Texas casting calls
Explore acting opportunities across Austin, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Each market has a different personality, pay range, and kind of work—this guide helps you find your best fit.
Fort Worth
Which Texas acting market fits you best?
The four major markets are not interchangeable. Compare their opportunity volume, typical pay, strongest categories, and cost of living before deciding where to focus.
The four Texas markets, side by side
| Dallas–Fort Worth | Austin | Houston | San Antonio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open roles | — | — | — | — |
| Background / day | $300 half day, commercial | $300 12-hr day | $250 10-hr day | $185–250 |
| Commercial principal | $450 flat, buyout | $400 industrial | $3,000+ session + usage | $500 + usage |
| Best single booking seen | SAG scale series background | $3,500 7-day unscripted | $3,000+ one commercial | $2,000 short film, 1–2 days |
| City incentive | — | 2.5% | 10% capped $100k | 10% + 2% |
| Union local | Dallas–Fort Worth | Houston-Austin | Houston-Austin | Houston-Austin |
| Defining feature | Series volume through one slate | Two CSA casting offices in one building | Usage-based commercial pay | Bilingual as a qualification |
| The honest catch | Concentration risk | Cost of living | Thin screen industry | Thin volume overall |
The short version, if you only read one paragraph
Want the most auditions? DFW. Want the best pay per booking? Houston. Want a community and a scene? Austin. Want the lowest cost of living with a commutable second market? San Antonio, eighty miles from Austin.
Texas is served by two SAG-AFTRA locals
An Austin actor and a Fort Worth actor belong to different locals of the same union. Your location affects which meetings, workshops, and regional resources are available to you.
Dallas–Fort Worth
Covers northern Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Dallas, TX 75254
(214) 363-8300
dallas@sagaftra.org
Houston-Austin
In the local's own words: "Austin to Corpus to Houston and back." Covers Austin, San Antonio and Houston.
(214) 363-8300
One more wrinkle: El Paso is served by the New Mexico local, not either of these.
Two union resources worth knowing about
TxSAGNetwork — a members-only channel giving both Texas locals real-time casting information, 24 hours a day, specifically so notices don't have to wait for an agent's office to open at nine.
Current Texas Production Activity — both locals publish a list of productions that have contacted the union about becoming signatory. It is the closest thing Texas has to a live production feed, and it is the best answer to "what's shooting right now" in any of the four markets.
Texas productions have a growing reason to hire Texas residents
Texas raised its production-incentive pool to $300 million every two years. For actors, the most important detail is the local-hiring requirement attached to that money.
The part written for you is further down the same statute.
The Texas resident hiring requirement rises on a schedule
Productions claiming the grant must hire a minimum percentage of Texas residents as cast and crew — currently 35%, rising to 50% by 2031.
Read that from your side of it. A local-hire percentage that increases on a published timetable is a scheduled increase in the number of roles that must go to Texans. Every article about this is aimed at producers. Nobody frames it as what it also is: a policy that makes you more employable each year you stay.
And a provision worth knowing about, stated neutrally
The legislation requires the Film Commission to review proposed content, and states that grants should not fund content portraying Texas or Texans negatively. Supporters describe these as guardrails on public money; critics argue the discretion could be applied unevenly. Both readings exist and we are not going to arbitrate between them — but it is a real feature of the programme and you should know it is there.
Cities stack their own rebates on top — and the order surprises people
The market with the reputation has the smallest local subsidy. That is counter-intuitive and it is true — and it is a reminder that incentive money and casting calls are related but not the same thing. An incentive attracts productions; whether those productions cast locally is a separate question, and the answer is in the board counts at the top of this page.
City rebates are annual appropriations rather than statutes. Verify funding status before relying on any of them.
Only Austin and San Antonio work as a practical two-city market
Austin and San Antonio are the only genuine pair. A San Antonio actor on file in Austin is normal practice, and it roughly doubles what they are seen for. Nothing else on that list works that way — and it matters because a large share of Texas postings specify local hire only, meaning no travel and no lodging paid.
Two things that apply in all four markets
Right-to-work
Texas is a right-to-work state, which means you cannot be required to join a union as a condition of employment. It does not mean union contracts don't apply on union productions, and it does not change Global Rule One once you have joined — the moment you are a member, non-union work is off the table.
No state income tax
Real, and worth less than people assume for an actor. It matters most at higher and steadier earnings; for intermittent income it is a smaller effect than the cost-of-living difference between Austin and San Antonio.
Common questions
Where in Texas is the most work?
Dallas–Fort Worth, by volume, driven by purpose-built stages and series production that casts background in industrial quantity. Austin is second. But volume and pay are different questions — see the matrix above.
Can I be based in one Texas city and work in another?
Austin and San Antonio, yes — eighty miles. Everything else is a trip rather than a commute, and most Texas postings specify local hire only, which means you absorb the travel.
Is there work outside the four big markets?
Yes. Series shoot in towns like Ferris and Granbury, features shoot in Georgetown and the Hill Country, and border and West Texas locations turn up regularly. Being willing to drive is worth more here than in most states.
How does Texas compare to Georgia?
Georgia still has more volume and deeper infrastructure. Texas has a rising resident-hire requirement, a large committed fund and four separate markets — which means more places to be a local hire, and less competition per market than Atlanta.
The four markets in detail
Get seen in Texas.
Casting can't find what isn't there. Build your actor page — headshots, reel and résumé at one link you can send to anyone — then keep track of every Texas role you submit to.
Claim your page — free