**[To view the original article written by Sam Blake of Dot.LA, please click here.](https://dot.la/casting-depot-raise-2649955768.html)**
 
 
<img src="https://www.datocms-assets.com/23925/1605630461-divider.png" align="center"/>
 
As a casting director, Lacey Kaelani has a leading view on Hollywood's content pipeline. Based on what she's been seeing on her venture-backed casting platform, Casting Depot, prepare for a deluge of unscripted shows.

"It's all gonna be handheld videos where everything looks like a Zoom call," she said. "Dating shows, talk shows, food competition shows – that's what was cast and is going into production."

The Casting Depot launched its latest beta version on Friday, with a "six-figure" investment from global venture capital firm Antler. Its board includes leaders from companies including CAA, Airtime, iHeartMedia, WorkMarket and IAC.

Kaelani, 26, described the site as similar to a social media platform. Users build profiles, can join groups and have access to industry news. On the middle of their page is an aggregated feed of casting calls tailored to them. The idea, she said, is if there's an actor that has an interest in food, they will see more food based opportunities than they would using a database because of the interest-based feed.

Kaelani founded Casting Depot in New York but she's been working in Los Angeles since the pandemic and eventually plans to permanently move the company to Southern California, the industry's epicenter.

<img src="https://castingdepot.imgix.net/blog/advice+articles/feed3.png" align="center"/>
 
<center>A screenshot of the dashboard of the latest version of the Casting Depot.
</center>
 
Kaelani started the company as a casting agency in 2019 and helped companies like Hearst, Buzzfeed, HGTV and several streamers find talent. But she quickly pivoted to an online talent network.

"It's a millenial view of what casting should look like in 2021," she said.

She says the casting process is like H.R. for Hollywood. And after years as a casting director for companies like Netflix, Bravo and HGTV, she and her team were flummoxed why what seemed like a straightforward process tended to be complex and costly.

Casting directors can pay up to $800 a month to access a database and artists often have subscriptions that range from $20 to $50 a month. Those databases, she said, are dated.

"We thought there could be a better way, so that networks don't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per season per show," she said. "That's when the lightbulb went off: a centralized marketplace that has every single type of on-camera gig, kind of like a LinkedIn."

Casting Depot is free for casting directors and it takes an 8% cut of the deals that it helps talent forge. That's a departure from the subscription model that typical casting hubs use. But, by bringing down the paywall, she hopes to widen the pool of talent for shows while also giving casting directors access to better candidates.

Kaelani pivoted her casting company last year bringing in a chief technology officer with digital marketplace experience and launched its first beta version in July.

Over that 12-week period, the company says it saw 446% month-over-month user growth. In all, 10,000 users have joined on the talent side, and 350 production companies have tapped the platform, including HBO Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery, Twitch and Snapchat.

She added in payment processing and legal document management for items like NDAs, contracts, and image-release forms with its latest version. The company sees itself now as a valuable "end-to-end" solution.

COVID has hampered the content production process, but Kaelani sees it as a boost for her business. For one, it has generated demand for unscripted productions, since they are cheaper to make and easier to produce in accordance with social distancing protocols, as they generally require fewer people on set. That works well for the type of users that have flocked to Casting Depot.

"On the talent side, in our beta, around 75% of our users were real people," Kaelani said. "Chefs that want to be on Food Network, real estate agents that want to be on HGTV, financial experts that want to be on Yahoo Finance."

<img src="https://castingdepot.imgix.net/blog/advice+articles/profile2.png" align="center"/>
 
<center>The feed view of themost recent version of the Casting Depot.</center>

As the industry continues to work remotely where it can, Kaelani thinks her business is well positioned.

"You'll see more companies with casting happening over Zoom and Skype and having virtual relationships," she said. "But it makes for a stickier workflow process to manage that remotely, and we're building tools to help with that."

The company expects its success to skyrocket, claiming it is "set to hit half a million users by 2021 with thousands of on-camera gigs booked every week through the platform."

As for the content that Kaelani sees coming through the pipeline, she says to get ready for a new generation of "Keeping up with the Kardashians," "The Great British Bake Off," and "The Bachelor."

"My opinion on the future of content is that it'll all be unscripted, short-form content," she said. "I've seen a massive shift toward real stories, real people. It's cheap to create, has the highest impact, and major streamers like Netflix and HBO will have to continue to create content within that sphere."

Casting Depot, a LinkedIn for Hollywood Talent, Has a New Beta and a Six-Figure Investment

Casting Depot is emerging as the industry’s professional network for all facets of the talent-booking process. With the intent to deepen their impact on the talent-booking workflow, the company just announced two new exciting features for users as part of their v2 beta launch - payroll processing and legal document management. 

Co-founders Lacey Kaelani and Brad Larson have led Casting Depot through a 446% month over month increase in talent user growth. The site hosts calls from industry players like Netflix, HBOMax, Twitch, Bumble, Verizon, and HGTV.

