Doing it yourself (or DIY) is all the rage these days, but, as an actor, representing yourself means being your own agent. Often, a CD may find it helpful to publicly release a breakdown for a spot they are casting. Self-submitting can be a great way for an actor to pick up work. However, if you do not know how to represent yourself, it could be a costly to your career. So, here are some basics of self-submitting to help you avoid those pitfalls.
Don’t Submit Yourself for Everything
When you self-submit, you are representing and managing yourself. You need to remember that this is a business and you are the commodity being sold. Nothing can be more important to a DIY actor than how you sell yourself. So, before you can be considered for any role, the first question you must ask yourself is this: What is my type? Be aware of who you are and what types you can authentically portray.
Once you are notified that there is a role you might be right for, it is important that you read not only the role, but the description of that role. While you may fit the age and ethnicity, the description details the type they are looking for. If you do not meet all of the type’s criteria, you are just wasting the casting director’s time and your own.
Many actors submit for roles that they are not right for, believing that just getting their picture in front of the CD will help them. Or worse, they do not know their type and misrepresent themselves. Representing yourself poorly can have a negative impact on your career. In some submission services used by casting directors, the CD can make notes about the actor and flag the actor’s headshot.
There are times when an actor sends in his headshot knowing he is not entirely right for the role, but gets called in anyway. Then, once the actor comes in and auditions, it goes no further. Why? Because that actor was most likely selected just to give the clients an alternate way to go, as is sometimes done in a casting session. Usually, only one or two actors are selected who don’t quite fit but would be a creative way to go. And yes, in the very rare case, they might get booked. Understand that this is not the norm, so you must weigh this very rare positive result against the risk you take when you submit for roles you’re not right for: becoming a nuisance to the CD.
Confirm (and Keep) Your Audition Appointment
There is more you can do to present yourself professionally. Confirm your audition. Now is not the time to read about the project rate and shoot dates. You should have done this before you submitted yourself. If you do not confirm your audition you may get a call from the casting office wondering why you did not respond online. This also makes you look unprofessional and can affect your career. When they call, don’t ask the CD’s office to remind you of the role and project that you submitted yourself for, again, this is unprofessional.
You may say that you submit for so many projects that it’s hard to keep track, but that’s your job. We often have to remind actors of this and then they decide for various reasons to make up an excuse why they can’t make the audition, suggesting to us that they did not read the description of the project until they were invited to audition. This can leave the casting director with an empty time slot. And this can result in your headshot getting flagged.
Think like a casting director. Submit only for appropriate parts and don’t become a nuisance. If you are an actor who submits properly, on behalf of casting directors everywhere, I want to thank you. You may not always get called in but don’t get discouraged. Roles are often sent out publicly and released to agents at the same time, so if we do not find what we are looking for from agents, we can look in the self-submissions immediately.
Now that you know some basics of self-submitting continue to reinforce these practices. Focus on how you run your business. The takeaway here is that DIY (self-submitting) can absolutely be advantageous to your career. By following these simple rules, you can greatly increase your opportunities to succeed as an actor.
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and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
