Some coordinators will make a distinction between crew lists and contact lists,{{1}} some don’t, but everyone treats cast lists as something separate and special. With very good reason, too.
They Really Are Different
Far be it from me to say that celebrities have more difficult lives than the average person. That’s probably not my place to judge. However, their lives tend to be more complicated. As Jack Nicholson once said, “The average celebrity meets, in one year, ten times the amount of people that the average person meets in his entire life.”
And what’s especially bizarre is, those people they’re meeting for “the first time” have probably “known” them for a while. It’s called a “parasocial relationship.” You’ve seen celebrities do TV interviews, heard them shoot shit on podcasts, read about them on gossip sites, and after a while, you start to feel like you know them.
Of course, you don’t know them. And as someone who works in the entertainment industry, you know those interview questions are vetted in advance, the stories they tell have been rehearsed, and that blind item you read may not have even been about them at all. And yet, anyone can get caught up in it and make the cast feel a little uncomfortable by being too familiar with them.
Give ‘Em Space
Although it’s super weird, people have definitely gotten phone numbers off call sheets and crew lists in order to hit on someone.{{2}} I can only imagine the amount of unwanted texts a handsome up-and-comer or a pretty young starlet would get if their number was generally available. Not to mention the sheer number of unsolicited scripts and business deals they’d be flooded with.
This won’t be an issue just for those who are currently famous, either. You never know which unknown day player will suddenly explode in notoriety when they get cast as the next big superhero.
So, we in the production office create a cast list that’s separate from the crew list. It’ll have the same information you’d expect on the crew, like phone number and email, but you’ll also sometimes include things like their agents’ and managers’ numbers. For thorough productions, you might be asked include a picture of each cast member, their size information (for wardrobe), and their number on the call sheet.
This last part can be tricky on TV shows. You might have cast lists for individual episodes, as well as a master cast list for the entire season. Your regular cast are for sure going to be the same 1-7 numbers every episode, but not every AD remembers recurring characters’ numbers from episode to episode, especially if they go missing for a few weeks. And day players? Forget it.{{3}}
You’ll be given specific instructions as to who gets the cast list(s), but as a general rule of thumb, I can say you’ll need to give them to: the line producer, the UPM, the 1st AD(s), the writers’ office, wardrobe, hair, make-up, accounting, and casting departments.{{4}} You’ll also probably send copies to the production executive’s assistant at the network.
Be Careful
Basically, the only people who’ll have access to these numbers are a few department heads, and you, the lowest head on the totem pole. That means you have to be extra, extra careful not to accidentally put a cast list in the wrong hands. If someone’s number gets posted online or something and they start getting harassed, guess who’ll be blamed?
[[1]]It’s hairsplitting, if you ask me, and much more clear if you say “crew list” and “vendor list,” anyway.[[1]]
[[2]]Try dating apps instead, please.[[2]]
[[3]]That’s not entirely true. I worked with one assistant director who kept a running tally of every single actor on the series. Late in the season, we had a big guest star who was listed as number 117 or something. He wasn’t upset, but he was kinda baffled until the AD explained we were on episode 20, and five or six guest characters per episode wasn’t crazy.[[3]]
[[4]]Depending on the show, casting may be the ones making all of these cast lists, and it’s just your job to distribute them.[[4]]
