Today we’d like to introduce you to Gillian Fitzgerald.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gillian. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In college, I interned at a company called Media Trust in London, which provided media services in PR & Video Production for charities all over the United Kingdom, along with running a community channel similar to PBS. What impacted me the most about this company was that they were using the world of entertainment for positive change, which as a communication major who did nothing but sat in classes learning how negative the media was on the world this was life-changing. I knew that I wanted to do something similar one day. The following year I started working as a Personal Assistant for Wayne Brady, and 2.5 years later I moved on to work at American Immersion Theater, the 2nd largest theater company in the United States. I climbed the corporate ladder to become the National Regional Manager, a position which oversaw 25 cities & over 1000 actors. It was during my job with American Immersion Theater that I moved to Atlanta, and met my co-founders of Nova House, AJ Jones & Michael Finn. They had created a concept meant to destroy the Self-Tape Audition Industry, which is founded on making money off of broke actors.
To be a competitive actor in the Atlanta market, you have to be able to afford $250 every 6-12 months for headshots, then have $50-75 to print headshots, $68/year subscription to the casting site which then charges you $10/headshot to put on their website & $20/minute of reel footage which is required in order to even get an audition. Then once you get an audition, you need to either pay $1/minute plus extra for coaching at a professional taping service which closes at 5pm & isn’t open on the weekends (meaning you have to take off of work to go tape an audition you probably won’t book) OR spend $500-$800 on equipment to tape at home but then you need to have the knowledge of how to use the equipment and find friends to read with you. IT’S STRESSFUL. If you talk to most actors, they will tell you that auditioning in Atlanta is very stressful because half the time you aren’t even able to focus on the actual art of it and it’s expensive, which means you need a job that can give you the money to afford all of this. On the flip side, you also have to have an extremely flexible job that lets you leave at the drop of a hat in case you have an in-person audition or book work on set. The actors in the Atlanta market are set up to fail.
What Nova House does is provide unlimited audition taping for $60/month, which includes coaching at no extra cost, a reader, & editing of the audition immediately at the end of a session (usually actors are required to pay more money if they don’t want to wait until end of day for the audition to be edited and sent to them). We also have a communal workspace & events such as casting director workshops that come FREE with membership (normally a single casting director workshop would cost an actor $150-$200). This is mind blowing to any actor or agent or casting director in the Atlanta market when they come across our business. A common question is “what’s the catch”…and the answer is: there isn’t one. We simply believe that it’s possible to provide a service without breaking a broke artist’s bank account. We started in a three bedroom apartment, and in 5 months moved into a commercial space. In one year of being opened, we taped over 2,000 auditions and had over 100 members book work. Currently, we have over 350 people who have used our services since opening on June 21st, 2017.
I truly believe that the concept of Nova House falls under the social entrepreneurship umbrella, as we are looking to break the financial barrier to entry that exists for artists. Training is expected, and it’s expensive. Equipment to make films & television shows or to produce music is expensive. The facilities you need to rent to do the work in is expensive. And even getting your idea to a studio required thousands of dollars to create concept material to pitch. With this huge financial barrier for artists, it means a lot of art ends up not being told, and I believe that this ends up having a negative effect on society as a whole. We are patent pending for our membership-based model for a method for creating intro videos, audition tapes, brag or demo reels and/or audio recordings for performers in the creative arts. Our plan is to expand into something for more than just actors, but also for photographers, videographers, musicians, editors, etc. so that we can make the creation of art accessible to everyone. This will allow a wider range of stories to be told, and that is something I believe will be truly special and life-changing for our society.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. We started this business from the ground up with no investors or business loans. We had a camera and the apartment that the owners lived in. All three owners have financially supported themselves with other gigs we’ve worked on the side while still being open 84 hours a week, and any money made has gone directly back into growing the business.
We also demand a lot from our members. We do not believe that simply paying for a membership earns an actor the right to be at Nova House. We started the business to push the Atlanta market forward, which takes a lot of work and sometimes that means pushing our members to be better or more professional. This leads to push back sometimes from members who may only see us as a business or service that they’re paying for. We’re okay with that because we believe so strongly in our mission to make auditioning accessible to everyone and to focus the spotlight on our members who are hungry enough and ready for the professional world.
We’ve also developed a true community, where members are forging lasting relationships. Fostering a community is hard work and many times thankless. Keeping everyone happy is impossible but we’re going to keep trying because we believe in the power of the human, not just the actor our members are trying to become.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Nova House – what should we know?
Nova House is a membership-based audition taping service and creative community for actors, screenwriters, and other artists. We specialize in the highest-quality audition tapes and coaching, at an affordable price for our members, which has led to over a hundred bookings and consistent referrals by agencies and professionals such as BYSB Talent, Houghton Talent, MI Talent, Coastal Talent, Talent Direct Agency, Rhavynn Drummer, Britny Horton, Michael Gillespie, and Morgan Landers of Arvold Casting.
We’re most proud of the feeling of “home” we’ve created for our members, many of whom kick their shoes off when they come in the door. While at Nova House, members are constantly meeting new people, some of which go on to work on projects together and more. It’s those relationships that we celebrate and why so many people feel at home here.
What sets us apart is the warmth that people feel at Nova House. We’ve created a space that’s welcoming. A space where you feel invited and creative. That’s hard to do, especially when you’re working on a schedule of appointments. It’s the special sauce that Nova House is using, and our tremendously quick growth is a testament to that.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
We’re human beings first and business owners second. We care about people. We want to help people.
Pricing:
- Audition Taping Membership $60/month – UNLIMITED AUDITION TAPING and COMMUNAL SPACE
- Writer Membership $30/month – COMMUNAL SPACE and NETWORKING EVENTS
Contact Info:
- Address: 2800 N. Druid Hills Road NE
Building A TOP FLOOR
Atlanta, GA 30329 - Website: thenovahouse.com
- Phone: 412-965-5570
- Email: atlanta@thenovahouse.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenovahouse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NovaHouseATL/?ref=br_rs
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