Now, Casting Depot directly addresses the inefficiency in media-placement by offering complete end-to-end workflow tools - from talent discovery to job posting. Casting directors and companies can now process payroll and access legal documentation like NDAs, image release forms, and talent agreements. This functionality accommodates an increasingly wide variety of postings submitted to the site that call for all types of gigs, not just traditional talent. 

The v2 beta launch directly addresses feedback given from the 12-week-run of v1 beta which was launched in late July. V1 created a social network which enabled unlimited access, and as an aggregated request from users, built out the complete end-to-end workflow process. However perfection is never finished, the team is still refining the product.
<img src="https://castingdepot.imgix.net/blog/advice+articles/homepage+v2.png" align="center"/>

<h3 class="text-center">“By dropping the gates, we make it easy for everyone to have access to media and entertainment. Casting Depot is the go to network for creators and talent to engage and source gigs across the industry.”</h3>

The end-to-end market for on-camera placement is $28 Billion, and with 3,500 companies that book talent placement exclusively in the US, the market grew by 4.3% in 2020 alone. Despite this growth, discovery in the entertainment industry is outdated: opportunities live across multiple offline and online platforms, recruiting and processing talent payroll remain painfully expensive, and standardized legal documents aren’t integrated with talent bookings. 

Casting Depot is backed by startup accelerator Antler, and comprises an advisory Board filled with industry experts from companies such as CAA, Airtime, iHeartMedia and S&P. 

To sign up for Casting Depot, visit us at [www.castingdepot.com/signup](https://www.castingdepot.com/signup)

Casting Depot V2 Beta Press Release 🚀

Lacey Kaelani and Brad Larson are the Co-Founders of media-tech startup, Casting Depot. Kaelani, an unscripted casting director, and Larson, a marketplace entrepreneur, aim to build a community in which democratizes access to on-camera gigs in the media and entertainment industry.
 
 
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Casting Depot all about?
Casting Depot is the professional network for on-camera gigs in the media and entertainment industry. Through a suite of workflow tools, Casting Depot enables users to post gigs, process payroll and manage legal compliance. The platform has seen 446% MoM growth with casting calls from industry A-List players like Netflix, HBOMax, Twitch, Bumble, Verizon, and MTV.

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
Lacey: Funny enough, Brad and I met off of Angel List. When I pitched him the idea of a professional network that housed on-camera casting calls, he instantly saw and believed in the vision. His background in marketplaces and mine in casting has made for aperfect fit for a product like Casting Depot. Fast forward to today, our entire team consists of brilliant builders and makers who come from various industries across the tech landscape.

What are your plans, how do you plan to grow this company?
Lacey: Our priority focus is building a robust workflow process for both talent and creators that generates efficiency for every type of talent booking. As we continue to refine that flow, we’ll look to build features upon that which challenge the current status quo within the industry. In summary, we’re building more kick-ass features on the hush-hush. Create an account if you want to find out!

What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
Brad: The biggest problem for us has been when to launch. The typical answer is “now, launch yesterday” – and I 100% agree, but with certain marketplace products and services the bar for value is really high. So, we’ve been launching in phases – where we test something out by launching it, analyzing the usage and engagement, iterate, and move to the next item. We’ve pegged to launch a full featured marketplace. The launch out of our beta has felt like a tidal wave that’s been slowly picking up speed and we (obviously) hope it breaks at the right time.

What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
Brad: The biggest mistake we made early on was expanding our beta too quickly. In doing so we put out a product to real customers that didn’t live up to the standards we believe in as a company. We definitely could’ve slowed down early on and studied the data more in depth. It’s tough because in order to cast well in our marketplace, you need scale.

How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
Brad: For us it’s about empowering our users to master their craft. In the business of casting, enabling casting directors and talent/actors to achieve their full allotment of creative abilities is huge. The difference between landing a role and booking the right talent is razor thin. So, we’ve built feature tools on our site like:

<li>Smart matching tools for gigs
 <li>Streamlining workflow tasks that are tedious and – giving time back to both sides both sides
 <li>DM’ing and commenting to build engagement

What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
Lacey: I spend a good amount of my free-time watching lectures given by other entrepreneurs and VC’s.

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Brad: Start now. There are a lot of great reasons to start now and you’ve probably heard a bunch of them… but the most impactful reason for me is the data/feedback you accumulate in the process of starting is so damn critical. Sometimes it’s so eye-opening that I frequently say to myself, “I wish I had written that out sooner, or built that button component, or shown this beta feature to customer x”. Listen. Work. Seek Feedback. Rinse. Repeat.
 
Lacey: My best advice to new entrepreneurs is to build a product around an industry you know well in which there’s a problem you frequently encounter. I see tons of startups that don’t have a strong founder-fit which often times can be a recipe for quick failure. Build a business around what you know, build a hobby around what you don’t. 

What is your favorite quote?
Lacey: “The business that wins isn’t first to market, but the first to scale.” – Some VC on Twitter.

How can we get in touch with you?
You can visit our website Casting Depot, or find us on social media via Twitter.

