Casting Calls in Oklahoma: Tulsa Auditions and Pay 2026

Casting calls in Oklahoma increasingly mean Tulsa casting calls. FX's The Lowdown shoots there and has run public extras calls for both seasons, Cherokee Film Studios sits twenty minutes away in Owasso, and Oklahoma City's main soundstage is being demolished. Union background work pays $231 per 8 hours in 2026, while Oklahoma's minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour.

The state has built a real industry on incentives: the Filmed in Oklahoma Act has generated $531 million in economic impact to date, film and television employment has grown 56.2%, and average industry pay is $79,450.

This guide covers Tulsa and Oklahoma City auditions, Native casting, what the work pays, the rules for child performers, and how to tell a real Oklahoma casting call from a fake one.

What is filming in Tulsa

The Lowdown, created by Sterlin Harjo and set in Tulsa, is the state's anchor series. Its pilot shot in spring 2024, first season photography began in February 2025, it premiered on FX in September 2025, was renewed in January 2026, and the second season premiered on 14 October 2026 after shooting in Tulsa through the year. The production has issued public extras casting calls, which is the most direct route into a working set that Oklahoma currently offers.

Alongside it, the independent feature Horrified shot in Tulsa in summer 2025 with support from the city's film office, and Road to Recovery wrapped recently. The state's legacy slate — Killers of the Flower Moon, Reservation Dogs, Twisters, Fancy Dance, Minari, Reagan — is what built the crew base now serving these productions.

One correction worth making: Tulsa King is named after the city but is based in Atlanta. Do not assume a title set in Oklahoma casts in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City after Prairie Surf

Prairie Surf Studios, the converted convention centre that housed Twisters and Tulsa King, vacated at the end of 2024 and is being demolished to make way for the new Paycom Center arena. OKC still hosts commercial, corporate and independent work, but the stage capacity and the series have moved northeast.

Native and Indigenous casting in Oklahoma

This is what genuinely distinguishes Oklahoma from every other production market in the United States.

The Cherokee Nation Film Office runs its own incentive, launched in 2022, with a $1 million annual programme cap. It requires filming inside the Cherokee Nation Reservation, which covers 14 counties across roughly 7,000 square miles of northeastern Oklahoma, and it provides additional funding for hiring Native American citizens and using Native-owned businesses. It stacks with the state rebate but requires a separate application at least 45 days before principal photography.

Cherokee Film Studios in Owasso completed a second soundstage in September 2024, giving the operation close to 20,000 square feet of production space alongside 14,000 square feet of virtual and practical studio space, an extended reality LED volume, edit and audio suites, and the Cherokee Film Institute's classrooms.

Between Reservation Dogs, Killers of the Flower Moon and Fancy Dance, and an incentive explicitly designed to reward Native hiring, Oklahoma has the deepest working base of Native actors in the country.

Three incentives that stack

• Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021: a 20% cash rebate rising to 30% with uplifts for rural counties, small municipalities, certified soundstages, television pilots and seasons, multi-film deals, Oklahoma post-production and Oklahoma music. The fund is $30 million per fiscal year, split $7.5 million for budgets under $7.5 million and $22.5 million above, with a $50,000 minimum spend. Awards are allocated across six periods rather than first come, first served.
• Cherokee Nation Film Incentive: $1 million a year, Reservation filming required, extra funding for Native hiring and Native-owned vendors.
• Tulsa Film Incentive: new in January 2026. A 5% rebate capped at $50,000 for projects spending between $100,000 and $5 million, or $75,000 above that, from a $400,000 first-year fund, awarded quarterly. Production must sit within a Tulsa Production Zone inside 30 miles of City Hall and use local crew, vendors and music.

Every one of those rewards local hiring, which is the mechanism that turns state policy into Oklahoma casting calls.

What does casting work in Oklahoma 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. SAG-AFTRA's Dallas-Fort Worth Local represents members working in northern Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma; there is no Oklahoma-specific local.

Oklahoma is a right-to-work state under Article XXIII, Section 1A of the state constitution, approved by voters in September 2001. Union membership is never a condition of being hired.

Non-union rates

Oklahoma has no independent minimum wage figure; it adopts the federal rate of $7.25 an hour by reference. Voters rejected State Question 832, which would have raised it to $12 in 2027 and $15 by 2029, on 16 June 2026. Cities have been barred from setting their own minimum wage since 2014, so Tulsa and Oklahoma City are both at $7.25.

That floor is not what the industry actually pays: average film and television pay in the state is $79,450, up 66% since late 2019. Confirm your rate in writing regardless.

Child performers in Oklahoma

Oklahoma is among the most permissive states. The federal Department of Labor's table records Oklahoma as not regulating child entertainment and not requiring a work permit, noting that minors who entertain are treated as exempt. The Oklahoma Department of Labor's Child Labor Unit issues employment certificates for general youth work, but its guidance does not address entertainment.

There is no trust account requirement in Oklahoma. On a SAG-AFTRA production the union's young performer provisions apply regardless of state law, which is a substantive reason to prefer union-signatory work for a child.

Because the statutory floor is close to nothing, ask any non-union production in writing about working hours, schooling arrangements, who supervises your child between setups, and when and how payment is made.

How to spot a fake Tulsa casting call

Oklahoma productions genuinely do run public extras calls, which makes a counterfeit one easy to stage. Apply the same tests every time.

1. You are asked to pay to audition, to be submitted, or to be registered for a named production.
2. A paid role is offered before any audition, from a photo and a message.
3. Money arrives first and you are told to deposit it and forward part onward. Always fraud.
4. The audition is at a private address or hotel room rather than an office, studio or secure self-tape platform.
5. A particular photographer is required before you can be considered.

Official sources: Oklahoma Department of Labor · Oklahoma Film and Music Office · SAG-AFTRA Dallas-Fort Worth Local

Casting calls in nearby states: Texas · New Mexico · Missouri

Find Tulsa casting calls on allcasting

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