The problem
Most casting in India still runs on a WhatsApp group somebody was added to four years ago. If you are in it, you get called repeatedly. If you are not, you wait for an introduction that does not come. And a brand looking for someone new spends a week asking around, or pays an agency twenty per cent of the shoot to make an introduction that takes one message.
What we did about it
Creators list themselves for free, their city, their rates, when they are actually free, their photographs. Brands browse and shortlist for free too. The only thing that costs money is revealing a phone number and email, and that is a small fixed amount rather than a percentage of a creator's earnings.
That choice decides almost everything else about this platform. Because we are paid for a contact detail rather than a booking, we have no reason to sit between two people or to know what they agreed. And because a bad contact detail is the only way we can fail a brand, we care a great deal that a number belongs to the person beside it.
What we actually verify
- The mobile number and email on a profile, by one-time code
- That the person is 18, from a date of birth, checked twice
- That a human being has looked at every photograph before it appeared
- That availability shown as current was confirmed inside the last fortnight
We do not verify that somebody is good at their job, and we will not pretend to. That is what a portfolio and a conversation are for.
What we will not do
- Take a percentage of anybody's fee
- Charge creators to be listed, ranked, or contacted
- Show a phone number to anyone who has not paid for it
- Put a photograph on a listing the person has not claimed
- Keep a listing up after the person it names has asked us to take it down
Who is behind it
A small team, in India, reachable by email at an address answered by a person. The registered entity, the address and the named grievance officer are all on the contact page, not because it makes a nice page, but because a platform that lists people ought to be easy to hold responsible.
Castclue is operated by Bugclue, GSTIN 07HFMPS9921C1ZY.