MFJF map · UK
Casting: the people and the process
Every film starts with a script full of people who do not exist yet, and casting finds the actors who will become them. The casting director has to satisfy a director with a picture in their head, a producer with a budget and a financier, the schedule, and the agents, who want the best deal and the best billing. Get it right and nobody notices. Get it wrong and the film has a problem no other department can fix.
The casting officeWho is in it, and who it serves
In the UK, casting is mostly done by small independent offices hired per production: a few desks, a lot of phones and a session room with a camera in it. The office is small, so the titles matter more, not less.
Breakdown to short listDevelopment and early prep
The casting director comes on early: on a feature sometimes in development, putting names to the leads so the financiers will commit; on a television drama as prep begins.
Avail checks and sessionsSeeing the actors
Before anyone is invited in, the office checks that the actor is free and interested. Then the room, or the self-tape.
Offers, deals and the handoverFrom choice to cast list
The director chooses. The CD calls the agent with an offer, and the negotiation begins: fee, dates, billing, travel.
Crowd, street, commercials and childrenThe same process at other speeds
Breakdown, submission, session, deal: the same systems, run faster, at higher volume, or with more rules.
Where you start, and where it leadsThe bottom rung
There is no trainee scheme that reliably turns out casting assistants, and no degree in it. Casting directors tell the same handful of stories about how they started.
