Casting is the process of finding and selecting actors or performers to fill roles in a film, television show, play, commercial, or other production. It involves writing character descriptions, holding auditions, and narrowing down candidates until the right person is matched to each role. Whether you’re an aspiring actor trying to understand the system or a filmmaker preparing your first project, here’s how casting actually works from start to finish.
How the Casting Process Works
Casting follows a fairly standard sequence across film, TV, theater, and commercial work. The process typically begins weeks or months before production starts and moves through several distinct stages.
Script breakdown: A casting director reads through the script and creates a character breakdown, which is a document listing every speaking role along with details like age range, physical description, personality notes, and relevant backstory. This breakdown becomes the job listing that goes out to actors and their representatives. It does not typically include extras or background performers who don’t have dialogue.
Distribution: The breakdown gets sent to talent agents and posted on professional casting platforms like Backstage, where actors can search for opportunities and submit themselves directly. Some productions hold open calls, meaning anyone can audition, while others work exclusively through talent agencies. Agents review the breakdown and recommend clients from their roster who fit the descriptions.
Auditions: Actors who are called in receive “sides,” which are short excerpts of dialogue and action pulled from the script. Sides are chosen to showcase the most dramatic or character-revealing moments. Auditions happen either in person at a casting office or through self-tape submissions, where actors record themselves performing the sides and send the video digitally. Self-tapes have become a standard part of the process, especially for initial rounds.
Callbacks: After the first round, a smaller group of actors is called back to read again. Callbacks might involve performing different scenes, reading opposite other actors being considered for related roles, or adjusting the performance based on the director’s notes. This stage helps the team compare finalists side by side before making a decision.
Offers and booking: Once the creative team agrees on their choices, formal offers go out. For union productions, this involves negotiating contracts through agents. When an actor accepts, they’re “booked” for the role.
Who Runs the Casting Process
The casting director leads the effort. They read the script, create breakdowns, organize auditions, and present their top recommendations to the director and producers, who make the final call. On larger productions, the casting director works with a small team. A casting associate handles much of the coordination and communication, while a casting assistant manages the office side of things: answering phones and emails, sorting through headshot and resume submissions, scheduling sessions, and keeping the operation running smoothly. The assistant role is the entry-level path into the casting profession.
It’s worth noting that the casting director suggests and advocates, but rarely has the final say. The director, and sometimes the producers or studio, make the ultimate decision on who gets each role.
Self-Tape Auditions
Self-tapes are now a routine part of casting for film, TV, and commercials. Instead of traveling to a casting office, you record your audition at home and upload it. The trade-off is convenience for actors but a higher bar for technical quality, since a poorly lit or badly framed video can hurt your chances regardless of your performance.
SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, outlines several best practices. Record in landscape mode (horizontal) unless instructed otherwise. Frame yourself so you’re visible from roughly the chest up, and be mindful of movement so you don’t drift out of frame. For lighting, a ring light works well for simple setups. A more polished approach uses three-point lighting: a key light as your main source, a fill light to soften shadows, and a backlight behind you, all angled at about 45 degrees. Use a solid-color backdrop rather than patterned wallpaper or a cluttered room. Blue is considered ideal, though gray, green, or eggshell white also work.
Most self-tape submissions require a slate, which is a short clip where you state your name and show a full-body shot so casting directors can see your general look. Record the slate as a separate clip from your audition scene, and always read the submission instructions carefully since every production may want something slightly different.
Where Casting Calls Are Posted
Professional casting calls appear on dedicated platforms that connect productions with talent. Backstage is one of the most widely used, hosting listings across film, TV, theater, voiceover, commercial, and branded content productions. Actors create a profile, browse available roles, and apply directly through the platform. Other casting platforms serve similar functions, and many talent agents also receive breakdowns through industry-specific databases that aren’t open to the general public.
Open casting calls are sometimes posted on social media or production company websites, especially for independent projects or when a production is looking for non-traditional or first-time actors. Union productions (those operating under SAG-AFTRA contracts) tend to route their casting through agents and established platforms, while non-union projects are more likely to post openly.
Types of Casting
Not every role goes through the same process. Lead roles in a major film might involve direct offers to established actors, skipping the audition entirely. This is sometimes called “offer-only” casting, where the production approaches a specific actor’s team with a deal.
For supporting and smaller roles, the traditional audition process described above applies. Open calls cast the widest net, inviting large numbers of actors to audition without needing an agent or prior relationship with the casting office. These are common in theater and for productions specifically seeking fresh faces.
Commercial casting tends to move faster than film or TV. A casting call might go out one day with auditions the next and a booking decision within the week. Theater casting often involves live auditions where actors perform monologues or cold-read from the script in front of the creative team.
What Casting Directors Look For
Beyond raw acting ability, casting directors evaluate how well an actor fits the character as written, how they look on camera or onstage, and how they interact with other cast members. Chemistry reads, where two or more actors perform a scene together, are common for roles that share significant screen time.
Professionalism matters throughout the process. Showing up prepared with your sides memorized (or well-rehearsed for a self-tape), following submission instructions precisely, and being responsive to communication all factor into whether you get called back. Casting directors work on multiple projects and remember actors who are easy to work with, which can lead to future opportunities even when you don’t book a particular role.