TWEET ’N SOUR

Follower numbers cost Hayley role

TWITTER BLUES: Hayley missed out Picture: YORGOS LANTHIMOS

ACTRESS Hayley Tamaddon has told how she missed out on a West End role because a rival had more Twitter followers.

Hayley, 42, who played Andrea Beckett in Corrie and Delilah Dingle in Emmerdale, thought she had won the part after her audition went well.

But at the end the producer asked her how many followers she had on the social media site. The actress said: “I was quite shocked.

“I said: ‘Over 100,000, I think’, and asked why. They said they needed the lead role to have a good social media following as it would help sell tickets.

“The girl that went in after me had 20,000 more followers on Twitter and she got the role.

“I was right for the role and they seemed really happy with what I’d done.”

Hayley, who declined to say which role she missed out on, is not the only celeb to criticise the rise in roles being dished out based on actors’ social media followers instead of talent.

Joseph Batchelor told acting trade newspaper The Stage he recently attended a casting for a fast food restaurant commercial, adding: “Even though the role was just a walk-on supporting artist, I was still asked for my social media handles which I thought was ridiculous.”

Bethany Fenton said she was asked for her Instagram handle and number of followers at an audition for a non-speaking part in a furniture advert.

She said: “It should be about talent. But I suppose followers are often a sign of social currency and popularity.”

Actor Stephen Hoyle recently shared a job advert for a commercial on Twitter that said applicants had to have “more than 5,000 followers on Instagram”.

The Casting Directors’ Guild – set up to enhance professional standards in role-awarding across film, TV, theatre and commercials – said the “growing trend” within the industry of focusing on an actor’s online profile was “disheartening”.

It said it stemmed from the belief “a large social following will equal a bigger audience draw”.

THE Favourite star Emma Stone shows off her glamorous side in a photo shoot.She stares lovingly at a dog as she lounges on a bed in a pink canine-print dressing gown and gold jewellery.The actress, 30, posed as an owner of 15 dogs for the pictures, taken by The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos. She was one of a number of actors who teamed up with their directors for the project for W Magazine’s Volume 2: Director’s Cut issue.