Audition Visibility Settings

Who this is for: company admins and users setting up auditions on Castora. If you're picking a visibility option in the audition wizard and want to understand exactly what it does, this is your guide.

Every audition you create has a visibility setting. It controls two things:

1. Who can find your audition (publicly searchable vs. hidden)
2. How performers get access (direct application vs. invite link vs. requires acceptance)

You can't change visibility once your audition is active — so it's worth understanding the differences before you publish.

The quick reference

If you just want to pick something and move on, here's the one-line version of each:

That's it for the quick picker. Read on if you want to understand the nuances — especially the difference between the two Invite Only variants, which trips people up the most.

Open

Use when: you want the widest possible reach. General casting calls, open submissions, community auditions.

What performers see

• Your audition appears in Castora's public audition search
• Anyone with a Castora account can view the full details — name, description, deadline, your company, any resources you've attached
• They click "Apply" and submit directly

What you do

• Create the audition, publish it, submissions start arriving
• No invite management. No approval queue.

Best for

• Open calls where reach matters more than selection
• Low-barrier auditions ("send us a self-tape, any experience level")
• Building your audition pipeline with a broad net

Open (Register First) (timed auditions only)

Use when: your audition has a time limit and you want to control who attempts it — but you don't have a specific invite list in mind.

This option only appears when your audition mode is Timed Audition. The "register first" step gives you a gate before the clock starts.

What performers see

• Audition appears in public search
• They click "Register Interest" (not "Apply" — there's no application yet)
• They see a confirmation that you'll review their registration
• When you approve, they get an email with a link to start the timed attempt

What you do

• On the audition's Interest tab, review each registration
• Approve or decline with one click
• Optional: set an expiry date — if the approved performer doesn't start within the window, their spot expires and reopens

Registration limits

You can set a cap on total registrations (e.g. "50 performers max"). Once hit:

• Without waitlist: new registrations are refused with a friendly message
• With waitlist enabled: overflow performers join a queue. If you decline someone or their approval expires, the oldest waitlisted performer is automatically registered and notified by email

Best for

• Popular timed auditions where you want quality over quantity
• Pre-screening before committing team time
• Managing team workload ("we can review 30 this week")

Invite Only

Use when: you have specific performers in mind and you've got their email addresses, and the audition details are fine to share openly once they click the link.

What performers see

• Audition does not appear in any public search
• They receive an email from you with a unique invite link
• Clicking the link takes them straight to the audition page — full details visible
• They apply from there

What you do

• Create the audition, set visibility to Invite Only, publish it
• Go to the Invites tab on the audition detail page
• Enter one or more email addresses — each gets a unique invite link
• Track which invites have been clicked and responded to

Best for

• Targeted casting calls
• Auditions where the details (role description, timings, company name) aren't sensitive
• Re-engaging past performers from your roster

Invite Only — Requires Acceptance

Use when: everything under Invite Only applies, AND the audition details are sensitive enough that you only want to share them with performers who've explicitly confirmed they're in.

This is the stricter cousin of Invite Only. The difference is entirely in the performer's first click.

What performers see

• Audition does not appear in any public search
• They receive an email invite with a link
• Clicking the link takes them to a preview page first — showing only the basics: your company name and an invitation to audition
• They must click Accept before the full audition details appear
• After accepting, they can return to the audition anytime from their dashboard
• If they Decline, their access is immediately revoked

What you do

• Same as Invite Only — send email invites from the Invites tab
• You'll see each invite's status: Pending → Accepted (or Declined)
• Only performers who've accepted can see details like venue address, fee information, or creative brief

Best for

• Auditions with sensitive logistical info (unannounced venues, private rehearsal addresses)
• Auditions where the creative brief contains NDA-adjacent information
• Productions that need explicit commitment signals before sharing the full picture
• Any audition where you want a clean record of "this performer confirmed they're taking part"

The key distinction from plain Invite Only

Both require you to send invites. Both hide the audition from public search. The only difference is what the performer sees when they click the invite link.

