Suraj Shah runs the Twitter and Instagram handles under the name - @BAMEBAMEBAMEE. Shah has been helping the arts community by launching this initiative where he’s collating a database of actors looking for agents as he and his team get a lot of agents asking them to recommend/suggest people. The handle is run in support of under-represented artists, creatives & stories within the performing arts industry, the handle clearly states that they are not agents, casting directors or experts.
Talking exclusively to Asian Voice, Shah said, “A lot of agents attend the BAME General Open Auditions. From that they see the type of talent we select to be a part of our auditions which insinuates then returning to us to ask us for more suggesting a well after the auditions throughout the year. We don’t usually have a list of actors to suggest, hence why we thought of this initiative. Having a database of actors, put into file allows us to easily suggest actors the agents may be looking for. It’s quick, easy and simple. Of course having a material allows us to see you in action in which case makes it even more easier to suggest you to agents.”
“We’ve already suggested actors that were suitable for agents within a day of opening the initiative up. - when we say suitable, we mean that whatever type of actors the agents were looking for, we had them at hand on our database to suggest,” he added.
Commenting on the biggest challenges for the BAME community in the arts sector right now, he said, “Justice being done to our unheard voices. So many productions seem to think having a couple of black actors in their projects/shows makes them diverse. We don’t live in a black and white world. So many other races, ethnicities, stories are to be told. We need to see a reflection of the real world in these areas not only on stage and screen but behind them too; Directors, Producers, writers, Camera people, runners etc.”
Explaining the process that he follows right to make sure that the database reaches agents, he said, “We keep the actors on file. If an agent approaches us, we suggest actors that they are looking for. For example; if an agent is looking for East Asian actors between the ages of 20-28 that are trained in MT, we can easily look in that folder and suggest the actors we think are suitable for them. It’s not guaranteed you will gain representation or a meeting with the agents, but they will most definitely look at your submission.”
Can the government help them? He said, “In all honesty, it will only be helpful if the government released any funds. At the moment we are all waiting on this promised sum of money but it’s nowhere to be seen. If it was, then certainly it would be better than nothing.”
