Where to Find Auditions | Searching for Acting Auditions

Where to Find Auditions

Written by on | Acting Industry

If you don’t know where to look, finding auditions can seem really overwhelming. It’s kind of like the second act of a horror movie where the protagonist is running through dark corridors just trying to stay alive. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Once you know the main avenues of where to find auditions, you can easily incorporate them into your routine and find work as an actor with ease! It is important to know that each country and each market has its own particularities and nuances that might not apply to another place. In this article I am going to be focusing on the major English speaking countries, as that’s my background, but the general information here will be useful for wherever you are in the world. 

The best place to find professional auditions is through an acting agent. They will require you to have a profile on the relevant casting websites for your market. There are also casting websites such as StarNow, Mandy, and Backstage that offer castings for non-professional and student work. 

Finally, social media is really useful here too, a lot of casting call outs are posted or advertised on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Of course there is far more detail to finding castings than just that. We will go into a lot more detail below regarding each one of those places and how you can find the castings you want!

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Where to Find Professional Auditions

All professional auditions will come through your agent. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of having a good agent as an actor. For everyone that wants to audition for Netflix, audition for Amazon Prime or even audition for Marvel, you are going to need an agent. Agents are the actors’ gateway to the professional world of work as an actor. In order to access professional work you have to have an agent. Think of your agent as a guarantee to the professional world. They are putting their name to you and saying ‘this actor is an actor of quality – trust me!’ When you think about them like that, then you can see how important it is going to be to have a good relationship with your agent and they have a good reputation in the wider industry. As with every other industry out there, it’s not what you know it’s who you know!

If you don’t have an agent, but you would like to get one and start getting into those professional auditions, then you have come to the right place! We have written a crazy amount of articles that have helped thousands of actors all over the world to do exactly that! Here are a few great places to start: How to get an agent, How to contact an Agent, What’s the difference between an Agent and a Manager, What to Avoid in an Agent and what to do when you get a Meeting with an Agent. All of those articles are going to be an excellent starting point for your larger acting journey.

  1. SpotlightSpotlight is the leading website for professional casting calls in the U.K. and surrounds. Put simply, if you want to work professionally in that area, you have to be on Spotlight. However, it isn’t as easy as just creating an account and paying the sign up fee. In order to get on Spotlight you must have professional credits or have been to one of the approved institutions for training. [More info in the link in the name above].
  2. Actors Access – AA is the go-to casting website for actors in the U.S. and Canada. It offers actors the ability to apply directly to casting calls as well as a mechanism for casting directors to approach actors through their representation. It is a must have for actors in North America.
  3. Casting Networks – Casting Networks is a truly international organization; its casting presence can be felt in nearly every major English speaking market and its recently updated UI has been met with acclaim across the globe.
  4. Showcast – Showcast is the major professional casting site for Australian and NZ actors. Casting directors and professionals use it in conjunction with Casting Networks. Aussie and Kiwi actors need profiles on both sites in order to maximise their chances of getting professional work.

NOTE: These are just four of the major sites. Make sure you check for the relevant casting sites in your city/country.

It is also worth saying now (and saying often) that you will only experience success as an actor if you are really, seriously good. As with so many other industries, this one is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. You have to be prepared to put in the hard work and train! A lot of people look at acting and think that it’s easy. Just like a lot of people watch the Olympics, seeing these world class athletes who have been working for years at their craft to achieve their goals, and think it looks easy. As any athlete will tell you, it is far from easy but also incredibly rewarding. The actors you see in movies and TV shows are exactly the same. Behind each of their overnight successes has been years of hard work, study and practice and a lot of luck. If you want to be successful once you have found auditions, you need to keep working, keep training, keep studying and keep practicing. More info on all of that at the StageMilk Scene Club.

Where to Find Auditions Online

It is really important that you check those links to the best casting sites in your area above and create an up to date profile for yourself. This also leads into the importance of the actors toolkit, that is headshot, showreel and CV to best showcase your talent.

Regardless of whether you have an agent and are getting professional work or not, there are going to be down times where you don’t have any auditions coming in and you would like to get out there and find some! Or perhaps you are a brand new actor and you want to get some credits to your name to be able to move towards more professional work. Or maybe you just want to give acting a try and see where it takes you, there are a bunch of websites in different markets around the world which host notice boards for castings and auditions that you can apply to and try to book some work! 

