Auditions

Build on Transparency

Auditions can be intimidating and, in rare cases, dangerous. Student productions are required to hold casting calls in a transparent, professional, and respectful manner. This is often the first impression actors will have of you, your production, and the Nicholson School, so it’s important to get it right.

To avoid confusion or concern any potential cast may have with a production, students must clearly communicate the following during the audition process:

• WHO the producer and/or director of the project are.
• WHAT the working title and log line or synopsis are.
• WHERE the location of the production is taking place.
• WHEN the dates of production will occur (tentative shooting schedules are okay).
• WHY the project is being produced (i.e., It’s part of a course or thesis project).
• HOW the project will be made (i.e., Funding, pay and contracts.).

Project Affiliation

To help ensure safe environments for actors interested in working with Film and Mass Media projects, all sanctioned student productions must clearly indicate their formal affiliation with UCF and the Nicholson School of Communication and Media.

All casting calls distributed by sanctioned student productions must include the Nicholson School of Communication and Media logo.

Personal or Unaffiliated Projects

Unsanctioned productions, any creative activity that is not under the direct and formal oversight of an Instructor-of-Record, cannot claim or imply affiliation with the Film and Mass Program or the UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media. This includes projects made for or by student clubs or organizations as well as all personal projects.

For example, including “A UCF Student Film” on a casting notice implies that the project is sponsored by either the Film and Mass Media Program, the Nicholson School of Communication and Media, or the University of Central Florida. It is within reason that some individuals reading that statement may assume the project is overseen by its faculty, adhering to its policies and procedures, and covered by its insurance.

Projects produced by student organizations should communicate club affiliation in the following manner:

“A Production of Lights! Camera! Action! Club at UCF.”

Casting Calls

Prior to posting a casting call, students a required to review their intention to have some form of Nudity, Bodily Contact, Solo Intimate Acts, Simulated Sex Acts, or Simulated Sexualized Violence or other intimate actions with their Instructor-of-Record or thesis chair for guidance.

Students shall not request performers to submit media of themselves Nude, Semi-nude, or posing in underwear; or to request performers to wear reveling garments during any part of the casting process.

All casting calls should include the following information:

• Working Title of the Project
• Name of the Student Producer and/or Director
• Project Modality and Length (e.g., Narrative Short Film)
• Genre (e.g., drama, comedy, horror, action, non-fiction, etc.)
• Log Line or Synopsis
• Date, Time, and Location of the Audition
• Tentative Dates of Production
• Location of Production (i.e., What part of Central Florida is this production primarily taking place?)
• Rate of Pay and Contract (e.g., no pay, non-union).
• Name of Each Role, its Characteristics (e.g. ethnicity, age), and a simple Biography of each Character

During an Audition

Student must disclose that a role will require Bodily Contact, Solo Intimate Acts, Nudity, Simulated Sex Acts, Simulated Sexualized Violence, or other types of intimate actions as part of the production.

• Auditions must take place in classrooms, or other designated areas on campus.
• Auditions must have more than one member of production present.
• Auditions shall not take place in hotel rooms or in private residences.
• Remote auditions, using Zoom or Teams, are permitted but require that all participants remain visible for the duration of the audition.
• Nudity and Intimate Acts, including kissing and fondling, are prohibited as part of the audition process.
• The use of modesty garments, semi-nude, or full nudity is also prohibited as part of the audition process. This includes wearing underwear and bathing suits.