protalent software | the total career organizer for performers

Back Stage East & West

Having an Organized Career
And loving it, too.
April 26, 2007
By PAUL HABER
Keeping track of the various components of our acting lives is one of the most challenging things we can do. To one extent or another, most actors keep a date book for auditions, save receipts for tax-deductible expenses, and remind themselves to send post cards.

Typically, we put information in different places, so recalling the name of someone you met three years ago probably means digging through old hard-copy datebooks and then thumbing through every single page. Just try remembering what you paid for that funny outfit you bought for an audition last year. Until recently, no software existed specifically for actors—even those with handheld devices, such as BlackBerrys—to pull together all the pieces of their lives. We invariably take software or calendars made for some other business and adapt it.

I've been playing with a wonderful software package called ProtalentPerformer (www.protalentperformer.com) that not only tracks every crumb of the acting life on a Windows or Mac computer but is also designed to be portable for the Palm operating system and Windows Mobile devices. That means this actor-specific software can come with you. When you're sitting at your audition and have a free moment, you can jot down anything you want to recall about the meeting, note your miles driven, and set a reminder to send a follow-up thank-you. Once you're home, you can sync this information with your computer and put it in the right places for later.

When you first open the user-friendly ProtalentPerformer, it asks your address. Then, when you're about to head to an audition, the click of a button gives you driving or walking directions, via Google Maps, from your house. The program also asks you to upload your pictures, so whether you submit online or audition in person, you can look in your submission records to see which pic you used. Very handy.

The income and expenses section of ProtalentPerformer looks like Microsoft Money or Quicken; it bests them by being formatted for an actor's expenses right out of the box. I paid an accountant to help me set up my Quicken to create my actor-expense categories. With this software, you can enter your expenses; tie them to a project, audition, or booking; and see all your incurred expenses at a glance. That expense you noted on your handheld device at your audition will end up in the right place for your tax accounting at the end of the year.

Another great feature is the ability to create mailing labels from your contact list. But you don't have to do a mass mailing; you can choose to print labels for agents or casting people only or easily target your mailer any way you like.

The creators—an actor and a software developer—are continually updating the program to make it compatible with a variety of outside calendars and such. You can try it for free for 10 days. If you decide to purchase, three software packages are available, ranging from $54.95 to $119.95, depending on which options you want.