Here are some tips to address good Direct Submitting etiquette. Please read and use these tips when submitting to projects.
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Do not submit to projects in states you are not in, unless the casting notice states that this is a nationwide casting or seeing talent in a couple of different cities.
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Most jobs are considered a ‘Local Hire’ only unless they state otherwise.
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Note: If you DO submit to projects that you can’t actually get to and the casting director has put time in to look at you and invite you in for an audition and you tell them you’re in another state and cannot get there, the casting director will likely consider this extremely unprofessional. They will often BLOCK you from ever submitting to their office ever again. This is a feature that they can use as needed.
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Always write a Cover Note to the Casting Director when your are submitting to projects.
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Cover notes are essential in good communication to potential employers and our Top Bookers all say that they started booking more auditions when they put more effort into the cover note.
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Your chances of getting an audition are MUCH HIGHER if you write good (and short) cover notes.
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Why? It helps in showing some of your personality and can address certain things in the casting notice. And of course if the casting director has told you to give them certain information when submitting, you must make 100% sure the information is listed. If you don’t, you’re just making the casting director do more work asking you for it. It slows down the process of casting… They do not appreciate this.
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Note: A cover note is not a bio. Cover notes are short and to the point and cover all information needed to get to step 2 (live auditions) in the casting process. If a person’s name is listed in the notice, recognize their name in your cover note. It’s a warmer greeting 
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DO NOT EVER submit to roles you are not right for. The casting directors consider it rude, and they may block you forever!
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It’s wasting their time, and it’s a bad way to start off a relationship.
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It’s wasting their time, and it’s a bad way to start off a relationship.
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Remember that Casting Directors often stay in this business for their whole lives and there aren’t that many of them, so relationships with these people must be nurtured and respected. Again, if you do this they may block you.
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If a casting notice says to attach a self-taped video audition – make 100% sure you do it!
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It just makes sense to do what the casting notice says. It was written by the casting director, so if you blow off the details, they won’t take you seriously.
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If the notice says MUST HAVE A REEL, Do not submit unless you have a good quality reel on your resume.
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Beyond just seeing you and hearing you, an Actor’s Reel is a benchmark in the performer’s career. It tells the casting director that you have successfully booked work in the past and at what level.
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If you don’t have any type of reel on your past work, you should at least make and post self-taped scenes of you performing monologues or anything showing what kind of talent you are. You will book more auditions if these are done well.
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As this profession is one of art and marketing, words alone cannot do you justice. Help casting directors understand what you sound like, how you move and what you’re capable of on video will get you much more interest.
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As this profession is one of art and marketing, words alone cannot do you justice. Help casting directors understand what you sound like, how you move and what you’re capable of on video will get you much more interest.
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Note: It’s free to upload these videos to our site from YouTube Links.
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Before submitting, periodically look at your resume to make sure everything is in the right place, spelled correctly, properly formatted & reels working.
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Missing items and misspelled words are going to affect people’s opinions of you, especially in a potential hiring situation. So keep checking your resumes to make sure they’re not holding you back. Your credits are important of course, but you can get more out of them by linking to the projects website or videos. Your Special Skills are important as well – List skills that give a complete story of what your capabilities are. The more detail you go into these skills the better they work for you.
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Submitting immediately will give you a better chance at getting the audition.
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Often, when a casting notice is posted, it is followed by live auditions or video auditions/interviews. And usually the casting director is asked to present the top talent for the roles and present them to the director & producers. Numbers that are heard often are 30-50 talent per each role in the script. If there are no winners in the first group the casting will continue for round 2.
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So talent needs to be submitted to the casting director to make that first round of casting. The audition slots fill up fast so getting in as soon as possible is where you want to be.
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As you might guess, each round of casting costs more money, so the team really wants to find the ringers in round 1.
