someone in this thread suggested directors should only be able to shortlist, not cast, before the deadline and I agree. Casting before the deadline skirts the intention of not shortening your deadline.

I think the role(s) that have shortlists already should be publicly labeled like "Director has 4 submissions on this role's shortlist" so talent can make an informed decision on whether they still want to commit audition prep time for such a competitive role.

I feel like its kinda just … not smart to cast before the Deadline anyway. There could always be someone coming in that you didn't think would fit but is actually way better than your own Idea for casting was to begin with.

I'm personally in the camp that it's the director's call. If a director finds that perfect voice, I don't see why we should restrict that. Anyone worth their salt will have listened to the other auditions first before deciding anyway.

I'm also in the camp of 'do not let them cast early'. If directors are impatient, make a very short listing, like 1-5 days in length. I do (and know of others) that, when we see someone "instacasting" (casting in 1-3 days of a listing going up), we make note and privately blacklist them across the board. I also don't "care" if a director finds that perfect person in 1-3 days. Also, having to wait may bring talent that audition for one role but the director finds they want to cast them for another.

I don't know if you should TOTALLY remove that ability but there should at least be some restrictions. I am indeed tired of creators casting a role on the same day they list it. As a solution to this I have started to audition on the first day projects drop and that increases my chances tenfold since so many creators are...well impatient. Perhaps you should require at least 50% of the total time to go by before allowing a role on the project to be cast. Another thought is to allow only paying members to get cast before deadline. (Thus giving another needed perk to paying members (and more money to you))

Casting before the deadline is incredibly unfair to voice actors in other time zones, who have children and/or caretaker duties, and/or work at jobs other than voiceover to make ends meet. I seriously don't care if a casting director finds the perfect person on day one. Every professional I know still gives at least a nominal listen to every audition that comes in before the deadline to give everyone an equal shot. Yes, even if their top choice comes in early.

Just post a short deadline if you don't want to sift through hundreds of interested parties. That's what the pros do if they don't want to get overwhelmed. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you. And you won't get a bad reputation among actors for disrespecting their time by shutting the audition down early without warning.

What about, until the deadline, they can't cast, only shortlist?

Not everyone usually get an advantage when it comes to having a casting director casts an actor for a role before the deadline for auditioning for a project!

I don’t know about others, but I don’t really pay any mind the the deadline in my projects. I extend it until all the roles are filled, and I cast whoever I think fits when the audition comes in. I feel perhaps that if they were to do this that the deadlines being optional would be a good middle ground