Innovation has always been a huge part of Bizzy Agency.
Since opening in 1996, we have continually looked for better ways to represent our artists, help our clients find the right talent and adapt to changes within the casting industry.
Over the years, that has led to a surprising number of Bizzy firsts.
Many moons ago — long before having a website was simply expected — Bizzy Agency became one of the first talent agencies to have its own website.
Today that sounds completely normal.
At the time, it wasn't.
It marked the beginning of something that has continued throughout our history: embracing new technology early and finding ways to use it to improve the casting process.
Long before remote casting became commonplace, Bizzy Agency began offering Skype auditions to clients.
Rather than automatically requiring artists to travel to an audition, clients could meet and assess suitable talent remotely — saving time for everyone involved and making opportunities more accessible to artists living further afield.
Years before Zoom auditions and remote callbacks became part of everyday casting, we were already doing it.
Bizzy Agency was also among the first agencies to introduce training workshops specifically for its own represented artists.
We wanted our children to understand what could be expected of them at castings and on set, while giving them the confidence to enjoy the experience rather than be intimidated by it.
The idea was simple: better-prepared artists benefit the child, the parent, the agency and ultimately the client.
One of our favourite Bizzy firsts happened almost by accident.
During a London transport strike, getting children to a client's audition became extremely difficult. Rather than simply accepting that the auditions couldn't happen, we looked for another solution.
We took the client's brief, filmed our children performing what had been requested and had the footage biked across London to the client.
It worked.
Over the following months, we began offering the same solution to clients considering artists who lived further away. Instead of asking families to travel long distances for an initial audition, we could film the artist first and send the footage directly to casting.
Before long, we began seeing something new appearing in casting briefs:
"Please send a self-tape."
Today, self-tapes are one of the most fundamental parts of the casting industry.
We certainly can't claim responsibility for every self-tape ever made — but we were using the concept as a practical casting solution long before it became the industry standard.
And yes... we'll happily claim that as a Bizzy first.
We soon took the idea further.
Photographs can tell a client what somebody looks like, but they cannot always show personality, movement, confidence, voice or how a child responds naturally on camera.
So we introduced online Audition Showreels to our artist profiles.
Our showreels allowed clients to see many of the things they would normally assess at a first audition — an introduction, personality, movement and performance — directly from the artist's online profile.
This could help clients narrow down their selections before holding physical auditions and, in some cases, select an artist without requiring an initial audition at all.
When we trialled the system in January 2009, an incredible 14 children were booked directly from their showreels during the first month, without needing to attend an audition.
That result convinced us to make video an important part of our artist representation.
Today, of course, recording and uploading video from home is completely normal. Smartphones and modern technology have made the process incredibly simple.
But in 2009, it was a very different world.
In 2017 we introduced the Bizzy Flip Book.
This was an interactive online portfolio with realistic on-screen turning pages, allowing artists to display up to 30 additional images.
It gave clients the opportunity to see much more than a traditional profile photograph — different looks, expressions, hairstyles, moods and personalities could all be shown within one portfolio.
It received fantastic feedback from clients and gave our artists another way of standing out in an increasingly competitive industry.
Our next innovation arrived in 2018 with the introduction of Bizzy Character Cards.
Rather than relying solely on traditional model-style photographs, Character Cards displayed nine different images showing an artist's expressions, personality and range.
They were created particularly with commercial, television, film and stage casting in mind, where personality and character can be far more useful to a casting professional than a collection of highly posed photographs.
As technology continued to change the industry, we introduced virtual assessments, allowing prospective artists and families to meet the agency remotely.
Instead of travelling to an agency office or assessment location, applicants could use their own current photographs, meet the team online and complete much of the joining process from home.
What once seemed innovative very quickly became normal — particularly following the huge shift towards remote working and casting after 2020.
Some of the things on this page may sound completely ordinary today.
Websites, video profiles, remote meetings, online auditions and self-tapes are now everyday parts of the talent industry.
But they weren't always.
Bizzy Agency has spent three decades looking ahead, experimenting with new ideas and finding better ways for artists and clients to connect.
Technology will continue to change.
Casting will continue to change.
And we'll continue doing exactly what we've always done:
looking for what comes next.