# What to Write in a Self-Submission Note to Casting > When a submission note helps, what to put in its first few words, what never to write, and sample notes you can adapt. Drawn from casting directors' own advice and the casting sites' help pages. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/what-to-write-in-a-self-submission-note - Published: 2026-10-20 - Last updated: 2026-10-20 The breakdown looks like it was written about you. You pick your best headshot, attach the right clip, and then the casting site offers you a small empty box marked "note". The cursor blinks. You start typing "I would love the chance to..." and stop, because you're not sure anyone will read it, or whether saying the wrong thing is worse than saying nothing. That box matters less than actors fear and more than they hope. Casting offices move through submissions fast, and a note rarely gets you seen on its own. But a good one can answer a question the breakdown asked before casting has to wonder, and a bad one can quietly make you look like you didn't read it. The short version: write a note only when you have something useful that your headshot and resume don't already show: usually a fact the breakdown asks for, or a real referral. Put the most useful fact first, in a few words. Keep it to one or two short sentences, or a single line of fragments. Never use it to say you want the audition, to introduce yourself, or to apologize for what you're not. When there is nothing to add, leave it blank. ## What casting actually sees when you submit Before you write anything, picture the other side of the screen. Actors Access's help page on [what casting directors see](https://actorsaccess.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/17000046475-actors-what-do-casting-directors-see-) says they look at the names and headshots of everyone who submitted for each role. Your profile and resume travel with every submission. Your note sits behind its own "Notes" tab. So the note is not the first thing anyone sees. The photo is. So expect the note to be opened only when the photo has made someone curious, or when the breakdown asked for something specific and casting is checking who has it. Spotlight, the UK casting site, puts it plainly in its [guide to self-submitting](https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/self-submitting-for-roles-on-spotlight/): a casting director goes through submissions quite quickly, so any chunk of text is unlikely to get read. Its note field holds up to 1,000 characters, and Spotlight adds that you should never need that many. That's the frame for everything below. You're not writing a cover letter. You're writing a label for a busy person who is sorting a stack. ## When a note is worth writing Casting director Ramani Leah, CSA, sums up the rule in her piece on [submission notes](https://www.thecastingdirectorscut.com/terminology-tuesday-submission-notes/): short, relevant, and only what the role asks for. If the office asks for a specific skill or experience, be as clear and concise as possible. Her example is a note that just says "12+ years ballet experience." Spotlight's list of what belongs in the box is close to hers. Use it for a skill the job asks for and any qualification that backs it up. Mention a passport or citizenship if the work is in another country. Name a native accent or language if casting wants it or it may help the role. Add anything relevant to this casting that isn't already on your profile. Put those together with the do's in a coaching handout covered below, and you get a short list of good reasons to type anything at all: - The breakdown names a skill (a sport, an instrument, a dance style, a language, a dialect) and you have it at the level it asks for. - The breakdown names logistics (shoot dates, a city, availability) and you can confirm you meet them. - Something about your look has changed since your photos, such as a haircut, a beard, or hair color, and it matters for this role. - You have a real connection: someone on the project referred you, with their permission, or you've met this office before. - You have a credit that closely matches this role or this kind of project. If none of those applies, the note can stay empty. Leah's phrase for that case is "less is more". Filler only takes the reader's time. ## Lead with the useful fact Assume only the first few words get read, and make those words carry the whole point. Acting coach Amanda Brooke Lerner, in a 2019 handout on [writing an effective submission note](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ad77a78ee1759edfea9daa7/t/5c9113a00d9297d71a392f17/1553011616384/Writing+an+Effective+Submission+Note.pdf), said casting on Actors Access saw the headshot along with only the first 40 characters of the note at that time. Her advice was to write the opening like a newspaper headline. Screens change, so don't count on any exact number. The habit is still a good one. Front-load the fact that answers the breakdown, and let any greeting or sign-off come after it, if at all. Compare two notes for a role that asks for a confident swimmer: > Hi! I'm so excited about this project and would love to be considered. I grew up near the coast and swam competitively through college. > Competitive swimmer (college team). Local to Atlanta, free all shoot dates. The first one buries the only fact casting needs behind two sentences they'll skim past. The second one answers the breakdown in its first two words, then confirms the logistics. It reads as someone who understood the job. ### Write it like a label, not a letter Fragments are fine. Pipes, slashes, and abbreviations are fine if they're clear. Lerner's sample headline for a detective role was a credit and a training line: *Det. L&O: SVU (S20 E17) | MFA Yale*. No greeting, no verb, all signal. Write each note fresh for each role. A note that's true for one breakdown is noise on the next. ## What never to write Bad notes tend to fall into a few patterns. ### "I'd love to be brought in" Leah calls this kind of note redundant: "We know you're submitted because you want the audition. Period." Wanting the audition is the premise of the submission. Saying it spends the reader's few seconds on nothing. ### An introduction or a life story Spotlight is blunt: never use this section to introduce