One casting call, one private link
Open Casting · CW Casting · 2026
Catherine Willis founded CW Casting in 2006 after six years casting drama at the BBC. Her credits include Detectorists and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, and she won the RTS Casting Award in 2023. Open calls for TV and commercials bring in hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applicants, each with photos and self-tapes.
The problem
Every call ran across many disconnected tools: inboxes, spreadsheets, file links and forms. Busy calls needed an extra pair of hands, so the team took on an extra person for a short period just to keep up.
What we did
- Mapped every touch point of a casting call with Catherine, from the first post to the final shortlist.
- Found where the time went, and where things could slip through.
- Designed and built one private link that does the whole job.
The result
- Applications, photos and self-tapes all arrive in one place.
- Each applicant gets a simple Yes or No review.
- Producers see the Yes list by link, with no login.
- Every call shows a deletion date, built for UK GDPR, with parent or guardian consent for under-18s.
“By using Open Casting, I am able to focus directly on talent without getting overwhelmed or distracted by the admin that an open casting call usually requires. It allows me to move much faster and respond more effectively to the needs of my production. At the same time, it means I have more time to actually watch tapes, knowing that actors and their information are being dealt with safely.”
“Open Casting is a really simple idea. The challenge was making it safe. An open call collects hundreds of people's photos, self-tapes and personal details, often children's, so we designed the safeguards in from day one, not added later.”
Why it matters for your business
Most small businesses have a job like this: spread across email, spreadsheets and memory. Map it once, then fix it with the right tool. Sometimes that's off the shelf. Sometimes it's built. See it live at opencasting.app (opens in a new tab).