What Is a Specific General Submission—and How Do You Create One?

You find a film or television project that feels like a particularly good fit for you. Maybe it's a new series shooting in your market, a feature with a world you fit naturally into, or an established show that regularly casts roles in your wheelhouse.

You research the project. You know who's casting it. But there isn't a public breakdown with a specific role for you.

This is where a Specific General Submission can come in.

“Specific General Submission” is a term we use at Up-To-Date Actor for a targeted introduction to a casting office tied to a specific project, without necessarily submitting for a known, publicly available role.

It is specific because you have researched the project and have a legitimate reason to believe you could fit within its casting world. It is general because you aren't necessarily saying, “Please consider me for the role of Sarah.” You may not even know what roles are currently being cast. You're introducing yourself for appropriate opportunities within that project and giving casting useful information about where you might fit.

A Specific General Submission Starts With the Right Project

In our recent blog on how to research film, television, and theatre projects before they cast, we talked about looking beyond the audition breakdowns you can see and identifying projects that align with your career, market, type, skills, and goals.

Once you've found one, the next question is: What do you do with that information?

Sometimes the answer is simply to keep watching the project. Sometimes you send it to your agent or manager. You may add it to your targets and wait for casting information, an audition opportunity, a networking event, or another development that gives you a reason to act.

Maybe you've identified a new procedural shooting in New York and recognize that its world creates a natural need for the kinds of roles you're already competitive for. Or perhaps a feature calls for a language you speak fluently, a professional background you actually have, or a special skill central to its story.

Those are useful reasons to introduce yourself. Simply wanting to be on a particular show isn't.

You Don't Need to Know About a Specific Role

Actors are accustomed to seeing a breakdown, determining whether they fit a role, and submitting. Without that breakdown, you may assume there's nothing to submit for.

But you don't see every role that is being cast.

Many film and television opportunities are distributed through agents and managers rather than publicly posted. Depending on the project, casting may be working on co-stars, guest stars, recurring characters, supporting roles, or other roles you know nothing about. On an ongoing television series, new roles will continue to be cast throughout production.

A Specific General Submission isn't an attempt to uncover confidential information or guess what unannounced role might exist. You're giving the casting office a concise introduction to an actor who could make sense for the world they're currently casting.

Be Honest About Why You Fit the Project

Before you send anything, look at your submission from the casting director's side. Your headshot, résumé, and footage should support the connection you're making.

This doesn't mean you need to reduce yourself to one type. It does mean you need a working understanding of how you're currently being cast and which qualities your materials communicate most clearly.

If that's something you're still figuring out, our blog on how to find your type as an actor is a useful starting point. We've also written about why you should pair words with visual examples when defining your type.

Your reason for submitting may also have very little to do with conventional type. A genuine special skill, dialect, language, professional background, geographic connection, cultural knowledge, athletic ability, or other relevant experience may be the strongest reason to introduce yourself.

Use what is actually relevant to the project. You don't need to squeeze every interesting thing about yourself into the submission.

Research the Casting Office Before You Submit

Finding the project is only half of the research.

The next step is identifying who is actually casting the project and, whenever possible, the specific casting director, associate, or casting professional assigned to it.

Once you've identified the appropriate person, determine the best professional way to reach them. For a Specific General Submission, a direct email to the casting professional working on the project is generally the strongest approach. It allows you to personalize your message, establish the project connection immediately, and put your targeted materials in front of the person involved in casting. Whenever possible, this is preferable to a general website contact form, where your submission may not reach the appropriate person.

Use the Up-To-Date Actor Casting Directors database to research casting offices, the professionals working within them, and available professional contact information.

Always respect an office's stated submission policies. If it doesn't accept unsolicited submissions, don't send one. Use professional business contact information rather than personal email addresses, text messages, or social media accounts.

If you're unsure who should receive your submission once you've identified a project, we've covered that separately in Who Do I Submit to for a Project That's Already Casting, Even Without a Breakdown?

How Do You Create a Specific General Submission?

Casting does not need your life story or a long explanation of how much the project would mean to you. They need to quickly understand who you are, why you're contacting them, why you fit the world of the project, and where they can see your work.

5 Steps to an Effective Specific General Submission

1. Start with an enticing, well-crafted subject line.

Your subject line is your first opportunity to establish relevance. Include your name and a strong reason to open the email, such as the project, a referral or connection when you have one, or a concise description of your casting lane.

