The truth about IMDb's Starmeter

I'm gonna tell you a secret that all the casting directors, film professionals and working actors know. Here it is- STARMETER WON'T get you booked or get you an agent. Or get you noticed for that matter.

Let me break it down.

Somewhere far, far away and long time ago an amateur actor told another one that his IMDb Starmeter will get him agents, will get him constantly booked, and all the bullshit that comes with it. He lied. And lots of current, aspiring actors think the same, because of this myth.

It's like saying if you have a lot of followers on Instagram, you would get booked. At least that's what an amateur filmmaker from Mexico told me when I first started in this industry. Where is he now? I don't know, probably still making his amateur films and getting actors to pay to be in them.

One of my colleagues, Will, told me that it mattered in his case, and ONLY his case. He is a SAG-AFTRA actor who is promoting his horror film to the big multibillion film companies. And according to him those guys WILL be looking at his Starmeter. Good for him.

It's all about the work you put in.

There are two guys- Kris and Joe.

Kris is a working actor who has recently been in "Better Call Saul" as a recurring character, and he will be working in "Queer's Eye" as a guest star. He is always networking and acting. His meter is little above 5K.

Then there's Joe, whose Starmeter is 30k and he hasn't booked anything since the pandemic. Joe doesn't want to put in the work, so his Starmeter will suffer.

Imagine a person who works 9-5, only goes to vacation once a year, because that's all they could afford, a person who is barely paying off his bills. Basically your average American citizen, and then they get a BMW out of a sudden. 2021 BMW M3 Sedan on average costs almost 70 grand! So, how did that person get such an expensive vehicle? Everyone in town knows that person is poor. That BMW is a rental or they borrowed it from their rich friend. It's not theirs. They could NEVER afford it. That's how it is with this Starmeter, professionals see right through it. They see the stupidity behind it.

As another colleague of mine, Heather, says: "It is there to stroke ego of actors. The actors in the very top of the Starmeter are working actors and everyone knows that. A starmeter doesn't need to tell anyone that, you can look at the resume and tell."

Look at all those Facebook groups where actors BEG others to check out their IMDb.

Does Sir Patrick Stewart promote his IMDB? No, he is famous because of his talent. IMDb was only created in October 17th of 1990. Fun fact! There's no way he could have promoted it before that.

Look at Amber Turd...I mean...Amber Heard's starmeter. She is currently in the Top 10, and the whole world HATES her. There's no way she is gonna get good jobs after the trial.

Here's my personal story about this.

My agents only found me and signed me when I reached out to them. They NEVER said anything about my Starmeter being low, even though it is between 30,000-60,000 half of the time. NO casting director said to me that they would only book me if I had Starmeter of 1000. NO ONE. I even registered on those "IMDb Likes & Shares" groups on Facebook. All I got was a bunch of messages from wannabe filmmakers who wanted me to be in their films, just because I'm a pretty girl and they wanted to get laid. I DIDN'T get any auditions from being in those groups. I got my auditions from Actor's Access and my agents. Majority of people I saw in those groups were a bunch of background extras, and people who were just starting out. I immediately left those groups. WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY.

I researched more articles that go together with this one. One was from "Backstage". It's a short read, I recommend reading it.

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/imdb-starmeter-rating-getting-auditions-17346/

The other article is from "Writing Mind".

http://writingmind.com/starmeter/

Here's an interesting story behind one of the extras.

"Shannon Richardson (The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries) is an example of incredible IMDb STARmeter ratings that basically meant nothing at all. In 2014, Richardson sent President Barrack Obama ricin laced mail and was eventually sentenced to 18 years in prison. Since Richardson’s name was in the press due to her crime, her IMDb rating shot up to the number one position where it stayed for almost nine days. Why? Because people were searching to see who this unknown actress was, and they came across her IMDb page. This did not make her the world’s top actress. Prior to her arrest, Richardson was just a background actor who was just starting out in the industry.

Her STARmeter rank now is just over 77,000 and guess what? She hasn’t had any background work in nearly five years! So, as you can clearly see, these ratings mean nothing."

Well, she is not going to get ANY work in the next decade. Unless they let her out for good behaviour. Let's hope she won't poison anyone else ;)

You want to know what REALLY gets you noticed? Your TALENT. Your consistency. Knowledge of your brand, your type. Killer headshots and amazing demo reel. You going from one set to another, booking jobs on network shows, films, commercials, etc.

Don't get caught up in this mindset of "I have to get my Starmeter up or else people won't notice me." STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

Here's a solution: auditions, take acting classes, work on your reel, go to networking events, audition for a play in your city.

So, what are you waiting for, soldier? Get out there and conquer the world!