From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.

In practical terms, it is oftentimes really just an audition.

An audition that you are paying money for.

Exactly.

If you're an aspiring actor, you may have paid to attend casting workshops

that were supposed to be educational, but

really just offered very quick auditions for very minor roles. The casting workshop business

has made millions of dollars, but it turns out that paying for an audition is illegal.

Reporter Gary Baum talks about his investigation that recently led to the filing of criminal charges.

And veteran casting director, Billy Demoda, explains his long-standing opposition to these pay-to-play auditions.

But first on the news banter, Paramount's Top Job finally opens up.

Any takers?

And stay tuned for a bonus banter we'll talk about last night.

Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my buddy and banter. Matt Bellany of the Hollywood reporter. Hello, Matt.

Hi there. Well, so it took a long time. Paramount Pictures has not

distinguished itself in recent years, although it does have a couple of films in Oscar

contention, so it's not like they disappeared off the earth, but they are firmly in last

place this year. They lost, I don't know, $450 million in the past year. And finally,

Viacom, which has gone through major upheaval over the

past year or two, finally had the exit of Brad Gray as chairman of the studio is a thing, a reality.

And, you know, I have to say, in this community, some people were amazed that given the studio's

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