To set up your CastingKey Profile
Experience Tab
Career History
Please make sure you load in all experience that is relevant to our industry. If in doubt email and ask me. Don’t put “various TV commercials” – this is your resume and is supposed to be selling you! We want to see what you have done in the past 5 years at least, when, the product, what the role was and who the director or production company were. If there is nothing to put in this section (you don’t have any experience) don’t worry – we will try and help you build this section.
Training
Again make sure anything you have done that is relevant is included. This counts in acting roles. I know the casting director for Shortland St looks at training first.
Skills
This is sports you can play reasonably well, accents, languages, musical instruments – anything extracurricular at all – including any hospitality experience you have – chefing, waitering, bar tending etc. If you can do an American accent don’t just put American. What type of American? West Coast, East Coast, Southern? Likewise, English accents.
When loading multiple skills i.e. sports –they should all be loaded in one line separated by a comma. Each new skill should have a capital letter at the start i.e. Basketball, Swimming, Skiing. These appear on your print version resume.
Skills should also be loaded into keywords in the general tab as single words i.e. swimming, French, running, waiter, chef, piano.
Do not write a story in the keywords section as it won’t work. The keywords are used when casting directors are using the search filter for a specific skill, the skills section prints onto your resume.
General Tab
Measurements
Please load in basic measurements and sizes; Height, dress size, jeans size and shoe size at the very least. Chest and waist measurements are also useful.
You would be amazed how often we or casting directors search for a skill or a specific height or size - not just a look.
Casting Notes
This is for availability issues and should be used for this only. This section must be kept up to date as there is nothing more annoying for the casting directors than booking an audition and all the work that goes with collating scripts and audition information only to find that their chosen person is away or going to be away for the shoot. If the casting notes are current then you can’t be guilty of annoying that VIP!!
I recommend keeping it simple i.e. n/a 1 – 14 April 2009.
I assume you are for the most part available if there are no notes in Casting Notes. However we do understand there will be some times when you just can’t make an audition or job. You do not need to put when you are available. However, if you are only available after hours or weekends you do need to note this.
Photos and Media Tab
Photos
Please read the Photo Guide on our website before submitting the photos. Good photos are essential. Sub standard shots will cost you opportunities. They do not need to be professional portfolio shots but should be clear, close (mid chest up) and of you only. We find smiley shots work best and you should be looking directly at the camera in all shots! If in doubt load a lot and we will sort them for you. If a shot is distant try cropping it to bring it closer – but if it is blurry don’t load it. Photos should be updated at least once a year.
It doesn’t hurt to load one of you with your family as we are often looking for families for commercials in particular. If you do load such a photo please also put the word “family” in keywords so we know to look for it.
If you have great hands then by all means take a photo of your hands and load that up as well – it is quite often that we are asked for hand models – men and women of all ages. There is an example of the type of shot required in the Photo Guide. Again put the word “hands” into keywords.
To load photos go to your profile / Photos and Media / Edit My Media. If you cannot see these tabs your browser needs to be updated. There will be links on your dashboard to enable this free of charge. Once the photos have been selected using the browse section click View / Save to download them to the site. You can load up to five photos at a time.
NB; please do not load landscape (sideways) photos – these do not work. We suggest you rotate and crop such photos so they are portrait orientation...again if you do not understand this or are having difficulty just email them to us and we’ll do them for you.
Media
Is for voice files or show reels. Please only submit professional work done as a show reel. Made up show reels do not work. Voice or audio tapes are easier to mock up and you are welcome to record something and load that up if you wish – but remember if it is not great the clients will remember you for all the wrong reasons.
If you load a voice file please put voice in the keywords.
Contact details
To change the password and load in contact information go to My Account (top right of the dashboard). The more contact details we have the better chance you have of receiving information about auditions in time. We work to deadlines so if we can’t get hold of you in time the audition or job will go to the next person on the list.
Your Dashboard
Profile Views
On your dashboard there is a counter which shows how often your profile is viewed by casting directors. This normally updates in real time but if the site is very busy it will update within an hour.
Forgot Your Password
If you have forgotten your password, simply click on the Forgotten Your Password link on this website. Enter your log in (email address) and a new password will be emailed to you
Finally
If you have any difficulties at all please check your browser is up to date. There will be a link on your dashboard to update your browser for free.
If that still doesn’t resolve the problems please feel free to give us a call or email / message us. – we are happy to help