Virtual Castings
It is safe to say that a very few people are missing the days of waiting in a long line at the designated location only to give acting or modeling portfolios with their information and headshots to a member of the casting staff, who then sorted through them in the form of a large pile, or more likely - piles- of paper.
It is now the industry norm that casting calls are being posted online, where interested performers can check requirements, evaluate them to their skill set, and conveniently apply if it seems like a good match, to ultimately await the answer from casting directors. It is a more efficient way to go through the process of casting for both the performers and the casting staff.
The virtual casting call process allows for a larger number of potential candidates to be able to participate, giving casting staff a larger pool of applicants to look for exactly what they are hoping to find. For models and actors, it means more opportunities for available gigs than ever before.
Digital Auditions
Following the initial concept appearing as more of a necessity, digital auditions have become a regular thing within the industry. Not unlike the in-person auditions, which are not gone anywhere and still very much common in 2025 as well, these digital auditions take place through an online meeting, where the casting director is evaluating the respective candidate’s performance.
Another trend regarding digital auditions right now is the self-tape auditions. Through this concept, the candidates do not meet the casting director at all, but only record their audition performance and submit it to them. While it removes the human interaction aspect from auditions, it does give actors and models the chance to redo their performance until they feel they have the final version ready for submission.
Both ways of digital auditions allow performers to participate in them by saving time, which normally would be reserved for commuting and other factors of everyday life affected by these plans. For the casting directors, it gives the opportunity to also evaluate performers who potentially would not be able to appear in person due to their location restrictions.
Diverse & Authentic Representation
The potentially wider talent pool available due to virtual casting calls and digital auditions also allows the entertainment industry to continue its improvement with representation within castings. Following historical underrepresentation within show business, now the broader society demands a more diverse cast of actors and models from various ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations, while casting directors are trying their best to provide it with the projects they are in charge of. The rise of streaming platforms with a more global audience than ever before has also been one of the driving points of culturally and ethnically diverse productions, even featuring multilingual stories.
The audience does not just seek inclusion for the sake of it, though, and will see through it. As demonstrated in examples with many successful and acclaimed movies in recent years, audiences want to see authenticity and representation that spans beyond just the surface level, with real people who are living what they portray in their everyday life, as well as in modeling campaigns or acting performances. Numbers do not lie - statistics show that movies with diverse casts perform better at the global box office.
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New Skills For New Opportunities
2025 marks the year that emerging technologies are really taking off within the mainstream audiences and expand into the entertainment industry as a whole. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are already being incorporated within films and fashion campaigns on a regular basis. This means actors and models who are already familiar with motion capture and working with the green screen can soon have a significant advantage over their competition when opening new opportunities in brand new corners of showbiz.
For actors, the voiceover field has never been more booming than in the year of 2025. With varied casting calls looking for proficient voice actors for projects in animation, video games, advertising videos, learning courses, audiobooks, and much more. By investing in developing their vocal abilities now, performers can significantly increase their employment opportunities in the long run.
Data-Based Casting Decisions
This is also the year that Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven technologies have really been implemented in everyday life. Casting decisions are amongst them, as casting directors are using algorithms and data analytics for extra assistance during the process, from sorting through casting call applicants to ranking audition performances.
Thankfully, actors and models can also use AI to their advantage with the aim of improving and optimizing their portfolios, as well as finding casting calls that may be the best fit for their current skills and career goals.
