Use the Online Submission System to Double Your Chances of Getting Cast

When you use Back Stage's online submission system to submit your Multimedia Resume to casting notices, four things automatically happen simultaneously:  

1) Your complete submission package — including your cover letter, the role(s) you're applying for, and your Multimedia Resume (featuring your photos, credits, reels, links, etc.) — is sent from Back Stage to the casting director as an HTML email. The submission package will arrive in the casting director's regular email inbox. And if the project has supplied Back Stage with multiple email addresses, then your submission package will automatically be sent to all of their inboxes at once.

2) Your complete submission package is also saved to the project's Résumé Inbox applicant-management system in the project's Casting Center Toolbox on BackStage.com, where casting directors can easily sort, filter, view, and respond to the submissions they receive.

This can double your chances of having your resume seen by the casting director, since it means that they'll see your application in their Back Stage inbox as well as in their regular email account. (Plus, it offers a great back-up solution: Even if the casting director doesn't have a Résumé Inbox on BackStage.com or they're not checking it very frequently, you can feel safe knowing that they'll still receive your resume via regular email. Or if the casting director's regular email inbox has filled up or has temporarily stopped working for some reason, you can still be assured that they'll find your resume in their Résumé Inbox on BackStage.com. Either way, you're covered!)

3) A copy of the casting notice is saved to your Casting Notices Inbox on BackStage.com, so you can quickly view it again later if you want to remind yourself about the project or check the script sides before auditioning.

4) A record of your submission is saved to your Resume Submissions Outbox, so you can keep track of the projects you've applied to.

See below for more info, including screenshots and important instructions for effectively using Back Stage's online submission system:

SUBMIT YOUR RESUME IN 3 EASY STEPS

Submitting your application to a casting notice is a three-step process – if you do not complete all three steps then it won't work:

1) While viewing a casting notice, click the "Submit Online" link or "Apply Now" button.

2) Choose the resume and cover letter you want to use and click "Continue."

3) Write in the name of the role(s) you're applying for and then click the "Apply Now" button to finalize the submission.

If your application was successful, you'll then see a message saying, "Submission Accepted: You have successfully applied to this job posting."

If you do not see this message and you're worried that your submission was not successful — or if you can't remember if you've already applied to the casting notice yet or not — then you can try to submit again. However, if you've already successfully applied to the same casting notice before and you try to apply a second time then you'll see an error message saying, "You have already submitted to this casting notice with this resume." This means that you've already successfully applied for the job and do not need to submit again.

Anytime the "Submit Online" option is available, then you should use this online-application option instead of the other submission options listed in the casting notice. However, Back Stage's "Submit Online" option is only available for casting notices that are accepting online and/or emailed submissions via BackStage.com. If a project is only holding open-call auditions or only accepting submissions through some other method or other website, then the "Submit Online" link and "Apply" buttons do not appear on the casting notice, and instead a message will appear below the casting notice's breakdown telling you to "follow the instructions" in the notice. (You're also highly encouraged to attend open-call auditions even if you've already submitted to the project online.)

Please note that your Outbox on BackStage.com only records submissions that you've made via our online submission system: If you click on the "Submit Online" link or "Apply" button on a casting notice and complete the online-submission steps, then your submission is recorded in your Outbox. But if you submit to the project in a different way (such as via direct mail or email, or by visiting another company's website via a link in the casting notice), then the Outbox will not know about the submission. However, every submission made via our "Submit Online" application system will be recorded in your Outbox. 

If you're checking your Outbox frequently and you do not see your latest submissions in your Outbox, then please refresh the page (click the "Refresh" button in your web-browser or the F5 key on your keyboard) and the Outbox will refresh, showing the newest list of submissions. If you've used our online submission system to apply to some projects recently but you don't see the submissions in your Outbox, and refreshing the page and sorting the submissions doesn't help, then you might be accidentally exiting out of the Submission system before completing your submissions.

Related Article: "Submit Your Multimedia Resume to Casting/Job Notices Online"