Web(and) Talks with Joseph Al-Ahmad

Meet Joseph Al-Ahmad – an actor, director and visionary whose mission is to change the way the acting industry in Bulgaria develops. After years of experience abroad and living in Los Angeles, Joseph returns to our country with a clear goal – to build a platform that connects professional talents with real opportunities.

Thus was born TalentVision – the first platform of its kind in our country, uniting the professions on both sides of the camera in one place. In this interview, he shares what inspires him, what the challenges are behind the scenes and how young actors can get the most out of the digital environment.

How did the idea for it come about and what do you want it to change in the Bulgarian and global film industry?

- First of all, thank you to Webend for the invitation and our fruitful partnership since 2023!

As an actor and director who graduated and worked mostly abroad, I acquired useful habits and became closely acquainted with how the industry works there, compared to how it works here, since I had left Bulgaria back in 2015.

After I decided in 2023 to return from Los Angeles, where I lived for nearly 2 years, and decided that this would be my main “base”, I began to notice the obvious lack of mechanisms that would facilitate access for artists to potential projects in which they could participate.

For example, concepts such as “agent” and “manager”, which are mandatory for an actor in the West who has serious intentions to develop his career — until recently, here in Bulgaria they were simply absent as professions, and actors were obliged to seek opportunities on their own, negotiate their salaries, contract terms and manage their careers overall. Unfortunately, this is still the case in most cases. The problem with this model is that this, unfortunately, most often leads to a lack of work and exploitation of talents.

And the existing mechanisms in Bulgaria before TalentVision were mainly two:

• Closed circles of people who have known each other for 20+ years and call and invite each other to participate in their projects, with a new talent being invited once every 5–10 years.

• Websites and groups on social media where anyone can register and present themselves as an “actor”, even if they have 0% experience in the field.

The latter situation was the most frustrating for my colleagues, as they did not consider it fair and right, after 5 years of training at an academy and extensive experience on stage or in front of a camera, to be placed on the same pedestal and have access to the same opportunities as “Zhoro from the next block”, who today has decided that he is already an actor.

Then I decided to at least partially influence the solution to the problem, the idea being to create an online platform for professionals that would have conditions, a kind of “admission threshold”, similar to the British platform Spotlight, of which I have been a member since 2020. To be accepted into it, I had to have at least 4 or 5 professional projects in film, TV or theater, and I waited maybe about a week before being admitted. Literally as soon as the idea came to me, I called Daniel Lidiyanov, the founder of Weband, and the next day I was in his office, where we discussed how to create the platform most successfully. And after about 6–7 months, TalentVision was a fact, thanks to the responsive and creative team of Weband!

What distinguishes TalentVision from other casting platforms or online catalogs in our country?

As far as I know, we are the only platform in Bulgaria that, similar to the British model, only admits people who are serious about their career and have at least 3 professional projects behind them (in film, TV, advertising or theater), or are currently studying at a well-known university in the relevant field.

So far, we have had to refuse many applications for membership, which any businessman would probably laugh at, but this should tell you about our good intentions.

These “strict” admission criteria obviously work, since

dozens of my fellow actors who are present on TalentVision do not have profiles on other platforms based in Bulgaria.

Simply because they are professionals and want to be treated as such. This way, casting directors do not waste their time and know that they can always trust the candidates invited to casting through TalentVision.

With us, international projects can also be seen most often. The reason for this is that

our platform has representatives from major foreign studios, such as Paramount Pictures and Nu Boyana Film Studios

— we have a very fruitful partnership with the casting departments of the latter, and they regularly use our platform to publish castings and select personnel for their film projects.

Some of the TalentVision members have already participated in major Hollywood productions filmed in Bulgaria, such as The Internship and Nightingale, which are about to be released. Other members of ours have recently returned from Poland, where they were filming an advertisement for a large chain that will be broadcast throughout the European Union.

Accordingly, what distinguishes us most is our mission to gather professional talents in cinema and theater, based in Bulgaria, in one online space and to open doors to global projects for them.

How did your experience as an actor and director influence the creation of TalentVision?

This experience influenced me more than anything else. Because

I look at the platform from the perspective of an actor and director, and not from the perspective of a businessman who has only financial motivation.

We recently even created an absolutely free tariff plan for people with financial difficulties — which, unfortunately, is already quite common in our circles lately.

Working on the platform with our team, every day I ask myself the question: “Will this be useful to me, as a member of the platform?” or “How does my membership in TalentVision help me in the development of my career?”, for example.

I am also in direct contact with all the casting directors and producers who are present on the platform, and thus we know how it is used from their point of view, which also helps us with the overall development of TalentVision.

