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Posted Aug 27
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Casting Calls in Los Angeles
Everyone publishes an LA directory. Almost nobody tells you that the union runs roughly 400 free classes a year with casting professionals — or what it says about the people charging you for the same thing.
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The most important link on this page
The union runs about 400 free casting classes a year
Nobody promotes this, because nobody profits from it. The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Casting Access Program exists specifically so that meeting casting professionals does not have to cost you anything.
SAG-AFTRA Foundation · Casting Access Program
Free audition classes with casting professionals
The Foundation states it is the only programme of its kind offering this volume of casting director classes at no charge.
~400
classes a year, with casting professionals
$0
no fee whatsoever to members
1+
classes per member, per month
Members complete a short Casting Access Profile with a headshot and résumé. Classes are released twice a month, every other Friday, in Los Angeles and New York and online.
Read that against what the same access costs elsewhere in this city, and the rest of this page follows.
And two more free or near-free routes
The SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Conservatory — low-cost classes, workshops, lectures and symposia at SAG-AFTRA Plaza, 5757 Wilshire Boulevard. Fifty-plus years running, described as training for actors, by actors. Its Weekend Intensive carries forty-plus workshops and panels from audition technique through digital marketing, plus one-on-one diagnostic feedback. Open to paid-up members in good standing.
SAG-AFTRA classes and panels nationally — member workshops covering, among other things, action and stunt audition preparation, self-taping for action, and interpreting breakdowns.
The honest catch, and we are not going to bury it
All three are member routes. If you are not yet SAG-AFTRA, they are not open to you — and that is a real limitation on a page telling you the free options exist.
Which makes union eligibility worth more than most people calculate, because it unlocks about four hundred free classes a year on top of the rate difference.
The union's own words
Paying to be seen by casting is a different thing from paying for a class
This is the most consequential consumer-protection issue in Los Angeles acting, and most pages either avoid it or get the nuance wrong in both directions.
SAG-AFTRA, on paid casting workshops
The union has called the practice a scam
There are many legitimate companies offering a chance to meet and read for casting agents and directors in a classroom setting — but if any fee is charged for these sessions, your participation may be in violation of SAG-AFTRA Rule 11 or California labor laws.
Read that carefully, because the nuance matters and most coverage loses it. The union is not saying all paid classes are illegal. It is saying that paying to be seen by casting may put the member in violation, and that California law restricts taking money from job seekers.
SAG-AFTRA has publicly described fee-charging casting workshops as a scam, has pointed to California's pay-to-play law prohibiting employers or their representatives from taking money from job seekers, and the practice has been investigated by the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
So here are three checks you can run in about five minutes
01Is the SAG-AFTRA disclaimer displayed? Studios operating in this space publish, at the union's explicit request: "Seminars or classes are for educational purposes only and will not secure or provide opportunity for employment in the field or representation by an agent or casting director." Its absence is a signal.
02Is the business bonded and compliant with the State of California? Legitimate operators publish the bond number. One LA-operating studio does exactly that, alongside a statement that taking a class is not a guarantee of employment, an audition, or of obtaining an agent or manager.
03Am I paying for training, or paying to be seen? The first is a normal transaction. The second is the one the union calls a scam and the city attorney investigated.
We are naming no business here. California's statute and its enforcement have evolved — cite SAG-AFTRA and the law directly rather than anyone's paraphrase, including ours, and check the current position before acting on it.
The numbers that actually govern this market
In Los Angeles, scale is the rate
Unlike smaller markets where every job is negotiated from scratch, most LA work sits on a published SAG-AFTRA agreement. Knowing which agreement a job falls under tells you what it pays before you ask.
SAG-AFTRA scale reference · verify current figures before relying on them
Which agreement, and what it pays
Ultra Low Budget / Short Film20% of Basic — where most first credits live
$249 / day
Moderate Low Budget35% of Basic
$436 / day
Low Budget65% of Basic
$810 / day
Basic TheatricalThe full rate
$1,246 / day
Television, day performerOne episode, half-hour or hour
$1,283 / day
That is a five-fold spread inside union work alone. A day on a short film and a day on a studio feature are both "SAG scale" — and one pays five times the other. When someone tells you a job is scale, the follow-up question is always: which scale?
And non-union work is priced per job, not per scale
One live LA branded-content posting quoted $1,500 for a mock shoot day and $225 for a teaser day on the same project. That spread is normal in non-union work and it is why you read the whole rate line rather than the headline number.