Article posted by: [Billion Success](https://billionsuccess.com/lacey-kaelani-brad-larson-casting-depot/)

Billion Success: Lacey Kaelani and Brad Larson – Co-Founders of Casting Depot

Antler US portfolio company Casting Depot, the professional network for media and entertainment, is emerging as the industry’s premier marketplace for all facets of the talent booking process. Co-founders Lacey Kaelani and Brad Larson have led Casting Depot through a 446% month over month increase in talent user growth. The Casting Depot team is working with Antler to drive user traction and refine their product offering as they field casting calls from industry players like Netflix, HBOMax, Twitch, Bumble, Verizon, and MTV. 

Lacey recognized the market opportunity for Casting Depot as she struggled to consistently source talent as a casting agent. “The major networks don’t recognize that their casting teams don’t have tools to do their jobs efficiently. Everyone from major networks to small content creators overspends on casting, which is the problem right there: how do we empower all creators with the right tools?”

Increased demand for original content exacerbates these inefficiencies in talent sourcing. It is anticipated that Netflix will spend more than $17 billion on original content in 2020 alone; the recently folded Quibi poured $1 billion into its original short-form content. Despite this growth, discovery in the entertainment industry is outdated: opportunities live across multiple offline and online platforms, recruiting and processing talent payroll remain painfully expensive, and standardized legal documents aren’t integrated with talent bookings. 

Casting Depot directly addresses this inefficient media-placement by offering a complete end-to-end workflow process solution for entertainment and uses social media as a talent discovery tool. Casting directors and companies now can process payroll and access legal documentation like NDAs, incentives, and talent agreements to support talent booking on Casting Depot. This functionality accommodates an increasingly wide variety of postings submitted to the platform that call for all types of positions, not just talent. “By dropping the gates, we make it easy for everyone to have access to the media,” says Lacey. “Casting Depot is the go to network for creators and talent to engage and source gigs across entertainment.”


Lacey and Brad, a technologist and serial entrepreneur with a successful exit under his belt, are working rapidly with Antler to develop the Casting Depot offering. “Antler has been a big backbone for us at Casting Depot as we go through our launch and iterate on our product,” Lacey explains. “The team is incredibly hands on. We feel lucky that they’ve helped us navigate our big shifts and been our hype team to provide confidence and foundational support as we quickly shift our strategy and operations to address market needs.”

Book your next casting on [Casting Depot](https://www.castingdepot.com). And, if you’re interested in building your next venture with Antler, [click here](https://www.antler.co).

Article posted by: [Antler](https://www.antler.co/news/startup-series-meet-casting-depot--medias-premier)

Startup Series: Casting Depot - media’s premier talent booking solution

**When did you know you wanted to start your own company?**

If you don’t know what casting is, chances are you don’t work in the entertainment industry. If that sounds like you, I can explain the field in the most simplistic terms – HR recruiting for on-camera placements. There’s a massive gap in the talent-booking industry and when we noticed that gap, we knew we had an opportunity to innovate.

**What was your original idea for this company, and are you still doing that (or did you pivot, if so, what is the new focus and why)?**

Like most start-ups, the plan is always changing until you find Product-Market Fit. The biggest change we saw very early on was an adaptation to our business model. We had a surplus of supply that called for every type of talent – from financial experts and single ladies to traditional actors and voiceover artists. Because of this, we discovered that our platform could be used for anyone and everyone who would want a relationship with the media, catering to every type of media outlet. So, we decided to make Casting Depot a completely free professional network and instead take a piece of the transaction.

**How long did it take you to finally take the leap, and what was it that pushed you over the fence?**

The decision happened about three months after launch. After a few discussions, listening to our user feedback and chatting with the VC community, we took the leap. In order to operate a startup, a team needs to be adaptable to change and have the ability to execute quickly.

**Who inspired you to pursue your dream, and why do you think they believed in you?**

My Co-Founder and CTO Brad Larson saw a massive vision for Casting Depot when he joined the team, which inspired me to pursue it. I always knew there was an opportunity to innovate in this space and knew that I had the skillset to be able to execute. Brad was one of the first people to believe in the dream. His passion for innovating within the gig economy and persistence for product excellence is a substantial contributing factor as to why I’m confident Casting Depot will be a success.

**Who is your favorite mentor and why?**

Our team is lucky enough to be surrounded by incredible advisors who share our vision. In particular, I have two mentors who help me push my personal and professional limits constantly in efforts to grow as a leader. Lastly, we’re an Antler portfolio company. They’ve been a great sounding board to-date.
What was the hardest thing about starting your company, and what did you do to make it through the first stage?
The hardest thing at first was finding a Product-Market Fit that satisfied the entire media and entertainment community. Questioning the status quo can be a difficult dream to sell, especially pre-launch. Pushing the limits for what Casting Depot could be in 10 years is something we’re constantly molding every day at work.

