Florida casting calls
Explore acting and performance opportunities across Miami and Orlando. These are not simply two sizes of the same market—they offer two very different ways to build a career.
Miami or Orlando—which one fits you?
This comparison is not about deciding which city is bigger. It is about understanding the different work, schedules, languages, and career paths each market offers.
Two markets, side by side
weekly cycle
single booking
live event contract
roughly doubles the market
The short version
Sing or dance, and want to work full time? Orlando. Bilingual, and want on-camera credits that accumulate? Miami. Want a film and television career specifically? Be honest with yourself about Florida — and read the incentive section below before you commit.
Florida uses local production programs instead of one statewide incentive
It expired in 2016 and has not been renewed. Most coverage either ignores this or states it and stops. The useful version explains what replaced it — because that is what determines where work actually appears.
What the patchwork means for you, practically
Work follows whichever county wrote a cheque. A county programme is a much smaller instrument than a state one, and its funding is an annual appropriation rather than a statute — so the map of where production happens in Florida shifts more than it does in Texas or Georgia.
Check the current status of your county's programme before you make a decision based on it.
And the reason Miami didn't collapse when the credit lapsed
Two things hold that market up without state money. Telemundo and TelevisaUnivision maintain in-house crews and production resources there, so the Spanish-language economy never depended on an incentive. And English-language productions come for the locations rather than the rebate.
Work that arrives because of an incentive leaves when the incentive does. Work that arrives because the studio is already there, or because that is where the ocean and the Art Deco are, is much harder to move. That is a real durability argument and it applies more to Miami than to anywhere else in the state.
Two performers' unions matter across Florida
SAG-AFTRA Miami Local — covers the whole state
3470 N.W. 82nd Avenue, Suite 780
Doral, Miami, FL 33122-1024
(305) 670-7677 · miami@sagaftra.org
Unlike Texas, Florida is a single local. Wherever you are in the state, that is your office.
Actors' Equity carries unusual weight here
Live performance is a primary employer in Orlando, and Miami runs a real Equity musical theatre season. In most states Equity is a theatre-actor's concern; in Florida it is relevant to a much broader slice of working performers.
Florida licenses talent agencies — ask for the number
A legitimate Florida agency holds a state licence formatted TA-xxxxxxxx. It is a concrete, checkable credential and asking takes one sentence.
Underneath it, the universal rule: a real agent earns commission on work you book. Money never flows from you to them first. SAG-AFTRA franchises agents, not managers — managers are neither franchised nor, in most cases, regulated by state law.
Right-to-work, and no state income tax
Florida is right-to-work: you cannot be required to join a union as a condition of employment. It does not disapply union contracts on union productions, and it does not change Global Rule One once you have joined. And the no-income-tax point is real but worth less than people assume for intermittent earnings — it matters most at higher and steadier income.
Miami and Orlando are separate markets—not a daily commute
South Florida functions as a single market. Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Broward postings overlap constantly — filter for the region rather than the city. Orlando and Tampa are genuinely commutable and worth treating as a pair.
Orlando to Miami is not. Two hundred and thirty-five miles, two different industries. Choosing between them is a real choice, not a matter of which side of the state you fancy.
One practical quirk: South Florida postings frequently read "north Florida or south Florida — TBA, travel stipend available within Florida only." Casting here often covers the whole state.
Common questions
Is there still film and TV work in Florida without an incentive?
Yes, and less than there was. Miami holds up because the Spanish-language networks are physically based there and because productions come for the locations. Orlando's screen market is genuinely thin — its strength is live performance. Be honest with yourself about which you want.
Does being bilingual help everywhere in Florida?
It helps everywhere and it is transformative in Miami, where it roughly doubles the market available to you. In Orlando it is useful rather than decisive.
What about Tampa and Jacksonville?
Both are real markets with real county programmes, and we do not cover them yet. Tampa is commutable from Orlando, which makes it worth watching if you are based there. We would rather say that than pretend Florida is two cities.
How does Florida compare to Georgia?
Georgia has an uncapped state credit and far more screen volume. Florida has no state credit and two markets doing things Georgia does not — full-time live performance, and the largest Spanish-language television economy in the country.
The two markets in detail
Get seen in Florida.
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