Casting brief template

What this is about

Agencies answer the brief they receive, not the film in your head. Sympathisch, 30-50, authentisch returns four hundred profiles and none of them cast the role. Useful briefs describe the character through the scene: what the person does on camera, which skills that genuinely requires — held dialogue, driving, sport at a believable level — and what the engagement involves in dates, fee frame and usage scope. Naming the buyout now is not generosity; offers without it get renegotiated after the shortlist, at worse rates.

A template is the starting point, not the goal: once it has been filled in by hand twice, it is worth asking whether the document should come out of the plan instead.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• The role described through action and scene context rather than adjectives, because agencies cast tasks better than they cast moods
• Hard requirements separated from preferences — dialogue ability, driving license, physical skills — each one tied to a scene that needs it
• Dates for fitting, shoot and possible weather days, plus the fee frame and the usage scope down to media and duration
• Self-tape instructions with a short scene, framing and length requirements, and the submission deadline

Step by step

This order gets you there fastest:

1. Write the role from the scenes: what does this person do on camera, and what does that action demand for real.
2. Split must-haves from nice-to-haves and delete every requirement no scene can justify.
3. Fix dates, fee frame and usage scope with production before the brief leaves the house — these three cause the later friction.
4. Describe the self-tape task: a scene of the actual script, desired framing, maximum length, plain lighting.
5. Send to agencies with a realistic deadline, and answer questions in one shared thread so all searchers know the same.
6. Compare incoming suggestions against the brief, not against each other — the brief is the measure, drift starts when it stops being one.

Common pitfalls

What most often goes wrong in practice:

• Adjective briefs — warm, authentic, likeable — that describe every human and cast none
• The buyout surfacing only at the offer stage, when the favorite is chosen and the leverage is gone
• Skill requirements untested in the tape, discovered on set when the dialogue scene arrives

With TillyGen

TillyGen's plan shows which role works on which shooting days and in which scenes, so the brief states dates and scope from the schedule instead of estimating them.

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.