Casting directors work on behalf of stage and screen production companies, finding the right person for roles in films, tv shows and stage productions. Casting directors find the stars to bring the characters in a film or TV drama to life. They are hired by the production company to match actors to roles.

A Casting Director is in charge of assembling the cast for a play, musical, TV series, film, or commercial–any theatre or acting project. You work with talent in a variety of ways: working with lists of known Actors that you might potentially offer, holding auditions, callbacks and tests, and offering the roles.

Casting directors read scripts and meet with producers and directors to get a sense of the type of person they are looking for. They have to find someone who looks right for the role as well as acting it well. They need to understand the art of acting. Sometimes producers will have a lot of demands. Other times they won’t give much guidance at all. Casting directors consider the actor’s availability, fees and how much box office buzz they’re going to create.

Casting directors need to know the talent that’s out there, so they attend theatre productions and graduation shows to spot potential actors. They organise auditions and look at headshots, demos and reels. Then they present a selection of candidates to the producer and director, and together they make the final decision.

The casting director’s job also involves negotiating actors’ deal points or conditions which they put into a casting advice note, or deal memo. Then the production team can draw up the actual contract with the actor’s agent.

What Do Casting Directors Look For In An Actor?
https://youtu.be/z3M2gZYVwzc?si=tivTlS-7-OsgAbF7

 

(Source: MyJob Search)

ANZSCO ID: 212399
   
Alternative names: Casting Manager, CD, Talent Scout, Casting Agent (if they work in conjunction with a talent agency),
  
Specialisations: Advertising, TV, Film, Theatre, Network, Studio, Radio Stations,

Knowledge, skills and attributes

A Casting Director (sometimes referred to as the CD) assists in putting together the cast for a project. To be successful as a casting director, you will need to have an in-depth knowledge of the acting process.

You will need to understand different acting methods and techniques, and you should also have experience in the creative environment of production.

The best casting directors can match talent to roles that result in character portrayals that draw the viewer in and create emotional connections.
  
Before a script ever reaches their hands, a Casting Director must have comprehensive knowledge of the acting world so that they can make informed selections for each project.

When provided the script for a production, the Casting Director will carefully analyze each role and create breakdowns that explain the type of Actor or Actress needed for them. They’ll then sift through candidates and either bring in talent for auditions or request self-tapes to screen and review.

Once a Casting Director has found a selection of Actors and Actresses who are a solid fit for each role, they’ll send those options to the Director, Producer, and any other decision-makers who make the final hiring decisions.

Because of their eye for talent, Casting Directors play an integral part in bringing film, TV, and commercial projects to life.

To become a casting manager, you would need:

• Knowledge of the industry: have strong knowledge of and a passion for cinema or TV drama and an appreciation for changing trends in the industry
• Knowledge of actors: understand the art of acting and be aware of a wide range of new and existing talent, have a good memory for actors you have seen in the past
• Eye for talent: be able to spot actors with star quality and who will fit well into individual projects and roles, have the patience to conduct a long and thorough search for the right actor for each role
• Communication: communicate well with the producer and director to understand their requirements and be able to give direction to actors
• Negotiation: be diplomatic, work with agents to negotiate contracts, have good financial skills, stick to a budget
• a diplomatic approach to dealing with people
• photographic ability
• confidence and presentation skills
• attention to detail
• good teamwork skills
• to be able to work under pressure.
  
  
  
  

Occupational Video - Casting Director

https://youtu.be/36CjwexRx3k?si=M7-_jcZwN2ajlomB

 

Duties and Tasks

The primary duties of the casting director are to read over the script and notate their thoughts on each character. Then they will hold a meeting with the director and producer to talk about their casting preferences.

Then they will contact various preferred actors and request that they audition, and open auditions for smaller roles. They may also organize an open casting call or work with a casting agency or casting network to find the talent they need.

