This is an article about Hollywood casting call scams.

The following conversation took place over Skype between two actors. The first actor, who we’ll call Jane, is a former child star who now works in television and theater. The second actor, who we’ll call John, is a working professional who has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows.

Jane: “How did you end up getting cast for that part?”

John: “They found me on Breakdown Express.”

Jane: “Oh my god! How?! I posted on there as well! And I never got any auditions or anything!”

John: “Well, I guess they liked my profile.”

Jane: “I was on there for months and never got anything! What did it say? Did you have a video? Did you have pictures? Did you post your resume? Did you put your height and weight on there? Did you do all of the acting categories? Did you pay extra to get highlighted or something? What did you do different!?”

John: “Uh… nothing really. I just made an account and waited for something to happen…”

Jane (sh

Here’s a secret about the film industry that no one ever talks about: It’s actually pretty easy to get a role in Hollywood.

This is something I realized shortly after moving to Los Angeles in 2015. For more than a year, I had been looking for work as an actor, but I couldn’t seem to get my foot in the door. Then one day, while scrolling through Craigslist, I stumbled upon a posting that seemed too good to be true: A casting call for “background actors” — also known as extras.

Background actors are non-speaking parts in movies, TV shows, and commercials. They don’t have any lines; they just fill out the background of a scene and make it look real. But they still get paid. In L.A., they can make $82 for eight hours on set. If you live outside the city, you can earn $115 for showing up at 6 a.m., and another $45 if you have to drive there yourself.

Actors on Actors: Novak and Theron, who starred together in Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” discussed the tricks of Hollywood casting call scams.

JASON BATEMAN: Have you ever had to do a casting call scam?

CHARLIZE THERON: What’s that?

BATEMAN: That’s where you go in and you meet with the casting director, and then you find out later that you were actually auditioning for something else entirely. And they just use your tape to cast some other movie.

THERON: I’ve never been a part of it, but I hear it happens all the time.

BATEMAN: It happened to me once. I was up for a movie called “The Jacket,” which ended up going to Adrien Brody, which was fine because he won an Oscar for it. But I went into this really nice hotel room in New York — like, a nice suite — where I met with the casting director and the producer. And they were very nice. We talked about the character at length and whatnot. Then my agent called me back a week or so later and said, “Hey, did you know that

Avast, ye mateys! If ye want to be in films, there’s only one way to do it: pay money. And if you pay enough money, the movies will come.

This is a scam that has been around for decades. Every year, thousands of actors are tricked into paying for “castings,” “auditions,” or “workshops” that will get them roles in Hollywood films and television shows. You see these ads in the classifieds section of newspapers and magazines. The ads usually feature photos of beautiful girls posing as if they’re on movie sets (photos stolen from real films). Some companies even have a phony “movie” that they advertise is playing at local theaters, and then they tell you that they’re auditioning people for the sequel to their film. It’s all fake.

You’d think people would stop falling for this scam, but every year thousands of actors across the country send hundreds of millions of dollars to con artists who promise to make them famous.

What are these casting call scams?

We’re talking about ads in the paper, on the radio and on Craigslist that say something like “SAG ACTORS WANTED.” The idea is you pay them a fee to have your headshot taken or be put in an IMDB database, or to get your name in front of a casting director. It’s a real business. People fall for it all the time.

The idea is that there are people who want to act and are willing to pay anything they can to try to make it happen. But, according to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), there is no such thing as a paid casting call. Real casting directors don’t charge actors for auditions, roles or introductions; it’s illegal for anyone but agents to do so under California law. And SAG prohibits its members from paying for auditions or acting jobs in any way, shape or form — no matter what the circumstances or promises made.

In the mid-90s, I was a struggling actor in Los Angeles. I was living at my parents’ house in Westwood, working as a receptionist at a medical building. Every morning, I would get up and go to auditions for commercials and TV shows.

Every day, I would see hundreds of actors waiting in long lines outside audition studios for their shot at a part in something. Most were just paying their dues and hoping to get seen by one of the casting directors or agents who occasionally came by from the nearby offices.

Most of the actors were waiting for parts that had no speaking roles, or maybe three lines if they were lucky. This was before I learned that these roles have an actual name: “extra”

Actors would often arrive at 5:00 am or earlier to be sure they got a good spot in line. The first few spots might get seen right away — there were only three auditions per day — but the rest had to wait until later that day or even the following week. Most didn’t have time to go home, so they slept on the floor inside the hallway of the building until it was their turn to audition.

It was not uncommon for actors to get into arguments over where they stood in

“You think you can act? You’re short, have a unique look, and have some time on your hands? Then we have the job for you!”

That was the ad that got my attention. The promise of a paying gig in Los Angeles seemed too good to be true. But I had recently moved to Los Angeles, and I thought that this just might be my “big break.”

I quickly responded to the ad and received an email back with more details. All I had to do was show up at a specific address, pay $50 for “headshots” and $25 for a “resume,” and they would get me started as an extra on TV shows.

It sounded like a scam to me, but I figured it was worth the risk. After all, I didn’t have anything better going on that day. So I showed up at the address at 9 am. There were about 100 people in line outside when I arrived.

“What are you here for?” the woman in front of me asked.

“Oh, I’m not sure.” Then she looked me up and down. “Do you know what this is for?”

“I think it’s for extras,” I said, trying to sound confident. She nodded her