**What has been the hardest lesson to learn?**
The fundraising process was a difficult curveball for me, personally. I learned to think of a Series B even if you’re only raising a Pre-Seed. I noticed that in my initial investor meetings I continued to get questions revolving future rounds (primarily because the funds I was meeting with like to support their portfolio clients throughout the company lifecycle). As a first-time founder, I wish someone had prepared me for those types of questions. It’s never too early to think about the exit of your company, even if you don’t know what’s on the agenda for tomorrow.

**What has been the most amazing thing you have experience while running this company?**

The best day was launch day. We had worked extremely hard building and strategizing Casting Depot and to be able to finally press “live” was an experience I’ll never forget.

**What is the weirdest thing you have experienced while running this company, and how did you react to it?**

The weirdest thing I’ve experienced was the first company “plug” I did. To set the story, I live in Los Angeles (recently moved from NYC). One day, I was sitting in the clubhouse of my building where I was working, minding my own business. I overheard two guys behind me talking about their recent auditions and scheming of ways to get more auditions without an agent. I turned around and said “have you heard of Casting Depot?” It was a funny blip in time, but more bizarre to me that I had officially just done my first “plug” with no shame.

**What is the best decision you’ve ever made while running this company?**

Bringing on my Co-Founder and CTO Brad Larson, our designer Josh Rawlings, and advisor Jake Prudhomme. Saying “let’s do this” to this founding team was the best decision I’ve made.

**What is the biggest mistake you made while running this company, and why do you think it happened?**

Our biggest challenge has been incorporating user feedback quickly. While it wasn’t a mistake, it was a massive challenge. We’re a small team and creating a product that supports the entire media space is a big monster in itself. We’re lucky enough that our users are consistently giving feedback which allows to build a better product. Standby on V2 of our beta over the next two weeks.

**How has the coronavirus pandemic affected your company?**

Surprisingly not so much. Casting is a part of the pre-production process and the year works in cycles. Casting budgets were set pre-Covid, so we’re still seeing activity in our space. In fact, we’ve seen a growth in casting for Ad companies who have to use their products as a response to Covid-19.

**What keeps you passionate about your company?**

My team, my advisors and our users. Seeing people interact on the site means everything to me.

**What daily routine have you developed to help you take care of your mind, body, and soul?**

I have two self-care activities that I indulge in often in order to take care of my mental health. First – I play soccer two-three times a week and binge MLS/Premier games. It’s my healthy obsession. Second – I do small things every day that make me smile such as grabbing coffee at a local coffee shop, buying myself flowers or reading thought articles on Medium.

**What one thing would you like people to take away from this interview?**
A very close friend once told me, “make decisions fast, execute faster”. Being a founder is difficult. You’re constantly faced with making tough decisions that’ll ultimately better the health and success of the company you’ve built and you have to be willing to act on them.

Article posted by: [We Live To Build](https://www.welivetobuild.com/interview/lacey-kaelani-ceo-interview/) 


We Live to Build - Interview with Casting Depots CEO Lacey Kaelani 

Launching a new business is not easy, never mind bringing to market an entirely new product or service.

In this series of articles, we gathered 100+ successful female entrepreneurs to share their stories and tips on building a business from scratch.

**LACEY KAELANI**
Co-Founder - [Casting Depot](https://www.castingdepot.com/)

![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/23925/1603368227-storiesfromfemalelaceyheadshoot.png)
*Lacey Kaelani*

**Q: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO FOUND CASTING DEPOT AND WHAT WERE THE MAIN CHALLENGES YOU FACED?**

In 2019, [Casting Depot](https://www.castingdepot.com/) became a prominent casting company generating content for a handful of Fortune 500 companies such as Hearst Media, HGTV, Bustle Digital Group, MTV, and more. What became increasingly frustrating was the inefficiency within the talent-booking process. Why do companies spend millions of dollars on casting every year when they don't need to? And voilá - Casting Depot was born.

Today, Casting Depot is the professional network for media and entertainment. Our freelance management tools creates efficiency for creators and talent in gig booking, payroll processing and legal document management. Our business attacks a $28B SOM. We're a unique vertical in the professional networking model across tech today.

Our biggest challenge to-date has been handling the range of castings that have come on to our platform. It's something that we didn't anticipate would happen pre-launch. We see every type of connection happening on our site - from startups looking to connect with talk-show segments, single ladies wanting to be booked on dating shows, to traditional actors looking for their next role. This massive range quickly taught us that our platform has the potential to be home to anyone - and everyone - who would want a relationship with the media.

**Q: DID YOU START THE VENTURE ALONE?**

I'm lucky to work alongside my Co-Founder and CTO Brad Larson. His background in building gig marketplaces, excitement in finding PMF, and frankly his contagious ambition, made this platform possible.

**Q: WHAT'S YOUR BUSINESS MODEL, AND HOW HAVE YOU GROWN YOUR REVENUE?**

We're a free professional network. We take revenue out of processing transactions and upgraded recruiter packages. We've grown our MRR & projected ARR through on-boarding users in the masses in efforts to increase the number of bookings - and thus transactions - that happen on our site.


