Sometimes you know exactly what you need. A female vocalist aged 20-30 for a 3-minute jingle recording. A group of 6 contemporary dancers for a brand commercial shoot. A theatre actor for a 10-episode web series. In these cases, browsing profiles one by one is slow. Casting calls flip the process — you describe the role, and artists apply to you.
What is a Casting Call?
On idlidu, a casting call is called a Project. You create a project with a title, description, type (Film, TV, Theater, Commercial, Wedding, Corporate, Concert, Music Video, Web Series, Podcast), and one or more roles. Each role specifies the requirements — age range, gender, skills needed, compensation, and number of spots available.
Artists browse open casting calls in the Gigs section and apply with a cover note and optionally a self-tape video. You review applications, shortlist candidates, send audition briefs, and hire.
Creating a Casting Call
Go to your dashboard and click "Post a Casting Call" or navigate to Projects and create a new one. Fill in the basics — project title, type, location (or mark as remote), budget range, and timeline. Then add roles. You can add as many roles as you need.
For each role, be specific. "Singer" is too vague. "Female playback singer, Hindi, age 20-35, must have studio recording experience" gets you relevant applications. The skills field lets you specify exactly what you are looking for.
The Audition System
Once applications come in, you can shortlist artists and send them an audition brief — a detailed description of what you want them to prepare, with a deadline. Artists can submit a self-tape (video URL) or you can schedule a live audition through idlidu's audition room. After reviewing auditions, mark your chosen artists as "Hired." From there, you can create a booking to formalize the engagement with payment protection.
Proposal Credits
Artists on the Free plan get 5 proposal credits per month. Pro artists get unlimited. As a client posting casting calls, this means serious artists are the ones applying — they are spending a limited resource to reach you. If you are a client on the Free plan, you also get 5 outreach credits per month. Upgrade to the Client Pro plan for unlimited proposals.
Best Practices
- Set a realistic budget range. Artists skip casting calls with no budget listed — it signals either that the budget is too low to state or that the client has not thought it through.
- Respond to applications promptly. Artists apply to multiple casting calls. If you take a week to respond, the best candidates will have moved on.
- Use the audition system. Self-tapes are the most efficient way to evaluate performers without scheduling conflicts. Set a 5-7 day deadline to keep the process moving.