Baseline StudioSystems calls for the directory to become the provider of actor photos, resumes, representation information and demo reels to Baseline, a film and television information provider. Baseline, which is a unit of The New York Times Company, serves a customer base of every major studio, broadcast network, representation firm and media outlet in North America.
For the last 70 years, Players Directory has served its niche customer base with relevant content. Now that content has a platform that will make it even easier for those customers to utilize. These really aren't revolutionary changes, but certainly necessary ones. It's vital for all directories today to continue the traditions they built in the print world into the electronic arena. There are likely many more ways in which Players Directory can make its website even more robust…perhaps some sort of social networking functionality that would enable dialogue among the listed actors and their agents is a possibility. Stay tuned.