How to Research a Project Before You Submit or Audition

Most of the time, project research begins when you get an audition. You look up the series, film, theatre, director, or casting office because you suddenly have a reason to know more about them. Sometimes that research starts a little earlier, when you see a breakdown and are deciding whether to submit. But in both cases, the project has already found its way to you.

There is another habit worth developing: regularly learning what is being developed, announced, cast, and produced in the areas of the industry where you want to work. You don't need an audition to have a reason to know that a television series is gearing up for another season, a theatre has announced its upcoming season, or a production company is developing a new film.

Knowing what's happening gives you a better understanding of where the work is being created and who is creating it. It can also help you recognize an opportunity before an audition ever arrives.

Start With Your Career

There is far too much film, television, and theatre work being developed for you to keep track of all of it. Your research should start much closer to home.

First, choose one or two areas of focus. You may ultimately want a career that includes film, television, and theatre, but trying to actively research everything at once gives you an enormous amount of information without necessarily giving you better opportunities. Where are you concentrating your career efforts right now?

Then narrow your research further:

• Which markets can you realistically work in?
• What level of projects and roles make sense for your current experience?
• What roles align with your type and how you're currently being cast?
• Which theatres, production companies, casting offices, directors, or other creatives are already relevant to your career?
• Are there particular genres or kinds of work where your training, credits, skills, or background make you especially competitive?

If you're still figuring out where you fit, our guide to finding your type as an actor can help you identify some of the patterns that should inform your research.

If you're primarily pursuing regional theatre, knowing what the theatres in the markets where you work have announced for next season is probably more useful than keeping tabs on every television series in development. If you're focused on building episodic television credits, your research will look different.

You're building your own working map of the industry, not trying to memorize the entire thing.

Find Projects Before You Find the Audition

One of the reasons UTDA tracks upcoming Film, Television, and Theatre projects is so you can research work before it appears in front of you as an audition opportunity.

Depending on your areas of focus, that might mean looking for:

• Films in development or pre-production
• New television series and upcoming seasons
• Announced theatre productions and full seasons
• Projects that align with your type, skills, experience, or other specific strengths
• Projects connected to companies or creatives already on your radar
• Upcoming work involving someone you've worked with or auditioned for before

You don't need to spend hours doing this or turn every project into a potential target. Build a manageable habit of periodically checking what's happening in your particular corner of the industry.

You may see that a theatre you've worked for has announced next season, recognize a production company because you've auditioned for several of its projects, or notice that a casting office you've been called in by before is attached to something new. Any of those connections may give you a reason to look more closely at the project.

Research the Project, Not Just the Potential Role

Once you find an interesting project, it's tempting to immediately ask whether there's a role for you. But first, understand what you've found.

Look at what UTDA's project information can tell you:

• What is known about the project and where is it in the production process?
• Who is casting it?
• Who is directing?
• Who is producing it?
• Who is the creative team (screenwriter/playwright, show runner, already announced cast, etc.)?
• What company, studio, network, or theatre is behind it?
• Is it based on existing material that can tell you more?
• For an established series, what can previous seasons tell you?
• For theatre, what can you learn from the rest of the announced season?

From there, look beyond the individual project. Research what else the casting office has worked on, other projects associated with the production company, and whether the director's work regularly overlaps with the areas you're pursuing. Even if the project itself turns out not to be particularly relevant to you, that research may introduce you to people or companies whose work is worth following.

Follow the People Behind the Project

Projects end. The careers of the people making them continue.

Researching one project might take you from a casting office to a particular casting director or associate, then to other projects that office casts. A director may lead you to a production company or theatre company. A theatre season may introduce you to several directors and creative teams whose work you didn't previously know.

Over time, you start recognizing the same names across projects, auditions, casting officescasting offices, theatres, and production companies.

That is much more useful than knowing everything you can about one project only because you happen to have an audition for it tomorrow.

Add Your Own Career History

The next layer of research isn't the project. It's your relationship to it.

Once you know who's involved, compare those names with your own career history:

• Have you auditioned for this casting office before?
• Have they called you back?
• Have you auditioned for or worked with the director?
• Have you worked for this theatre or production company?
• Have you met anyone involved through a workshop, festival, reading, screening, class, or industry event?
• Has your representative submitted you for their projects before?

Sometimes a connection isn't obvious until you put the information side by side.

This is where UTDA's project and industry research becomes particularly useful alongside your own tracking. If you're already tracking your auditions, submissions, meetings, events, and other professional interactions, you're not relying on memory to recognize those overlaps.

Instead of simply asking, "Who is casting this?" you can ask, "What is my history with this project and the people behind it?"

Not Every Relevant Project Requires Action

Finding an interesting project doesn't automatically mean you should contact someone about it.

Once you've done the research, consider whether there's actually a reasonable fit. Is the project aligned with the work you're pursuing? Is there likely to be a role for which you could realistically be considered? Are your current materials appropriate? Do you have a relevant professional connection? Is there an appropriate reason and way to put yourself on someone's radar?

Sometimes the useful result of your research is simply knowing that the project exists. You may decide to follow the production company, make note of the casting office or director, or simply recognize those names when they appear again. You may also decide that the project isn't relevant to you and move on.

Research doesn't need to result in outreach to be useful.

Make Project Research Part of Your Routine

You don't need to research hundreds of projects or spend hours every week doing this.

Check what's happening in the areas relevant to your current goals. When you find something worth following, research it more deeply. Record what matters: the project, the people involved, why it caught your attention, and any connection to your own career.

UTDA can also bring relevant projects to your attention. Set keywords based on the kinds of projects, roles, skills, and other criteria you're looking for, and you'll receive daily notifications when new projects matching those keywords are added. Instead of repeatedly searching from scratch, you can review new possibilities as they appear and decide which ones deserve a closer look.

Over time, you develop an increasingly useful picture of your particular corner of the industry instead of starting from zero every time an audition arrives.

You've Found the Right Project. Now What?

When you find a project that genuinely aligns with your type, skills, experience, and goals, add it to your UTDA Targets.

That gives you a way to continue following the project rather than relying on yourself to remember to check it. As new information becomes available, UTDA can notify you about casting information, news articles, networking and audition opportunities, and other relevant updates connected to your target.

For many projects, following them may be all you need to do right now. You'll know when something changes and can decide whether that new information creates an appropriate next step.

But occasionally, your research will lead you to a project that makes unusual sense for you. You've researched the people behind it. You've looked at your own history and found a legitimate connection or reason you may be relevant. You believe there may be a role that fits your work.

There's just one problem: nobody has invited you to audition.

There are professional ways to handle that situation, and indiscriminately emailing casting isn't one of them. One approach is something we call a Specific General Audition: a targeted introduction connected to a particular project and grounded in real research.

That's where we'll pick up next week.

For now, start researching the projects that could be relevant to your career in the Up-To-Date Actor's Project Database.