Interview from [Data Bird Business Journal](https://www.databirdjournal.com/posts/how-to-start-a-company-from-scratch-10)



100+ Stories from female founders, Featuring Lacey our CEO of Casting Depot

Casting Depot is a one of a kind market place for creators and talents. It is an exclusive community that allows creators and talents to engage and source gigs. The platform aims to connect talents with casting directors, giving them the experience they deserve out of a casting platform. Casting Depot offers an end-to-end solution for all forms of casting. Venture Mirror in a little chit chat with the two founders, Lacey Kaelani and Jenna Kammo, learns more about the venture and the story behind it!

**What is the startup/product about? Give us a brief description of it.**

**Jenna:** Casting Depot is a professional network for creators to source and engage with every type of talent. A female-owned and operated company based in NYC, Casting Depot is the only professional network to be a complete end-to-end workflow process for creators to complete their projects on time and on budget. We are also the only network to be production and talent agnostic in the entertainment industry.

**How many co-founders are there? Please introduce them and their backgrounds.**

![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/23925/1598811122-lacey-jennacastingdepot.jpg)
##### Jenna and Lacey

**Lacey Kaelani – Co-Founder**

**Jenna Kammo – Co-Founder**

**Brad Larson – Co-Founder, CTO**

**Lacey:** Lacey: In 2018, we had both been at a point in our careers where we were tired of working for other people. I absolutely hated developing concepts that I wasn’t passionate about, nor made a positive impact on the people that viewed them. Jenna, on the other hand, hated casting for other people and the inefficiencies within the casting process. We were on set one day and had the typical startup conversation of “I think we can do this better and for ourselves”. We ended up leaving our full-time jobs and voilá! Casting Depot was born.

**How big is the entire team currently?**

**Jenna:** The tech team is the pulse of our business, led by our CTO Brad Larson who is supported by the ever-talented designer Josh Rawlings and coder-extraordinaire Austin Quinn. We’re a small but mighty team!

**How did you come up with the idea? What motivated you to do this?**

**Lacey:** Over the course of 2019, Jenna and I cast for Fortune500 companies such as Hearst Media, Bustle Digital Group, HGTV, MTV, and more.

At the end of 2019, we decided to pivot our business. We were consistently frustrated with the casting workflow process and needed a more efficient way of booking talent for our gigs. So – we decided to turn our casting company into what it is now – an online marketplace for creators (like ourselves) and talent to engage and source gigs. We have an incredible team now, including our CTO Brad Larson.

**What are the marketing plans apart from the product hunt/beta list launch? How are you planning to acquire new users?**

**Jenna:** As Lacey and I have bootstrapped the platform with funds from our unscripted casting & development company. We’ve had to be tactful in how we budget for acquiring users! We’re planning some exciting & strategic brand-partnerships, exclusive castings and encompassing the payroll process.

**What is your target market? Why do you think your product will appeal to?**

**Lacey:** When we went to create Casting Depot, we were eager to construct a foundation to support not only the professionals that cast, but also the talent that so desperately needed a reliable marketplace to book every type of gig. It’s such a massive, decentralized market ($5BN) that we knew we had to build something that would also give users the ability to create their own communities within our own. We dreamt of conversation bubbles in every type of casting — Broadway actors, aspiring TV personalities, experts that wanted to be on CNBC, etc. That was our first priority. So — we ultimately ended up building that infrastructure so our industry could choose how they’d want to cast and create.

As casting directors, Jenna and I knew we needed to incorporate a space for casting professionals to complete their entire workflow process from end-to-end. Lastly, we’re talent agnostic meaning that unscripted, scripted, theater, voice, modeling and commercial casting calls live on our platform. 

**Do you have a separate dedicated team to take care of marketing (digital marketing/traditional marketing)? Which digital platforms are you focusing more on?**

**Jenna:** We’ve been fortunate enough to have grown our business thus far without paying for any marketing or advertisements. It’s been Lacey, myself… and a lot of elbow grease!

**What according to you is the biggest challenge that you faced? Is it product development or marketing or scaling or … ?**

**Lacey:** Our biggest challenge has been incorporating user feedback quickly. We’re lucky enough that our users are consistently giving feedback which allows to build a better product. However, we’re a small team wearing many hats! Standby on V2 of beta over the next two weeks.

**Who are your competitors/alternatives? What sets you apart from them?**

**Jenna:** We’re a disruptor in the pre-production space. The reason we set out to build this platform is because of the inefficiencies within the casting space. We’re constantly challenging ourselves to create the best experience for our talent users and improving the workflow for our creators.

**What are the future plans with the product/startup? Any new features you are planning on?**

**Lacey:** We’re planning on encompassing the entire HR/payroll system, alongside our booking abilities, which has yet to exist in our industry. Aside being able to book talent for castings, casting directors will also be able to pay talent, but also be able to send standardized legal documents to talent to sign before shoot day. Lastly, we’re building out an awesome functionality that’ll allow casting professionals to book their next freelance gig with a production gig or network.