What was the process of creating the platform - from concept to implementation? What were the biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

The first thing was selecting the right people in the team around you.

Some of them are given to you directly by fate, since Dani (Daniel Lidiyanov) and I have known each other since first grade. Since then, we have not lost touch and have followed how our careers have developed, and the combination of his experience in web development and my experience in the film industry was, as they say in English, “a match made in heaven”.

Since the fall of 2023, for more than half a year, we have been developing the concept and all the details of the platform’s functionality with him.

I can’t help but mention my colleague in the “profession in the diploma” — director Maria Ivanova, who was a very useful consultant during the development of the concept, as I wanted more than one opinion from a colleague regarding the mechanism of the site and its goals — and I knew that I could trust Maria’s advice.

Of critical importance were the Weband team, led by Evgeniya Tosheva and Angel Miladinov, whom I am surprised that I haven’t gotten tired of by now, haha.

The innovative design is mainly the work of the talented Boris Menelaev, with whom we constantly argued about the nuances of purple on the site, since I graduated from graphic design in high school, but in the end we came to a consensus.

Currently, among the most important people in the TalentVision team is Violeta Georgieva (Violet George) — a Bulgarian from the USA, a journalist and screenwriter by profession, who is responsible for the relationship with our members and all production houses. Without it, it would have been extremely difficult for me to develop my own career and help my colleagues around me at the same time. But I can’t deny that the latter is in my nature and I always want to give more than I receive.

People reading this should understand that

creating a platform like TalentVision is analogous to creating something like a hybrid between Facebook, Netflix and LinkedIn — in one platform.

Accordingly, you can imagine the amount of difficulties and challenges, but I am grateful to have the Weband team by my side.

What would you advise a young artist or student who is just registering with TalentVision? How to get the most out of it?

First, the times when you could afford to be just an artist or an actor are long gone. Being an actor in 2025 means that you have to be much more than that, fortunately or not.

There is a very good book by Bonnie Gillespie, “Self-Management for Actors,” which I recommend to every aspiring colleague. In it, the author calls on each of us — people in this art form — to look at ourselves as a kind of “small business” that offers “acting services.” As we know, any business requires constant care and investment, otherwise it will not go far. It is the same here, and the “investment” is not always financial, although when you are a novice artist you will spend more money than you will earn in the beginning.

But this is the case with every business, small or large. Therefore, your presence in TalentVision, as well as in any similar platform, should be considered only as a tool, one of many — which significantly increases the chance of being noticed, but does not guarantee it. Know where your priorities are, and which platform is right for your business!

Secondly, a richly filled profile does not just show what you are good at, but demonstrates to the viewer that you care.

If you see two stores next to each other, both of which have incredibly beautiful windows, their logos are up to par, you open the door of one of them, and you see that it is half empty, the shelves are from the SOC era, and the cashier is not even there, you immediately understand that the window is a lure. You enter the second store, and you see that it is tidy, full of products, and the cashier treats you politely — you understand that the window corresponds to the contents of the store. And you will even return there again. The same is true here, in my opinion, it is not enough to upload a professional Hollywood portrait as the main photo, and your entire profile is completely empty with a phone left in the corner. This shows that you “don’t water the flowers enough” or that you don’t take care of your small business.

Of course, overdoing it is also not good, and writing 3 volumes of an autobiography about yourself when you have 1 short film behind you is somehow not serious either, and in the worst case demonstrates outbursts of narcissism. Therefore, finding the golden mean is best in my opinion.

And thirdly, do not rely on the published ads and how often there are such. Believe me, most often producers and casting directors look at the site and use the filters to find talent, and do not publish ads. I personally have been invited to castings for huge film productions such as “Dune 2”, not through an ad, but by the casting director’s scouting team, who look at the Spotlight database.

And I immediately answer: No, they did not take me to “Dune 2” unfortunately, but when I watched the film I saw that the character himself was not there, so changing the script restored my self-confidence! (Ha-ha) I'm still angry, though, because the scene was supposed to be with Zendaya.

The platform has many big names in the film industry in Bulgaria and abroad, including Nu Boyana Film Studios, Paramount Pictures, Hatch Pictures, FilmForge Casting, Human Production.

How does the platform help actors connect with these leading companies and get casting opportunities?

Exposure. This is the most honest answer, and it's in English again, not because I'm making a big deal out of it, but because many of the terms related to my profession come from English. That is, the chances of being noticed and being in the same place with your fellow professionals are the most valuable thing about the platform.

In every film I've been involved in, I make contact with the producers, director or casting directors, and invite them to the platform. Most always respond and use it for their future projects. We also invite professionals to join us every day. As I mentioned in the previous few answers: TalentVision’s reputation built over the past year, as well as our transparency, allowing members on both sides of the camera — cast and crew — to have a much more direct connection with each other, is a powerful tool that increases the chances of collaboration, does not compromise user data, and gives everyone a choice of what to see and what not.