2. Establish why you fit the world of the project.

Make the reason for your submission immediately clear. Identify the project and connect your casting type, experience, skills, background, or other relevant qualities to the kinds of characters and storytelling that belong in that world.

You are not submitting yourself for a role that doesn't exist; you are helping casting understand where you could realistically fit as roles are being cast.

3. Show why you're ready to book the work.

Give casting a few carefully selected pieces of evidence that demonstrate where you are professionally right now. This might include recent bookings or credits, the level and type of projects you're currently auditioning for, current training or industry professionals you're working with, strong reviews or professional quotes, representation, or another accomplishment that supports your readiness.

Choose the information that strengthens your case rather than trying to include everything you've done.

4. Give casting easy access to the right materials.

Your materials should reinforce the connection you've just made. Include your current headshot and résumé along with targeted clips or reel footage that reflect the world of the project whenever possible.

If you have several headshots or clips, choose the ones that best demonstrate how you fit this particular project rather than automatically sending your standard materials. A targeted clip may communicate your casting more effectively than a full reel. For additional guidance, see our article on creating an effective actor demo reel.

You can also provide links to your Actors Access profile, website, IMDb page, or other professional materials when useful. Keep the links organized and make it easy for casting to see your work without searching for it.

Include a professional actor email signature with your contact information so casting can easily reach you or your representative. Your signature can also provide quick access to your website and key professional profiles.

5. Close with confidence and an eye toward the audition.

End briefly, professionally, and positively. You don't need to ask casting to find a role for you or pressure them for a response. Your goal is to communicate that you are ready for the opportunity when the right role arises.

For example:

“I look forward to the opportunity to audition for you as casting moves forward.”

Or, when you already have a relationship with the office:

“I look forward to auditioning for you again.”

Your closing should communicate confidence in your work and optimism about the next step without assuming that an audition or response is guaranteed.

What Could a Specific General Submission Look Like?

Here's how those five steps could come together in an actual submission.

Notice what isn't included: a paragraph about how passionate you are about acting, a complete career history, a long list of every character you could play, or a request for casting to find a role for you.

What If You Already Have an Agent or Manager?

Having representation doesn't make project research irrelevant. Your agent or manager is a partner in your career, not a replacement for your own knowledge of the projects and people you want to work with.

If you identify a project that feels particularly right for you, you may want to start by sharing it with your representative. They may already have submitted you, have access to breakdown information you can't see, or know something about the project or casting office that changes how you approach it.

There are also circumstances where making your own Specific General Submission may be appropriate. How you handle that depends partly on the relationship you have with your team. The important thing is that your proactive work complements your representative's work rather than creating confusion.

We've gone deeper into that decision in Should You Self-Submit a Specific General Submission When You Already Have Representation?

Don't Turn a Specific Submission Into a Mass Submission

Once you understand the concept, it can be tempting to find twenty projects and send twenty emails. But if you're struggling to explain why a particular project makes sense for you without relying on generic statements about your talent or versatility, it may not be a strong target.

Sending the same message to the casting director, associate, assistant, producer, director, and anyone else whose contact information you can find isn't being thorough either. Choose the appropriate contact, send the submission, track what you did, and move on with your career.

You May Not Get a Response

A Specific General Submission is an introduction, not a request that requires an answer. You may receive an audition. You may hear from the office months later for something completely different. You may also hear nothing.

Silence doesn't tell you what happened to your submission, so don't turn the lack of a response into a reason to repeatedly follow up. Instead, keep track of the contact. If you later audition for the office, meet someone on the team at an industry event, book relevant work, or have another genuine professional development, you may have a new reason to reconnect.

Turn Your Project Research Into Career Action

Researching projects allows you to see more of the business than the audition opportunities that happen to appear in front of you. But collecting information isn't the end goal.

When you find a project that genuinely fits your career, decide what the appropriate next action is. Maybe you make a Specific General Submission. Maybe you send the project to your representative. Maybe you don't have a strong enough reason to contact casting yet, so you add the project to your targets and continue following it.

Up-To-Date Actor's Projects database helps you research current film, television, and theatre projects and identify the people involved. When you find projects that align with your type, skills, market, and goals, add them to your targets so you can receive updates about casting information, industry news, networking and audition opportunities, and other developments that may give you a reason to act.