Why won’t Casting Directors write back to me?

You know what happens:

1. You see a casting notice and you send the casting agent or production your details.
2. You wait.
3. And then wait some more.
4. And then some more…

And then the questions start to go through your head…

1. Did they even receive my application?
2. Did they try to write back to me and not get through?
3. Did I do something wrong?
4. Why didn’t they even write back to me?
5. What’s wrong with me?
6. Am I on some kind of blacklist?
7. Should I give up acting?

You may imagine a thousand different scenarios in your head why you’re not getting called back by productions.

You may get angry. Or annoyed. Or frustrated. Or probably all three and some more emotions as well.

Well now it’s time for the truth.

In 99% of cases, production houses and casting agents will not write back to you because they are just too busy.

It really is as simple as that.

They might have received 1,000 applications for the role and they simply don’t have time to write back to 980 of them and tell the actor they haven’t got an audition.

And then they’ve got another 1,000 applications to go through for another role and another production.

In fact, it is very unusual to hear from a production house unless they want to learn more about you (if not for this project, maybe their next one).

We’ll say it again: it really is that simple – they’re busy.

In fact, in a straw poll amongst actors here, we estimate that less than 5% of applications get a response and in most cases it was to tell them they had the job; almost no one we spoke to received a reply from a casting agent/production to say they were unsuccessful.

Yes. And it’s something we have to learn to live with as actors.

Yes.

We can’t say this enough: in the majority of cases the agent or production doesn’t write back to you because they’re too busy.

There’s no hidden agenda, secret blacklist, or personal vendetta. It’s a matter of time.

Ok, there are some occasions when the agency won’t write back because they don’t want to.

This happens when the actor has not been professional in their approach.

Simply put, the casting agent looks at a poorly presented application and thinks to themself: if the actor can’t be bothered to even read the casting notice properly, why should I be bothered to reply to them?

And if you are one of those actors, you can improve your chances very easily:

• Make sure your application is well presented and accurate. Then the production will appreciate it and may decide to write back (even just to tell you that you were unsuccessful). This means you reading the casting notice carefully and only applying when you are the right actor for the job.
• Make sure the material you send the production is good. This means professional headshots, a clear and accurate CV, links which aren’t broken and so on.
• Make sure you send them what they need. If they ask you to include a photo of your hands, then include it. If they ask you to tell them about your skiing experience, then tell them. If you don’t let them have what they want they will ignore your submission.

So if you read the casting call carefully and send in a good application you know that you have done your best.

And then if you then don’t get a reply the reason is simple: the production house hasn’t got time to send you a response.

Whenever we post a casting on enCAST we encourage the production to write back to ALL submissions whether they are successful or not. We think it’s the right thing to do. 

Unfortunately though, when productions do not write back there’s not a lot we can do about it. Sorry about that.

But… the good news is that whether you hear from an agent or not, they will read your application because they can’t run the risk of not finding the right actor.

On this subject, we use an email system here at enCAST which tracks all the applications sent out and if they’re opened or not; we can see that almost 100% of applications are opened by the agents – what they do next we don’t know, but they’ve checked your application out for sure.

This means they have at least glanced over your application. And that means they’ve seen your name. And if you keep on trying then in time they will begin to recognise your name and you will be lodged in their mind as someone who is persistent and dedicated to acting.

Which means they’ll take notice of you.

So at the end of the day it’s all about professionalism and then persistence: you keep scouring the casting notices, you keep sending professional applications… and you will get the job in the end.