In the context of online platforms like TalentVision, what are the most important qualities that an actor should show in the digital environment to attract the attention of casting teams?

- The exact opposite of what most people do on Instagram.

Namely:

Your digital profile should 100% match your real-life skills and your status in the industry.

Why? The easiest answer is that when you are invited to a live casting — everything will be clear!

And the fake American accent that you put on your profile that you think is “flawless,” and the horse riding that is on your profile “advanced,” when in fact your aunt once rode you on a pony in South Park when you were seven. One thing is true — these things make an impression, and good casting directors really do have elephantine memories. They will remember the blunders, and they will think twice before calling you again. And if they connect you with the film crew and you expose yourself on set, the producers will think twice about working with that casting director. You get the logic, right? To a large extent in our industry — reputation is everything. So

don’t lie on your profiles to leave the “lying” for in front of the camera with your character.

What is your view on the role of digital platforms in the global film and theater industry?

By “digital platforms” I assume you don’t mean social media, as I don’t like extreme statements like “it’s critical to have you on every single site”, or “if you don’t take care of your Instagram and don’t have at least half a million followers — you don’t stand a chance” and other extremist positions that are not true or at best half true.

I tend to believe that it’s equally important to have a presence on online platforms like TalentVision, Spotlight and Actors Access (for the US), as much as what you do in real life to develop your career, and the so-called Networking. Going to workshops, festivals, events, and meeting people from the industry, such as casting directors, producers, directors, and agents — is just as important.

It’s all about increasing your chances, or simply “a numbers game” — but the important thing is to do it honestly, conscientiously, with respect for our art, and for your colleagues.

Everything else is no different from “Lotary”, but even for that you have to make the effort to play the ticket.

The world has been experiencing quite dynamic and complex political situations lately. How do you think these global changes affect the film industry and the opportunities for actors, especially in Bulgaria?

I don’t want to talk deeply about politics at this stage, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested. It’s obvious to everyone that we are currently living in historic times that will change our entire way of life, similar to the three industrial revolutions so far, but this fourth will be an Industrial Revolution “on steroids.” The main change will be due to Ai and its constant daily development and self-improvement, which obviously cannot be slowed down in any way. And it will not matter whether your president or prime minister is “left” or “right”, the changes are already here, and in my opinion we must adapt to them, but at the same time insist on some kind of control and legislative changes that would prevent the use of the most powerful tool in the history of mankind for the purpose of manipulating public consciousness and other similar actions.

It is already a fact that thanks to artificial intelligence, entire films can be generated, with completely realistic frames, which by 2027 will be generated en masse and most likely will be projected on the big screen, turning them into a kind of new genre in cinema, similar to CGI animation.

Do we have reason to worry, as actors for example? I won't lie and say - yes. Should we give up and change professions? There's no point, because your new profession will most likely be replaced by AI soon!

What's the good news? I think the film industry is too big a monster to be destroyed "just like that"... In my opinion, an option is possible in which actors will get a kind of ownership over their AI avatar, which in the future the studios will use and rent from the actor, instead of filming live. Which of course changes the nature of the acting profession as such. And for the more expensive productions - they will still be filmed live, as has been done until now. And since it will be less frequent, it will most likely be appreciated more by the viewer. Therefore, on-set professions will not disappear completely, but their nature will change, and there will be less work on location. This is actually already happening, but mainly because we are in the “transition period”, and the studios are currently in a panic.

Even Disney and Universal Studios, as we speak, are suing the company MidJourney for exploitation of their intellectual property.

The popular feeling at the moment is that nothing is happening, we are all sitting without work for months, but in my opinion this is a transitional period that must be endured. No one knows what will happen for sure — but we should not be so pessimistic. In my opinion, we should do everything in our power to be heard that we have nothing against artificial intelligence as a phenomenon and a useful tool, for example for creating realistic VFX, but the user or viewer must show the studio and streaming platforms that they would always prefer the real thing, over 100% generated by AI. Because we know how capitalism works — Supply and Demand.

And finally – who would you recommend we invite as the next guest in the column and why?

I would recommend inviting Evgeniya Tosheva. I am very impressed by her initiative “Izbrana Poeziq” and her constant effort to find innovative ways for the younger generation to be interested in poetry — one of the greatest arts that we will not allow to be ignored any longer.

Joseph Al-Ahmad on social networks:

🔗 Instagram: @josephalahmad

Talent Vision on social networks:

🌎 Website: talentvision.bg

🔗 Instagram: @talentvision.bg

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