A breakdown can feel like a trap and can limit choices before you have even started working the material. Read the breakdown, of course, but then approach the material unbiased by what the breakdown reads.
The breakdown is: Female. 22–28. Stunning, beautiful, and sexy as hell without trying. Girls want to be friends with her and she’s the type of girl guys would fight over.
Agents will tell their clients to make sure they go in really sexy—really hot. The irony is that most actors going in for the role are knockout beauties already. Add a short skirt and heels and it can be too much. I have had to remind actors that they are the breakdown, so to work harder to try and be more the part in terms of how their reps see it, won’t necessarily win the role. Ultimately, they have to feel amazing no matter what. I have had more actors book those kinds of roles in a simple tee shirt and jeans than those decked out in “sexy” attire. Sexy is whatever makes the actors feel that way.
A good friend of mine was casting a Jerry Bruckheimer-Michael Bay movie. At the time they were seeing actors and all of them came in dressed up and sexy, but there was one who came in with very little makeup, wearing a shapeless dress. She immediately commanded respect from the room because she conveyed that she was there to work. She did not get that job, but when she left the room everyone was taking about her acting and she was cast in their next film.
This is an extreme and I am not advocating to do that—especially as you are starting out and trying to break into the business. However I have booked four jobs because I showed up wearing what I wanted and looked different then all the other actors. This was not for the sake of being different; it was how I felt most comfortable as the character. It’s about knowing who you are and what you can bring to a role.
Lets say the breakdown reads something like, She is strong, intense, and tough. The only female in a male-dominated profession who can hold her own. If I go in with that kind of energy, I am going to be doing way too much. Naturally I convey a strength—it’s part of my essence. So I will go against the breakdown in that I’ll look for ways to soften her or tell someone off with a smile instead of with a raised voice if the script reads that way. Believe me, the performance won’t be any less intense.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is when you really do need to be aware of what the show calls for and a character breakdown. I had a young African-American actor with no credits come to me and ask that I put her on tape for a self-submission she wanted to send in. The role was for a lead in a Bruckheimer series. The breakdown was, Female. 20s. Blonde, beautiful, and sexy. So I told her that I couldn’t charge her or put her on tape because there was no shot in hell. Harsh, I know, but I’m not here to waste anyone’s time or resources. I’m the first to admit that I can be a dark horse in terms of casting, and I will help any client fight for a role. However, the choices we make should be grounded in reality.
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