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- There are many different methods to find

union or non union actors for your productions.

If you have the budget and ability, the first one is to

use a casting agency or casting director

to help you target specific acting talent.

It can be really convenient to have someone

manage your casting process for you.

A casting director or an agency will work closely with you

to understand all the requirements you need

and suggest individual actors for each role

you're looking for and they handle arranging

and conducting all of the auditions.

Agencies and casting directors can work at almost any budget

and on any type of project for

film, television or new media.

Where you want to start is with

the Casting Society of America.

It's the leading association of casting professionals

and you'll be able to find an agency or casting director

in your area that you can work with.

You can find a great listing at

CastingSociety.com/Producers.

Another way to go about doing your casting

is using a casting website.

These are four very popular ones among many that you can use

that list non union and union actors on their sites.

All these websites tend to look very similar

and will show the actors headshots, their reels,

their attributes, things like their age range,

and any special skills they might have.

Mandy.com, BreakdownExpress.com, Backstage.com,

and NowCasting.com are all very easy to use

and will help you in your casting search.

If you're looking for union actors specifically,

you want to check out iActor online casting.

It's a free online SAG-AFTRA casting directory

at sagaftra.org/sag_services/sso/iactor.

It's available to any casting directors working on a

SAG-AFTRA signatory production.

It allows you to search through members headshots,

their resumes, and all kinds of terms like their gender,

their ethnicity, their special skills, or their credits.

It's the only online casting directory that exclusively

features union members and assists with cast clearance.

That means that the SAG-AFTRA status of the talent

has been verified.

Another way to go about casting is

using your own or local resources.

You can use things like

local acting organizations and listservs.

In the D.C. area we have something called The Actors' Center

that has an online casting database

that we can use and ways to contact actors directly.

You can also go through local TV or film organization

and their mailing lists.

In the D.C. area we have something called

Women in Film and Video and TIVA.

Don't forget to use your social media network.

I often use Facebook like my own personal casting directory.

And you want to ask for any suggestions from

fellow directors or actors or other people you know.

If they've worked with someone, they'll know them as

a person as well as an actor and can make a recommendation.

This way you can avoid bad situations

or find wonderful people to work with.

Once you've found that pool of

potential talent for your production,

it's time to be just as careful

with your auditioning process.