They also have a significant amount of responsibility to help and support each actor Once an actor is chosen for a role, the casting director will negotiate and manage the various contract

As a casting director/manager, you would:

• assess scripts or read briefs to get an understanding of the requirements for roles
• meet with producers and directors to discuss projects
• select talent from your agency or network that meet the production brief
• meet with potential people to fill roles and audition them
• work with those audtioning to guide their performance towards the producer and directors vision for the role
• liaise between actors, agents and producers

Working conditions

Casting directors/managers may work irregular hours. Auditioning talent may be done in personal or online and sometimes need to fit round tother acting commitments or international locations. Casting managers often work on a project by project basis, with time spent in between finding new work contracts.

You may be required to travel to film shoots or production offices or work from home. You may spend long periods away from home if you are finding multiple talent throughout a tv series.

Being a casting director can be incredibly stressful. Not only do you have many scheduling and budgetary constraints that need to be worked around, but in many cases, you also need to operate under a deadline as well.

Depending on the production they are working on, the work day for a casting director can differ dramatically. During casting and auditions, the casting director may work only a few days a week, but they may be 12-14 hour days.

The casting director will generally have a role only in the pre-production stage.


Tools and technologies

There is a range of technologies and tools that have been developed for casting directors including:

• People wanting to be casted in a show are now sending in the do-it-yourself self-taped audition
• Zoom meetings
• Going the CGI route - CGI artists could realistically recreate many background scenes and “bespoke, realistic characters at any scale and at any level of detail,” eliminating the need to cast background actors.
• Online casting platforms including casting more UGC (user-generated content)

Education and training/entrance requirements

You can work as a casting manager without formal qualifications. Most casting managers move into these roles after many years working their way up from junior level roles in film, TV, or commercial video production.

Becoming a casting director is often the pinnacle of many years worth of hard work and perseverance in the entertainment industry. Those interested in a career as a casting director will have the best start by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in one of many potential fields.

After that, an internship can be priceless, as well as participating in an apprenticeship or fellowship to acquire more industry experience. Volunteering in the casting industry and networking are also crucial components.

Eventually, you can become an associate casting director, and join a casting organization, which are direct lead-ins to the position of casting director.

However, this is a very competitive occupation and environment, so most casting managers are educated to degree level. You could undertake a Bachelor's degree in an area such as film production, creative arts management, or design studies. To get into these courses, you usually need to gain your senior secondary school certificate or equivalent.

(Source: MyJob Search)

Employment Opportunities

Employment of casting managers is projected to grow slower than the average for all occupations. When looking for work as a casting director, there are many different settings in which you may find employment.

Some job growth is expected to stem from strong demand from the public for more movies and television shows and the increased number of streaming platforms producing their own original content.

Many casting directors find that the advertising industry is easier to get into than trying to become a casting director for a major film production company.

More elusive, but often higher-paying casting director settings can be as part of play productions and major motion pictures.

