for Casting Directors Revised: November 21, 2016

Contents GETTING STARTED .................................................. 2

PREFERENCES 2 General Preferences ......................................... 2 Change Password ............................................. 3 Logo .................................................................. 4

REVIEWING SUBMISSIONS ..................................... 6 BREAKDOWN SUMMARY PAGE 7

Submissions Grid .............................................. 8 Filters / Actions Sidebar .................................. 10

CREATING AUDITIONS .......................................... 13 TODAY’S SCHEDULE 18 REVIEWING YOUR SESSION 20

Working Schedule ........................................... 21 Available Talent .............................................. 23

VIEW CALENDAR AND VIEW UNFINISHED PAGES 26 View Calendar ................................................ 26 View Unfinished .............................................. 27

CREATING CALLBACK SESSIONS 27 USING CMAIL........................................................ 29

MANAGING MESSAGES 30 Viewing messages & replies ........................... 30 Moving and deleting messages ...................... 32

SENDING CMAIL IN SUBMISSIONS 32 To multiple actors ........................................... 33 To a single actor ............................................. 34

SENDING CMAIL FROM A FINISHED SCHEDULE 35 CONTACT US ......................................................... 37

Getting Started

Welcome to Breakdown Express, the first choice for Casting Directors since 1971. With these pages as your guide, you can use Breakdown Express to review your submissions, select and schedule actors for auditions, and learn how you use your Cmail.

Log in to Breakdown Express

Start by logging in to www.breakdownexpress.com.

Your login name and password are supplied by Breakdown Services. If you can’t remember one or the other, click Forgot your password? on the sign-in screen, or give us a call (page 37).

Preferences

Your Preferences are located under the “profile” drop-down menu on the right. The page is divided into three main areas:

• General Preferences • Change Password • Logo

General Preferences

Scheduling Change Notification

When this box is checked you will be sent an email notifying you when an actor or their representative has requested a time change for a schedule you sent out. This is turned on by default, so if you do not wish to receive those emails, uncheck this box.

Scrollable Schedule When this box is checked, the “Working Schedule” and “Available Talent” columns on your “Review Schedule” page (see page 19) will be contained within two independent scrollable panes. Uncheck this to view that screen in one scrollable window. In other words, both columns will scroll together.

Role submission sort default

Breakdown Services recommends viewing submissions in the default “random” order so that each actor is considered on their own merits, rather than give preferential treatment to certain agencies or speed of submission. However, if you prefer to always view your submissions alphabetically or by submission time, you can change that here.

Eco Cast External Link Display

By default, the Eco Cast presentations that you send to your producer, director or client will show the actors by role. If you want it to display by group or by actor, choose that option from the drop-down menu.

For more information on Eco Cast, please see the tutorial titled Using Eco Cast for Casting Directors.

Cmail Notifications You can decide whether or not you want to be notified by regular email about waiting Cmail messages. Check this box to receive an email every time a Cmail arrives in your inbox.

Default Schedule View When viewing your upcoming audition schedules, you can choose to view them in a calendar, or in a text list. Choose your preference here.

Default Schedule Calendar View

When viewing your upcoming auditions in a calendar view, you can choose to view the current day, the current week, or the current month. Change this option here to set your preferred default view.

Click here to save your changes to the above preferences.

Change Password

To change the password you use to log into Breakdown Express enter your current password, then enter a new password twice, and click Change Your Password.

Logo

You can include your company logo on your account. Then, anytime you send or print something from your account like your audition schedule (page 13) or an Eco Cast, your logo will be included, branding the page for your company.

If you have already uploaded a logo, it will be displayed here.

Click Manage Logo to upload or change your logo.

1. Click Browse to choose the file from your computer 2. Click Upload 3. Once the upload is complete, confirm the image is correct and click

Continue 4. Use the provided tools to crop or adjust the uploaded image.

Use the arrows or drag-and-drop the image to frame up the thumbnail.

Zoom Click and drag this slider to zoom in and out of the image.

Rotate Click and drag this slider to rotate the image if needed.

Click here to reset your changes back to the defaults.

Click here to back up and upload a different image.

Click here to preview your cropped logo in the window on the right.

Click here to lock in the current logo displaying in the window on the right.

5. Your logo has now been added to your account.

Click here to remove the current logo without needing to replace it with a new one.

Reviewing Submissions

Current Breakdowns When you first log in, the list of your current projects is displayed.

Options For easy access to some of the most used features, click the gear wheel icon to the right of a Breakdown to see the following options:

Click here to link to your existing auditions for this Breakdown.

Click here to start a new audition session for your selected actors in this Breakdown.

Click here to start a new callback session for the scheduled actors in the Breakdown that you have marked for callback.

Click this button to archive this Breakdown. This will stop submissions on this project. To bring it back to Current Breakdowns, click the unarchive button.

Select a project Click on the title of a project to open the Breakdown summary page.

