Sides

Sides are excerpted script pages serving one of two functions. In casting, sides are the audition scenes — two to eight pages chosen to test the role's range — distributed to actors ahead of a casting call. On set, sides are the mini-booklet of just today's scenes, printed small and carried in every crew member's back pocket.

Casting sides are a craft object worth a writer's attention. Casting directors choose scenes that expose the role: a scene of conflict, a scene of vulnerability, ideally self-contained enough to play without three pages of setup. If your script contains no such scene for a major role — no moment where the character's want and voice are legible in isolation — that's a note about the writing, not the casting. Strong, castable scenes are part of what makes a script packageable.

For actors, sides etiquette is standardized enough to be invisible: received through the breakdown platforms, prepared overnight, performed with pages in hand (memorization signals preparation; the pages signal it's a working session, not a finished performance).

Productions posting roles through our casting board attach sides directly to the call — and writers can pressure-test whether their scenes work in isolation with a scored read.