Casting Your Film | Yale College Arts 3/9/21, 5)26 AM

Casting Your Film

What is a casting call?

A casting call is where you assemble the actors needed to portray your
cast of characters. It is where you find who fits each role best, and which
set of actors work well together.

Preparation

Creating a Character Breakdown

A character breakdown is the list of all the roles in your film that have
speaking parts and ample screen time. A breakdown does not include any
characters who are moving in the background of the scene and do not
interact with other characterʼs beyond simple gestures or greetings (i.e.
extras). In other words: what are the essential roles needed to create your
story?

The breakdown is organized as follows:

C. The characterʼs full name

D. The commitment level of the role* (i.e. lead, supporting, cameo)
F. The characterʼs age*
G. Basic personality & physical traits
J. Relationship to other characters in the story
L. General Story arc

The final breakdown should contain no more than 3-5 sentences on each
character. Below is an example:

Eric Lombard: Lead. 20ʼs. American. Athletic. Confident and suave. A

former college football player recently dumped by his longtime girlfriend in
Florence, he tries to get his life together and ends up being a key player in
the violent local game of Calcio Storico. He has an affair with Stefania.

Creating Sides

Now that you have your list of characters-to-cast, you should create short
snippets of dialogue and action from the script for each character, called a
side. Sides should be parts of scene that are the most dramatic, or reveal
the most about a characterʼs personality or conflict. They should allow you

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to see how the actor could potentially play the role. As a general rule, do
not make your sides more than 3 pages long. They should be short,
important moments. Sides do not have to be monologues, but also try
choosing sides that have less than 3 characters in a scene (3 or more: save
those for callbacks). Below is an example side:

Schedule your Casting Call Days

General Planning

Your audition materials have been assembled. Now itʼs time to hold the
auditions! For casting calls, it is essential for the director, and producer to
be present. Occasionally, if the director is not also the screenwriter, the
screenwriter should be extended the invitation to sit in on the casting call
and to have input.

In general, your team should plan to hold 1-2 days of auditions and 1-2 days

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of callbacks. Auditions and callbacks should fall on the same week and
preferably should be one after the other.

Decide how long you want your auditions to be. For most, a 10 minute block
for each actor is sufficient. Your team should also establish how many
actors they would potentially like to see, and how long they want to be in
auditions each day. For example, a team that sits for 4 hours with 10 minute
intervals can see 24 actors in that period. This all depends on the size of
your cast.

Where to hold your casting call

Avoid holding casting calls in your dorm room. The best places to hold
casting calls are large seminar rooms, dance studios, or rehearsal spaces.
There are several resources to help you secure a location:

For Performance and Rehearsal spaces:

Undergraduate Production manages gallery, performance, and rehearsal

spaces in all of the residential colleges, as well as the Off-Broadway Theater
and the Theater and Performance Studies black box, Co-Op High School
Theater, and ECA Arts Hall. Consult their venue pages to determine the
appropriate location for the type and scale of your production and contact
them directly to reserve.

For Classroom Spaces:

The Yale Film Alliance: yalefilmalliance@gmail.com

Bulldog Productions: bulldogproductions.yale@gmail.com

Reservations should be made at least one week in advance.

Post and Publicize Your Casting Call

One of the hardest/most important parts of the casting process is getting

the word out about your upcoming production. Below are several ways to do
so:

Using the Auditions Page

We encourage you to post your auditions on the Auditions page, where you
will be able to upload your character breakdowns, sides, audition time, and
locations.

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Film Organization Newsletters

The best way to reach out to students interested in acting in film is to have
your auditions appear on this website. Additionally, you may want to request
that your audition be included in a film groupʼs newsletter. Contact the
following groups with a request to have your audition included in an
upcoming newsletter.

The Yale Film Alliance – Newsletter goes out every Thursday or when
there is reportable content.

The newsletter is a general film newsletter and a combination of The Yale

Film Society, Bulldog Productions, and Project Lens newsletter lists.

Bulldog Productions — Weekly newsletter that goes out every

Wednesday. Preference is given to BP Films and affiliated films, but the
newsletter does list other student film opportunities. Send requests for
promoting casting calls by the previous Monday. Please note that BP Films
and affiliates are automatically promoted by the organization.

Facebook (and other Social Media)

Another way to reach out to potential actors is by creating a Facebook

Event. Create a Facebook event entitled “Audition for [insert film title]” and
invite as many of your friends as possible. While itʼs not an accurate way to
track audition sign ups, itʼs good for spreading the word.

Your team should also be posting on their walls and in relevant groups
about the casting opportunity.

Word of Mouth

Lastly, your team should also be emailing people they know and are friends
with to see if they might be interested in auditioning. This can be especially
useful if you know a particular role might be of interest to a particular
person. However, do not spam, and do not offer someone a part without
having them first go through the audition process.

