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A production department

Casting

The casting office: who is in it and what each of them does

Casting takes a script and turns it into a signed cast: breakdowns, submissions, sessions, avail checks and deal memos. The office is small, so the titles matter more, not less, because there is nobody to hide behind.

A casting director is hired by the producer and works to the director, usually coming on early in prep, talking to agents and running the auditions the director sits in on or watches on tape. Around them is an office of two or three people who run the sessions, the sheets and the tapes. It is a department that lives between the productions that hire it and the agents who supply it, and discretion is the whole job: an office that leaks who is up for a part is finished.

  1. Casting director (CD)

  2. Casting associate

  3. Casting assistantEntry-level job

  4. The reader

  5. Crowd and street castingEntry-level job

Drawn from MFJF's own Foundations course Casting Assistant (From script to signed cast; Who is in the office, and what you actually do all day; The industry around the casting office) and How to Become a Director (how the casting director works with the director). The words are My First Job In Film's. © My First Job In Film 2026.

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Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Casting Assistant. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: Casting AssistantTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. The career planner: Casting AssistantWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  7. The career guide: Casting AssistantThe job, the day, the way in and the pay, in one guide.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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