READ -- and UNDERSTAND -- THE CASTING NOTICE

If a casting notice calls for "Experienced professional male SAG actors in their 40s" and you're a young non-union woman in your 20s, please DO NOT SUBMIT YOURSELF. You'll look like an idiot: someone who can't read and / or understand what you read. Who wants to hire an actor and entrust them with a script for an expensive project when they've proven that they can't understand simple instructions?

READ and understand the casting notice BEFORE you submit your photograph and resume. NOTHING is more discouraging to a director or producer to have a call for a particular type, but receive submissions for the WRONG type.

Also -- try to be somewhat familiar with the project. Do some homework. If it's a known play that is being cast, read the play before submitting yourself. At the VERY least, research the cast breakdown: This is VERY easy to do online and is part of the actor's job.

Recently there was a casting notice placed for a very well-known, Pulitzer Prize-winning all-male play. More photos and resumes were received by the director from WOMEN than from MEN, all touting how perfect they'd be for the roles Note, though: unless special permission is granted by the playwright, or unless a play is in the public domain -- and normally this would mean anything written PRIOR to 1922 -- the names / roles, the gender, or the place of the play, etc. may NOT be changed.

If a casting notice calls for "Experienced FILM actors only" and you've never done a film in your life, don't apply. The same goes for STAGE actors. If the casting notice specifically goes out of its way to state "Experienced STAGE actors ONLY", and you're inexperienced, or you only have film or modeling credits, please don't apply.

Pay attention to the word "professional" (as in "professional" actor). In NYC, the word "professional" means UNION actors. Here in the D.C. area, it means any actor who has been paid for their work -- union or non-union.

In a casting notice put out by a professional film or theatre production company, "professional" does NOT mean "a state of mind" or the way in which you see yourself and / or behave. Despite the fact that YOU may see yourself as professional in thought, approach, and behavior, when a film or theatre production company states that it wants "professional actors", they want EXPERIENCED actors who have been paid for their work REGULARLY over a period of years, and who know what they're doing in front of the camera or on stage.

PROOFREAD before submitting your materials: make certain you're attaching a headshot AND your resume. You laugh. Several weeks ago I received someone's resume with no photo (despite the fact they said that one was attached), and from someone else: 4 different photos, but with no resume. And from yet another: 2 identical resumes ... with no photo