Venture Mirror In Conversation with Lacey and Jenna of Casting Depot


Lacey & Jenna are the co-founders of media-tech startup Casting Depot, a marketplace for creators and talent to engage and source gigs. Casting Depot is the only platform to be a complete end-to-end solution for every type of casting utilizing social functionalities to drive engagement for users. 

![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/23925/1598811122-lacey-jennacastingdepot.jpg)


**Can you tell our readers about your background?**

**Lacey:** My undergraduate was in economics and my graduate is in finance. I always thought I’d go into economic analytics. I had an opportunity to interview for Nickelodeon Animations’ BA department as an intern and was unfortunately turned down. That was a tough pill to swallow. Instead, the head of the department offered me a position in casting and development. I had no idea what that entailed but took it anyways to get my foot in the door. That internship experience was incredible dare I say… magical? 

Eventually, that lead me to New York where I continued to intern for the Viacom brand in their development department under one of the SVP’s of Casting & Development. I fell in love with creating ideas for TV shows and the art of “the pitch”.

**Jenna:** When I landed my first interview for a PA position with a talk show at NBC, my mother actually drove me to the interview - yep, from Detroit, MI to Stamford, Ct. My interviewer asked how long I had been living on the east coast for, I smiled and said, “about two months. I’m loving it here!” – knowing full well my wonderful mother was outside waiting for me. I couldn’t let something as minute as living 11 hours away stop me from getting the job, right? I stayed with that show for 3 years and then got into freelance casting before working on another talk show. The combination of working on talk shows and freelancing on different genres in the unscripted space shaped my knowledge of this industry.

**What inspired you to start your business?**

**Lacey:** In 2018, we had both been at a point in our careers where we were tired of working for other people. I absolutely hated developing concepts that I wasn’t passionate about, nor made a positive impact on the people that viewed them. She, on the other hand, hated casting for talk shows. We were on set one day and had the typical startup conversation of “I think we can do this better and for ourselves”. We ended up leaving our fulltime jobs about two months later and voilá! Casting Depot was born.

Over the course of 2019, we ended up casting for Fortune500 companies such as Hearst Media, Bustle Digital Group, HGTV, MTV, and more.

At the end of 2019, we decided to pivot our business. We were consistently frustrated with the casting workflow process and needed a more efficient way of booking talent for our gigs. So – we decided to turn our small casting company into what it is now – an online marketplace for creators (like ourselves) and talent to engage and source gigs. We have an incredible team now, including our CTO Brad Larson.

**Where is your business based?**

**Jenna:** Our office is based in NYC but our business operates nationwide.

**How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?**

**Lacey:** When we went to create our marketplace, we knew we needed a talented CTO that could execute our vision. That was the first step. From there, we brainstormed solutions to the problems in our industry and went on to write out or execution plan. In order to create a successful business, it’s important to understand the pain points within the market that you’re trying to solve *first*.

**What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?**

**Jenna:** Lacey and I are fortunate enough to have created a successful casting company over the past 18 months. Building brand awareness wasn’t easy, but we did so through social media marketing and word-of-mouth referrals.

**What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?**

**Lacey:** Raising institutional funds for a media-tech company is tough, especially as a first-time founder. Luckily between advice from my close friends who are also founders and an MBA that taught me a tiny bit about the process, I was able to take a really daunting process and have a bit of fun with it. There’s nothing more exhausting and exhilarating than “selling the dream”. While it was a learning curve at first, I found that reading articles written by other founders, brainstorming with friends, and ultimately “winging it” helped me overcome the fundraising process.

**How do you stay focused?**

**Jenna:** Take breaks. You deserve them. The beginning of your career is definitely a hustle! There’s no way around it. But this is a creative industry and you cannot force creativity; It’ll come to you naturally. When I worked on talk shows, I thought I could only give myself a break when the show took its standard breaks (every 5-7 weeks and on summer hiatus); That’s not sustainable for a well-balanced life. Listen to your mind and your body, reset as you need to.

**How do you differentiate your business from the competition?**

**Lacey:** When we went to create Casting Depot, we were eager to construct a foundation to support not only the professionals that cast, but also the talent that so desperately needed a reliable marketplace to book gigs. It’s such a massive, decentralized market ($5BN) that we knew we had to build something that would give users the ability to create their own communities within our own. We dreamt of conversation bubbles in every type of casting — Broadway actors, aspiring TV personalities, experts that wanted to be on CNBC, and so on. That was our first priority. So — we ultimately ended up building that infrastructure so our industry could choose how they’d want to cast and create.

Our marketplace is a platform for creators and talent to engage and source gigs. We have all of the social functionalities of LinkedIn with the purposes of our casting competitors. Encompassing those hiring tools, as a casting director you can complete the entire workflow process end-to-end on our platform. Lastly, we’re talent agnostic meaning that unscripted, scripted, theater, voice, modeling and commercial casting calls live on our platform.

