What Do the Recent Breakdowns Tell Us?

Things were different this pilot season. Very different. And if you caught my last blog, (a recent letter from James J. Jones, owner of The Premiere Talent Group) you have a good idea of why. It was all about star vehicles this year. But what about "types?" What kind of roles were casting this season? What age categories were hot? What types of characters? What kind of people were "in" this year?

Anyone who saw a list of the 70+ pilots that were casting probably recognized a few general trends. Comedies for the young 20's were hot this season. And so where African American shows (nice to see more shows that reflect Americas real demographics). And of course there were the perfunctory law and cop shows and a new slew of Sci Fi offerings. But, what I really care about as an actor, as well as a "Type Specialist" and "Image Consultant," is the roles. I want to know what the trends were according to "type." Maybe you do too.

Below is a list of recurring "descriptive" words that have appeared in the Breakdowns from the beginning of this year through today. They are listed by order of their appearance, the first word being the most commonly used descriptive word. In other words, if you take a look at the list, "star" was the most commonly used word in all of the Breakdowns this year so far. That's what they were looking for most. Duh!! Anyone who has lived through this pilot season probably could guess that (again, see my last post)! After the descriptive words list is a list of the most commonly used age categories.

Take a peak. See what trends emerge. What conclusions do you draw from this? I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts. Please leave your feedback below.

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Recurring Descriptive Words On Breakdowns

(January 2010 - Present)

star

him

female

SAG

caucasian

man

American (sometimes this was used in combination to form "African American")

very

union

ethnicities

good

guest

life

young

AFTRA

CA

lead

woman

episodic

girl

like

African

family

executive

regular

well

play

guy

pilot

work

go

school

wife

feature

love

mother

high

exec

now

little

real

strong

father

ethnicity

big

people

great

first

best

attractive

ASAP

friend

student

talent

scale

son

short

network

beautiful

hair

daughter

friends

boy

women

experience

comedy

revised

hispanic

world

home

supporting

local

team

never

much

house

around

smart

hard

recurring

handsome

men

husband

a name

kids

knows

older

asian

hot

middle

girls

dark

younger

body

Dr.

loves

cop

college

class

sister

reality

dad

city

parents

face

happy

true

kid

Spanish

right

brother

police

nudity

ex

law

cable

mom

tries

fun

game

case

child

willing

heart

really

sexy

professional

comfortable

small

tall

comedic

death

accent

murder

budget

model

girlfriend

married

single

eyes

pregnant

lost

center

party

drama

detective

dead

boyfriend

names

ethnic

doctor

former

skills

white

cute

secret

dance

sweet

confident

funny

characters

range

better

black

race

origin

hospital

children

baby

determined

personality

blonde

bad

beach

wedding

officer

cool

humor

career

musical

Recurring Ages On Breakdowns

(January 2010 - Present)

30

20

18

30s

20s

25

40's

40

50

15

12

22

16

7

35

17

19

50's

9

21

13

45

11

26

28

24

23

14

60

29

27

31

60's