7 Things Actors Should Know About Timing Self-Submissions
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to
spend the 4:39 watching it.
Study your own breakdowns for three to four weeks
Every casting site, market and union status produces a different flow of breakdowns. Rather than copying someone else's schedule, track what actually lands in your inbox for three or four weeks. That tells you how many you get, on which days, and at what hours.
Union and nonunion breakdowns arrive on different days
Union actors generally get breakdowns Monday to Friday with few or none on the weekend. Nonunion actors get the bulk Monday to Friday, some on Saturday that are mostly rush calls needing you to work that same day, and very little on Sunday.
Across clients, the most breakdowns come in on Monday and the number tapers off through the week, with Saturday the quietest. It is a pattern rather than a rule, but it shapes where you put your attention.
Some Casting Networks users see 50 to 70 emails a day, starting around 8am and running until about 8pm. Others get under 20 a day, arriving roughly nine to five. Actors Access traffic tends to fall between 9am and 6pm.
The recommended rhythm is once in the morning by 11am or noon at the latest, again around three to four in the afternoon, then a final pass between 8pm and 10pm. If you can only manage once or twice, always keep the night check.
Checking hourly is not necessary with a strong profile
Some actors refresh every hour, and it does no harm, but it is probably not the best use of your time if your profile is strong and on brand. The three-a-day method gets you submitted within 12 hours or less, well inside the 24-hour window Breakdown Services recommends.
A submission tracker logs the website you submitted on, the project and role details, and the headshot you used. Over time that shows you which online casting sites are actually producing results for you.
How much easier would self submitting to online casting websites be if you knew exactly when to do it? That's right. A whole lot easier. On this channel, we give you free tips and resources to help you get more auditions from your online casting website. So if this is your first time here, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out. Breakdowns come in from casting websites all the time so it can get really overwhelming trying to decide the best time to submit since usually the sooner you submit, the better. You never know when's the best time, so we're going to share with you how to figure out the best time for you to personally submit to your online casting websites. Also, at the end of this video, we're going to share with you a free tool to help you better organize your self-submissions, so make sure you stick around for that. 00:51 For you, it depends on which casting websites you use. Every website is different. Every market, if you live in Los Angeles or New York or London, is going to be different, so we're going to cover some general advice, but the best thing you can do is study your breakdowns for about three to four weeks and it will show you some kind of trend. If you're union generally you will get breakdowns Monday to Friday and not many, if any at all on the weekend.
If you're nonunion, you will get the most breakdowns Monday to Friday, maybe some on Saturday, which will probably be mostly rush calls, which they need you to work that day and very little on Sunday. So studying your breakdowns for a few weeks. We'll give you the best information about when you get them, how often you get them, especially on which days. Mondays tend to be the busiest. Some of our clients get 50 to 70 emails a day and they start about eight in the morning and go until about eight at night and this is primarily for casting networks, so if you use casting networks and get this many emails every day, this is a potential trend you should study. 02:00 Other clients get less than 20 emails each day and they are generally received between nine to five, so this is another trend you should study. Actors Access, you're looking between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM for the most part, and for both of these websites, again, usually the most come in on Mondays and then less come in during the week. That's not a rule, it's just something we've noted: the most come in on Monday, the least come in on Saturday, generally speaking. So when's the best time to check? Well, it depends on your schedule. In an ideal world, some actors like to check every single hour. Good for you if you can, and you're that actor!
For most actors, that's just not practical and if you have a really strong and on-brand profile that may not even be necessary. Sure, submitting every hour can't hurt but it doesn't need it and probably not the best use of your time. 02:54 The best time to check and the number of times to check depend on your schedule. Now that you're armed with some general information about how and when breakdowns are released, you can better decide. We recommend three times a day and at the minimum once a day, if you can check the ideal amount of three times per day, we recommend once in the morning about 11:00 AM latest, noon. Then again in the afternoon about three to four. And then somewhere around 8:00 and 10. If you cannot check three times a day, more so like one or two, then we recommend always checking at night and then picking one of the earlier times that we just mentioned that work for you, but at the very least always check at night so you can submit to all the roles that are right for you from that day. Breakdown Services, aka Actors Access, recommend submitting within the first 24 hours, but if you follow this method, you will almost always be submitting within the first 12 hours or less, which we know is better. 03:55 How often do you submit? Are you good at staying on top of your self-submissions every day. Let us know in the comments below and as promised, here's a free tool to help you better organize your self-submissions.
(LINK BELOW) Our free submission tracker will help you keep track of your submissions, which websites you submitted on, the project and roll details and the headshot you used. Get an idea of which online casting websites are working for you. Plus more. (LINK BELOW) We're here every week. We will be sharing free tips and resources to help you get more auditions from your online casting website, so make sure you hit that subscribe button and get notifications so you can get up to date tips on building a strong online casting profile and get more auditions.
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