How do you read a casting breakdown?

A breakdown is the first thing that exists about a role, before any audition or tape. Casting writes one for each part in a project and sends it out, mostly to agents and managers, and sometimes publicly to actors through casting sites. Learning to read one quickly and accurately tells you whether to submit, how to prepare, and what to watch out for.

The term comes from the process itself: casting breaks the script down into its roles and writes up each one. In North America, much of this goes through Breakdown Services, which distributes breakdowns to representatives, with a version for actors on Actors Access. Casting Networks and Backstage carry breakdowns too, and in the UK most professional casting runs through Spotlight. The format varies a little by platform, but the parts are the same.

The parts of a casting breakdown

Here is a sample breakdown for an invented project, followed by what each part tells you.

LOW TIDE (Feature Film). SAG-AFTRA, low budget.
Director: [name]. Casting: [office].
Shoot dates: approx. 4 weeks in spring. Location: coastal Maine. Local hire preferred.

[NORA] Female, 35 to 45, all ethnicities. Lead. A former competitive swimmer who now runs her late father's bait shop. Dry, capable, allergic to sympathy. When her estranged brother comes home with a plan to sell the shop, she has to decide what she is holding on to. Please submit actors who can swim. Some partial nudity, not required for audition.
Rate: Scale.
Submission notes: Please self-tape the attached sides. Slate with name, height and location. Due Friday by 5 p.m. ET.

Project and format. The title (often a working title), and what it is: feature, series, pilot, short, commercial, play, student film. This tells you the scale and the tone you are working in.

Union status and contract. Whether the project is union, non-union, or under a specific union agreement. In the US, "SAG-AFTRA" signals a union project; there are also low-budget and new media agreements with their own terms. Non-union actors can usually submit for non-union work, and how union members are allowed to work on non-union projects depends on their union's rules. In the UK, look for Equity agreements; in Canada, ACTRA. If a role is union and you are not yet a member, see how to join SAG-AFTRA and how a Taft-Hartley can get you on a union set.

Creative team. Director, producers, writers, casting director. Look them up. Their last project is the best guide to tone you will get.

Dates and location. When it shoots or rehearses, and where. "Local hire" means you must be able to work as a local in that place, without travel or housing paid. Do not submit if you are not available; a booking you cannot take damages your relationship with that office.

Role name and size. The character's name and how big the part is: lead, supporting, series regular, recurring, guest star, co-star, day player, featured. If the TV terms are unfamiliar, here is the difference between a co-star and a guest star.

Gender, age range and ethnicity. The basic physical brief. More on how to read each of these below.

The description. A few sentences about who the character is and what happens to them. This is where most of the information lives.

Special requirements. Skills (swimming, a language, an instrument, a sport), nudity or intimate scenes, stunts. Legitimate productions state nudity and simulated sex up front and say whether it is needed at the audition.

Rate. What it pays, sometimes as a figure, often as "scale" (the union minimum) or "scale plus ten" (scale plus an extra ten percent to cover an agent's commission). Student and low-budget work may say "deferred," "copy, credit and meals," or similar.

Submission instructions. How to apply: a headshot and resume, a self-tape, specific sides, a slate with particular details, a deadline. Follow these exactly. They are often the first filter.

What age range really means

Age ranges describe playing age: the ages you can believably be on screen or stage. Your real age is beside the point. If you are thirty-two and consistently read as twenty-six to thirty-two, a "22 to 28" role may be in your range and a "35 to 45" may not.

The useful way to find your playing range is from evidence: what ages are you actually called in for, and booked at? What do agents, teachers and casting directors say you read as? Most actors have a range of around ten years; it tends to narrow as you work and get clearer about your type.

Age ranges are also often wider than the role. A breakdown that says "35 to 45" may really need someone who reads about forty, because the character has a teenage child or a brother who is clearly older. Read the story around the role as well as the number.

How to read between the lines of a description

The character description is written quickly, by people who have read the script, for actors who have not. Every word in it is there for a reason. Read it three ways.

For essence. The adjectives tell you what the role needs to feel like when you are on screen. "Dry, capable, allergic to sympathy" tells you Nora does not cry easily and is funny without trying. That is the read casting hopes to see.

For function. What does this character do in the story? Nora is the person who has to decide; she is the center of the film. A co-star described only as "the officer who arrives at the scene" has a function, and playing that function cleanly is the job.

For tone. The style of the writing often mirrors the project. A breakdown with jokes in it is probably a comedy. One that reads like a novel may be a prestige drama. One that lists only "type: girl next door, very pretty" tells you something too.

Once you have the sides, check your reading of the breakdown against them. If they seem to point in different directions, the sides usually win, since they are the scene you will play. Here is what sides are and how they relate to the breakdown.

Ethnicity, gender and other descriptors

"All ethnicities" or "open ethnicity" means the role is not tied to a particular background and anyone who fits the rest of the brief should submit. When a breakdown names an ethnicity, it is usually because it is part of the character's story or family. Many breakdowns now also say things like "open to all genders" or specify that a role is written for a trans or nonbinary actor; read these as plainly as they are written.

Disability is increasingly specified in breakdowns, too, sometimes with a note that casting is seeking actors with lived experience of a particular disability. Again, take it at its word.

Should you submit?

Ask four questions. Am I within the playing age? Do I fit the essence? Am I free on the dates and able to work there? Can I meet any hard requirements (union status, a skill, nudity terms)? If the answer to all four is yes, submit. If the essence is a stretch but you have a real angle on it, submit, especially when self-submitting is open.

If your agent is submitting for you, the same questions are worth asking together. An agent who knows which breakdowns you feel strongly about can push harder for those.

Red flags in a breakdown

Most breakdowns are routine. A few patterns are worth slowing down for.

• Any request for money to audition, be considered, or hold the role. Legitimate casting does not charge actors to be seen.
• Nudity or sexual content that is vague, not mentioned until late, or required at an initial audition.
• Requests for revealing photos that have nothing to do with the role.
• No identifiable people. No production company, director or casting name, and nothing you can look up.
• Auditions in a private home or a hotel room, especially alone.
• Pay that sounds too good for a project nobody has heard of.

If something feels off, look up the people involved, ask your agent or your union, and trust the feeling. No role is worth an unsafe room.

Once you decide to submit and are called in, the breakdown becomes the first step of your audition preparation. Keep it open while you work on the scene.

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