A casting director's product is a short list. For a role with four lines in Scene 23, it might be three actors on tape by Thursday. For the lead, it can be months of meetings, chemistry reads, and offers that go out and come back.
How a role gets cast
The sequence below is typical for a union feature or series:
- Read and break down the script. The casting director lists every speaking role with age range, a short character description, scene count, and estimated work days. That becomes the casting breakdown released to agents and managers.
- Pull and pre-read. Agents submit clients. The office reviews submissions and self-tapes and brings in actors for pre-reads with the casting director or associate.
- Producer and director sessions. The strongest actors come back to read for the director and producers, in the room or over video.
- Callbacks and chemistry reads. For leads and pairs, actors read together.
- Approvals. On studio and network projects, choices for series regulars and leads go up for approval, and TV actors may sign a test option deal before the final network read.
- Offer and negotiation. The casting director calls the agent with the offer: rate, number of guaranteed days or episodes, billing, pay or play terms, and any favored nations clause.
- Paperwork. Deal terms go into a cast deal memo, and production sends contracts and start paperwork.
The day out of days matters here. If a day player works only Day 6 and Day 14 of the schedule, the offer has to reflect two work days, or a drop-and-pickup if the agreement allows it, and the actor has to be available on both. Casting and the 2nd AD compare notes constantly once offers go out.
A session day
For an episode of a one-hour series with nine guest roles:
| Time | What's happening |
|---|---|
| 9:00 AM | Casting director reviews overnight self-tapes and flags picks for the producers |
| 10:00 AM | Pre-reads for "DET. ALVAREZ," 12 actors in 15-minute slots, associate runs the camera |
| 12:30 PM | Lunch, calls with two agents about availability for next week's shoot dates |
| 1:30 PM | Producer session: top three for each of four roles, director on video |
| 4:00 PM | Send links and notes to the showrunner and studio |
| 5:30 PM | Offers go out for the two roles that were approved |
| 6:30 PM | Agent counters on one offer; casting director checks budget with the line producer |
On episodic TV that cycle repeats every eight or so days, and the next episode's script is often still being rewritten while the current one casts.
Union terms under the Teamsters agreement
Freelance casting directors hired in Los Angeles County or New York City for AMPTP studio features, prime-time television, and high-budget SVOD programs are covered by the 2024 Casting Directors Agreement with Teamsters Locals 399 and 817. Casting directors are engaged on an "on call" basis.
Feature film casting director salaries are subject to individual negotiation. Television has minimums:
| Television assignment | From 9/28/25 | From 10/4/26 |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot, first episode, or first part of a mini-series | $7,280/week | $7,535/week |
| Same, children's programming | $6,084/week | $6,297/week |
| Later episodes or parts | $4,680/week | $4,844/week |
Two provisions come up often in budgeting. If a team of two or more casting directors works a covered project, the team as a unit gets not less than the minimum in aggregate. And the weekly rate is prorated at one-fifth per day for partial weeks, so a pilot casting director booked for three days at the 2025 rate earns at least 3 x ($7,280 / 5) = $4,368.
The agreement also sets associate casting director and casting assistant minimums; see the casting associate page.
Working with the rest of production
Casting reports to the producers and works daily with the director. The line producer sets the cast budget, and casting stays inside it. The 2nd AD needs actor availability and contact info to build the schedule and the call sheet. For productions signatory to SAG-AFTRA, casting also keeps track of whether an actor is a member and when a nonmember hire triggers a Taft-Hartley report. The 2026 to 2030 SAG-AFTRA theatrical day performer minimum is $1,283 from July 1, 2026, which is the number every day player offer starts from.
When minors are cast, the office also handles the minor work permit questions early; our guide to working with minors on set covers the scheduling side.
How people become casting directors
Nearly every casting director started as a casting assistant, running the camera and the sign-in sheet in sessions, then moved up to associate and eventually their own office. The job rewards a long memory for actors: who was great in a small play three years ago, who self-tapes well, who is funny off-script. Many casting directors also belong to the Casting Society, which is why "CSA" appears after names in credits.
Tools
Casting offices live in submission platforms, self-tape links, and spreadsheets of availability, offers, and counters. In Storiara, characters and extras are pulled directly from the script, and once actors are assigned to characters, call sheets know which actors are needed based on the scenes scheduled that day.