Just interested - general hit rate from submissions/castings

[Yorkshirepudding]

Just being nosey and intrigued -what you reckon your average 'hit rate' for castings is? And do you think this changes/improves/decreases over time/with age? Or varies with where you are in the country?

In the last three months DS (age 6) has been submitted by a combination of agent and me for around 25 jobs (maybe more as his agent sometimes doesn't get time to post on agency Facebook page every submission, or they are confidential or whatever and we find out afterwards he was submitted). Some of the submissions were small and low key some were much bigger.

He has had castings/auditions/request for self tape for 7.

He has got three jobs, two paid, all of them relatively small and local but all very enjoyable.

So 25:7:3

But for big high profile jobs a hit rate of nothing at all. So clearly the bigger the pool you swim in, the harder it gets unsurprisingly.

I have no axe to grind at all, no grumbles at all! Dont share if you feel it's inappropriate to, oh - and it's not intended as a competition...! We are very happy with the current status quo as DS loves auditioning, is not bothered what the outcome is, just loves the process whether it is prepping for an audition, or doing the job. And also if it was much more frequent than that at this stage I think my diary management and the goodwill of his school might start to get a bit creaky! As I say I'm just being nosey as to what the average scores on the doors are if anyone else is happy to share and also just in awe of the resilience of these small people - 22 no's into the game and DS is unperturbed and doesn't even usually ask about the outcome, just moves on to the next thing.

Suspect there will be many more no's to come But maybe a few yeses too!

[CatKat_0]

I'd say 25 opportunities in the past few months is phenomenal.

We have much fewer than that, I couldn't even guess our rate but probably nearer around one solid opportunity/month, which suits us fine as we have to balance time out of school, working full time and managing a sibling so they don't get left out too. Haven't been up for much recently as DDs been contracted on a long term contract.

Both our last 2 agents have done a great job to match her with the right brief, so our hit rate has been good though.

[Yorkshirepudding]

Yes agent is definitely working hard!! She said she would throw him in for pretty much anything he fits the brief for to begin with, and then narrow it down presumably as it becomes more apparent what works best, so I'm guessing it will reduce. But maybe as in your case less is more?!

[Fruitcake]

I remember once counting that we had been up to London for 32 castings without booking any jobs, and was just beginning to doubt our sanity when my DS suddenly had a stream of jobs, including a lead WE role, 3 TV featured roles, a high-profile TV ident (heavily featured), lead roles in numerous student films, lead roles in local theatre productions and another WE role! This was as well as many recalls, pencils, shortlistings etc, so I think the name of the game is patience and belief!

Failing all that, we just used to make the trips to castings as fun (and sometimes even educational) as possible, and I still treasure the memories of all that quality time spent with my DS. He is almost 20 now, and we still have a really great relationship, cemented, I am sure, but all our many shared experiences during his 'acting days'!

[ScoobyDoo]

Fruitcake I just wanted to say I love your post, my DS and I are just starting out and come up from Somerset to London for castings and like you I try to make the trips a bit extra - and I think you are right about it building a really special bond and not just being about the castings, thank you.

[Maggiemay]

We had a period of time last year when we wondered if it was worth all the endless trips to London as Ds (12 yrs) seemed to be going for endless auditions and getting precisely nowhere! But late last year he got a great role in a bbc1 series so all seemed worth while. Since then he must have been for at least 50 auditions and noubt except a couple of recalls until last month when he got another nice little part in an itv series so to anyone in a similar position don't lose heart the endless trips do pay off eventually. (Except adverts with him - bless him he must have been to 100s and never so much as had a call back, nada!)

[nextinline]

It's a way of life really. You never know when you are going to uproot and change plans. When you don't have time for an audition, one will arrive, when you haven't banked on getting a role, out of the blue you suddenly do and one you think is more likely doesn't materialise into anything. The small opportunities are often bigger than you know, so be open-minded. It is an emotional roller-coaster. The kids learn to live with it and are able to cope with disappointment and success. Lots of good life lessons, you meet interesting people and have experiences that become great memories. All the best and hope your ds has lots of interesting opportunities to come

[Fruitcake]

Nextinline - that is so true!

The ones that seemed to go really well for DS with lots of positive feedback hardly ever seemed to lead to anything, whereas the ones where he was just in and out without so much as a batted eyelid quite often materialised into a part!

In the end I gave up trying to second-guess, as I very rarely got it right!!

[Irishdancer]

When ds joined his new agent last year the first 2 castings he went for he got they where nice featured roles he filmed them both last October was flying out of the country to come back and filmed the other program, he had a few small things had lots of castings then went for Casualty at beginning of the month we forgot about it as he never got Casualty then last Friday got the call he got the part. It's hard to say but people say it's between 10-20 castings to get the part it's very hard