Actors' Equity Announces New Enhancements to EPA Online Signups
The staff at Actors’ Equity Association have announced that they are implementing new enhancements to Casting Call. As of November 19, 2018, these changes will improve system performance and give more insight into the online EPA signup process.
Brandon Lorenz shared this message on Facebook to fellow Equity members.
We've heard from Equity members about our EPA signups over the last year and staff has been working on it. If you tried to sign up for an EPA today, you might have noticed some changes. Read more here about what we've done, and what other improvements are in the works.
According to Equity, the changes include 1) a more consistent queueing experience, and 2) live user counts to let you know how many other members are using Casting Call and viewing today’s signups.
What’s different about EPA online signups now?
The way you sign up for an EPA appointment online will be the same as before. However, processing time has been improved, ensuring a secure and consistent experience with the queue.
Queue-mode
The queue-mode is there to let you know what behavior to expect from the queue when you attempt to sign up online for an EPA. There are two different modes: Always-on and Safety-net.
“Always-on”
The queue will be turned to an “Always-on” mode during peak signup times (i.e., noon to 1pm in the Eastern time zone each day). This ensures that each user must go through the queue, even if the number of users on the portal has not yet surpassed the “busy” threshold.
“SafetyNet”
SafetyNet mode is the default mode for the queue. Members will be added to the queue only if the number of members attempting to signup passes a certain threshold.
Live User Counts
To provide better insight into how busy the queue will be before you attempt to sign up at noon, Equity added live user counts throughout Casting Call.. There is also a count on the “Today’s EPA Signups” page including just those users viewing that page or any of today’s notices.
Post-Signup
If you attempted to sign up for any EPA, Equity will be sending a post-signup email at the end of the rush period. This email will contain information and metrics on that day’s active signups and how busy it was during the noon rush period in the region where your EPA was located.
If you attempt to sign up for EPA appointments in more than one region in one day, you will receive multiple emails, one for each region.
You can opt out of these post-signup updates at any time.
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