See instructions
Posted Aug 20
Houston casting calls
Find film, commercial, corporate, voice-over, and background opportunities across Houston. The city's screen industry may be smaller than its skyline—but its best commercial jobs can pay extremely well.
5 open calls · updated todayFree to submitCommercial, corporate & industrialEnglish, Spanish & multilingual roles
Paid for lead and supporting roles
Posted Aug 20
Lead roles paid
Posted Aug 20
How Houston commercial pay really works
Do not judge the job by the session fee alone
A commercial may list a modest day rate, while the larger payment sits in the usage terms—the money paid for where and how long your image appears.
One non-union Houston commercial · observed August 2026
Where the money actually is
Three-year usage across broadcast, streaming, web and paid social
Session feeThe day you actually work
$500
UsageWhat they pay to run it for three years
$2,000
Agency feeAdded on top, not deducted
+20%
TravelPaid separately
$500
Total to the actor
~$3,000+
Usage is four times the session fee. An actor who negotiates the day rate and ignores the usage terms is negotiating the wrong number — and an actor who takes a $600 all-media buyout in perpetuity has sold the same thing forever for a fifth of the price.
“All media buyout in perpetuity” is a phrase to read twice
It appears regularly on Houston internet-commercial postings at $500–600 flat. It means they can run it anywhere, forever, with nothing further owed to you.
That is not automatically a bad deal — for a small regional campaign it may be fine. But it is a completely different transaction from the one above, and the postings do not always make that obvious.
Observed on live postings, August 2026
What Houston acting jobs may pay
Live Houston postings · August 2026
Short film, supportingIndependent, hourly
~$25 / hr
Short film, leadIndependent, hourly
~$40 / hr
Commercial extrasNon-union, 10-hour shoot day, paid net 30 via payroll
$250 / day
Lifestyle commercial, principalNon-union, full day
$300 / day
Internet commercial, buyoutNon-union, all media
$500–600 flat
National commercial with usageSession plus three-year term
$3,000+
Pilot and indie backgroundFrequently credit and footage only
Unpaid
Two things that spread tells you. Houston's ceiling is higher than any other Texas market we have measured — and its floor includes a lot of unpaid pilot and independent work. Both are real, and which one you are submitting to is worth knowing before you build expectations.
Union work exists here too. SAG-AFTRA rates are set nationally and are not market-specific.
A local advantage for Texas talent
Houston gives qualifying productions a reason to hire locally
Houston's local production incentive sits on top of the state program—and unusually, its requirements specifically include cast, not only crew.
Houston local incentive · qualifying conditions
What a production must do to claim it
55%
of cast and crew must be Texas residents
60%
of principal photography within 60 miles of Downtown
$500k
minimum local spend
10%
back, capped at $100,000 per project
A municipal programme with a cast residency condition attached is close to unique. Every article written about it addresses producers. From your side of it, the sentence reads differently: a production claiming this money has a reason to cast you rather than fly someone in.
And the proportionate version, because we are not going to oversell it
The fund is $400,000 a year, renewed annually subject to funding, with $100,000 maximum per project. That is four projects at the cap. It is a real, useful, actor-relevant policy and it is not a boom.
Where Houston actors actually earn
Look beyond movies and television
Houston has a smaller film industry than its population might suggest. But the city's enormous energy, healthcare, convention, and multilingual business sectors create another kind of on-camera market.
Energy sector
Safety training, corporate film, internal communications. Steady, well-paid, and almost never discussed as acting work.
Medical & healthcare
The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex in the world. Patient education, training, device and pharmaceutical content.
Industrial & trade show
Convention work, product demonstration, live presenting. Not glamorous; genuinely reliable.
Multilingual media
Spanish, Vietnamese and Mandarin all have real audiences here. Bilingual capability is a category, not a footnote.
An actor here who only chases film listings is ignoring most of the on-camera work in the city. That is the honest description of this market, and no casting directory publishes it.
Planning your Houston career
Ask local agencies what they require before you submit
In most markets the sequence is: build credits, get an agent, then think about the union. One working Houston actor has said publicly that most reputable local agents here will not represent an actor who is not SAG-AFTRA — which, if it holds across the market, reverses that order.
Treat this as a question to ask, not a rule to plan around
We have heard it from one source, and one interview is not a survey of a city's agencies. It may be accurate, it may be true of some agencies and not others.
So ask. When you approach any Houston agency, ask directly what they require before they will consider you — union status, credits, reel, anything else. It is a fair question, it takes one email, and the answer is worth more than any general advice on this page.
What is not in doubt is the related point: Houston is a market where heavy-hitting casting directors work on projects that shoot here and cast nationally, which means preparation matters disproportionately relative to the amount of work available.
Local resources
Trusted places to continue your search
You are in the SAG-AFTRA Houston-Austin local — “Austin to Corpus to Houston and back.” Contact: houston@sagaftra.org · (214) 363-8300
Houston Film Commission — cast & crew callsFree to read · real named projects with named rolesSAG-AFTRA Houston-Austin — local resourcesTexas production activity and the members-only casting group · you must log in to see the listsHouston coaches, photographers and reel producersPastorini-Bosby Talent's public resource list, with its own non-endorsement notice
Getting started here
Classes and coachingHow to check a studio before you pay, and the twelve red flagsSAG-AFTRA franchised agentsThe union's franchised-agent database — filter it to the Houston-Austin localHeadshots — what to wear and what they costBefore you book anyone, including the photographers on that list
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. Texas also licenses talent agencies; ask for the licence.
Quick answers
Common questions
Why is there so little film work for a city this size?
Houston has never developed the studio infrastructure that Fort Worth and Atlanta have, and Texas incentive money has largely gone elsewhere in the state. The honest answer is that the mismatch is real — and that the corporate, energy and medical video economy is where the working volume sits.
Does being bilingual help here?
Yes, and in more than one language. Houston is among the most linguistically diverse cities in the country, and Spanish, Vietnamese and Mandarin all have genuine local media markets.
How far outside Houston do shoots go?
Regularly to Katy, Cypress and the surrounding areas. The city incentive requires 60% of principal photography within sixty miles of downtown, which keeps a lot of qualifying work relatively close.
Should I be in Houston, Austin or Dallas?
None of them is a commute from another — Austin is 165 miles and Dallas 240. If you want volume, DFW has it. If you want the best-paid commercial work per booking, the evidence points here. The state page compares all four honestly.
Nearby and related
Other Texas markets
Let Houston opportunities come to you
Set a free alert for new Houston roles. Choose paid-only listings, bilingual work, or commercial jobs with usage attached.
Set a Houston alert✓Free to browse and submit✓No card required✓We never charge for an audition