**What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?**

**Jenna:** “Surround yourself with the right people”, that’s something my beloved Aunt Mae would tell me. Positive people are a must. But more than that, seek relationships with people who inspire and challenge you to be the best version of yourself - in your personal and professional life.

**What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?**

**Lacey:** My favorite book is Shoe Dog. It’s an incredible story of an entrepreneur who faced multiple pivots over the course of his business to not only better his understanding of the market but in order to change the market as we knew it.

**What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?**

**Jenna:** My favorite resource is our team. It’s invaluable and irreplaceable.

**Who is your business role model? Why?**

**Lacey:** My role model is Bob Iger. The acquisitions during his time at Disney were moves and decisions I hope to one day to make as well. He took the biggest risks in entertainment (especially at the time) during which stakeholders questioned his ability to lead. Obviously, they were very wrong.

**How do you balance work and life**?

**Jenna & Lacey:** We’re still figuring that out. TBD!

**What’s your favorite way to decompress?**

**Lacey:** I have two self-care activities that I indulge in often in order to take care of my mental health. First – I play soccer two-three times a week (or at least, pre-COVID) and work out consistently. Second – I do small things every day that make me smile such as grabbing coffee at a local coffee shop, buying myself flowers or reading thought articles on Medium.

**What do you have planned for the next six months?**

**Lacey: Casting is arguably the most important building block in entertainment.** A company is only as successful as its team, and consumable entertainment is only as good as the characters that are cast. A Casting Director can cast an entire show, play, AD campaign, etc., but the achievement and tenacity of it are reliant upon the characters.

Despite its importance, the current model of casting is an outdated trade. Known in entertainment as an archaic industry with analog methods of workflow, the current casting process needed a glossy and new makeover. Imagine being an HR professional without recruiting tools (like Indeed or LinkedIn) to source talent. That’s the abbreviated frustration of the casting industry. *Awful, right? Chime in our marketplace, Casting Depot, which has been our biggest project to-date.* 

**How can our readers connect with you?**

@JennaKammo
@LaceyKaelani
@Followbl
@CastingDepot


"Seek relationships with people who inspire and challenge you to be the best version of yourself - in your personal and professional life" with Lacey Kaelani & Jenna Kammo

Thrive Global Feature: "Every show brings something new to learn”

If you don't know what casting is but you're interested in this article — [read this first](https://www.castingdepot.com/blog/posts/why-the-casting-industry-needs-a-tech-makeover)
(2)

**Casting is arguably the most important building block in entertainment.** A company is only as successful as its team, and consumable entertainment is only as good as the characters that are cast. A Casting Director can cast an entire show, play, AD campaign, etc., but the achievement and tenacity of it are reliant upon the characters.

Despite its importance, the current model of casting is an outdated trade. Known in entertainment as an archaic industry with analog methods of workflow, the current casting process needs a glossy and new makeover. Imagine being an HR professional without recruiting tools (like Indeed or LinkedIn) to source talent. That's the abbreviated frustration of the casting industry. _Awful, right?_

_But what is the value of casting? Is it worth a venture?_

As our team built [Casting Depot][3], I received a lot of inquiries about the TAM. It's a peculiar market to understand, especially if you don't work in our industry. So — the following is a market breakdown that we hope can be insightful to not only our users but to the outsiders looking in.

For perspective into our world, I'll explain the market size top-down. This will give you a better sense of the industry as a whole, and the crucial part that casting plays within it.

So — let's get started, shall we?

**Casting indirectly touches every industry, even if you don't realize it.** What we do builds the foundation for the content you consume. If Deloitte ran an AD campaign, someone would need to cast it. If Zynga wanted to create a YouTube series about their users in real life, someone would need to cast the gamers. When Paramount Pitcures creates their next box-office hit, someone would need to cast it.

You get the point.

More traditionally speaking, casting generally happens within the following verticals:

* Television (streaming, cable) & film (feature, indie)
* Digital content
* Advertising
* Theater
* Modeling
* Music & Audio Recordings
* Radio
* Video Games and Supplementary Services

Obviously, the biggest shift over the past few years has been in television, film, and digital content. As major networks and studios continue to launch their own direct-to-consumer streaming services in 2020, competitors are scrambling to offer content libraries broad enough to both attract and retain customers. With that, allocated casting and development budgets will skyrocket to meet that demand.

Take those numbers and multiple it by every major network, broadway show, and advertising company in the world. Pretty massive, right?

[According to PWC][4], the U.S. entertainment and media industry is ~$703BN, which is expected to grow to $804BN by 2021. Our U.S. M&E market is 33% of the global M&E industry, which is the largest M&E market in the world. Other close leaders include India, Australia, and Mexico.

But let's address the burning question — what is the casting SOM? While there is an insignificant amount of studies done on casting, we can confidently say that casting accounts for ~1.5% — 2% of every budget. This percentage does not include talent fees. With that being said, as the original content industry continues to grow, casting budgets will be directly correlated. As of now, the casting industry is worth~$5BN.