Auditions

Sign-In Form for Actors

It is important that you have a printed sign-in form at your audition for each
actor to fill out. The form should contain:
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Full Name
Class Year
Residential College
Part(s) they are auditioning for/are considering
Potential scheduling conflicts
Availability for callbacks (from a pre-determined date your team has agreed
upon)
A funny question to break the ice

Set Up (Checklist)

Email all the actors who are auditioning that day with a reminder email about
location.
Attending production team members should arrive 15 minutes early to the
location to prep space.
Make sure you have extra—printed—copies of the sides for each character
for both the production team and those who will be auditioning
Make sure actorʼs have filled out the form mentioned above completely
It is recommended that you bring a camera to film auditions for later review.
Designate people on the production team who are not the director to be
readers; that is, they will read the extra parts the actor is not auditioning
with.

During the Audition (Checklist)

Introduce the actor to the team currently present

Ask what role they will be auditioning for
Ask if they have any questions
Have each actor read twice
Once without direction
Once with notes from the director
Definitely take small notes, but make sure you are watching the
performance.
Ask if they have any questions about the filming process or potential
schedule

Callbacks

Post Auditions and notifying actors

Congrats! You have seen many people and are starting to get an idea of
what your cast might look like.

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Before moving on to scheduling callbacks, take some time with your

production team to review auditions you liked, disliked, and whom you want
to see again. From those lists, identify the people who you want to callback
and others who you know are not a good fit. Email the people who are not
making it to the next round and let them know. Tip: never say you canʼt
offer a part, say that you cannot offer a principal role. You might have a
need for extras in the film, and until casting call is over, you donʼt know if
you might need them! Always be courteous, and always thank them for
their time.

Arranging Callbacks

As with auditions, you should have locations and time frame already
decided and ready to go.

In callbacks, not only do you want to see actors do roles again, you want to
test their chemistry with other potential cast-mates. Therefore, callbacks
should be done in groups. Find a time that works for all the people you
need to see. If necessary, split into two groups, making sure that all of the
roles are covered in each group, or as best as possible. Callbacks with
groups tend to run from 30 minutes to an hour, but no more than 90
minutes (this also depends on the size of the cast).

Email actors with callback times and location, and make sure they confirm.

The production should also be using a different selection of sides for the
callbacks (This is where those 3 or more character scenes come in handy).
No need to send it to those auditioning, they will read them at the callbacks.

At the Callbacks

Make sure, as always, to have extra copies of your sides.

Internally, the director should have an idea of which combinations of actors

they would like to see. The director will then see each group, and then
selectively swap roles with actors. Every actor should have the chance to
speak at least twice for the role(s) they are auditioning for.

Keep callbacks light and relaxed. You should be looking to see how people
work with others and how they build off of each other. Sometimes having
actors read for opposite roles for fun is a good way to break the ice or
alleviate tension.

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Callbacks should also be recorded, and keep the notes to a minimum.

Deliberations

You have seen everyone, you have been blown away by their talent, and
now itʼs time to make your casting decisions!

Making Your Decisions

This should happen as soon after callbacks as possible, so that the

performances are fresh in your mind. Look over the videos, the notes, and
keep these evaluators in mind:

Did the actor portray the character the way you envisioned?
Did the actor bring something different to the performance that you liked?
What did the actor do that you didnʼt like?
What would they need to work on?
What made the performance interesting for an audience?
What is there appeal?
Did they take direction well?
Does the actor fit the physical characteristics wanted for the role?***
How did the actor interact with other members of the potential cast?
Is there good chemistry?
What are their other conflicts? Would they be a problem?

Having worked through those questions, assemble your Top Choice Cast.
You should be prepared to not get all of your top choices. Therefore, have
2-3 backups for each role you are casting, if possible. If it comes to it, donʼt
be afraid to consider people you liked, but didnʼt decide to callback.

Note: Top choices shouldnʼt be backups for other roles

Making Calls

Calls should happen as soon after callbacks as possible.

Always call people to whom you are offering a part. It is helpful while doing
this to keep a running tab of who says yes, who needs time to think, and
who is going pass. Color-coding the names of actors with those three
notifications is a good way to stay organized.

If they say ‘yesʼ: Congrats! Mark them as green and consider that role cast.

If they say ‘maybeʼ: You must give them time to think about it. If they are
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hearing back for other roles, ask them when that might happen and ask
them to follow up with you then. This of course means you should follow up
with them, once they get all their casting decisions. A general rule-of-
thumb for wait time is 24-48 hours.

If they say ‘noʼ: Thank them for their time. Call up your next choice for the
role and start the calling process over.

Post-Casting

Congrats! You have an official cast for your film and are one step closer to
getting it made!

First things first: Be sure to email the other actors you called back and let
them know you are unable to offer them a part. Always leave the possibility
to be an extra on the table, as well as the possibility of helping out on crew.

Also, be sure to announce your cast on the Yale Film Alliance webpage for
your film!

For any further questions on how to cast a film, please email us at

yalefilmalliance@gmail.com

Happy Filming!

Written by:
Travis Gonzalez (TCʼ16)

* Lead= in most, if not all, scenes: the story revolves around them;
Supporting = in most scenes. Helps build on leadʼs story; Cameo= least
amount scenes. Could be important but has the least amount of screen
time.

* This should be done so that the age is a range. When putting down ages,
keep in mind your actorʼs might not be that age, but must be able to
playwithin that range.

*** For student film, it is suggested that you be incredibly flexible when
using physical traits as part of a deciding factor.

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