Back Stage 411 - Casting FAQ

A Video Overview of BackStage.com

In this short video, Assistant Casting Editor Sri Gordon walks us through some of the cool casting tools, editorial sections, and resume options now available on BackStage.com:

 

For more info, check out the following articles:

• "Jumpstart Your Acting Career - Get the most out of BackStage.com"
• "Your Multimedia Résumé - 10 Tips for Success!"
• "How to Find More Casting Notices - 10 Tips for Searching for Auditions"

Help Topics - Index & Table of Contents

Check out the following list to see all of the help topics available on the Back Stage 411 Casting FAQ. Find answers to frequently asked questions about Back Stage, plus find lots of tips, tricks, and instructions for getting the most out of BackStage.com and Casting.BackStage.com.

Cast Like a Pro - Find Amazing Talent for All of Your Projects

THE CASTING RESOURCE USED BY PROFESSIONALS

Back Stage is used by hundreds of professional casting directors every day — including members of the Casting Society of America (CSA) and the Commercial Casting Directors Association (CCDA) — in addition to filmmakers, theatre-makers, film students, talent scouts, comedy club bookers, agents, managers, HR reps, record producers, and more. Everyone that's in the know knows that when you need to find talent for your project, Back Stage is the best way to get the word out to an extraordinary pool of actors, models, and performers.

POST A NOTICE: CASTING MADE EASY

Simply use our online posting form at BackStage.com/FindTalent to quickly paste in your casting calls and character breakdowns, and then we'll take care of everything for you. Every breakdown is carefully reviewed, formatted, and proofread by Back Stage's casting editors before being published in print or online – so you can rest easy knowing that you'll receive a professional presentation.

To learn how to use Back Stage to cast your project, please check out this article: "How to Find Talent, Receive Submissions, Save Résumés, and Contact Applicants in Bulk."

How to Find Talent, Receive Submissions, Save Résumés, and Contact Applicants in Bulk

Casting directors, agents, and employers can use BackStage.com to find actors, models, performers (dancers, singers, comedians, musicians, and more); manage submissions; and then contact the job applicants individually or in bulk.

To start your talent search, visit the Casting Center Toolbox and then "Post a Notice" to call for cast and crew.

And to supplement your search, visit the Back Stage Multimedia Résumé Talent Database and use advanced search criteria (including gender, age ranges, skills, union status, geographic location, etc.) to find even more actors, models, and performers.

Plus, you can set up Saved Résumé Searches and Alerts to automatically search the Talent Database for you; your Resume Alert Agents will email you resumes that match your search criteria until you've finished casting.

Once you've received a ton of Multimedia Résumé submissions thanks to the Casting Notice you posted on BackStage.com – and/or after you've found some great actors in Back Stage's Talent Database yourself – visit your Résumé Inbox & Applicant Manager to view, organize, tag, sort, and filter through the submissions you've received and resumes you've found. (Quick tip: use the "Advanced Filter" option in your Inbox to manage the résumés more effectively.)

Then use the following options to contact the actors you'd like to audition:

How to Manage Your Cover Letters

When you use Back Stage's online submission system to apply to a casting notice, you have the option of including a cover letter with your submission package. Including a cover letter is a good way to engage the interest of the casting director, express your enthusiasm for the project, and include extra information about yourself and why you'd be a great person to cast.

To access your cover letters, visit your "Manage Your Resumes" page.

Then scroll down and click on the option labeled "Click here to access all of your cover letters" to visit your "Manage My Cover Letters" page.

On your "Manage My Cover Letters" page you'll be able to see and edit all of your cover letters and create new cover letters. Click on the View/Eye button next to any of your cover letters to view each cover letter in full – the way your cover letter looks in that window is very close to how it will look to casting directors as well.

How to Find More Casting Notices - 10 Tips for Searching for Auditions

Thousands of casting notices are posted on BackStage.com every month, with updates being made daily. Follow these 10 casting-search tips to save time and make sure you're not missing out on any awesome new opportunities:

1) Cast a Wide Net: The more categories and states you search, the more casting notices you'll see. Although you might be more interested in some categories than others, you should still select ALL of the categories and states that you're even a little bit interested in, or else you'll miss out on some very cool stuff. Click here for help with searching for casting notices.