_How quickly is the content industry growing_, you ask? Let's look at the streaming industry as an example.

According to the MPAA, there were 237.2 million users in 2019, 26% up from 2018, with a subscription to a streamer. More than 75% of adults watched movies and television shows on online subscription services, while more than 85% of children and more than 55% of adults watched movies/television shows on mobile devices. Cable networks saw this surge and thus, what became the "streaming wars" changed a significant portion of the casting industry. It changed _who and how quickly _we cast.

Unlike in the pre-2000's, casting no longer solely depends on relationships. It's a different era, and ultimately everything is done virtually (especially during COVID19 times). There are so many ways to cast and to be cast. It's a mess. There's not a single centralized source that connects every type of talent to high-valued gigs and vice versa, with a complete end-to-end workflow process. So now, we're looking at an industry that is not only disconnected due to the growth of demand but a workflow process that makes it difficult to communicate with others. How is a ~$5BN industry supposed to continue to grow when there is not a centralized database to source from and engage in?

When we went to create [**Casting Depot**][3]**,** we were eager to construct a foundation to support not only the professionals that cast, but also the talent that so desperately needed a reliable marketplace to book gigs. It's such a massive, decentralized market that we knew we had to build something that would give users the ability to create their own communities within our own. We dreamt of conversation bubbles in every type of casting — broadway actors, aspiring TV personalities, experts that wanted to be on CNBC, and so on. That was our first priority. So — we ultimately ended up building that infrastructure so our industry could choose how they'd want to cast and create.

It has been a privilege to work on a professional network with a deeply rooted purpose. I believe that as we continue to fine-tune our product, we will have a special impact on many careers in this industry.

[1]: https://miro.medium.com/fit/c/96/96/1*ZGKPSz4WBdNdMG3B7bDPzg.jpeg
[2]: /@lacey_59512/why-the-casting-industry-needs-a-tech-makeover-7b58b0429aab?sk=acc35c81f9478cc92cc018da37eaac17
[3]: http://www.castingdepot.com/
[4]: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/entertainment-media/outlook.html

Creating the Foundation for a $5b Casting Market

If you don't know what casting is, chances are you don't work in the entertainment industry. If that sounds like you, I can explain the field in the most simplistic terms - _HR recruiting for on-camera placements._

Every time you consume a type of media — whether it be television, news, articles, film, or a Broadway show — there was a process in which someone was placed there.

That process is completely broken.

Often times when you think of a Casting Director you think of old Hollywood — glitz, glamour, and a bit of drama. Well, that was decades ago and the industry doesn't quite _shine_ like that anymore. The casting industry saw a massive pivot about 6–8 years ago when consuming content on channels like YouTube or streamers like Netflix became the new craze. No longer was it about finding the next "star" but instead filling more urgent roles on a much quicker time crunch. While networks increased their original content budgets, they didn't necessarily increase their casting budgets ($900B TAM versus a $5B SOM). Think about it — the 2020 version of Pacino or Hepburn doesn't exist… for a reason.

Fast-forward to today, networks and streamers are creating content on such a higher (and premium) scale that Casting Directors (like myself) are finding it harder and harder to focus on quality and instead focus on quantity. In 2020 alone, the market is expected to grow at 4.3% with nearly infinite on-camera placements per year. How are we supposed to keep up with that given that there's only ~3,500 companies that book talent in the U.S.?

Imagine a workflow process using a system with a craigslist-style interface, turnaround time, and user reliability to fill an urgent staffing need. That's the current status of the pre-production casting workflow. That sounds awful, doesn't it?

So — why hasn't anyone stepped up to disrupt the current status quo? Who knows. But when my business partner and I decided to challenge it, we knew that if we didn't there'd never be a change in our day-to-day workflow. If HR professionals could create LinkedIn and Indeed for staffing, why couldn't we create the equivalence for the entertainment industry? Imagine how incredibly efficient our workdays could be if we could cast more content from one single database? At the time, as a small casting company, we needed a way to work on more projects with a limited budget. We craved efficiency.

The question we had to ask ourselves was _'what would efficiency look like in our industry?' _Well… what does 2020 look like? We concluded that the same differences that staffing networks made in their perspective industries should be the same that would make a difference in ours. Those three things included social functionalities, smart search capabilities, and an end-to-end hiring process. Thank goodness we had a CTO who understood our vision otherwise it would have been incredibly difficult to build it through a dev shop.

While we've inched towards launch over the past 6 months, I want to continue encouraging other casting and entertainment professionals to challenge the current workflow process. Tech has truly yet to infiltrate the production side of our industry and it needs to. With new apps and platforms constantly being introduced — Quibi, HBOMax, Twitch — there's no way we're going to be able to keep up with demand without sacrificing quality. If we let innovators into our space, it'll allow us to focus on quality yet again and become what was the glitz, glamour, and allure of old Hollywood.

[1]: https://miro.medium.com/fit/c/96/96/1*ZGKPSz4WBdNdMG3B7bDPzg.jpeg

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