Excellent! Very reassuring and good to know. Will definitely be signing up for wkshps with them then, thanks Truth.

People get the breakdowns a number of ways. Most of them are sent in a large PDF file to an email address either very late at night or the morning after. You have to scroll through allll the breakdowns. Most won't apply to you.

They get them from Agents or Managers (Casting Directors don't have access to see the breakdowns) who copy them all down into a PDF profile. They charge anywhere from 10 to 50 bucks a month to get these daily to actors. Most actors split them with other actors.

How it benefits them is that education is knowledge. It's easy to get the number or address of the casting office. If a role is right, many actors will find the sides on showfax and put an audition on tape. It actually works for some people. It works best for actors that do a lot of workshops and who have representation. You can remind your agent or manager that you know a certain casting person and there's a role right for you and it's an easy pitch. This is the main reason actors pay for the breakdowns. To know which CDs they have relationships with are casting something relevant for their type.

Many actors have gotten auditions and bookings with this information.

How to get them? Ask other actors. Someone knows. It's illegal by the way. The Breakdowns owner will fully prosecute any person caught selling or copying the breakdowns. This means the agent or manager and the person selling them. He's not really going after all the actors. Shoot I know actors who have logins to the breakdowns. You intern at an agency, you're bound to stumble across a Breakdowns password.

On another topic of actors starting fake management companies. They do that. They also form legitimate ones and even talent agencies. Who forms the most management companies? Mothers of child actors. There is a prominent workshop group that has formed their own "agency" recently. So they have access to the casting directors and direct access to the breakdowns. But then, they also see a lot of actors, so this could make them good agents.

Let's be real. Half of the people working in the entertainment industry started as actors or have a theater degree. Don't get angry at actors for hustling.

Hell I know actors that work for Breakdowns and LA Casting. Now Casting was started by actors. I know actors that are casting directors. Who won the Oscar for best director? An actor.

As you go further in the business things become very gray. The important question is whether the person can do the job.

So the moral is: you can get the information about an audition, you can get the audition, but are you good enough to book it? Get good at acting before you do all this other stuff. Most actors aren't good enough. And unfortunately, there are too many good actors who won't do any of this stuff and will never be seen.

Holy crap!

TheCreativeBusiness has just posted what is almost certainly the single most informed, informative, and flat out best bit of intel ever to grace this forum, if not this entire website.

It is true from top to bottom, but pay particular attention to the last bit, the "moral" of the story.

Very interesting. Guess you gotta do what you gotta do...