What is a Casting Director — Job Description, Duties & Salary

Casting Director Definition

The role of the casting director

Casting Directors essentially bring actors and productions together. Casting Directors (sometimes called “Casting Agents”) read over the script then contact the actors who they believe will best inhabit each role, according to the Director’s vision. Before we get into the nitty gritty of the position, here's a definition and overview.

Cast Actors

What does a casting director do?

Casting Directors find the best actors to inhabit each role, according to the Director’s vision (and the Producer’s budget). But, as you can see from the list above, CDs do a whole lot more than that. Let’s break it all down.

The first thing a Casting Director does for a project is read the script. Good CD’s will make copious notes on each character, their arcs, and particular skills an actor might need. 

For example, if the story is a western, the CD might make a note of actors who can already ride a horse. If it’s an intense drama, there may be a lot of crying scenes; so it’s good to know who can cry on cue. 

Next the CD will meet with the Producer and Director to discuss the story and the budget. It’s important that the Casting Director not impose his or her own ideas about the story or the characters during the meeting.

The CD is there to get an understanding of the Director’s vision so he or she can help bring that vision to life.   

However, the budget will determine whether or not certain actors can even be considered. If the budget is too low, there will be actors who are immediately out of the running. 

On the other hand, Casting Directors also handle all the negotiations for actors, and manage their contracts once production begins. So once the CD knows the budget, he or she is free to try to get the actors the Director wants, even if those actors seem too far out of reach of the budget. 

For example, an expensive actor might agree to a salary within the budget as long as the Producer agrees to accommodations for the actor’s spouse and family during the shoot. The CD would negotiate those terms.  

On lower budget or indie productions, the CD will likely organize auditions for each role. Auditions still require a preference list of actors, but now each actor will need to perform for the Director (and probably the Producer).

Auditions can be a simple, short video that the Director watches later or they can be in person. It’s common for actors to submit themselves on video for the initial audition phase, then come to read in person during the callback phase. There can be as many callbacks as the Director needs to finalize casting.

During in-person auditions or even callbacks, an actor might read the part with other actors. Or that actor might even be asked to read for a different role than they originally came in for. However the auditions are conducted, the CD schedules all of it. 

And contrary to popular myth, Casting Directors want the actors to do well. So CD’s might try to help shape an actor’s performance a bit so it more aligns with the Director’s vision. Being able to take direction is a key aspect of whether or not a CD will send an actor’s audition tape on to be considered.   

Again, the CD will negotiate the deals with actors and generally function as the Human Resources department for all the actors on the production. Speaking of which, another important thing good CDs do is conduct background checks on anyone who gets offered a role.  

Become a Casting Director

How to become a casting director

There’s a certain skill set you need to have in order to be a successful Casting Director. Primarily, you need to be able to work equally well with both artists and budgets. 

You need to be able to understand the actor’s process while also knowing how to negotiate with producers and agents. In other words, you need to be able to comfortably straddle both the artistic and the business sides of the entertainment industry.

There are many ways to achieve this, not the least of which is taking an acting class or two. Acting classes help you understand the actor’s experience as an artist, which will in turn help you to guide them to a performance that will get them the role.

The more actors you get cast, the better your own reputation as a Casting Director will be. But the other side of that coin is the negotiating process. That means business classes, especially those emphasizing budgeting and the deals made in the entertainment industry.

You’ll also need to become familiar with union rates (i.e. Screen Actors Guild) and stay on top of any changes. And you’ll need to be able to do all of the necessary functions of the job with multiple projects simultaneously. 

Casting Assistants help the Casting Director stay organized and handle a lot of the day-to-day operations of the process. Being a CA is a great way to work up to becoming Casting Director. 

Case in point, here's CD Tara Rubin on her story about how she get into the business, starting as an assistant.