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The five words that unlock almost everything else.
You do not need to memorize a dictionary before your first audition. Learn these five and the emails will already make much more sense.
The notice describing the project and its roles.
You or your agent putting you forward for a role.
The script pages you are asked to perform.
Your short, direct-to-camera introduction.
An invitation to audition again after making the short list.
The three that need more than a definition
Three words a single line cannot answer.
Most of this page is definitions, and definitions are enough for most of it. These three are different. People arrive at each of them with a question underneath the word — so here are the real answers, at proper length.
The most searched word on this page
Actor, or actress?
What you are really asking: am I allowed to call myself an actor, and will anybody think it is odd if I do?
Call yourself an actor. It is correct for performers of every gender, it is what the industry itself uses, and nobody will blink.
The word actress entered English around 1660, borrowed from the French actrice, when women were first permitted on the English stage. It existed to mark an exception. The profession has since decided it does not need a separate word for half its members, and Backstage’s own guidance is that “actor” is the correct modern term regardless of gender.
Two performers put it better than any style guide.
“I have always referred to myself as an actor. I am of the generation where the word actress was used almost always in a pejorative sense.”
Cate Blanchett“An actress can only play a woman. I’m an actor — I can play anything.”
Whoopi GoldbergThe honest complication
The awards infrastructure has not followed. The Oscars, the Emmys, the Tonys and the SAG Awards still split their acting prizes into Actor and Actress. The Grammys, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Gotham Awards and the Berlin Film Festival — whose Silver Bear is now awarded for Best Leading Performance — have dropped the split. So “actress” is not an archaic word you can safely retire from the language; it is a live category name in the biggest rooms in the business.
For performers who are neither, that is a practical problem rather than a semantic one. Liv Hewson, ruled out of both categories, put it plainly: “There’s not a place for me in the acting categories.”
So what do you actually write?
Put Actor on your résumé, on your casting profile, in your email signature. It is never wrong and it never needs explaining. If actress is the word you use for yourself, that is yours to keep — plenty of working performers do, and no casting office will treat it as an error.
The one place it costs you something is searching. Breakdowns describe the character’s gender, not your job title, so hunting for “actress jobs” will hide most of the work from you. Search “actor” and read the role descriptions.
Write “actor” — it covers everyone, and it is the word the listings are written in. “Actress” is still perfectly acceptable if it is the word you choose for yourself.
The word in the email you just opened
Sides
What you are really asking: what is this file, why is it only four pages, and what am I supposed to do with it?
Sides are the pages of the script that casting has chosen for your audition — usually one to three scenes involving the role you are being seen for. They are not an excerpt somebody sent by mistake, and they are not a preview of a full script that arrives later. They are the whole of what you have been asked to perform.
Why you do not get the whole script
Two reasons, and neither is about you. An unreleased screenplay is a valuable, leakable asset, and most productions will not circulate one to everybody who submits. And nobody is going to assess a hundred and ten pages of your work. So you get the scenes that show whether you can play the part.
How long should they be?
For scripted drama self-tapes in the UK there is an actual written answer. The Code of Best Practice — agreed between the Casting Directors’ Guild, the Casting Prep and Media Association, Equity and the Personal Managers’ Association — says an actor should not be asked to prepare more than six pages. There is no equivalent hard cap in the United States, but one to five pages is the ordinary range, and a request far beyond that is worth querying with your agent.
How to read the page
Two practical things
Sides are usually confidential. Do not post them, do not put the scene on your reel, and do not discuss the plot in public — a leak is one of the few things that can genuinely follow an actor around.
And if a request says no sides — prepare a monologue, that is deliberate rather than an oversight. Somebody wants to see you choose material.
Sides are the specific pages you were asked to perform. Read the whole file — action lines included — then perform only your scene.
The notice, not the audition
Casting call
What you are really asking: what is this, am I eligible for it, and is it real?
A casting call is a job notice. A production announcing that it needs performers, describing the roles, and saying how to be considered. It is the advertisement. The audition is a later step that only some of the people who respond will ever reach.
Three words get used as though they were interchangeable, and they are three different steps: the casting call is the notice, your submission is the application, and the audition is the assessed performance. A breakdown is the same information written for agents rather than for the public.
Am I eligible?
Read the notice, not the label on it. Sources genuinely disagree about whether “casting call” implies open to anyone or restricted to invited and represented actors, which means the phrase itself will not tell you. The notice will: it states the union status, whether it accepts direct submissions, and any age, location or experience requirement. If it says none of that, it is usually open.
What a complete notice contains
Is it real?
