Commercial acting: how commercials are cast, what they pay and how holding fees work

Commercial acting is performing in advertising: TV spots, streaming and online ads, and social media clips. The work is short, cast fast and built around a product, so the skills that book it differ from a film audition: a clean slate, quick improvisation and believable reactions.

In the US, union commercials run under the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract, which the union bargains with the advertisers' and agencies' Joint Policy Committee (JPC). The current contract runs from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2028 (2025 MOA). Its rate sheet shows the kinds of jobs a commercial can hire for: on-camera principals, off-camera (voice-only) principals, on- and off-camera groups, hand models, general extras and stand-ins (JPC rate sheet). This guide is about principal work, the roles that are seen or heard selling the product.

1. The breakdown goes out. Casting posts the roles to agents and casting sites. Under the 2025 contract, the casting notice or breakdown must include the casting director's contact details, and an actor asked to pay a fee to see the materials or submit should contact casting first to find a free way in (2025 MOA).
2. Your agent submits you. Commercial agents get their clients commercial auditions and negotiate the contract once a job is booked (Casting Frontier). Without an agent, you submit yourself on casting sites; the Actors Access guide explains one of the main ones.
3. First audition. In a casting studio, on a video call or as a self-tape. It is short: a slate, profiles, often some improvisation and the copy (the script), several ways.
4. Callback. The director and agency see a smaller group. Commercial callbacks move quickly and are followed by avails and bookings, often within a day; the callback guide explains pins, avails and backups.
5. Booking, fitting and shoot. Once booked, you sign the employment contract (on union jobs, the contract's Exhibit 1 or Exhibit 2 form; JPC FAQ), go to a wardrobe fitting if there is one, and shoot.

Casting does not cost money. Under the union contract, producers must use reasonable efforts to stop casting directors favoring actors who paid a casting site to submit; sorting submissions alphabetically or at random meets that rule (2025 MOA). A paid profile can be useful, but nobody should charge you to audition.

A commercial audition is short, and the first seconds count most. The usual order:

1. The slate. Say your name (and anything else casting asks for) straight to the lens. Casting Frontier notes that the camera operator often takes a thumbnail photo as you slate and that clients may see that picture first, so hold a relaxed, pleasant expression for about two seconds before you speak, and keep still so you stay in frame (Casting Frontier). Requests vary: name, height, agency, union status, the role, your location, or whether you are under 18. Some calls ask for no slate at all, and if there are no instructions, call the casting office (Casting Frontier).
2. Profiles. The camera widens and you show each side. The Carolyne Barry Acting Academy's method: turn your whole body, not just your head, 90 degrees to your right, pause, face the camera, turn 90 degrees to your left, pause, and come back to the lens with a smile. Keep your posture tall and avoid turning too fast or fidgeting (Carolyne Barry).
3. Hands, if asked. For food and product spots casting may ask for a close-up of your hands. Casting Frontier says they must look clean and well-groomed, and to take your time so they are seen clearly (Casting Frontier).
4. The chat or the improv. Many commercial casting directors open with a question about you. Tree Petts of Tree Petts Casting told Casting Frontier she wants to learn about the actor's personality, so "give us something back" (Casting Frontier). Expect to be asked to try the scene a different way, add lines or react to something that is not there; listen, make a choice and keep going (The Playground).
5. The copy. Learn what the brand sells and how its current ads sound, and match that tone. Look exactly where you are told: the product, the lens or the other actor (The Playground). Petts' advice is not to over-intellectualize it and to be confident (Casting Frontier).
6. Leave cleanly. Thank the room and go. Do not apologize, ask for another take or wait for feedback (The Playground).

What to wear. Suggest the type in the breakdown with color and style rather than a costume (a "young dad" is a casual button-down, not a baby carrier). The Playground advises avoiding logos, busy patterns and all black, and bringing a backup outfit (The Playground). Unless casting asks for something different, wear the same or a similar outfit to the callback.

Many commercial auditions are self-tapes. The general technique is in the self-tape guide; these points are specific to commercials:

• Slate separately unless told otherwise, and leave room for a full-body shot (Casting Frontier).
• No landscape full-body slates on union jobs. Since the 2025 contract, a producer or casting director may not ask a performer to shoot stills or video of a full-body slate in landscape (2025 MOA).
• Dancers get limits. For a union dance self-tape, the producer must supply the music and specific choreography of no more than four eight-counts, solo, that fits an 8 by 8 by 8 foot indoor space (2025 MOA).
• You do not have to translate. A principal cannot be required to translate the script into another language at an audition, including virtual and self-tape auditions. If you agree to, you are paid 50% of the minimum session fee (2025 MOA).

Under the union contract, auditions are free to the producer only up to a point. The 2026-27 rate sheet lists (JPC rate sheet):

• First or second audition held longer than one hour: $53.46 for each extra half hour.
• Third audition: $213.82 for up to two hours per role, plus $53.46 for each extra half hour.
• Fourth or later audition: $427.62 for up to four hours per role, plus $53.46 for each extra half hour.
• Exception: no payment is due for the first two hours of a third or fourth audition when three or fewer performers are called back and there were none on the first audition.
• Creative session at an audition (where you help create material): $342.10 for the first hour, $171.05 for each extra half hour.