Did You Know? Anousha Zarkesh, Australian Casting Director CAMEO The following has been taken directly from the Illawarra Flame April 10 2024 Skills of the star finder: Meet casting director Anousha Zarkesh Caroline Baum Anousha Zarkesh recently won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award for Best Casting in Film for 'Shayda'. Photos supplied to Illawarra Flame "Chances are that if you have watched any Australian drama featuring First Nations actors, it was cast by Austinmer resident Anousha Zarkesh. Think of award-winning series like Total Control and Mystery Road: Anousha. Or films like The New Boy and High Ground: Anousha again. Over her many years as a casting director for film and television, Anousha has become known as the pioneer of diversity casting, discovering new talent everywhere from Arab communities to Aboriginal men and women from remote outback town camps. Children who have never performed for a camera before are her speciality. It’s work that requires a unique combination of skills: “You need to love actors and acting, be a good observer of human behaviour, have strong facilitating and communication skills and be a part-time amateur psych,” she says. It’s not a desk job. Every production takes Anousha on the road, which is how she likes it. “For Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy I visited three schools a day between Adelaide and Alice. The car is my office.” She treats every casting as an adventure, venturing out into deserts and isolated communities with relish. If it means camping, that’s fine. Using a helicopter because roads are closed? She’s up for it. Crocodiles? Just a work hazard. She never travels empty-handed. Having first gained permission from traditional owners, she arrives with basics, including fresh food and water, for places where these are in short supply. The welcome is not always warm: “It can feel edgy, but I have never felt unsafe.” Maybe her mixed heritage gives her an edge: her mother Carol owns Austinmer’s much-loved Mala Beads and her father was an Iranian political dissident. Anousha’s temperament is fiery, but she also knows how to wait, for hours if necessary, sitting under a tree, or yarning with a mob in the middle of nowhere, to earn the trust of amateurs and coax them into auditioning for her camera. Where once she used to watch for stand-out kids outside school playgrounds, now she is invited in to talk at assemblies about opportunities and careers on screen, having essentially created a professional path that did not exist. “In some communities where language may be an issue, I have a book that shows the story we are trying to tell. Often I’m demonstrating what I need, like spear throwing, and everyone is shrieking with laughter.” She stays in touch with many of the performers she discovers, finding them agents, giving informal advice. It’s 24/7 work, and has at times overwhelmed her life as the mother of two daughters, one of whom is now working alongside her, learning the biz, casting extras. Somehow, Anousha managed to fit in two years as vice-president of industry body Screen Illawarra. Her current production slate averages about 10 shows a year: “But it’s going up all the time. I don’t get the non-diverse gigs, and sometimes I wish I did, but there are no gaps in my schedule and these are the stories I want to tell.” (Source: Illawarra Flame, 10 April 2024)

   

Casting agencies vary in size but are usually quite small, comprising of the casting director and casting associate. A Casting Associate works side by side with the Casting Director to accomplish the task of casting roles for a film, television show, or other form of entertainment. A Casting Associate may assist with scouting for talent, evaluating casting choices, and managing auditions for various roles.

ANZSCO ID: 212399
   
Alternative names: CA,

Specialisations: Advertising, TV, Film, Theatre, Network, Studio, Radio Stations,

The role of a casting associate - arvold CONVERSATION
https://youtu.be/bk65B2iA4kM?si=ubjYjycZSDRGNKH1

 

Knowledge, skills and attributes
   
They must use their knowledge and contacts to find new, emerging and existing talent. They must have the ability to think creatively when it comes to casting a role in need of a particular skill set. They must participate in reviewing and discussing tapes and auditions, and planning and managing the scouting of appropriate talent.

• Good knowledge of the film landscape – of actors, their talents, work, background, industry profile and representatives.
• Knowledge of relevant industry software, casting platforms and resources, and contractual requirements.
• Great communication skills in working with a team and understanding what is required from casting of a production.
• Video editing, administrative and organisational skills.
• Knowledge and experience of the casting process and the ability to apply it to specific productions.
• Ability to take direction and to work on own initiative and solve problems creatively when required.

 

(Source: Medium)

Duties and Tasks

The Casting Associate works closely with the casting director to manage the huge task of casting multiple roles. They must assist at the pre-production stage with general scouting, searching for the right faces and actors and carrying out auditions to match the roles required.
   
When the CA’s office receives a script, the CA immediately break the script down by highlighting every character, who they are, and how large their role is. Then the CA pulls sides from the script. Sides are the scenes that will be used for the Actor to audition with. Those sides will be sent to the Producers for approval, and once approved, the CA puts together the audition packet.

So those audition packets can be mailed to the Actors with instructions on how to tape their auditions. A breakdown of their casting office’s needs will also be posted online so that Agents can view those needs and submit their acting clients for them.

Once the CA and his/her Casting Director receive those submissions, they’ll choose the Actors they want to audition. On average, the audition tapes will start coming in a week after the initial casting post.

At that point, the CA and his/her Casting Director will then watch each audition tape and make any notes the Casting Director believes will be of value to the Producers while watching the tapes. These notes, as well as the Actor’s photo and contact information, are sent to the Producers and Director with a link to all the auditions.

