Casting Networks

This review is for the NYC site. Just don’t. This is the D list of acting websites. They charge a base fee of $ 25 a year just to open an account. Then you’ll be paying 9.95 a month for one photo. If you want to change this photo, you can’t just upload a new one like every other modern acting website on Earth. Nope you have to pay $ 25, or do the workaround of upgrading to photos unlimited for an extra $ 5 per month. Who charges $ 25 just to upload a new photo?! WTF. This isn’t 1998. For another $ 8 you can host your reel. Just plain ripoff. No web hosting in the world costs that much.
The job listings for union members here all non existent unless you want to be a breathing prop. Do yourself a favor and use Actors Access or Backstage where all of this is included, and you can update your own photos without paying an arm and a leg. I hope more actors come to their senses and stop using this unprofessional company.

I’ve had no issues with LA Casting. Yes, having to pay a lot for uploading photos DOES suck. but oh well. That doesn’t mean they’re a scam. Go get a server job. you’ll make more than enough to cover those costs on top of al of you bills. It annoys be when i see people at auditions who complain because they haven’t «Made it» yet and they’re not making any money. Go. Get. A. Job. I’ve gotten numerous auditions through LA casting, they respond quickly, and the site is always working for me. They have a ton of resources like FREE classes and great photographers. Stop complaining people.

My agents sent me in to upload my headshots via the kiosk desk and I was met by a wonderful staff member named Stephen (or Steven — didn’t catch the spelling of his name). He was pleasant, knowledgeable and worked quickly with their program. I was in and out very quickly. Great Customer Service from this company both in person and when I have spoken to people over the phone. Thank you, Stephen!

They’re back to 1 star. The provisional credit my card company put on this transaction was lifted (because the billing department at Casting Networks is incompetent), so I ended up paying the $ 70 after all. 100% useless.

Their website is up to date as of 1999. And the first photo is free! But then 25 $ and 15 $ per photo after that, I guess data hosting costs must be really high that a 2mb head-​shot is so expensive for their servers to accommodate…
Casting Networks is part scam and part reality; the reality is that they are used quite frequently by casting offices and reps quite frequently, unfortunately they charge you extortionist level prices for access. Every other industry has seen costs and prices for data hosting drop because server space just ain’t that expensive. Casting websites have decided not to follow good business practices and maintain outrageous pricing models that take advantage of pretty much everyone without actually improving their level of service. The face to face staff are quite nice, I’ll give the company that. Now pardon me, I have to go call their office because that’s the only way I can delete an out of date head-​shot.

I can’t wait until competition starts to gain some edge; unfortunately, looks like it’s going to be years before that happens.
$ 25 for the first photo upload and $ 15 for every additional photo after that is ridiculous. Server space doesn’t cost anywhere near those prices. Also, what are we paying that fee for? We can’t even edit (crop, rearrange, delete, etc.) our own photos on the site. Actors Access allows this very easily and for much cheaper — good thing they’re the go-​to for theatrical. It’s too bad LA Casting is the big commercial player in town. 10 pictures later is $ 160 spent just to upload photos along with a $ 15/​mo. membership fee. Talk about a racket…
To those chalking it up to overhead: I get where you’re coming from, but why should the first picture cost $ 25 every time? If I already paid that uploading a picture last week, shouldn’t next week’s upload cost $ 15? What serious actor doesn’t get updated headshots with additional looks to stay current? Sad that they use this caveat just to get more money from struggling actors they know will have to pay up even more.
Their staff has always been nice and helpful so it pains me to write this negative review, but their website leaves much to be desired and the photo pricing is saddening — maybe they can take a page out of Actors Access’ book.

Absolutely horrific company. They prey on people’s dreams and overcharge for everything. Other casting services charge reasonable amounts or nothing at all for uploading new photos. LA Casting charges $ 25 for the 1^st photo and $ 15 for each additional photo added during the same session. Basically telling you they don’t care at all about the monthly membership you pay. Customer service is just as bad. I sent two emails over a week ago asking very specific questions and I wasn’t even given the courtesy of a response. This company is what’s wrong with Los Angeles.

Scam. Watch out. Website does not work. They prey on the weak.

I don’t understand how anyone can give these guys anything less than a 5 star. The website is always up-​to-​date with castings and valuable information that actors could benefit from.
Charging to upload a photo is not a scam. They are covering their operating costs. Think about how many actors are in Los Angeles? There are a ton. And how many people do you think it takes to manage that many actors? Probably a lot. The company needs to pay their staff. It’s not a huge deal. Maybe don’t change your headshot so much?
You’re actors and by choosing to pursue this industry, you are basically saying that you’re starting a business. You also have operating costs. Check out the Small Business Association. You’ll learn a lot that will help you.
I’ve experienced nothing but amazing service when calling the office. There’s a dude with very colorful hair. He’s cool as shit. I like him.
I understand that the industry is hard. It’s REALLY friggen hard but complaining about petty things just adds to the negativity. I urge anyone that is thinking about leaving a bad review to think twice before posting. Is your complaint really that big of a deal? When you complain on Unilocal,you are potentially taking business from the company. Some people depend on that job to pay rent and buy food. When you hurt business, you hurt the staff.
Take a walk over to the office and say, «hi» I promise, you’ll love them. Maybe bring a small gift for the front desk person. We’re all in this together. Be cool.

CastingNetworks and LACasting operate on the principle of ripping you off, while doing nothing to fix glaring defects in their sites; sites that steal from you by intentionally wasting your time and damaging your professional image.
The disregard for the customer starts as soon as you set up your account. Go to
and set up your account (let’s say you’re a filmmaker who’s looking for actors). Now create a project, for which you want to audition actors. This is a laborious process, consisting of several incompetent pages of forms that don’t refresh properly and must have each section reloaded one at a time. I won’t belabor the description of these pages, but be assured that the money that CastingNetworks is ripping customers off for is NOT being used to maintain the site or fix glaring (and repeatedly reported) defects in them.
That’s not the most offensive part of basic setup. The true offense comes after you’ve posted a project. Days will go by, and you’ll wonder why no one has submitted for your roles. It’s because CastingNetworks has CANCELED your post and hasn’t bothered to inform you of doing so. And why? Because you can’t conduct Los Angeles-​based business at
, BUT THEY DON’T BOTHER TO TELL YOU. They allow you to enter Los Angeles addresses all over the place when setting up your project and account. This is stealing, plain and simple.
When you ask why your project was canceled without your authorization, CastingNetworks will smugly tell you that you can’t use their site for California work. Why? They don’t say. You have to use
. And no, you can’t transfer your account or project over. You have to set everything up from scratch, AGAIN. More stealing.
Oh, but there’s more. Let’s say you’re an actor. You want to update your picture, simply replacing your photo with a new one. So you log into your account and spend half an hour looking for how you delete your picture and replace it. THIS FUNCTION DOESN’T EXIST. Again, CastingNetworks doesn’t bother to tell you a critical fact. It wastes your time letting you scour the site, until you end up E-​mailing or calling them. Then they admit that the function is missing, because they want to rip you off with a FEE to SWAP your ONE PICTURE. Keep in mind that you’re already paying for this «membership» every month. But you can’t maintain its contents by keeping it current. That’s disgraceful.
There’s more. I discovered by accident that someone wanted me for a role… a month ago. CastingNetworks never bothered to E-​mail a notification about the message. This is simply pathetic.
I’ll stop here. CastingNetworks/​LACasting disregards customers in every imaginable way. Don’t vote for this abuse with your money. Try another site. Take classes and make connections. Sign up for IMDB. But don’t damage your credibility by even being on these unprofessional and abusive sites.

Horrible, just horrible. I was told that I was going to be on a Prank Show pay $ 50.00 however at the last minute, I find out that it was a scam with some kind of renegade casting agency. I contacted Brea with LA. Casting regarding this and all she wants me to do about this is have my service cancelled and wanting more money for photos. Who else is tired of this b.s. Who is tired of submitting and getting no work at all plus paying for photo fees? I know that I am. I am about to start a class action lawsuit against these people.

I was helped by Brandi at the desk at the La Brea location and she is FANTASTIC!!! Believe me she has the patience of a (fill in the blank) I mean I can imagine how annoying it is to deal with unprepared actors day in, day out. there were some really ridiculous actor people talking her ear off while she was just trying to get their info in the system and get to the next person in line. People like just hanging all over her desk and telling her what videos they’re watching on their phones. How riveting. She just smiled and went step by step. Never did she roll her eyes or breathe out audibly for release. I was actually doing that because I couldnt believe how annoying and entitled these actors were. Anyway i think she deserves her meals paid for. I see you Brandi!

Been dealing with these guys for almost a decade. Not always so easy to talk to, but this time I had reason/​need to call in for tech support and got Chris H. on the line. This guy is super helpful, quick, knowledgeable and easy to talk to. I hope he picks up every time i call.

a known scammer who films then never pays anyone involved always posts on lacasting (I know this from personal experience & meeting his other victims). i report him every time I see his name & they still let him post new «paid» acting jobs. lacasting also takes your money & then does not upload your picture. they’ve done it twice with me, didn’t give me a refund, & then had the nerve to ask me if I wanted my money back. i had to jump through hoops to get a refund.

THEY ARE AWFUL! STAY AWAY PEOPLE!
It’s sad that you have to pay $ 25 to upload 1 photo to your resume! THAT IS THE BIGGEST SCAM EVER! We should report this website!!! They make actors life 1000 X harder.
Also, there’s a guy there with different color hair, HE IS AWFUL!!! He is so rude!!! He should be fired!
I am so ashamed of you guys! This company is AWFUL! I hope you all go out of business. I wish nothing but the worst for you! Bunch of SCAMMERS!

I have gotten a lot of paid work, acting roles with speaking lines in film and commercial as well as Back ground work with
. I also find that LACasting is more visually pleasing and easier to navigate. For a low fee I can post up to 20 photos, change them as I please with no extra fee involved, and can post one video piece and a voiceover piece.
If we were to talk about Background work, Casting Networks is definitely place one, anything on la Casting is probably either just taken from that or reposts.

I wish I can give this casting site a negative star rating! Not only was my credit card information stolen twice off this web site, I get an email from casting networks asking
if they can resolve the situation after posting this. I have called them countless times asking to resolve this and it’s only when the complaint is posted on the internet do they actually take the time to «look into it».
Now my account has been disabled because I haven’t put a new credit card on file. The credit card that was on file was closed because of the fraudulent activity and police investigation. Now, casting networks wants me to input another credit card and charge me $ 25 to reactivate my account. Even though I have agent representation and my account is linked to my agent.
Casting networks is a joke. If you want to work background jobs for the rest of your acting career sign up and get your credit card stolen!

I normally only post positive reviews but today’s the day I add my voice to the ongoing outrage about Casting Networks. How are they the only casting website in town that makes it impossible for actors to manage their own photos without paying expensive fees every single time or waiting on hold for long periods of time? It’s outdated, scammy and maddening. Photos are essential tools for actors. We should be able to change them around, add or delete at will after we’ve paid ONE set price. I canceled my account a long time ago and was happy never to use them but now I have to again because of my agency. I’ll complain to my agency as well. Agents, casting directors and actors need to migrate to other sites for good. Casting Networks is alienating the very people who keep them in business.

As everything which could be said about Casting Networks has been said by other reviewers (poor user interface, price gouging, terrible customer service), rather than share my similar stories, I’ll just make this an open letter to the company.
Dear Casting Networks,
You should be ashamed of yourself. You may have a monopoly on commercial casting now, but sooner or later someone else is going to come along with a better interface, fair prices, and quality customer service, and you will find that you will have developed no brand loyalty and your customers will abandon you. However, it’s not too late to change your ways and become a company that actors are proud to use. Listen to your user base. Improve your automated features. Cease to charge ridiculous rates for things like headshot hosting just because you know you can. Just look at companies like Google and Facebook — they have grown into monopolies as well, but they are constantly innovating, and people love to use them. Remember: what is good for your customers is good for you.
Sincerely,
A guy who is resentful for just paying $ 70 to upload four pictures.

Disability friendly ⁰⁄₅
Parking ¹⁄₅
Friendly ⁴⁄₅
Prompt 3.5÷5
Cleanliness ³⁄₅
Temp 2.5÷5
Restroom 1.5÷5
Casting is up a flight of stairs, above Petco, no available elevator for disabled clients. The desk is just inside, at the top of the stairs.