  1. Backstage – Backstage has been a huge player in the film and television industry for over 30 years. It started out as a magazine and is now one of the biggest online casting directories. They are predominantly focused on the U.S. and Canada but have been gaining popularity in Australia and the U.K. in recent times. You can create a limited free profile to view castings, but will have to pay for a subscription to unlock all their features.
  2. Starnow – Started by a couple of Kiwi’s back in 2004, StarNow has become the second biggest casting website in the world thanks to a very user friendly platform, good safety protocols, and affordable pricing. Particularly popular in the Southern Hemisphere, StarNow provides a platorform to connect actors with directors and producers for collaborating on paid and unpaid projects.
  3. Mandy – Launched in 1996 and named after its founder, Mandy is the best place to look for casting notices in the U.K. and surrounding areas. Given the exclusivity of Spotlight, Mandy fills a gap for castings, and for actors that might not qualify for Spotlight but still want to find work. [We have a full review of both sites at the link above].
  4. Casting Network – Casting Networks are massive, they extend across hemispheres and markets and offer a professional front end used by casting directors worldwide and a noticeboard style backend that allows actors to directly apply for projects. They have recently updated their user interface and have created a pretty exceptional product that is worth being a part of for the majority of actors.

While having profiles on these websites is going to help you find castings, as mentioned earlier the best thing you can do is have an agent that represents you professionally and follow their advice for obtaining professional work in your area. If you are on the lookout for student or unpaid work then the four links above are a great place to start.

Where to Find Auditions on Social Media

A great place to go to find auditions, particularly for independent film and theatre is on social media. Here, it is worth getting creative with your search terms in Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Some of the most enjoyable projects I have auditioned for and worked on have been ones I have found through Facebook. One of the smartest things I did upon graduating acting school was to join a series of Facebook audition groups like: Sydney Auditions, Film and TV Networking Australia and AFTRS Noticeboard. 

Through these networks, a lot of auditions have come my way. I would avoid pages like Gumtree and Craigslist just because there is next to no moderation of those sites and you could find yourself in some strange situations. A much better idea is to join the noticeboard of your local film schools! I joined the Australian Film Television and Radio School noticeboard as you can see above and I have received numerous opportunities through that page! 

The same goes for Instagram and Twitter. Searching the hashtag name of your town and the word audition or casting should yield some great results. It is amazing to see how much social media has changed the game on this front. Next to all of my independent film and theatre auditions in the last 6-8 months have come through Facebook pages I follow. Also take some time to search out local theatre companies, film production studios and working producers, casting directors and directors and follow their public profiles! You never know when they might post an audition notice online!

This is one of the most commonly searched terms on Google, and you can imagine why. People are really interested in getting into film and television work, but might not want to make the tough decisions to do it professionally. Realistically the vast majority of Hollywood movies are made in the US, UK and Australia. Even then, the major cities like London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver and Sydney are the real hubs for production. If you live outside those areas, how can you find auditions near you?

Where to Find Auditions Near Me

Well you will be amazed. Everywhere there is someone with a camera and a dream to make movies, there are people making movies! The best thing you can do is immerse yourself in your local film and television scene. Even if it is tiny, I promise you it exists! Search those hashtags, dive deep into Facebook, check out google maps and see if there are classes or Meetups happening near you! 

If you cant find anything, then its time to be the change you want to see in the world! Write yourself a short film, produce it and create a network of like minded people that all want to work together on some great projects! If you want to find auditions near you and you can’t see any, make them yourself! Just like Matt Damon, Spike Lee and Ben Affleck have all done before!

Conclusion

There you have it, a comprehensive discussion about auditions and where to find them. Hopefully now you feel a lot more confident about looking for auditions and have some awareness of all the best ins and outs of making it happen! Remember you can find all the auditions you like, but if your acting isn’t up to scratch, you ain’t going to book them. If you want to work on your acting every single month and get better, then click the link below!

About the Author

Patrick Cullen

Patrick is an actor, writer, comedian and podcaster based in Sydney, Australia. A graduate of the Actors Centre Australia in 2014, Patrick has been working in film, TV and theatre across Sydney and Brisbane ever since. Patrick can be found glued to test cricket in bars across the land.

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