Verification

Pro actors, casting directors and talent agents can become Verified on enCAST if they qualify.

Being verified adds extra advantages to your profile:

Actors

• Appear higher in the search results
• Preference when being promoted to CDs for projects
• Able to contact other users directly on the site

CDs and Talent Agents

• Able to contact actors and other users directly on the site
• Automatically publish a casting after editing
• Talent agents can connect with the actors they represent, with each actor's consent

What does Verification mean? #

Verification simply means that we have checked your profile and can confirm you are a professional Actor, Casting Director, or Talent Agent and that you are who you say you are.

Then, when your profile is verified, an orange tick is placed on your Calling Card.

Being verified means that visitors and other users of the site know exactly who they are dealing with. In other words, they know they can trust that the profile is genuine and that the user has good experience in the film industry.

IMPORTANT: if you are an actor you do NOT need to be verified to submit to castings. Verification is an extra and does NOT affect your submissions at all.

Verification for Actors #

Verification is for Pro actors. There are three stages, and each must be complete before the next one opens.

1. Confirm your email. Click the link in the email we sent you when you joined. If you have not had it, go to Confirm your email and ask for a new one. Until this is done the verification page shows only this step.
2. Pass the profile check. Go to Check my profile from your Edit Profile page. It checks eleven things: your email is confirmed, your name is your real name, your location, at least one ethnicity and nationality, a mini bio of at least 50 characters and an About Me of at least 50 words, a voice reel for every language you list, at least two headshots, a CV as a PDF, a working showreel link, and your IMDb link. Each row shows a tick or a cross with what to fix. Fix anything marked with a cross in Edit Profile, then come back and click Regenerate check. If you disagree with a result, contact us.
3. Send your ID for checking. When every row has a tick, click Upload your ID for checking and send a photo of your passport, ID card or driving licence as a JPG or PDF. A member of our team compares it with your name, nationality and headshots, and the file is then deleted. We do not keep it. If the ID cannot be read you will be asked to send another one.

After that we check your profile by hand. We look for a good number of acting credits on IMDb as an actor, generally 10 or more named roles (characters who have names, not "uncredited" or "man" or "angry woman"), including at least 3 feature films or 3 recurring television roles of more than 3 episodes, and a showreel with scenes from at least 3 professional productions. You will get an email with the result. If we cannot verify you, the email says why, and you can fix your profile and request again without sending your ID a second time.

You cannot send your ID while your profile check has a cross, and you cannot request again while your ID or your profile is already with us.

As an Actor, why do I need IMDB credits?

The reason we ask for a minimum number of IMDB credits is simple; Casting Directors want to know that you have worked on reasonable sized productions and have experience on set.

If you do not yet have enough IMDB credits, you should chase up previous productions and see if they are on IMDB already and then add yourself to them. You can also think about adding productions as well.

See here for why some actors fail verification: Why Wasn't My Profile Verified?

Verification for Casting Directors & Talent Agents #

We verify casting directors and talent agents so that actors can be sure a casting or a message comes from a legitimate industry professional. Until you are verified you can post castings and reply to your own applicants, but you cannot start a conversation with an actor who has not applied to you, and talent agents cannot connect with the actors they represent. Read more here: How to Contact an Actor.

Verification has the same stages for everyone: you run some automatic checks, you ask us to verify you, and then we check your profile by hand. Which way you verify depends on your account email address:

• Through your company: your account email is on your company's website domain (for example you@yourcompany.com). You do not need to send us any ID. We check your company and your profile by hand.
• As an individual: you use any other email address, such as Gmail or Hotmail, or you do not work for a company. You upload a photo ID, which we check, and then we check your profile by hand.

What everyone needs

Whichever way you verify, the first step is to confirm your email address. Until you have clicked the link in the email we sent you, the verification page shows only that step. If you have not had the email, go to Confirm your email and ask for a new one.

Then make sure your profile is complete. The checks will not let you request verification with gaps, so you need:

• Your real name (the name of the individual, not the company).
• Your location: the country where you work and operate. You will find it in Edit Profile, on the Basic Info tab.
• A mini bio of at least 50 characters saying who you are and what you do. If you work for a company, tell us about the company too.
• At least one language you speak.
• At least one picture: a photo of yourself, or your company logo.
• Your IMDb page. Which page depends on how you verify, see below.

Verifying through your company

• Add your company name and company website to your profile.
• Your account email must be on that website's domain. If your website is www.yourcompany.com, your email must end in @yourcompany.com. This is how we know you belong to the company.
• Give your company's IMDb page, not your own. On IMDb, open the company's page and look at the address bar: the part beginning co followed by digits is its id. Paste that into the IMDb field on Edit Profile.
• When all the checks pass, click Request verification. We look at your company's website and IMDb, confirm that it works in casting or talent representation, and check your profile by hand. You will get an email with the result.

NB Your verification is tied to your company email. If you later change the email address on your account, your verification is removed and you will need to verify again.

Verifying as an individual

• A personal email address is fine.
• Give your own IMDb page, the one whose id begins nm.
• Add the nationality of your ID. You will find it in Edit Profile, on the Extra Info tab.
• Your name on your profile must match your ID.
• You can still add a company name to your profile. It is shown on your profile, but it is not part of your verification.
• When all the checks pass, click Request verification. You will then be asked to upload a photo ID (JPG or PDF). We compare it with your name and nationality by hand, then delete it. After that we check your profile by hand, and you will get an email with the result. You will not get an email when your ID is approved, because the profile check is the final step.

Running the checks

When your details are ready, go to Verify Your Company (also in your profile menu). The checks run automatically every time you open the page, so there is no button to press. You will see a table with one row for each check: email confirmed, name, location, mini bio, languages, picture and IMDb, plus nationality if you are verifying as an individual. The last row tells you which way you will be verified. A green tick means the check passed. A red cross means something is missing, and the Details column tells you what and where to fix it. Fix it in Edit Profile and come back to the page, and the checks will run again.

Once everything passes, click Request verification. If you are verifying as an individual, the page then asks you to upload your ID.

After you have asked to be verified

We check your profile by hand. We look at your name, bio, location, languages and picture, and for a company we also look at the company itself. If only a small thing is missing, we may write to you through your enCAST inbox and ask you to complete it. Once it is done, we verify you.

When we verify you, you will get an email and the orange tick appears on your Calling Card.

What if I am not verified?

If we cannot verify you, we will email you with the reason and what to change. Update your profile in Edit Profile, then go back to Verify Your Company and click Request verification again. If you uploaded an ID the first time, you do not need to upload it again.

Adding your IMDb link

Search for your name on IMDb. On your page, look at the address bar: the part beginning nm followed by digits is your IMDb ID. Paste only that part into the IMDb field on Edit Profile. See Your IMDb Profile for a step by step guide.

What if I do not have an IMDb page?

The IMDb check cannot pass without one, so the first job is to get onto IMDb. It is free, and IMDb lists casting directors and agents as well as actors.

• Search IMDb for your name first. Many professionals already have a page, created from a production credit, and do not know it.
• If there is no page, add yourself to a production you worked on. Log in to IMDb, open the title, choose Edit page and add your credit under Casting Department (for casting directors) or the appropriate crew role. IMDb reviews the addition, usually within a few days, and that creates your page.
• Once your page exists, copy the nm number into your profile and the checks will run again.

If you have professional casting or agency experience but none of it appears on IMDb, contact us and tell us which productions or clients you have worked with, so we can look at your case.

If you are verifying through your company and the company has no IMDb page, contact us and tell us about the company so we can look at your case.