How Latino Talent Agency Runs Its Casting Calls on The Pending

If you've ever posted a casting call and asked people to "send everything by email," you know what happens next. Some send a reel, some send a link that expired last year, some send twelve photos and no video at all. And all of it lands in the same inbox as everything else.

Latino Talent Agency (LTA) knew that problem well. Today their casting submissions run through The Pending, and here's what that looks like in practice.

About LTA

Founded by Daniela Arboleda Filigrana, LTA is one of the leading talent agencies in Latin America. They represent artists, choreographers and creative leads, produce live entertainment and develop their own show concepts. Their artists have toured Europe, the US and Asia, and LTA has collaborated with well-known brands along the way.

What stands out when you work with them is the pace. LTA runs several international projects at once, and the requirements change from one to the next: a different show, a different client, a different kind of performer. Casting calls go out regularly, often on short notice. Keeping the quality that high while moving that fast takes a lot of work behind the scenes, and a good part of that work used to happen in their inbox.

Where email reaches its limits

LTA has always been precise about what they need from applicants. Specific videos, specific photos, certain information for each role, all clearly listed on their website.

The catch is that email can't enforce requirements, however clearly a brief is written. That's true for every agency collecting applications this way. Applicants send what they think fits, files are often too large to attach or arrive as download links that have to be opened one by one, and every submission arrives in a different shape. The more international the call and the bigger the response, the more time goes into sorting and following up instead of actually looking at talent.

One form per casting call

LTA set up their own submission forms in The Pending, built around exactly what they need. Each casting call has its own form with the fields that role requires: video uploads, photos, measurements, experience, links, whatever matters for that project.

Required fields actually have to be filled in. If something's missing, the application can't be sent. So everything that reaches LTA is complete and in the same format, and their inbox stays free for clients and partners.

Applicants also don't need an account to apply, which isn't a given on a lot of casting platforms. They open the link, fill in the form, upload their material and they're done. That keeps the barrier low, and LTA doesn't lose good people halfway through a sign-up process.

Pre-sorting by the project's criteria

Open calls bring volume, especially international ones. Instead of starting at the top of an unsorted list, LTA sees applications pre-sorted against the criteria of the project. Each applicant gets a short summary, and the team can filter by best match, score, newest or oldest.

The sorting is a starting point. The decision stays with LTA's team, as it should. It just means they look at the strongest candidates first instead of working through the list in the order people hit send.

Reviewing together

Casting at LTA is a team effort. People with different roles look at the same applicants, and every perspective counts.

All of that happens in one place now. Team members score applicants, move them through stages like callbacks and see the same current status. No more forwarding an email with "what do you think of this one?"

Reaching out to applicants

If the team needs something extra, like another video or an answer to a follow-up question, they can reach out to applicants straight from The Pending. That works one by one or in bulk, for example to everyone shortlisted for a callback, so there's no need to build separate mailing lists. Every message is logged on the applicant's profile, so anyone on the team can see later who was contacted and when.

Accepted talent lands in the roster

This is where the time savings really add up. Once someone is accepted, they go straight into LTA's talent roster, together with their materials, form answers, the team's scores and the message history.

There's nothing to copy over. The next time a project comes up, LTA can start with people they already know, with all the context still attached. Every casting call adds to a database they keep coming back to.

Applicant data stays with the agency

Applicants trust an agency with a lot: videos, photos, measurements, personal details. That data belongs to LTA. We never use agencies' applicant data for our own purposes, and we can't view it ourselves. The pre-sorting works only for LTA, nothing is shared with other users, and everything is handled according to European data protection standards.

What makes The Pending different

Many agencies still juggle several tools for this: an inbox for applications, spreadsheets for shortlists, a separate database for their talent. The Pending brings it into one workflow. You collect applications through your own custom forms on your own landing page, pre-sort and review them with your team, talk to applicants and keep everyone you accept in your own talent database. Projects tie it together, so the casting call, the people who applied and the team working on it all live in one place. Your talent and your data stay yours. The pricing is transparent, and there's a free plan to start with.

A question we hear a lot is why not just use a free form builder. Those tools collect answers, but that's where they stop. Large video files quickly become a problem, some tools even make applicants sign in before they can upload anything, and the results end up in a spreadsheet. Reviewing, scoring, following up with applicants and keeping track of who you accepted all happen somewhere else again. With The Pending, the form is just the first step of a workflow that runs all the way into your talent database.

We built it for people who would rather spend their time on talent than on admin. LTA is a pretty good example of who that is.

More time for the actual work

LTA describes itself as "The Global Standard for Latin Excellence." Holding that standard across continents, with projects that keep changing, takes focus. Every hour not spent chasing missing files or digging through email is an hour they can put into finding and developing great artists.

We're proud to have LTA as one of our first official partners, and we're looking forward to building what comes next with their feedback.

Visit Latino Talent Agency here: https://latinotalentagency.com/about-us/