Find Acting Auditions: Backstage Casting Site Review
Today I’m going to focus on Backstage, the casting site and all-around resource for actors. I am trying to contain myself because I love Backstage so much. Backstage is my number three choice for finding auditions in the acting world.
If you did not hear about my first and second choices, go ahead and watch my #1 Choice and #2 Choice videos.
The reason why Backstage is my third top choice is because it's so much more than a casting site. They have resources that are helpful to new actors and old actors. I’m going to start by focusing on the casting part of Backstage first and then we'll get into all of the other goodness. If you're going on Backstage to submit for jobs you're going to see a lot of industrials, a lot of student films, a lot of independent films, some spec commercials, and many theater shows. Specs are the commercials that appear on the internet, but not on television. You'll also see industrials, those are internal videos used by a company. For example, an industrial video might be created by a hotel with purpose of educating their employees on a company policy.
Overall, Backstage has my favorite formatting and design. It just looks pretty, it's easy to use, and the formatting is very simple. Backstage has a subscription cost of about $20 a month. It does cost less if you commit to an annual subscription. Again, it's totally worth it. There are a lot of resources on this site and if you're just starting out, it's probably my number one pick for you. Backstage is really the place you want to be when you're just getting started. This is because it is the best place to find all of those independent films and student films. The competition is low for these projects so your chance of booking something bigger is higher. You can use these kinds of roles to quickly gather some footage and create a reel that will help you look like a professional in this industry. Now, when you think about student films and independent films and all of those things, not all are created equally. So you do want to do your research and make sure that you are partnering with a company or a group of people that you align with.
Backstage is not going to have a lot of those bigger roles. It won't have anything on network television or any national commercials. And for that reason, some people might shy away from Backstage. If the castings don't attract you to Backstage, then the resources will. I've already told you that there is an article on Backstage for anything that you might have a question about. It's a great resource to answer your questions or read the industry buzz. When something big is happening in the industry, it’s the perfect place for you to check and learn what's going on and what industry people are saying about it. The people who write the articles online are pretty amazing. I've worked with quite a few teachers who have articles on the site like Denise Simon and Larry Silverberg who have really good reputations when it comes to the industry.
In addition to the articles, there’s also this really interesting tab called Community, where you can join a discussion board. Maybe you have a question about a certain agency that you aren't sure is legit. You've had a couple of uncomfortable feelings about working with them -- there might be someone on the Community board who’ve already mentioned their experience with that agency.
All right, there you have it, you know all of the reasons why I love Backstage so much, even though I’ve only ranked it as my number three choice for casting websites. It is certainly my number one choice for casting AND resources. Thank you for joining me, wishing you love and light and all that jazz.