Five Mistakes That’ll Make a Casting Director Cringe

If you hoping to make it in the acting world, there are a few mistakes you’ll want to avoid. These simple mistakes, according to Backstage, could cause your chances to flop.

**Casting director, not agent**

Let’s be very clear – you are contacting the casting director, not your agent. If you call a CD an agent, you will be giving away your newbie status and they will assume you don’t have one. And, while you may have an existing professional relationship with a casting director, maybe even a personal tie of some sort, they do not represent you. They are not the talent’s agent. Rather, the CD works for the client – the person or company seeking talent, and they offer your information to them if you are a good fit. They have the best interest of this client in mind.

**It’s an “indie” (not an ‘indy’) film**

If you are looking for a role in an independent film, make sure you use the ‘ie’ in any correspondence. Now, if you looking to be booked as a brand ambassador for an Indy car racing event, that’s another story.

It’s not “casted”

The past tense of ‘cast’ is ‘cast.’ If you are asking a casting director if they have already “casted” someone in a role, they’ll probably cringe, and this could mean automatic elimination even if the answer is ‘no’.

You have to earn a union spot

Don’t ask a casting director to sign you up to be in the union. It’s not a subscription-based membership. It’s not something you simply pay for. There are rules and regulations for becoming a member in each, and you have to earn your way in usually by landing a few featured roles first. Make sure you give yourself a chance by avoiding this awkward conversation.

Be grammatically correct

It always helps to have good grammar, too. There are many words that are similarly spelled but very different – think they’re, their and there, you’re and your, or affect and effect. And there are so many others! If you are about to forward a written submission, it’s a good idea to have someone else proofread it first for any typos or grammatical errors.

Casting directors are human, too, of course, but they want to work with someone who is going to represent them well when they pass along a submission to the client. Believe it or not, it does pay to pay attention to the details!