(Source: Project Casting)

Working conditions

On a typical day, they might wrap up at 6 p.m. But when there’s a deadline, the casting office will work until they meet it. And while the CA often does not have to work on weekends, they must always be available to the clients. So if there’s a last-minute casting need, weekend hours might be necessary.

CAs might also put their evenings towards seeing one of the Actors in action. If the CA's casting office receives an invitation to an Actor’s play or the screening of their film, it’s important that they attend to support that Actor.

In some cases, CAs might also head out of town for work. Their casting office occasionally holds on-location open calls, which means a call for anyone interested in acting to audition, to look at new talent. The CA might travel for these events two to three times a year.

A casting associate may actually be responsible for any or all of the activities that we usually assume a casting director does. The associate might be responsible for breaking down the script, marking up audition sides for use in the casting session, supervising the activities of the interns that work in the office, and spending huge amounts of time on the computer. This time is spent on Breakdown Services, IMDB, individual actors’ websites and other resources, looking at headshots, resumes, and demo reels. Rarely these days do casting associates (or any other member of the casting team) go through reams of random headshots, at least until the actual auditions are held.

Once the audition pool is in place, it’s often the casting associate that calls agents (and fields pitches from those agents) to schedule the actors they want to bring in for auditions. Casting associates are on the phone a lot, listening to agents, talking to the production teams of the shows on which they are working, getting availability on parts for which the producers ask for particular actors to play the roles and so on.

Casting associates are far more likely to be in the trenches daily – knowing how the episode or scene is shaping up, watching the development of the script, and, through seminars and workshops, meeting actors who they can pull out of the abyss of the unknown and place in the audition room – changing actors lives forever.

Did You Know? Jobs Related to Casting Director There are many jobs related to a casting director, many of which apply the same skills needed for this position. Dubbing Casting Director This is a popular role for those who have a passion for animation or productions shot in another language. They will help find actors that acheive the filmmaker’s vision for the production to find suitable actors for the speaking roles. Casting Director For Plays    Someone who works as a casting director for plays will not only need to be able to find the right performers for the roles requirements, but if there are musical numbers included, they need to audition for acting as well as vocal skills. Advertising Casting Director    Working as the casting director for advertising productions will mean you have to constantly be thinking about the next job. Advertisements are over much quicker, which means your potential work tenure will be shorter, and you’ll always need to be looking forward. (Source: Career HQ Casting Manager - Web Archive)

Tools and technologies

This job requires a large amount of time spent creating lists, organizing files and editing audition tapes, so someone who is comfortable with computers and has some editing software knowledge can do well in this position.

The person who most likely will succeed in a career as a Casting Associate is someone who doesn’t get flustered easily. The job can be stressful, so being able to stay calm and positive under pressure is important, especially when communicating with important colleagues like Agents and Managers.

Also, someone who has a strong work ethic and is highly organized will also do well in this position. For instance, a Casting Associate must be able to pull at a moment’s notice any Actor’s file, which means that they must be proactive in keeping that information available and up-to-date at all times.


Education and training/entrance requirements

There are no usual career paths for the Casting Associate, often they would have worked their way through the Casting Department. A qualification in Film Studies can be useful.

The position of Casting Associate is a mid-level role that requires experience and expertise to attain. If just starting out in casting, you will likely first take on the role of intern, Production Assistant, or perhaps Casting Assistant. With time and skillsets gained, as well as established relationships with others who can provide a Casting Associate job, you can make the leap to that position.

Because casting offices work hand in hand with talent agencies and management companies to help cast Actors for film and television, a CA recommends that someone looking to get into casting get a job with an agency or management company. As an Assistant, an aspiring Casting Associate will learn industry lingo, as well as how to communicate and interact with professionals who work in casting.

   

A casting assistant performs various support tasks to assist casting directors in selecting actors, models, and performers for fashion shows, commercials, film, television, and other productions. As work on casting a film usually lasts no longer than ten weeks, Casting Assistants must be continuously on the lookout for their next job, and should be prepared to work hard in this role for many years before they are offered the opportunity to become casting associates.

