How to Post a Casting Notice which Works

Here at enCAST we get literally hundreds of casting notices cross our desk each week.

A lot of them are great. A lot of them are ok. And more than a few of them are not very good.

Not because the job itself is bad, or not because the conditions of work are bad, but because the way the casting notice was written was… well, not very good!

So for any directors or casting agents out there wanting to post on enCAST (or anywhere else for that matter), here is a simple template to follow to get the best possible actor for your role.

All this is explained in more detail below, but if you don’t include anything else, include this:

• Age & gender of role
• Ethnicity (but only if you have to; we prefer the idea of colour blind casting)
• Languages required
• Where you’ll take actors from (e.g. local only, nationally, or anywhere in Europe, etc)
• Location for auditions and shoot (not detailed, a city or country is fine)
• Type of production + shooting dates
• Payment
• And then a bit about the production itself – a very short synopsis is always nice and links are always welcome to the director or production itself

So, to explain that in more detail…

There’s no point in writing a 500 word casting notice and not putting the gender and age of the character till the final sentence.

You want to let actors know immediately if they’re suitable for the part so begin by putting down the basic, non-negotiable criteria. It’s not rocket science:

• Wanted: male actor, 23-30
• Wanted: female actor, 30-40
• Wanted: actor, 16-18

Always include this. Always. (You won’t believe the number of castings we’ve seen which say “actor wanted” and that’s it!)

Then, if the character has to be a specific ethnicity, make sure to define it. (But of course, if the ethnicity of the character isn’t important, don’t include it.)

And because enCAST has actors working across languages, how about telling us what you are after language-wise:

• Must speak perfect Spanish
• Must speak Italian with a Roman accent

Good, so all the actors who are physically right for the role are still reading, those who are too old, the wrong playing gender, or the wrong ethnicity have moved on.

Now it’s time to tell us more about what the character is like physically:

• overweight with a bald head
• a few extra kilos
• slim and very tall (over 1.90)
• petite
• blonde hair
• no beard

And characterwise:

• pedantic and annoying
• fastidious
• very nervous
• bullish and pushy

And how about piquing the interest of those actors who are still with you. Tell us more about the role:

• Jane is a fiesty, smart, and dangerous woman to know. She knows how to take care of herself in difficult situations and is equally adept at talking her way out of trouble as fighting her way out of trouble.
• Don Franco is overweight and ponderous. He is slow but behind this slightly comical facade he is evil. Very evil.

And at this point it’s good to let actors know if there are any aspects they might have issues with. You don’t want to waste your time, or the actor’s time, going through castings for actors who are not comfortable with what you might want.

• Must be comfortable smoking (herbal cigarettes).
• Scenes will include very strong language, and (simulated) drug taking.
• Must be comfortable with (simulated) erotic scenes.
• Comfortable wearing lingerie in some scenes.

So… by this time you’ll have several actors convinced they are right for the role and they’ll be wondering what this project is all about, so it’s about time you told them.

This, again, is essential information actors need to know. You don’t want to go through the entire casting process only to find out the actor isn’t available on the dates you want to shoot!

• Casting in mid-July; shooting in August in Frankfurt.
• Casting June 2nd; rehearsals 15th June; shooting June 22nd in Basel.

There’s no need to be too detailed here, a city or country is fine; but also include where you’re accepting actors from. You might shoot in Germany but accept submissions from all over Europe, for example.

First, give us the genre, please:

• Comedy, sci-fi, horror, drama…

And what type of production?

• Short student film, feature film, web series…

And then tell us the synopsis; there’s no need to write a 1,000 words here, just a couple of lines will do:

• Two unemployed friends from a rundown council estate decide to set up a window cleaning business; all goes well till the multi-national Window Cleaning Corporation decides to put them out of business…

You know – money.

If you don’t talk about money actors will think you are not going to pay. And if you aren’t going to pay your actors, you will rule out 99% of the very best actors and your film will be so much poorer for it.

So talk about money:

• Well paid
• Token payment
• Expenses only
• Non-paid

This information has to come out sooner or later, so put it out there now to avoid problems later. If you can, be specific:

• €1500 per day
• €100 for the shoot

By now you’ll have a bunch of actors who are reading the notice and suitably excited.

If you have unprofessional actors reading or perhaps actors who are new to the business, they’ll be writing off their application to you already.

But professional actors – and better actors – will want to know more.

They’ll want to know about you.

So tell them a little.

• Directed by Joe Fonebone from a story by Frank Fonebone.
• I’m a final year student at the Berlin Film School.
• Here’s a link to my previous film and my IMDB page.
• We are a production company based in Paris and this will be our fifth full length feature film

Good. Now tell them what you want. The usual is something like this:

• Send 2 headshots, your CV, and a link to your showreel to …

Or it might be something specific:

• Prepare a 5 minute video where you tell us straight into camera about your last holiday…

Again, keep it simple, and be prepared for most actors to forget about the subject line of their email to you:

• …and in the subject line of the email write NAME – AGE – CHARACTER NAME

Do actors care if you’re shooting in 6k 16:9 HD?

No. Don’t get too technical; it just creates clutter and most actors will not care what you shoot with.

Can I ask for a specific religion/sexuality?

No. But you can specify that the role/character is of a particular religion, e.g.

• to play the part of a traditional Jewish father 
• to play the part of an Islamic scholar

or if the role is for a particular sexuality, e.g.

• playing the gay lover
• the character is in a homosexual relationship, etc.

read more about this here.

[forum topic=”128″]