Date-check every rate you read, including these
The 2026 TV/Theatrical Agreement was ratified in June 2026 and runs to 30 June 2030, with rates increasing by compounded annual increments across the term. Any page quoting pre-July-2026 figures is out of date — confirm against SAG-AFTRA before you rely on anything.
The comparison people actually want
Los Angeles or New York?
Not which is better — they are different machines, and the choice is about which one you want to learn.
Los Angeles
New York
The volume
The largest screen market in the world, and the decision-makers live here
Enormous, and split between screen and a full parallel theatre industry
Open calls
Rare. Access runs through submissions, agents and the Foundation's free classes
EPAs and ECCs — free, in-person Equity open calls that barely exist here
Headshots
More produced, more polished
More naturalistic, less produced
The union that matters
SAG-AFTRA, overwhelmingly
SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity, genuinely both
The trap
Paying for access, in a city that sells it constantly
Treating the theatre track as a stepping stone rather than a career
The most useful single difference: New York has a free, in-person open-call system. Los Angeles largely does not — which is precisely why the Foundation's free classes matter so much here, and why the paid-access market grew up in the gap.
Deliberate omissions
Three things we are not going to publish
Every other LA page publishes all three. In this city, each one is either useless or actively unhelpful.
Not publishing
A casting director contact listLA casting offices do not accept unsolicited actor contact as a route in. Publishing contacts would encourage exactly the behaviour that wastes your time — and theirs.
Not publishing
A ranked "top agencies" listIt would be arbitrary and it would date instantly. In the market with the most predatory activity, it is also the least defensible thing we could do. Use the union's franchised list.
Not publishing
A ranked list of acting studiosThere are thousands, and a ranking would be our taste presented as fact. What is useful is a framework for choosing one — below.
Instead, here is how to choose a class
Know which of three products you are buying. Technique studios teaching a lineage; on-camera and audition studios teaching a skill; and showcase-and-access businesses selling proximity. All three exist here and they are not interchangeable.
Audit before you enrol. Many reputable LA studios allow it, and being refused is itself information.
If the class is taught by a casting director, look for the disclaimer. That is the category the regulation exists for.
On agents — the two things worth knowing
SAG-AFTRA franchises agents, not managers. Managers are neither franchised by the union nor regulated the way agents are. And California licenses talent agencies under the Talent Agencies Act — ask for the licence.
Underneath both: a real agent earns commission on work you book. Nobody legitimate charges you up front.
Where to go
The routes that are actually free
SAG-AFTRA Foundation — Casting Access~400 free classes a year across LA, New York and online. SAG-AFTRA members.SAG-AFTRA LA Conservatory$60 a year for adults, $25 for minors. Over 50 years, at 5757 Wilshire Blvd.SAG-AFTRA classes and workshopsThe union's own listings. Members only; cost varies by event.Franchised agents listScroll to the bottom, select "Los Angeles", and search.Actors AccessFree account can submit name and résumé. Full submissions are $68 a year.Casting NetworksFree to browse. A free account cannot submit at all — Premium is $299.90 a year.How people become SAG-AFTRA eligibleThree routes. The national initiation fee is $3,121.
Quick answers
Common questions
Is paying for a casting workshop illegal?
It is more complicated than yes or no, which is why so much writing on it is wrong. The union has said that if a fee is charged for a session where you read for casting, your participation may violate SAG-AFTRA Rule 11 or California labor law — and the practice has been investigated by the city attorney. Paying for teaching is a different act from paying to be seen.
Do I need to be in LA to have a screen career?
Less than you used to. Self-tape changed the geography, and there are working actors building careers from Atlanta, Chicago and smaller markets. What Los Angeles still has is the decision-makers and the volume — and the highest cost of failing slowly.
How do I get background work here?
Through the background casting services that hold the rosters, not by contacting casting directors. Register, be reachable, and understand that union and non-union background are two different jobs at two different rates.
What does "scale" actually mean?
It means the minimum under whichever agreement the production falls under — and those range from $249 a day to $1,283. When someone says a job is scale, ask which agreement. The answer changes the number fivefold.
A night film shoot on Hollywood Boulevard.
Nobody should be charging you for an audition
Browse the whole board without an account. Set an alert filtered by union status and agreement type, and you will see what a job pays before you spend a day on it.
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