They participate in sorting through headshots and applications to come up with an initial list of talents, determining their availability, arranging meeting schedules, organizing auditions, and sending out materials for audition such as scripts or guidelines.

They are also in charge of welcoming and briefing talents and agents,
answering inquiries, filming the auditions, handling calls and correspondence post-audition, and running errands for the casting director as needed.


ANZSCO ID: N/A

Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Knowledge of the industry: have strong knowledge of and a passion for cinema or TV drama with the ability to recognise talent
• Knowledge of actors and networking: build up connections with actors and industry professionals, have an understanding of the art of acting and be aware of new and existing talent
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Video: operate video cameras in screen tests, use software to edit together clips
• Administrative skills: complete office and organisational tasks efficiently, have a professional phone and email manner for contacting actors and clients, anticipate what needs to be done next
• Communication: build a rapport with actors’ agents, communicate effectively with actors, directors and producers, work efficiently alongside the casting director and team to ensure the smooth-running of casting sessions
• Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment.
• Able to work independently and within a team
• Proactive and creative problem-solving.

 

(Source: NFI)

Duties and Tasks

Casting assistants offer general help with finding actors to star in a film or TV drama. They are generally employed as freelancers by casting directors, although they can also be hired on a permanent contract within busier casting offices.

They read the script and help the casting director draw up a list of possible actors for the main role. The casting assistant will call agents to check actors’ availability. They help out with screen tests, operating the camera and offering general support in casting sessions. They also assist with general office duties. They answer the phone and make tea and coffee. General office admin and excellent computer skills are also a large part of their job. This includes editing and uploading footage from casting sessions for the producer and director to watch.

Since COVID, actors send in self-tapes for casting. These are all kept and categorised by the Casting Assistant. The main thing is to see the actor clearly. The second thing would be to hear them clearly and the third would be to not have anything distracting in the background.

Casting assistants help compile a list of potential candidates for a position. A Casting Assistant will usually construct an electronic database to keep track of everything. They will keep track of each performer’s headshots, resumes, and agency information, among other things. After looking through the database, the Casting Assistant will contact the actors’ agencies to inquire about their availability.


Working conditions

Working in the film and TV industry requires a lot of hard work and dedication. As a casting assistant, you’ll need to be prepared to work long hours, often under tight deadlines. You may also need to work on weekends and holidays, depending on the production schedule.

Casting directors typically engage casting assistants as freelancers, though you can regularly hire casting assistants in bigger casting studios.


Tools and technologies

Technology plays an increasingly important role in the casting process. Casting websites, social media, and video conferencing tools are just a few examples of the technologies used in casting. Stay up-to-date with the latest tools and platforms to ensure that you’re using the most effective methods for finding and communicating with actors.

Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Docs, and Internet.

Proficiency in relevant social channels including Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat and YouTube as well as emerging channels

   
Education and training/entrance requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Theatre, Film, or related field.
Minimum of 2 years of experience in casting.

 

Related Jobs or Working with these Jobs

Actor	Archivist	Cinematographer	Composer
Dancer	Film & Video Producer	Music Director	Photographer
Prop & Scenery Maker	Radio Producer / Presenter	Set Designer	Stage Manager
Theatrical Costume Designer	Writer

 

Materials sourced from

WebArchive CareerHQ [Casting Manager; ]
MyJobSearch [Casting Director; ]
Indeed [Casting Director; ]
Screen Skills [Casting Director; Assistant Casting Director; ]
Careers in Film [Casting Director; Casting Assistant; Casting Associate; ]
Careers in Screen [Casting Associate; ]
Acting Answers [Casting Associate; ]
Backstage [New Technologies; ]
Zippia [Casting Assistant; ]
Yellowbrick [Casting Assistant; ]
Medium [Self Tapes; ]
Nashville Film Institute NFI [Casting Assistant; ]
Media-Match [Casting Assistant; ]
Your Career [ Other Directors; ]