Everybody knows how incredibly difficult it is to make a living as a professional actor. It is an often quoted statistic that at any time 90% of all professional actors are unemployed. What makes this statistic all the more alarming is that that 90% is of Equity, the actors union, members. There are probably thousands more people who describe themselves as actors who are not union members.

It is so competitive that you need whatever advantage you can get. For example when casting directors look at the literally hundreds of applications they receive for many roles, they need a way to quickly eliminate some of the contenders. Their grounds may include that the attachments to the email are too large, that the photo supplied does not fit to what they consider the industry norm or, particularly for television and film jobs, that somebody does not have a show reel. Some casting directors complain that a large number of applications do not even include a telephone number and so go straight in the trash.

Before you even apply for a job and start getting weeded out, you need to know about the jobs that are available. Some casting directors only tell a very select number of agents about certain jobs and will not look at submissions made directly to them even if you manage to hear about upcoming auditions and apply.

Slightly lower down the chain, there are casting directors who will only deal with actors who have an agent. This can be frustrating as having an agent does not mean you are a better actor but there is no way to change their attitude.
At Auditions Now, we are able to tell you about casting calls that are open to you whatever your experience and credits. The rest is up to you.