In which two performers strive to make the lives of their fellow artists a little easier.
By Kathleen Choe (actor/singer/writer)
There’s the myth of the actor as a “precious” being, too good to work a “real” job, entitled, someone who is completely unorganized and can’t get their shit together to function in the reality of the world.
Are there actors like that? Yes. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of knowing of few…stories for another time.
But those actors are few and far between. Most of us fully realize how fortunate we are to be working an acting gig and are so happy to be getting paid to do something we love, big or small. We work day jobs to support this love, shuffle life around at the drop of a hat to accommodate auditions, and on top of it all, try to balance that out with time for our loved ones.
The really exceptional ones look at our community, and use the rest of their spare time to try to make the lives of their fellow artists a little easier.
Two such people are Megan and Matthew Rybicki.
Megan, an actor who also runs her own photography business, and Matthew, a jazz musician who has written two books and is a teacher as well, met when Megan was cater-waitering an event where Matthew was performing. They did not speak at that event, but as luck would have it, Matt spotted her on the uptown train some time later and struck up a conversation. Two years later, they were married.
In their years together, Matthew observed Megan’s struggles with the antiquated system finding auditions, signing up for auditions, and keeping track of where they were. Often what Megan (and many actors) would do was cut and paste from various websites the auditions into her calendar. With an app for everything, no one had come up with something more efficient to keep an actor's auditioning life organized?
Some casting directors had recently started online signups, but what if there was a system that kept the moving pieces of an auditioning actor in one place, and possibly easing the work of the people casting as well? There had to be a better way to make the auditioning system work more efficiently across the board. The two of them sat down to brainstorm, and Bookster was born.
Easy to use, Bookster tells you what auditions are currently happening, who is in the room, puts them into your calendar, let you communicate with other actors on the app to get real-time updates, and even has a map to tell you what other auditions are nearby.
It even has a “journal” section to make notes on how you felt during the audition and write down any post-audition thoughts. That was something Megan insisted on. So much emphasis is spent on the logistics, that sometimes the actor loses sight of what’s really important for the actor about the audition: how did it feel? You also upload photos to Bookster so you can keep track of what you wore to the audition that day.
On top of it all, the price is right—after a free 7-day trial, a monthly subscription costs $1.99--and the app covers casting postings from the whole country: New York, Chicago, Boston, and Florida. Matthew and Megan realize that Bookster’s main base is in the non-union actor pool, but union actors will find it useful as well. Equity auditions are also on the Bookster; actors with representation will have a sense of what’s going on, what they might be interested in, and make better informed decisions about Equity calls they might want to go to.
As with any venture, several obstacles popped up as the couple worked on Bookster: the couple experienced major issues with their first developer. They managed to find one they loved to work with, but Matthew fully admits there were many times he wanted to throw in the towel on the project. Megan however, was determined to see it come to life. “We have to do this,” she would say when another hair-pulling snafu would pop up. “It’s too important”.
In March 2016, Bookster launched to great enthusiasm from fellow actors—one of them Broadway veteran Randy Graff—as well generated much interest from within the industry as to its potential. Megan and Matthew have also been in touch with Actor’s Equity as to the possibilities of integrating the app to serve Equity members.
Bookster’s potential to be an established tool of for all working actors--as well as as casting directors and actors’ reps—is limitless. The couple would love to add a “submit for jobs” feature through the app, and have agents and managers use Bookster to send appointments to their clients; not only theater, but film, TV, and commercials as well. Matthew even has an idea for expansion packs to keep his fellow musicians organized.
The hurdle now is money. Megan and Matthew have sunk all of their savings into this project, and further development has been slowed due to running out of funds. Their last programmer has also moved on, and they are in need of a new one.
Even with the current financing obstacle, Megan and Matt are determined to see this through. What was more important than any financial gain was to ease the business side of being an actor, as well as recoup the financial investment they'd put into developing the project. “Even if we don’t our achieve our wildest dreams with this, it’s nice to see Bookster come out into the world,” Megan says.
Indeed it is. Thank you Megan and Matthew, and welcome, Bookster.
I for one am looking forward to seeing you grow.
Bookster is available for purchase through the Apple App store and on iTunes.
KATHLEEN CHOE is a NYC based actor, singer, and writer. www.www.kathleen-choe.com
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