Mexico City, Feb 11 (EFE).- Spanish company Vibuk, an online castings platform that aims to democratize the process of selecting acting talent for roles in film, theater, television and advertising, is now bringing its service to the Mexican market.
Founded in Madrid in 2013, the platform allows casting directors and producers to quickly search for actors by categories such as age, hair color and languages and also to find talent that fits a particular “type” such as a skateboarder or an individual who resembles a famous person or iconic literary character.
“It’s a large, perfectly segmented talent database where professionals and amateurs are clearly separated” and that contains tools for organizing the data and enabling people to contact one another, Vibuk’s chief executive officer, Jorge Martinez, who co-founded the company with Spanish actor Antonio Resines, told EFE.
Vibuk has grown quickly in just a few years and now has 9,000 new users registering every month and 75,000 total users.
Like other online platforms, Vibuk was founded to serve actors who were unable to land an agent and had to resort to using Facebook to get themselves noticed.
Martinez said he came up with the idea for Vibuk while using an apartment search Web site, believing that a similar platform could be used to link actors with film industry professionals.
He added that the platform greatly facilitates the task of finding a particular actor for a specific role.
A casting director’s job “is not to go crazy searching and putting ads on Facebook because he needs people who look like (Don) Quixote. I can give him that in three seconds,” Martinez said.
Vibuk can only be accessed at present via its Web site, but a mobile phone app will soon be available, the CEO said, adding that that will mark a before and after for the company.
The move into Mexico also is a major milestone for Vibuk since it marks its first foray outside of Spain.