Pre-Production
How to Write a Character Breakdown
Characters are vital to telling a story. They are the driving force behind the narrative, allowing the audience to experience a range of emotions. Iconic characters such as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars or the Joker in The Dark Knight are incredibly complex. Creating, developing, writing, and casting such characters for the screen can be difficult. For a smoother casting and writing process, filmmakers create a character breakdown.
What is a Character Breakdown?
A character breakdown is a production document that lists and describes each character seen in a film, TV show, or any other type of content. As mentioned above, it is a multi-faceted document used across multiple film departments. It serves both a creative and logistical purpose during the development and pre-production phase.
Typically, the character breakdowns are part of the casting breakdown document. The casting department uses a casting breakdown to hire and attach prospective actors. To facilitate a seamless casting experience, Assemble has created a Casting Breakdown Template that you can use to write each character breakdown and begin casting your film. This cloud-based document lets you easily collaborate in real-time and share the breakdown with casting directors or talent.
Why is a Character Breakdown Important?
A character breakdown is primarily used for the casting process. Usually, writers or directors create this breakdown to communicate the characters to the casting director, who will then use it to audition and cast the best actors for the role. In some cases, writers can also use the character breakdown during the writing process to help keep track of the characters.
Character breakdowns are a vital part of the casting call sent out to prospective actors. An effective character breakdown must clearly communicate the personality and traits of the character so actors can tailor their auditions accordingly. Big-budget Hollywood productions sometimes feature an ensemble cast with various primary and secondary characters. So, a comprehensive character breakdown also ensures that casting directors remain organized and efficient.
Finally, it is also an actor’s first point of contact with a project. Reading the character breakdown allows them to evaluate their interest in playing a particular role. So, your character breakdowns must make a strong first impression.
How do you structure a casting breakdown?
A casting breakdown consists of two sections.
Top section
The first section contains essential information about the production itself. This includes the following:
Production Type: Is it a feature film, music video, or commercial?
Company Name: What is the name of the production company?
Shooting Location: Where will the shooting take place?
Shooting Dates: what are the proposed shooting days?
Key Crew: List the names and contact information of key personnel, such as the director, producer, and casting director.
Casting Information: Where will the audition take place? Does the actor need to send in an audition tape? To which email should they send the audition tape, headshots, and resume? What is the compensation for the role?
Key Dates: List the dates for the audition, callbacks, and shooting period.
If you are working on a film or TV show, you can include a short synopsis and logline to give the reader added context about the project.
How to Write a Character Breakdown
The second section is the character breakdown itself. There are four key elements to writing character breakdowns:
Character Name: Note the character’s name as seen in the script.
Race/Gender: If mentioned in the script, highlight the race and gender of the character.
Age: Highlight an age range for the character.
Character Descriptions: Describe the character’s personality traits, notable physical traits, and other relevant information.
You can quickly identify the first three elements from the script. However, the fourth and most crucial element is the character description. You must balance your character descriptions by giving enough detail while being short and concise. Here are some pointers to get you started.
Physical Appearance
Describe what the character looks like, but try to limit the physical description to only features critical to the story. Don’t “pre-cast” your characters by describing what they should look like in the breakdown. Leaving this open to interpretation allows casting directors to cast a wide net. In turn, this allows a variety of actors to audition for the role regardless of their physical appearance, and you may discover someone with a unique approach to the role that you hadn’t initially considered.
Character Attributes
Think about the character’s role in the story. Is he the father in a family drama? Or a police officer in a thriller? List the character within the context of the world they live in. You must also mention the character’s personality traits and their relationship to any other characters. If you are working on a film or TV show, hint at the character’s development. It might also be beneficial to highlight any key plot points the character experiences throughout the film’s three act structure.
Balance is key when writing character breakdowns. Provide an overview of the character without giving away too much detail. The breakdown should be a sneak peek of what an actor or reader can expect from the script. It’s equally important to leave the characters open to interpretation so that the actors can display their own unique version of the character. This is a vital production document; it can make casting so much easier when done correctly. Assemble also has a variety of guides and templates to help you master the pre-production process.
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