Archived (system state, not selectable)

You won't pick Archived in the wizard — it's applied automatically when:

• You close or archive an audition
• The audition reaches end-of-life and is moved out of active lists

What happens

• Performers can no longer discover or submit to the audition
• Your team keeps full access under the "Archived" filter on the auditions list
• Performers who already submitted keep their submission history

Which should I pick?

Here's a quick decision tree. Answer in order; stop at the first "yes".

1. Do you want anyone with a Castora account to be able to find and apply? → Open
2. Are you running a timed audition and want to cap or pre-screen registrations? → Open (Register First)
3. Do you have a specific list of people in mind, and the audition details are safe to share openly once they click the invite? → Invite Only
4. Do you have a specific list in mind, AND the audition details are sensitive (hidden venue, fee info, creative brief, unreleased project)? → Invite Only — Requires Acceptance

FAQ

Can I change visibility after publishing?

Not through the wizard — visibility locks once an audition is active or scheduled. This prevents accidental access regressions (for example, loosening from Invite Only to Open would expose details to performers you never intended).

Platform admins can override via the admin panel if genuinely needed, but the change is audited.

Can I mix approaches? Some invited performers AND a public listing?

Not directly on one audition. If you want to do both — say, a public open call PLUS targeted invites to specific known performers — you have two options:

1. Run two auditions (same role, one Open and one Invite Only). Neat separation, two submission lists to review.
2. Run one Open audition and send performers the direct link. They'll apply like anyone else, but you can signpost them via email.

What happens on Open (Register First) if I decline someone?

They receive a polite "We're not able to offer you a place" email. Their interest status flips to declined. If you have a waitlist enabled, the oldest waitlisted performer is automatically promoted into their place.

How do performers cancel their interest / booking?

• On Open (Register First) — they can cancel their interest anytime before being approved.
• On Invite Only — Requires Acceptance — they can withdraw from their dashboard. This flips their invite to declined and removes their access to the audition page.
• Bookings on live auditions — cancellable from their My Bookings page; you're notified and the slot reopens.

Does declining an invite notify me?

Yes. If a performer declines an invite (or withdraws after accepting), you'll see the updated status on the Invites tab and get an in-app notification.

How does a performer on the waitlist know their position?

They see their position ("You're #3 in the queue") on the audition page and in the confirmation email. When they're promoted, they get a second email.

Can I require acceptance AND allow public discovery?

No — those are two separate visibility models. Public discovery (Open / Open Register First) inherently doesn't need invites, so there's nothing to "accept". Acceptance is specifically the gate between "you've been invited" and "you can see the details".

Live online auditions — meeting links

If your audition mode is Live (Online), the performer's invite includes a booking flow (pick a slot) but the meeting link itself is separate.

• You set a default meeting URL on the audition (e.g. your Google Meet link)
• Each schedule can override the default if needed
• Performers with booked slots see a "Join Meeting" button that activates 15 minutes before their slot start time
• Before that window, the button shows a countdown ("Available in 2h 15m")
• After the slot ends (plus 15 min grace), the button disappears

This works the same way across all visibility options — if a performer has a confirmed booking, they get the meeting link on their schedule.

What to avoid

• Don't pick Invite Only — Requires Acceptance when your details aren't actually sensitive. The extra click is friction for performers. Only use it when the privacy gain is real.
• Don't set a registration cap without a waitlist if demand is uncertain. "Sorry, we're full" is a worse performer experience than "You're on the waitlist — we'll let you know if a spot opens up."
• Don't assume Invite Only hides your company. Performers see your company name on the invite email and the audition page. If you need complete anonymity, talk to us — that's a different feature.
• Don't rely on visibility for NDA enforcement. Requires Acceptance creates a soft "they said yes" log, but it isn't a signed NDA. If you need a legal commitment, attach your NDA as a resource and require signing via your own tools.

Still unsure?

Pick Open for your first few auditions. Most teams realise after running a couple of Open auditions what their real use case is — that's when Invite Only or Open (Register First) starts to make sense. Starting simple is almost never the wrong call.

If you want to talk through a specific use case, your account team is happy to help.