Guide
How to break down audition sides
You usually get sides the night before a self-tape is due. A breakdown turns a few pages of dialogue into choices you can actually play on camera. Here is the order casting coaches teach.
Read it once for the story, once for your character
Your first read is for plot: who wants what, and what changes by the end. On the second read, follow only your character. Note what they say about themselves, what others say about them, and what they avoid saying.
Name the objective and the obstacle
An objective is what your character needs from the other person in this scene, phrased as an action: "to get her to stay" plays better than "to be sad". The obstacle is whatever is in the way. Most of your energy on tape comes from pushing against that obstacle.
Mark the beats and the tactics
A beat changes when the tactic changes. Draw a line in the sides each time your character tries something new: charm, guilt, threat, retreat. Three or four clear shifts give a reader-driven self-tape shape and variety.
Build the moment before
Casting decides in the first few seconds. Know exactly what happened ten seconds before the first line, so you walk into frame already mid-thought instead of starting from neutral.
Questions actors ask
- How long should a script breakdown take?
- For two to five pages of sides, twenty to forty minutes is typical. Spend most of it on objective, obstacle and beats instead of memorising first.
- Can I upload my sides as a PDF?
- Yes. The Script Breakdown tool reads PDF and Word files in your browser. The file itself never leaves your device; only the extracted text is analysed.
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