Your Talent Chefs blogging about insider info and guidance, current castings and bookings (only those made public), tips on improving your booking chances and how to use your Webcomp portfolio as a virtual agent to land more work. Get yourself in the Soup!

Good stuff cooking! Tourism, insurance, oh my! Lots of projects in the mixing bowl!

Friday September 09, 2011 by Chef

If you've reviewed previous posts, you might remember one about the seasonal aspect of the talent industry. Luckily, with cooler temps descending on much of the USA, hot castings are beginning to boil up! Not much we can announce publicly just yet.

Be sure your Webcomp has fresh images as we begin submitting you to the growing project roster. Let's get some Soup on!

Sending our talent $6000 in reuse checks from a shoot last year. Paying talent makes happy chefs!

Wednesday September 07, 2011 by Chef

Reuse. What a great word. It evokes thoughts of something valuable. Worthy of being re-used. In the talent business, Reuse means a previously shot project is going to be used beyond the scope of the original usage agreement (also called Rights Release). For example, let's say that a beverage company uses our talent in a photo thats being used on billboards all over a city. If the response to the billboard is good (and sales are up), the company might want to continue using the same image for longer than planned. If the company purchased limited use from us for the talent, then they'd have to buy additional use, or Reuse, to keep using the image legally.

Often reuse is negotiated at the beginning of the project, just in case the client wants the option of additional time or distribution channels (magazines, web, brochures, packaging, etc). But on occasion, we get a call from a client who did not plan ahead. Either way, TalentSoup talent then get an unexpected check in the mail! That's always a good thing! We love taking care of our talent and negotiating reuse that's fair to them and fair to our clients is one more way we show that love. We know that without great talent, we don't have a business.

Show off your awesomeness contest - round 2 for September! Get your Webcomp portfolio's out there!

Friday September 02, 2011 by Chef

We named our two winners for August yesterday and September's contest is roiling to a boil! Get your Webcomp out there to enter...You win when you share your Webcomp! It's as easy as sharing your Webcomp via Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere you can post your Public Link URL. Just share your Webcomp portfolio at least once per month to enter. We'll randomly select 4 talent at the end of each month through December. The winning talent get a 6 mos upgrade if they are Entry or Dev Talent, and Pro get a year credit added to their account!

How to enter: Once logged in, just share your Webcomp portfolio sharing options (Facebook, Twitter, your Public Link URL) to get your face out there! You can also post your Webcomp’s Public Link to your blog (send us a link so we know it’s there!). We’ll monitor your self-promotion efforts and randomly pick 2 winners, starting in August, at the end of the month. Some rules: Enter by sharing your Webcomp at least once per month. You can only win once in 2011. Everyone is welcome to enter. This contest has no cash value. If we violated your state laws somehow, please don’t tell on us. Winners will be chosen on the last day of the month, beginning in August of 2011, through December 2011, when the contest will end. We’ll contact you if you win and post the exciting news everywhere we can. The randomness of selection will be created by using tools at http://www.random.org/

Tweet Counts Working

Thursday September 01, 2011 by Chef

Hi everyone, Eric the Tech Chef here.

We fixed a problem some of you have may have noticed, which is that Tweet counts were not updating on your public Webcomps.

The problem has been fixed and you should see the counts there now. Thanks for your patience!

Awesome talent winners selected for August's Show Off Your Awesomeness Contest!

Thursday September 01, 2011 by Chef

Our first-ever Show Off Your Awesomeness contest has it’s first winners for August! There were tons of great talent promoting their Webcomp portfolios on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere our digital world reaches, so competition was fierce!

Our randomly chosen August winners are a handsome young man from Boston and a lovely lady from the Atlanta area. Take a look at these winning Webcomps:

• Salvatore’s Pro Webcomp - http://tso.to/kFsCHg
• Lesley’s Entry Webcomp - http://tso.to/lAYzks

Salvatore will have his Pro Webcomp extended one full year ($119.88 value) and Lesley will get her Entry Webcomp upgraded to Dev for 6 mos ($41.94 value)!

If you need a reminder of how our contest works, and how easy it is to enter, go here- http://www.talentsoup.com/blog/1277/were-launching-the-show-off-your-awesomeness-contest-today

Show Off Your Awesomeness contest for August ends tonight at midnight!

Wednesday August 31, 2011 by Chef

We've seen great Webcomps being shared across Facebook, Twitter, blogs and email signatures so keep it up! Remember that August's winners will be chosen tomorrow morning from everyone that shared their Webcomp during the month of August! See the entry below for How To Enter and Rules.

Show off your awesomeness contest is running full speed! Get your Webcomp out there to enter.

Wednesday August 24, 2011 by Chef

It's great to see our talent promoting themselves in force. Coast to coast Webcomps are showing up on Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, personal pages and even email footers. Remember you can enter just by promoting yourself with your Webcomp. We'll pick winners at the end of every month through 2011.

Tear Sheets of the amazing Natick Collection talent are up on our FB page!

Friday August 19, 2011 by Chef

Get them here http://www.facebook.com/TalentSoup

Great job folks! More to come...

Our talent offer insight into her heart and the struggle of staying in the business

Thursday August 18, 2011 by Chef

Getting to peer into the heart of the struggle our talent go through is an honor. Thanks for sharing this Lynne!

http://thisdreamersjourney-lynne.blogspot.com/

"But do I still believe that all things are possible? Are you kidding? I've lived it. "

We're launching the "show off your awesomeness" contest today!

Tuesday August 16, 2011 by Chef

Yep. It's a contest where promoting yourself enters you automatically into our contest. It's as easy as sharing your Webcomp via Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere you can post your Public Link URL.

Just share your Webcomp portfolio at least once per month to enter. We'll randomly select 4 talent at the end of each month through December. The winning talent get a 6 mos upgrade if they are Entry or Dev Talent, and Pro get a year credit added to their account!

How to enter: Once logged in, just share your Webcomp portfolio sharing options (Facebook, Twitter, your Public Link URL) to get your face out there! You can also post your Webcomp’s Public Link to your blog (send us a link so we know it’s there!). We’ll monitor your self-promotion efforts and randomly pick 2 winners, starting in August, at the end of the month.

Some rules: Enter by sharing your Webcomp at least once per month. You can only win once in 2011. Everyone is welcome to enter. This contest has no cash value. If we violated your state laws somehow, please don’t tell on us. Winners will be chosen on the last day of the month, beginning in August of 2011, through December 2011, when the contest will end. We’ll contact you if you win and post the exciting news everywhere we can. The randomness of selection will be created by using tools at http://www.random.org/