700 Auditions Later: Crafting a Casting Success Story for Jollibee

When Bonfire Labs approached us earlier this year to cast for five different spots for Jollibee, we knew we were in for a fun ride.

Aura Casting was determined to find the perfect talent for all five spots that portrayed diversity. Our mission: Find a real family, a cute couple, a group of teenagers and a guy who can have a great time enjoying some music on his headphones.

We received over 700 (!!) audition tapes, and it was incredible to see the overwhelming support and interest from actors. Watching every single audition tape was a significant amount of work, but our team was more than up for the challenge. We made sure that each actor had a fair shot at the role and also matched the director's vision.

After the first round of auditions, we held virtual callbacks to assess how the actors could handle direction. The Zoom session was a great opportunity for the director to get to know the actors and realize who would be a good fit for the roles.

After all of the callbacks, we had to make the critical decisions on who to cast, which was not easy given the fantastic talent pool. It was a great feeling when the final booking decisions were made and we got to spread the good news. As part of our work, we contact all the talent agencies to alert them of an actors' booking, get confirmations and negotiate if needed. When confirmed, we create a booking sheet of the cast list with all relevant info so that it's easy to access for the shoot day. It saves the production some time, so we're happy to do it. Once everything was locked it, it was time to shoot the commercials!

Casting for five different spots for Jollibee was a great experience and we’d do it again anytime. If you have a shoot coming up and need help casting, please reach out.

P.S. Want to see a project that we worked on with an even larger ensemble? Check out this commercial for Sky River Casino - We cast 80 roles 😊