Audition payments are due within 15 working days of the audition (2025 MOA). Note your time in and out on the sign-in sheet or audition report so the payment can be checked. Non-union auditions carry none of these rules.

A union commercial pays in two layers: a session fee for the shoot day and use fees for where and how long the ad runs. The 2025 contract raised wages 5% in April 2025, 4% in April 2026 and 3% in April 2027, but held Class A, cable, streaming and paid YouTube rates out of those raises (2025 MOA). Minimums for one principal, April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 (JPC rate sheet):

• Session fee: $855.20 on camera, $643.00 off camera.
• Streaming platforms and all other digital use: $1,300 for 4 weeks, $3,000 for 13 weeks, $10,000 for 52 weeks.
• Traditional digital with paid YouTube: $784.00, $1,243.20 and $3,808.00 for 4, 13 and 52 weeks.
• National cable: $1,500 for 4 weeks, $4,100 for 13 weeks, $13,500 for 52 weeks.
• Network TV (Class A) per use: $783.10 for the first use, $158.21 for the second, $125.51 for each of uses 3 to 13 and $60.17 from the 14th; the 13-use guarantee is $1,936.67 and a 13-week cycle tops out at $20,000.
• Wild spot (local broadcast), all markets: $873.60 for 4 weeks, $2,184.00 for 13 weeks.
• Social media (Sideletter 9): $128.28 per 30-day cycle.
• Foreign use: a multiple of the session fee, for example 3 for the UK, 2 for Europe, 9 for worldwide.

These are minimums: an agent can negotiate more, and the agent's commission comes out of what you are paid (see how to get an acting agent). The producer also pays pension and health contributions on top, at 23.5% (19.95% discounted rate for JPC authorizers) (JPC rate sheet). Those contributions are not deducted from your pay.

Do not simply add the session fee to the use fees: it is also the first holding fee, and producers may credit session and holding fees against use payments (JPC holding fee examples; JPC FAQ). Commercial money is often called "residuals", but it is these use fees; the residuals guide explains the difference.

The part of commercial work that surprises new actors is exclusivity. A holding fee is paid to keep you exclusive to a category of product or service, and to let the advertiser use the spot in cycles that are not back to back. It equals a session fee, the session fee counts as the first one, and after that one is due every 13 weeks unless the spot is in a one-year use cycle or the fee is credited against use (JPC holding fee examples). To keep the rights to a commercial during the maximum period of use, the advertiser must be paying either holding fees or a use payment (JPC FAQ).

• What a conflict means for you. While you are held for, say, a car insurance brand, you should not book a spot for a competing insurer. Before every audition, tell your agent which categories you are held in, so you are not submitted for a job you cannot take.
• How long it can last. Since the 2025 contract, the maximum period of use is 24 months, starting 10 business days after on-camera principal photography begins (DLA Piper; 2025 MOA).
• After 24 months, you decide. The right to use the commercial ends with the maximum period. To keep using it, the producer must negotiate with you and get your consent (2025 MOA). That is a moment to renegotiate, through your agent.

The 2025 contract added rules for digital replicas, computer-made versions of a performer's voice or likeness (DLA Piper; 2025 MOA):

• Notice and consent. The producer must use reasonable efforts to give 48 hours' notice before creating or using your digital replica (less if you are hired less than 48 hours ahead), and your consent must be clear, either in the Digital Replica Rider to your contract or a separate signed writing.
• Pay. Each commercial that uses a digital replica performance pays 1.5 scale session fees, and use and holding fees are paid at scale as if you had performed in person.
• No end runs. Digital doubles may not be used to evade the contract.

Read every rider before you sign it. On non-union jobs none of this is guaranteed, so read any clause on AI, likeness or voice cloning closely.

Every rule above applies only to union commercials. Non-union jobs set their own terms, so check four things first:

1. Usage: which media and which territory.
2. Term: a fixed period, or "in perpetuity".
3. Exclusivity: which categories you are held out of, and for how long.
4. Buyout: one fee for all use. Compare it with the union use fees above for the same media and term.

If you are a SAG-AFTRA member, check the union's rules before you take any non-union job.

1. Train for commercials specifically. Commercial agent Melissa Mangum of Minc Talent Agency, quoted by Casting Frontier, says that for commercial representation she is "specifically looking for commercial training", ongoing rather than one class, plus improv (Casting Frontier). Compare commercial and on-camera classes on Arlo's class listings, see the on-camera and self-tape classes guide, and start improv with how to start improv in LA and improv classes. Typical prices are in the LA Acting Class Price Index.
2. Get a commercial headshot. A current shot that reads as a clear type; the headshot guide covers looks and costs.
3. Build profiles on the casting sites casting directors use, with current photos, sizes and a short self-tape or slate. A one-page acting resume with real special skills (sports, instruments, languages) goes with every submission.
4. Find a commercial agent. Many agencies have separate commercial and theatrical departments, and you can be with one agency for commercials and another for TV, as long as both know who submits for what (Casting Frontier). The agent guide covers queries and contracts.
5. Set up for self-tapes and practice copy. A blank wall or paper backdrop and a tripod at about neck height to reduce distortion (Casting Frontier). For scenes and monologues to keep your acting sharp between auditions, use Offbook.