Casting calls in Missouri are mostly Kansas City casting calls. In 2025, 54 projects filmed in the state, spending $40.7 million in Missouri and employing 2,154 Missourians as cast and crew. Union background work pays $231 per 8 hours in 2026, and Missouri's minimum wage rose to $15.00 an hour on 1 January 2026.
What makes Missouri unusual among its neighbours is the combination: a genuine $16 million incentive, a $15 wage floor, and no right-to-work law. Indiana next door pays $7.25 and caps its film credit at $2 million.
This guide covers Kansas City and St. Louis auditions, who is actually hiring, what the work pays, the permit rules for child performers, and how to spot a fake Missouri casting call.
Who is actually casting in Kansas City
Television movies are Missouri's most reliable scripted employer, and Hallmark Media is the clearest repeat customer.
- Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story — Hallmark Media, Kansas City, premiered November 2024
- The Motherhood — Hallmark Media, Kansas City, 2025
- Girl in the Garage — Lifetime, largely Kansas City, premiered January 2025
- Ozark Law — A&E, Lake of the Ozarks, premiered January 2025
- The Possession at Gladstone Manor — Kansas City, premiered March 2025
- Second Chance Stage — Magnolia Network, Kansas City
- Boris Is Dead — Kansas City, 2025, premiered at TIFF
An episode of Ted Lasso also shot in Kansas City. Taken together that is a market casting several television movies a year, each needing principals, day players and background.
If you live in St. Louis, read this carefully. Every named title above shot in Kansas City or at the Lake of the Ozarks. St. Louis has the Muny and a strong theatre scene, but Missouri's screen work currently concentrates on the western side of the state. Register for both cities and expect to travel.
The Show MO Act, and why it matters to you
Missouri's Motion Media Production tax credit, created by SB 94 in 2023 and known as the Show MO Act, pays a 20% base credit with four separate 5% uplifts: filming at least half the project in Missouri, filming at least 15% in a rural or blighted area, hiring Missouri residents to advance in a craft across three departments, and a script that positively markets the state. A further 10% is available in second, third and fourth class counties, taking the maximum to 42%.
The fund is $16 million a year, split evenly between film and episodic, with a minimum spend of $50,000 for projects under 30 minutes and $100,000 above. It sunsets at the end of 2029.
The cap is a real constraint, not a formality: HBO Max's DTF St. Louis, a Missouri-set show, largely missed out on filming in Missouri because of the incentive limit and went to Georgia instead.
The resident-hiring uplift matters directly to performers. A production chasing the full 42% has a financial reason to cast Missourians, which is why local registration is worth more here than in a state with a flat credit.
What does casting work in Missouri pay?
Union scale, effective 1 July 2026
On a SAG-AFTRA production, background work pays $231 for an 8-hour day, with additional payments for overtime, meal penalties and wardrobe. Principal performers are paid under separate schedules.
Missouri is not a right-to-work state. The legislature passed a right-to-work law in 2017; unions forced it to a referendum and in August 2018 Missouri voters rejected it by roughly two to one, striking the law down. SAG-AFTRA's Missouri Valley Local covers Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and western Iowa from an office in St. Louis.
Non-union rates
Non-union work is negotiated per job and must at minimum meet Missouri's wage floor of $15.00 an hour, which took effect on 1 January 2026 under Proposition A, approved by voters in November 2024. Tipped employees must receive at least $7.50 plus enough to reach $15.00. Missouri preempts local minimum wages, so Kansas City and St. Louis are both at the state rate.
Popular casting categories in Missouri
Child performers in Missouri
Missouri is stricter than most of its neighbours, and the rules are worth knowing before your child auditions.
- A child under 16 may not work in entertainment without an entertainment work permit issued by the director of the Division of Labor Standards under Chapter 294. The application is Form LS-37; permits run 12 months and renew at the child's next birthday.
- Requirements are proof of age, written parental consent, and a written employer statement of the nature and duration of the job.
- On set: a 30 to 60 minute unpaid meal period, no more than five and a half hours at the workplace without a meal break, a 15-minute rest after every two hours of continuous work, and 12 hours of rest between workdays. Rehearsal counts as work time.
- Parents may seek a waiver of the hour limits, but the rest breaks still apply.
- There is no Coogan-style trust account requirement in Missouri.
How to spot a fake Kansas City casting call
Missouri's steady run of Hallmark and Lifetime titles gives scammers a convenient name to borrow. Treat any notice that leans on a network's brand with extra scrutiny.
- You are asked to pay to audition, to be submitted, or to be registered for a named production.
- A paid role is offered before any audition, from a photo and a message.
- Money arrives first and you are told to deposit it and forward part onward. This is fraud, always.
- The audition is at a private address or hotel room rather than an office, studio or secure self-tape platform.
- A named photographer is required before you can be considered.
Official sources: Missouri Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards · Missouri Film Office · SAG-AFTRA Missouri Valley Local
Casting calls in nearby states: Illinois · Tennessee · Oklahoma · Indiana · Nebraska
Find Kansas City casting calls on allcasting
allcasting is a casting marketplace: verified casting professionals post roles and talent applies directly. Applying is free, and nobody on the platform can promise you a role.
- Browse Kansas City casting calls, updated daily
- Go straight to acting roles or extras work in Kansas City
- Check St. Louis for theatre, commercial and corporate work
- Streaming productions cast nationally — see how Netflix casts background actors
10/15/20269/20/20269/16/20269/14/20269/4/2026How To
Get Cast in a Kansas City Television Movie
Missouri's reliable scripted work is television movies, and they cast fast, often on self-tape, from online profiles. Hallmark, Lifetime and A&E productions in Kansas City are looking for warm, contemporary, naturalistic faces, and the state's film credit pays extra for hiring Missouri residents, so a clear local-hire profile carries real weight.
- 1Build the profile a TV movie actually casts fromHallmark, Lifetime and A&E movies cast warm, naturalistic, contemporary types. Use a current, friendly, well-lit headshot with simple wardrobe and no heavy styling, add a full-length shot, and keep your stated age range narrow and honest. Casting is matching faces to small-town American roles, and an over-stylised image works against you.Pro Tip: Keep your stated age range narrow and honest. Television movies cast tight types, and a wide range reads as a performer who does not know their own casting.
- 2Say you are a Missouri resident, clearlyMissouri's film credit pays extra when productions hire Missouri residents, so local status is a genuine advantage rather than a formality. Put your Missouri base in your profile, state that you work as a local hire, and list how far you will travel. Kansas City and the Lake of the Ozarks between them account for nearly all the state's screen work.Pro Tip: Say 'Missouri resident, available as a local hire' in plain words. It is worth money to the production under the state credit, so do not leave it to be inferred.
- 3Keep a self-tape setup ready to goTelevision movies cast fast and often on tape. A quiet room, a plain wall, a window or a cheap key light, your phone at eye height and a reader you can call on short notice is enough. Being able to return a clean tape within 24 hours of receiving sides is what turns a submission into a booking in a market this size.Pro Tip: Have a reader you can call at short notice. Being able to return a clean self-tape within 24 hours is what separates a submission from a booking in this market.
Q&A
What actually films in Missouri?
Should I be in Kansas City or St. Louis?
What does background work pay in Missouri?
Is Missouri a right-to-work state?
Does my child need a work permit to act in Missouri?
Does being a Missouri resident help me get cast?
Why did some Missouri-set shows film elsewhere?
How do I avoid casting scams in Missouri?
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