2) Customize Your Search: Use Back Stage's Advanced Casting Search options to narrow down your results using personalized search filters, including age-ranges, pay-ranges, ethnicity, and gender. To see more casting notices, choose multiple Advanced Search filters. We recommend choosing ALL of the pay ranges. And instead of just choosing your exact age-range and ethnicity, choose all of the age-ranges and ethnicities that you can realistically play (keep in mind that the search filters are based on the character descriptions of the ROLES being cast, not the exact ethnicity of the actual actors). Click here to learn more about Advanced Casting Searches.

Your Multimedia Résumé - 10 Tips for Success!

Your Multimedia Résumé is the centerpiece of your Back Stage account and a great way to gain entertainment-industry exposure.

And unlike other casting websites that nickel-and-dime actors every time they want to upload a new photo or video, Back Stage lets you embed an unlimited number of video reels and audio demos and upload as many photos as you want for no extra charge — plus you can even upload document files (your "offline" resume, press clippings, your bio, and more) and link to your pages on other sites — it's all included as part of your BackStage.com subscription.

However, just creating a resume isn't enough — the ways you update, manage, promote, and use your resume can make all the difference between booking an audition or getting ignored. The following 10 tips will help to more than double your changes of getting discovered:

Complete Your Résumé - Optimize Your Settings to Book More Gigs

When you're creating or updating a résumé on BackStage.com, it's important that you fill out all of the fields very carefully, because each field is connected to search-filter options used by casting directors when they're looking through the Back Stage Talent Database and filtering through the submissions they receive via their casting notices.

To create a new Multimedia Resume or update your current resumes, visit your "Manage My Resumes" page. After you've created a resume, you can update it at any time by clicking on the Edit/Wrench button next your resume's listing on your "Manage my Resumes" page. This will bring you to the Resume Builder & Editor interface, which is divided into 10 convenient sections: Main Info, Contact Info, Details, Education, Experiences/Credits, Languages, Photos, Audio/Video, Documents, and Links.

The following tips will assist you with completing your Multimedia Resume in a way that's optimized to help your CV get seen more often and raise your changes of being invited to audition for more projects:

Use the Online Submission System to Double Your Chances of Getting Cast

When you use Back Stage's online submission system to submit your Multimedia Resume to casting notices, four things automatically happen simultaneously:  

1) Your complete submission package — including your cover letter, the role(s) you're applying for, and your Multimedia Resume (featuring your photos, credits, reels, links, etc.) — is sent from Back Stage to the casting director as an HTML email. The submission package will arrive in the casting director's regular email inbox. And if the project has supplied Back Stage with multiple email addresses, then your submission package will automatically be sent to all of their inboxes at once.

2) Your complete submission package is also saved to the project's Résumé Inbox applicant-management system in the project's Casting Center Toolbox on BackStage.com, where casting directors can easily sort, filter, view, and respond to the submissions they receive.

This can double your chances of having your resume seen by the casting director, since it means that they'll see your application in their Back Stage inbox as well as in their regular email account. (Plus, it offers a great back-up solution: Even if the casting director doesn't have a Résumé Inbox on BackStage.com or they're not checking it very frequently, you can feel safe knowing that they'll still receive your resume via regular email. Or if the casting director's regular email inbox has filled up or has temporarily stopped working for some reason, you can still be assured that they'll find your resume in their Résumé Inbox on BackStage.com. Either way, you're covered!)

3) A copy of the casting notice is saved to your Casting Notices Inbox on BackStage.com, so you can quickly view it again later if you want to remind yourself about the project or check the script sides before auditioning.

4) A record of your submission is saved to your Resume Submissions Outbox, so you can keep track of the projects you've applied to.

See below for more info, including screenshots and important instructions for effectively using Back Stage's online submission system:

Promote Your Multimedia Resume - Marketing Your Resume Link

After you've created one or multiple Multimedia Resumes on BackStage.com, the next step is to make sure that people see your resume.

First, make sure to choose the Public or Confidential option as the Exposure Level for at least one of your resumes. Public and Confidential resumes are showcased in the Back Stage Talent Database, allowing casting directors, agents, and other industry professionals to discover you whenever they're searching for talent.

The second step is to submit your Multimedia Resume to projects by clicking on the "Submit Online" link or "Apply" button anytime these options are available on a casting notice that you're interested in.

Finally, create a customized quick-link pointing to the shareable version of your resume(s), and then come up with a marketing strategy to get your link out to as many people as possible.

The following are resume-link marketing tips to help get you started: