Reviews
Part of How film actors' performances are built from coverage
Where film actors search results come from, and how to check
Film actors search: trace credits through IMDb, TMDb and AFI Catalog; check casting calls against state records, film offices and trade coverage.
A real film can leave records before it leaves a trailer. Its production company may appear in state business records, location work may involve a film office, crew are hired, a casting office is engaged, and a trade announcement may appear. Which records are public varies by production and location.
A casting call with no trace in the records you can check warrants caution, but records can also help verify a credit after the fact, so this page treats the two as one search.
What to take away
- Search for the production, not the person. A casting call and a claimed credit are both checked by finding the film behind them.
- The production's own record outranks every database. The credits as they roll on screen are the primary source for a credit.
- Money moving toward the production before any work exists ends the check, whatever the explanation offered.
The trail a real production leaves
Records vary by production and location. A small film may leave few public traces, and some records are not searchable; absence from one source alone does not prove a call is false. Check more than one independent source, and do not rely on records supplied only by the person who sent the notice.
Trail a real production leaves
- Production company in a registry
- Film office permit record
- Casting office with published contact
- Union status confirmation
- Trade announcement of financing
- Distributor with published slate
- A production company.A registered entity in some country's company registry, searchable there. In the United States, start with the relevant state's Secretary of State business-entity records; use SEC EDGAR only where a public company is involved.
- A film office or commission.Check the local film office's permit records. The California Film Commission is a statewide film resource; permits are handled by the relevant local jurisdiction. In New York City, the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) publishes a film permit process.
- A casting office.Casting directors belong to professional societies that list their members, including the Casting Society of America, and offices have their own published contact routes.
- Union status.SAG-AFTRA Member Services can address a performer's claimed membership; contact SAG-AFTRA's Contracts Department through the union's official website to ask about a production's signatory status.
- A trade announcement.Variety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter cover financing, casting of leads, and starts of shooting; search their coverage for the production.
- A distributor, eventually, with the film on its published slate.
Running the check on a casting call
- Take the production's name and the company's name from the notice. If the notice refuses to give either, stop; there is nothing to check and that is the finding.
- For a U.S. company, search the relevant state's Secretary of State business-entity records. Use SEC EDGAR only where a public company is involved. Check local film-office permit records and search Variety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter for independent trade coverage. Do not use a link supplied in the notice as your only source.
- Look up the casting professional in the Casting Society of America directory if applicable, then contact the casting office through details you found independently to confirm the call.
- If the notice claims SAG-AFTRA status, contact the union's Contracts Department through SAG-AFTRA's official website and ask whether it can verify the production's signatory status. For a performer's claimed membership, contact SAG-AFTRA Member Services through the union's official website.
- Look at what money is being requested. An audition fee, a "callback deposit," a required headshot package from a named photographer, or a course sold as a condition of being seen are warning signs. Do not pay to audition; the shape of an advance-fee scheme can be fitted to this industry.
Trade coverage can corroborate a production announcement, but it does not verify a casting call by itself. Confirm the call through production and casting-office records you found independently.
Running the check on a casting call
- Take production and company names
- Find company via registry or trade
- Ask casting office through own contact
- Ask union if union status claimed
- Stop if any fee is requested
Verifying a credit from the production's own record
The end credits of a film are the contractual record of who worked on it. They are negotiated, checked and signed off, and a database entry is a transcription of them made later by someone else.
Order of authority for credits
On-screen credits
- Authority
- Highest
- Source
- Contractual record
- When disagree
- Wins
Press kit
- Authority
- Second
- Source
- Producer or distributor
- When disagree
- Record both
Database
- Authority
- Third
- Source
- Later transcription
- When disagree
- Record both
A simple order of authority applies: first, the credits on screen; second, the press kit or production notes issued by the producer or distributor, including the cast information on the production's official studio or distributor website.
Third, and only third, a database. IMDb can help locate a credit, as can TMDb; the AFI Catalog of Feature Films is another reference for American film credits. These indexes are not the production's primary record. When a database and the screen disagree, the screen wins; record both versions so the disagreement is visible.
Read the credit carefully. Billing order is contractual and says something about the deal, not the size of the part. "As" introduces a credited name that differs from the performer's usual one. An uncredited role is, by definition, not verifiable from the credits; it can be recorded from another production source, marked as uncredited, or left out.
An older film's primary record may be a title card at the front, not a scroll at the end.
When a transcription conflicts with the original, compare it with the film's on-screen credits or title card. The original production record takes precedence over a database entry.
Searching when the name is the problem
Two performers may share a name, or a performer may have changed theirs. A credit might use a middle name, a married name, or a transliteration that differs from the one you searched. Search by the production and role as well as the name, and compare alternate spellings against the production's record.
Searching when the name is the problem
- Search by production and role
- Read name from production record
- Find person through their work
The way out is always the same: search by the production and the role, then read the name off the production's record. A person is found through their work, not the other way round.
When the call is for a child
Rules for child performers vary by state. In California, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) issues entertainment work permits under the California Labor Code. The DLSE's Application for Permission to Work in the Entertainment Industry is the permit application to check. Productions also have schooling and supervision requirements, including studio teachers; the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is the authority to check for studio-teacher credentials. Check the labor agency in the state where the work will take place; a genuine call should identify the applicable permit authority and explain how schooling and supervision will be handled. The page on the protections around child performers lists questions to ask.
Common questions
The call says it is for a major studio film. Does that make it real?
It makes the studio easy to name and the call easy to fake. Studios cast through casting offices with published routes. Find the office; do not trust the name.
Should I pay for a casting platform?
A subscription to a casting platform buys access to listings; it does not verify them. Examples include Actors Access, Casting Networks, and Backstage. Whether you use one of these platforms or a free listing, apply the check above to each call before sharing personal information or paying a production.
A database shows a credit that is not on screen.
Record it as unverified. Either the role was uncredited, or the database is wrong, and the credits cannot tell you which.
How do I check that a stunt credit is real?
The same way. Stunt performers appear in the end credits under the stunt department, and the page on how action sequences are assembled explains why that list is longer than the poster suggests.
