Casting director

What this is about

Every hold, callback and fitting is a promise made against dates that are not final yet. Each date that moves costs a round of goodwill with agents, and goodwill is the working capital of the department.

Every department needs the same plan in a different view. That is exactly where document collections fail: they only ever serve one perspective well.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Offers made against provisional shoot days turn into apologies the moment the schedule shifts
• Usage, territory and term belong in the casting brief, not in the negotiation after the choice is made
• Minors, animals and stunt doubles bring working-time rules that shape the day, not just the cast list

What the plan has to deliver

A production plan is useful to this role when it provides the following:

• Shoot days locked before options are turned into offers
• A speaking-role count that comes out of the script breakdown
• Usage, territory and term written down before the first self-tape brief
• Fitting and rehearsal slots that exist in the schedule, not only in the intention

Common pitfalls

What most often goes wrong in practice:

• Holding talent on dates the production has not committed to
• Casting a role the breakdown never counted, then looking for the fee afterwards

With TillyGen

TillyGen counts speaking roles out of the breakdown and pins them to shoot days, so you cast against dates the schedule already carries.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.