Be careful with this, because it is the question that actually matters and the one nobody can answer for you at scale. We aggregate public casting listings on this site; we do not vet the productions behind them, and our casting standards page says so in those words rather than pretending otherwise.
What can be said flatly is where the line sits. You never pay to be considered for a role. Not a registration fee, not a processing fee, not a compulsory headshot session, not a wardrobe deposit, not a mandatory paid workshop. A notice that asks for money to submit, for your bank details, or for photographs you would not send a stranger is one to close. And if a role involves nudity, partial nudity or intimate contact, that belongs in the notice before you submit — not in a conversation afterwards.
What we check and what we cannot check →
A casting call is the advertisement. Reading it properly — union status, rate, usage, route, deadline — is the first piece of audition technique, and it happens before you ever pick up a camera.
A reassurance, before the list
Nobody is born fluent in this.
Every actor who now uses these words without thinking once sat exactly where you are, reading an email full of them and hoping the meaning would become obvious from context.
You do not need the whole list today. You need the word in front of you. That is what the search box is for.
A quick reassurance
Some professionals use the same word differently.
That is not your fault, and it is not a small thing. Below are four questions where working professionals disagree in public — with names attached, so you can see it is real rather than take our word for it.
Do you have to be off-book?
YesThe Casting Directors’ Guild guide says off-book is always best, and Actors Access recommends memorizing because it looks more professional.
Not requiredThe SAG-AFTRA 2023 agreement says memorization cannot be required on union work, and you may not be stopped from holding your sides.
Both are true at the same time. One is a right; the other is a preference.
Should you slate at all?
Only if askedJust Add Milk, a UK casting office: if you are not asked for an ident, do not do one. Via Backstage, slating uninvited is called a rookie mistake.
ExpectedSpotlight treats the ident as a standard part of a tape.
Where does the slate go?
BeginningThe CDG shot sequence and most young-performer guidance put it first.
EndCasting director Caroline Liem puts it last.
NeitherA SAG-AFTRA casting panel suggests sending it as a separate file — some offices strip slates out, others reuse them as extra audition material.
Do you need a reader, and who pays?
Helpful, not requiredThe UK Code of Best Practice: a reader is beneficial but should not be an absolute requirement — and actors are not expected to pay for one.
Anyone will doCasting director Krista Husar: it is fine if they sound stiff or are not a professional.
Nobody at allPuro Casting: if there is genuinely no one, leave the gaps.
The rule that keeps you safe
Use this glossary to understand the conversation. When an actual casting request gives you specific instructions, follow the request—even when the general definition sounds different.
The part nobody warns you about
Half this vocabulary changes at the Atlantic.
If you learned self-taping from American videos and then audition for a British casting office, you are working from a different rulebook — and nothing will tell you so. Here is the same job, in two languages.
The complete glossary
Follow the actor's journey—or search above.
Getting seen
6 termsActor also: actress
A person who performs a role. “Actor” is the standard term for performers of every gender; “actress” remains perfectly acceptable when it is the word that person chooses for herself.
The full answer, including why the awards still split them →
Casting call
The announcement that a production is looking for performers. It is the job notice — the audition comes later.
Sources genuinely disagree about whether a “casting call” is open to anyone or only to invited and represented actors, so read the notice rather than the label. The full answer, including how to tell a real one →
Breakdown
The role-by-role description of a project circulated to agents and casting platforms.
It normally includes character descriptions, dates, location, pay or union information, and submission instructions.
Submission
You or your agent sending your materials in response to a breakdown or casting call.
A submission may lead to an audition, but it is not an audition yet.
Open call also: cattle call
An audition open to performers without a personal invitation. “Cattle call” is the older, less flattering informal term.
Is it worth going? Sometimes, and the honest answer depends on what you are trading. An open call is the one door that does not require an agent, and people are genuinely cast from them. What it costs is a day: expect a long wait, a very short slot, and a lot of other actors. Go if you plausibly meet the stated requirements and it is a project you would actually accept. Bring your own printed headshot and résumé — assume nothing will be printed for you.
Type and: typecasting
Your type is the range of roles you naturally read as. Typecasting means repeatedly being hired—or confined—to that same narrow range.
The people
5 termsCasting director CD
The professional hired to find actors and recommend choices for roles.
Casting directors have enormous influence, but producers, directors, studios and networks may make the final hiring decision.
CSA Casting Society
A professional organization for casting directors. The letters “CSA” after a name indicate membership; it is not a performers' union.
CDG Casting Directors' Guild
The UK professional body for casting directors and a co-author of the UK self-tape Code of Best Practice.