yourself to the casting director. Your profile introduces you. Leah says the rest can be left for your resume or a pitch email. ### A pitch you pasted from last month Leah warns about pre-written pitches that go stale. Her example: a note announcing a recurring role on a TV show, sent to the very office that cast that show. A copy-paste note that brags about an unrelated credit also suggests you didn't tailor the submission. ### A backhanded compliment Lerner does suggest a short personal touch about what excited you in the breakdown. If you add one, make it a specific detail about the project, not general eagerness. Lerner's handout calls out notes that explain why you're doing a project "beneath" you, such as saying you don't normally do this kind of work but this one looks well done. If a project feels beneath you, don't submit. If you submit, mean it. ### Apologies and excuses Don't explain why you're a little older than the range, why your reel is thin, or why your headshot is old. You'd be pointing at the thing you hope they won't notice. If you genuinely don't fit, the better move is not to submit. Our guide on [how to read a casting breakdown](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-read-a-casting-breakdown) has a submit-or-skip checklist for exactly that call. ## Notes for the tricky cases ### You're right for two roles Some sites only take one submission per actor per breakdown. Casting Workbook's help page on [submitting to more than one role](https://help.castingworkbook.com/article/121-can-i-submit-to-more-than-one-role) says to pick your top choice and submit to it, and adds that you can use the note to tell casting about other roles on the project you think suit you. One short line does it: "Also right for DANA." Lerner's handout also warns against submitting to the same project on several platforms. Pick one route and use the note there. ### You have an agent On Spotlight, your agent is alerted when you submit yourself for a role. It's worth a quick word with your agent about self-submitting, so you're both working from the same plan. Either way, keep the note to what the breakdown needs. ### You have no credits yet That's fine, and it's not something to explain. Lead with whatever matches the breakdown: a skill, an accent, a location, availability. A clean note with one useful fact beats a paragraph about how new you are. ### You know someone If the breakdown asks for nothing specific, a real connection can lead the note. Lerner's do's include reminding casting how they know you and naming who referred you, but only with that person's permission first. Keep it factual, for example: "Referred by Sam Ortiz (the film's editor), with his OK." Don't stretch a single class or a handshake into a relationship. ## Sample notes you can adapt Each of these answers a specific line in a made-up breakdown. Swap in your own facts, and only true ones. - **The breakdown asks for a skill:** "Conversational Spanish, native Texan accent. Free all June dates." - **The breakdown names local hire:** "Atlanta local hire. Own transport, available on short notice." - **Your look has changed:** "Hair now chin length (photos show long). Happy to send a current snapshot." - **You're right for another role too:** "Also right for the older brother, MARCUS." - **You have a matching credit:** "Played a paramedic in a recent web series; clip attached." - **Someone on the project referred you:** "Referred by Priya Shah (assistant director), with her OK." Notice what they share. Each one is a single fact or two, written so the first words are the answer, with no adjectives about how passionate or excited you are. ## A 30-second check before you hit submit 1. Reread the breakdown and underline anything it asks for: skills, dates, location, union status, look. 2. Ask whether your photo and resume already show each of those. If they do, and no one on the project referred you, you may not need a note. 3. If something's missing, or you have a real referral, write it in the first few words, in plain fragments. 4. Cut every word about wanting, hoping, loving, or being excited. 5. Make sure nothing in it is copied from a different submission. 6. If the box is still empty, leave it empty and submit. Then log what you sent, so you can see which kinds of roles and notes actually get you called in. Our free [audition tracker](https://www.offbook.com/tools/audition-tracker) can do that, and our guide to [tracking auditions](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-track-auditions) explains what to record. ## When the note works and you get the sides The point of the note is the next email: sides, a deadline, and often not much time. That's when the real work starts, and it helps to have the words in your body fast so you can spend the rest of your prep on choices. In Offbook you can upload the sides, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character while it listens and plays the next cue when you finish your line. Once you've run it a few times, hide your own lines to test yourself. If you're between auditions and want material to stay sharp, browse our [monologues](https://www.offbook.com/monologues). ## Questions actors ask ### Do casting directors read submission notes? Sometimes, and usually quickly. On Actors Access the note sits behind a "Notes" tab, and Spotlight says long text is unlikely to be read. Make the first words count. ### How long should a self-submission note be? One or two short sentences, or a single line of fragments. Spotlight allows up to 1,000 characters and says you should never need that many. If you have nothing the breakdown asked for, leave it blank. ### Should I address the casting director by name? You can, but it isn't required, and a greeting uses the first words that matter most. If you include one, put it after the useful fact. ### Can I mention that I'm right for a different role? Yes, briefly. Where a site allows only one submission per breakdown, Casting Workbook's help page suggests using the note to name the other role you suit. One line with the character name is enough. ### Is it bad to leave the note blank? Not when you have nothing the breakdown asked for and no real connection to mention. Casting director Ramani Leah's advice when nothing specific is requested is that less is more.