User talk:Rdougherty7/sandbox

The topic that I am writing about is an organization known as the Commercial Casting Directors Association (CCDA). This group is a group organization that is responsible for promoting professionalism in what their commercial actors. According to the CCDA’s website, “The Commercial Casting Association is an organization of professional casting directors united to serve the commercial industry, support one another, and uphold the standards of professional film and advertising production.” The Commercial Casting Directors Association main office is located at 13425 Ventura BLVD., Ste. 200 Sherman Oaks, California 91423. Their main website with all the information of their members and other information about their association is www.ccdala.com.

The Commercial Casting Directors Association is affiliated with a lot of different organizations within television and movies. One of their biggest affiliated organizations is SAG-AFTRA. SAG-AFTRA is one of the biggest organizations that protects people that are on screen, on the radio, writers, and musical artists. SAG-AFTRA stands for, The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Arts. Some of the other big organizations that they are affiliated with are IMDb, Children in Film, Casting Frontier, and Association of Independent Commercial Producers. Their affiliation with these organizations allows them to work together to solve any issues that may occur.

There are a number of members that are affiliated with the CCDA. They have a total of 45 members that are affiliated with the association. Their members are responsible for getting people to sign up through their websites or contract with a client’s agent to hire them for companies that are casting for a positions in an acting role for a commercial that represents the company. To become a full member you have to have been in a role with casting directing before, whether it be for a movie, commercial, or any other role. Their president is Jeff Gerrard who is credited 55 times as a casting director. His most famous works as a casting director include: Kindergarten Cop 2, Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike, The Little Rascals Save the Day, and Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever. Gerrard has also appeared as an actor in twice in the TV series, Charlie’s Angels and Sirota’s Court. When it comes to Commercials, Gerrard has had a lot of experience as a casting director. According to IMDb, “Gerrard has cast over 3500 commercials since 1982 for such directors as Craig Gillespie, Lee Tamahori, Andy Davis, Steve Chase, Kevin Donovan, Mark Tiedemann, Norman Seeff, Glen Owen, David Bishop, Gary Johns, Bob Ebel, Kevin Bourland, Spike Lee, John Landis, Matthew Robbins, Rent Sidon, Charlie Cole, Jean Michel Ravon, Lori Precious, etc.” Gerrard has obviously had a lot of experience in casting whether it was in film, commercials, and he has also been credited for casting over 50 music videos with some very well-known musical artists.

Their Vice President is Beth Holmes that according to IMDb is credited 11 times as a Casting Director and credited 9 times in the casting department. Her biggest film where she was in the casting department for the movie, St. Vincent (2014), starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, and Naomi Watts. Holmes also has her own website, www.bethholmescasting.com, where she gives examples of the commercials that she has casted for. Some of her most known commercials involve some big name companies with commercials that most people have seen on TV. Some of the big companies she has worked with include: Dominos, Nespresso, Subaru, Hotels.com, and Burger King. Probably one of her most famous commercials was the Bud Light rescue dog that was a big hit during the 2012 Superbowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

Along with Gerrard and Holmes, the CCDA also has a secretary and treasurer that have been very involved with the film industry. Secretary Megan Foley who has been credited 10 times as a Casting Director and 5 credits in the Casting Department on IMDb. Her biggest credited work include the movie Blow, about the drug lord Pablo Escobar, starring Johnny Depp. The treasurer’s name is Justin Radley who has 4 credits as a Casting Director and 3 credited pieces of work in the Casting Department on IMDb.

With the CCDA, people who are aspiring to be actors can easily just go onto their website and contact one of the 45 members of the CCDA and see what they can do to try and get them on a commercial. It makes the process a lot easier because if a person doesn’t have an agent then it can be very difficult to get a break and get chances to audition for certain commercials. The members of the CCDA have had a lot of experience in film as Casting Directors or experience in the Casting Departments. The members have their own offices all over the country so they are accessible if you are looking to meet some of these members in the future. The CCDA is not a big organization due to the lack of people who are Casting Directors specifically for commercials, but they are definitely out there and have tons of combined experience.

Peer review on CCDA Wikipedia article

First off, you should try and reformat the article. Add headings and split the information up into sections so it is easier to follow and find certain pieces of information. In a sense it should be in a more standard 'wikipedia format'. Also I would go back through the article and put your citations through out the article instead of all at the bottom. Adding linked words for names of people and associations named is also another thing you could do to make this article more complete, also it allows people to find other information on people associated with your topic. Mfalzone24 (talk) 17:28, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Introduction section

I think the first paragraph is a good start on the introduction to the organization. I would try incorporating the names and roles of key members without going into to much detail, and maybe a few things they may be well know or praised for. I would also format it so it is under a header of some sort that is the general idea of the section. Mfalzone24 (talk) 22:50, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Body of article

The content in the body is solid. The second paragraph is a good description of its affiliations however I would give it a header similar to the structure of usual wikipedia articles. The information on members and membership could be formatted a little better. I would start of under the Membership section by giving a general consensus of the members, what they do, and how they become members. Then below that paragraph I would give each important or well noted member their own section that describes who they are, what they have done, their position in the organization, and any notable accomplishments or achievements be it in the organization or in personal life. The last paragraph could be re-worked a little bit to better explain how the functions of the CCDA are able to help aspiring actors and uphold standards within the industry. Mfalzone24 (talk) 22:56, 5 December 2016 (UTC)