‘Talent’ Casting Call Begins, But is it Really a Starmaker?

This one wins no points in the most original name competition, but hey, neither did COPS. This week Alloy Entertainment is starting its push for its latest brand-backed teen web series, Talent: The Casting Call, with the lucky final six contestants (out of thousands from a nationwide search) flown out to LA to face off in hopes of becoming the next ‘superstar.’

Nothing surprising here, as Alloy has played this card before with the prequel reality version of its Private web series, where it faced a final three actresses against each other for the last remaining role in the scripted drama. Sanna Haynes ended up winning the spot, and while the performance was solid, this wasn’t exactly a superstar vehicle for the young actor. So you’ll have to understand our skepticism of the whole premise of this one.

Yes, it will get the young ladies a nice bump forward, probably enough to move out to LA afterwards, but the odds of discovering the next Taylor Swift here are unlikely. That’s right, the six contestants will face acting and singing challenges throughout the weekly series. “But only one will walk away with a major label recording contract and a starring role in the hot new series,” touts the show’s writeup, as if conceding that Glee

has forced all would-be teen stars into multi-hyphenates.

The six duking it out are Danielle Kalil, Suzi Oravec, Logen Hall, Anna Metheny, Sade Ogunfowra and Grace Doty. Watch episode 1 below:

Talent is part of Alloy Entertainment’s first official digital slate, which rounds out with last fall’s First Day and the Zoey Dean novel adaptation, Hollywood is like High School With Money. Elizabeth Chambers, who some of us remember from her days at Current TV, is hosting the casting call series.

Proctor & Gamble is the big backer on the series, with no less than five of its brands—Covergirl, Secret, Pantene, Venus, and Olay—getting prime placement. Distribution will make prominent use of AlloyTV.com as well as their budding YouTube channel. The scripted version of Talent, which itself is also a Zoey Dean novel adaptation, will debut later this year.

We also have a bonus exclusive clip that didn’t make it into episode one, so if you’re into this show, we’ve got your fix: