Back Stage 411 - Casting FAQ

How to Manage Your Cover Letters

When you use Back Stage's online submission system to apply to a casting notice, you have the option of including a cover letter with your submission package. Including a cover letter is a good way to engage the interest of the casting director, express your enthusiasm for the project, and include extra information about yourself and why you'd be a great person to cast.

To access your cover letters, visit your "Manage Your Resumes" page.

Then scroll down and click on the option labeled "Click here to access all of your cover letters" to visit your "Manage My Cover Letters" page.

On your "Manage My Cover Letters" page you'll be able to see and edit all of your cover letters and create new cover letters. Click on the View/Eye button next to any of your cover letters to view each cover letter in full – the way your cover letter looks in that window is very close to how it will look to casting directors as well.

How to Find More Casting Notices - 10 Tips for Searching for Auditions

Thousands of casting notices are posted on BackStage.com every month, with updates being made daily. Follow these 10 casting-search tips to save time and make sure you're not missing out on any awesome new opportunities:

1) Cast a Wide Net: The more categories and states you search, the more casting notices you'll see. Although you might be more interested in some categories than others, you should still select ALL of the categories and states that you're even a little bit interested in, or else you'll miss out on some very cool stuff. Click here for help with searching for casting notices.

2) Customize Your Search: Use Back Stage's Advanced Casting Search options to narrow down your results using personalized search filters, including age-ranges, pay-ranges, ethnicity, and gender. To see more casting notices, choose multiple Advanced Search filters. We recommend choosing ALL of the pay ranges. And instead of just choosing your exact age-range and ethnicity, choose all of the age-ranges and ethnicities that you can realistically play (keep in mind that the search filters are based on the character descriptions of the ROLES being cast, not the exact ethnicity of the actual actors). Click here to learn more about Advanced Casting Searches.