Pay not stated
Posted Aug 27
Dallas–Fort Worth casting guide
Find your next role across DFW.
Browse current commercial, series, independent film, background, and youth opportunities across Dallas, Fort Worth, and the surrounding production towns.
5 open calls · updated todayFree to submitDallas, Fort Worth & shoot townsUnion and non-union
Pay not stated
Posted Aug 27
Pay not stated
Posted Aug 27
Understand the metroplex
DFW contains two very different acting economies
Studio television and large commercial work operate differently from independent films, local campaigns, and student productions. The pay, expectations, and casting routes can vary dramatically.
Economy one
Studio series
Streaming and network television shooting on purpose-built stages in Fort Worth, casting background in industrial volume.
Background, union seriesSAG scale
Commercial principal$450 +
Child commercial, half day$300
Voice-over, national$750 + usage
Routes in are formal: a casting company, a profile, a submission system. Slower to enter, considerably better paid.
Economy two
Independent & proof-of-concept
Shorts, festival submissions, web series and first features — a genuinely active scene across the metroplex.
Indie feature, supportingCredit + footage
Short film extrasOften unpaid
Low-end paid rolesfrom ~$40
Proof-of-concept shortsVaries widely
Routes in are informal and fast. Little or no money, but real credits, real footage and the fastest way to stop being someone with an empty reel.
Neither one is the wrong answer
The mistake is not knowing which you are in. An actor who spends a year on unpaid shorts and concludes DFW does not pay has been submitting to the wrong economy. An actor who holds out for series background and books nothing for eight months has an empty reel and no reason for anyone to look at them.
The working version is both at once — build the reel in economy two, submit relentlessly into economy one.
Large-scale North Texas production
What does a major series bring to DFW?
Nobody publishes hiring numbers for a market. These were reported for a single season of one series shooting in North Texas.
One Paramount+ series · one season · North Texas
Who got hired
1,092
crew
192
cast
2,500+
extras
3,856
people, total
Two and a half thousand background bookings from one season of one show. That is the answer to "is there work here" — and it is also why the route into background casting matters more in this market than in any other in Texas.
The route in — verify before relying on it
How background casting works on the big series
01Legacy Casting handles background for the major series shooting in North Texas.
02Submissions run through a profile on MyCastingFile rather than by email.
03Build the profile before a call goes out. These bookings move fast and the roster is already there when they do.
04Expect to travel — shoots run to Ferris, Granbury and across the wider metroplex, not just downtown.
Casting arrangements change between seasons. Confirm current status before submitting.
Follow the production geography
Much of the region's production activity is in Fort Worth
National directories often label the entire metroplex "Dallas," but studios, locations, and production services are spread across Fort Worth and surrounding cities.
Fort Worth
The stages. A 450,000 sq ft campus with four sound stages — the largest fully operational studio in Texas — where two Paramount+ series have shot simultaneously.
Dallas
The agencies. The deepest bench of long-established talent agencies in the state, most of them Dallas-side.
Arlington, Carrollton, Plano
Commercial, indie and child casting. A lot of the working volume is suburban rather than in either downtown.
Ferris, Granbury
Where the series actually shoot on location. Check whether a call pays as distant.
Practical consequence: if you live on the Dallas side and only submit to things labelled Dallas, you are filtering out the part of the market with the stages in it.
And the honest structural fact about this market
A very large share of DFW's screen volume flows through one producer's slate. That is why the hiring numbers are extraordinary and it is also a concentration risk — a market this dependent on one company's output can change quickly.
Every working DFW actor knows this. A page that describes the boom without describing the dependency is describing half of it.
Build your DFW network
Union support, agencies, and local resources
You are in the Dallas–Fort Worth local — not Houston-Austin
Texas has two SAG-AFTRA locals. Yours covers northern Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. An Austin actor is in a different local of the same union in the same state.
Address
5000 Quorum Drive, Suite 700, Dallas, TX 75254
Phone
(214) 363-8300
Email
dallas@sagaftra.org
Members-only
TxSAGNetwork — a real-time Texas casting feed, 24/7, so notices don't wait for an agent's office to open at 9 a.m.
This market's real strength is representation
DFW has the deepest agency bench in Texas — several agencies operating thirty and forty years, one founded in 1984, another with offices in Dallas and Los Angeles. If you are going to get an agent in Texas, the odds are best here.
Representation
SAG-AFTRA franchised agentsThe union's franchised-agent database — filter it to the Dallas–Fort Worth localTexas Production Directory — talent agenciesThe state's official directory · Casting & Talent, then Talent Agency · businesses list themselvesCasting directors and extras castingThe state directory lists principal casting and extras casting as separate categories
External links and details checked 28 August 2026. Inclusion is not endorsement.
The one sentence that protects you
SAG-AFTRA franchises agents, not managers. Managers are neither franchised by the union nor, in most cases, regulated by state law. A real agent earns commission on work you book — never a fee from you up front. Ask any agency how they get paid.
Quick answers
Common questions
How do I get background work on the big series?
Through the casting company that handles it, via an online profile rather than an email. Build the profile before a call goes out — these bookings move fast, and 2,500 extras on one season means the roster is being worked constantly.
Should I live in Dallas or Fort Worth?
Fort Worth is closer to the stages; Dallas is closer to the agencies. The drive between them is real but routine, and most working actors here treat the whole metroplex as one commute. What matters more is being willing to get out to the shoot towns.
Is there real work here beyond the series?
Yes — commercial and corporate work is steady and pays properly, and there is a large independent scene. The independent work mostly pays in credit and footage. Know which you are submitting to.
Do I need an agent to work in DFW?
Not to submit here, and not for background or independent work. For the national commercial campaigns that pay best, representation matters more in this market than in most — which is one reason the agency bench is worth taking seriously.
Expand your search
Explore other Texas casting markets
None of those is a commute. If you are choosing where in Texas to be, the state page compares all four markets honestly.
Let DFW opportunities come to you
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