Equity two different unions
In the UK, Equity is the union for performers across stage and screen. In the US, Actors’ Equity Association covers stage only — screen work belongs to SAG-AFTRA.
So “I’m Equity” means something quite different depending on which country the person is standing in.
Reader
The off-camera person who says the other character's lines so you have someone to listen and respond to.
A reader does not need to perform brilliantly. They need to be clear, steady and quieter than you.
Do I have to pay for one? The UK Code of Best Practice says in plain words that actors are not expected to pay for readers. There is no equivalent written rule in the US, but the same logic holds — a reader is a convenience for the casting office as much as for you. See the four professionals disagreeing about readers further up this page, and if nobody is available at eleven at night, our scene partner reader will say the other lines back to you.
The invitation
6 termsAudition
The assessed performance—in a room, on a video call or through a self-tape.
Pre-read
An early audition seen by the casting office before your work is passed to the director, producers or other decision-makers.
Sides
The selected script pages — usually a scene or two — that casting asks you to perform instead of sending the entire screenplay.
Cold read
Performing material with very little preparation, sometimes after receiving it only minutes earlier.
Self-tape
A filmed audition recorded outside the casting office, most often at home.
Eco Cast
The Actors Access system used to receive and return many US self-tape requests.
Confirm the audition before trying to upload. Once submitted, a response may lock, so review it carefully first.
The platforms
4 termsActors Access
The actor-facing platform from Breakdown Services, widely used for US film and television submissions.
Casting Networks
A casting platform widely used for commercial, film and television opportunities.
Spotlight
A major UK casting platform through which professional performers are submitted for roles.
Backstage
A casting platform and entertainment-industry publication; its casting system shares infrastructure with Mandy and StarNow.
Making the tape
9 termsSlate UK: ident
Your short introduction directly to camera—usually your name, role and whatever else the casting office requested. You slate as yourself, not as the character.
In the UK the same thing is called an ident, and the Casting Directors’ Guild version also asks for your nationality and whether you hold a valid passport. See the comparison above.
Off-book
Knowing the lines well enough to perform without reading them from the page.
Being off-book is useful, but some union self-tape rules protect an actor's right to hold sides or use a prompting device.
Framing long shot · mid shot · medium close-up
How much of your body appears in the picture. A long shot is usually head to toe; a mid shot is around waist-up; a medium close-up is roughly chest-up.
Key light
Your main and brightest light, usually placed slightly to one side of the camera.
Fill light
A softer light on the opposite side, used to reduce the shadows created by the key light.
Color temperature
The warm or cool appearance of light, measured in Kelvin. Matching your light sources keeps skin tone from looking uneven.
Lavalier microphone lav
A small microphone clipped to clothing near the collar.
Shotgun microphone
A directional microphone aimed toward the actor, designed to favor sound in front of it.
Backdrop
The surface behind you. For most self-tapes it should be plain, uncluttered and different enough from your clothing that you do not disappear into it.
After you send it
6 termsCallback
An invitation to audition again after casting wants to see more. It may be in person, online or another self-tape.
Producer session “going to producers”
A later audition for people with the authority to hire you, often including producers and the director.
Chemistry read chemistry test · mix-and-match
A callback that pairs possible cast members to see how their relationship reads together.
Screen test network test
A later filmed audition, sometimes with wardrobe, hair or makeup and sometimes after deal terms are being discussed.
Avail pin · first refusal · hold
Words indicating serious interest and a request to keep dates open—but usually not a booking.
A formal commercial hold can carry contractual consequences. Ask your agent exactly what status you are under and whether you are free to accept conflicting work.
Booked out UK
Telling your agent that you are unavailable during a specific period.
When it goes right
4 termsBooked
You have been offered the job. The contract and final arrangements follow.
Day player co-star · guest star · series regular
Terms describing the size, billing or contractual structure of television and film work. A day player is generally hired by the day; co-star and guest star are credit categories; a series regular is contracted across a season.
Conflict commercial
An exclusivity restriction that may prevent you from advertising a competing product during a defined period.
Taft-Hartley
The US process that allows a union-signatory production to hire a performer who is not yet a union member and report that employment to SAG-AFTRA.
One last translation
“Pinned” does not mean booked.
Avail, pin and first refusal all mean the production is interested and may want you to keep dates open. They are encouraging—but they are not an offer.
“Am I free to accept another job on those dates?”The useful question to ask your agent
You will stop needing this page.
Not because you memorized it. Because the words will turn up often enough, in enough real emails, that one day you will read a casting request straight through without stopping — and only notice afterwards that you did.
Until then, the search box is at the top and it is not going anywhere.
The complete 17-chapter guide