Breakdown Summary Page

On this page, you can see all the roles for this project and the number of submissions you have received for each role.

Note: If the project you have posted is classified as a “Memo”, you will only be able to view it and print it as there are no digital submissions associated with Memos.

The columns of numbers organize submissions into those you’ve viewed, selected, and scheduled. These numbers update automatically as you make your selections, schedule auditions, and so on.

Click here to view and print your Breakdown in a format that matches how it is seen by the actors and talent representatives who are submitting on it.

Click here to start a new audition session for your selected actors in this Breakdown.

Click here to start a new callback session for the scheduled actors in the Breakdown that you have marked for callback.

This feature allows you to print hard copies of your selected submissions for all roles in this Breakdown.

This feature allows you to email digital copies of your selected submissions for all roles in this Breakdown to your producer, director, or any other collaborators.

After adding submissions to your message queue (page 32), you can click here to send them all the same Cmail message.

If you no longer wish to send a group Cmail message, click here to empty your message queue.

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Click this button to archive this Breakdown. This will stop submissions on this project. To bring it back to Current Breakdowns, click the Unarchive Project button.

Review Submissions To review the submissions you haven’t seen yet, click on the number in the Unviewed column for a role.

Submissions Grid

This page shows a grid of actor’s photos; click on any photo to enlarge it. Click any of these icons for more details:

Resume Click here to view the actor’s resume. (If the resume is scanned, click Download Scanned Resume.)

Photos Click here to view any additional photos.

Performance Media

Click here to view any available video or audio clips. Click expand view to watch the video in a larger player.

SlateShot Click here, if available, to view the actor’s SlateShot. A SlateShot is a 7-second video that plays back directly over their picture, allowing them to slate their name and show how they look on camera.

Size Cards If the actor or talent rep has included the size card in this submission, you can view it by clicking any of the icons above and then choosing the Size Card tab.

Click Print to print a hard copy of this actor’s size card.

You can also click the actor's name to view their "one-page resume" which contains their pictures, resume and videos all on one screen.

Note: To see other submissions categories for this role, click one of the buttons at the top of the page.

Cmail Click this envelope icon to mark this actor as someone you want to send a Cmail message to. See page 33 for more information on using the Cmail Message Queue.

Scheduled If this link appears, it indicates that this actor has been scheduled for an audition time. Click it to jump straight to that schedule.

Submitter Details Click this icon to quickly view the name of the specific agent who submitted this actor, and their phone number and email if it is available.

Move/Copy This tool allows you to move or copy an actor to another role if you feel they are better suited in a different one. Just choose the new role from the drop-down menu, choose a number to select them with, and click Save.

The drop-down menu will always indicate the role this actor was originally submitted for with an asterisk (*) and any roles in which that actor has already been submitted will be grayed out.

Margin notes Click this icon to view, edit, or add private notes about this actor.

If the icon is a black pencil, than you have no notes on that actor yet. If it is white pencil with a red box, than you have saved notes there.

Click Add Date if you want to include a date stamp. When you’re finished, click Save Changes.

These notes will be saved with the actor and available to you every time they submit to one of your projects.

Select actors

Below each picture are buttons numbered 1 through 6. You can use these numbers to prioritize or group your selections.

Click a number to select the actor. You can use these numbers any way you like, but you must choose one for each actor you want to consider. You may select as many actors as you wish under each number.

When you finish selecting actors on a page of submissions, click Mark These Actors Viewed at the bottom of the screen. All actors you have not selected will be moved to “viewed” and the next page of actors opens.

After viewing all of your submissions, or at any time in this process, click the project title in the top left corner to return to the main submissions page.

Filters / Actions Sidebar

No matter what group of submissions you are viewing (unviewed, viewed, selected, scheduled, etc.), the column along the left of the page allows you to filter your submissions by a variety of options and take action on your selected submissions.

Each section in this sidebar can be collapsed or expanded as needed by clicking the triangle icon to the left of the heading.

If you don’t need these options and functions right now and would prefer to view an extra column of submission, click here to collapse and hide this sidebar.

To bring it back, click the button.

Filters

Name Type in an actor’s name to quickly find them.

Zip Code Radius Chose a mile radius and enter a US Zip Code or Canadian Postal Code. Your submissions will be filtered by that geographic radius allowing you to view submissions from only a specific area.

Filter by Agency Choose an Agency or Management Company from the drop-down list to view submissions for this role from only that company.

Filter by Union Status

Choose a union from this drop-down menu to only view the actors who are members of that union.

Media Check the box to filter out submissions that did not include Performance Media.

Selection Number

When viewing “Selected” submissions only, you have the option to uncheck certain select numbers to not display those selected submissions.

Group Results by Selection Number

When viewing “Selected” submissions only, you may check this box to have your selects grouped by number, but sorted how you choose within that group. (i.e. all 1’s, followed by all 2’s, etc.)

Sort Change the order that the submissions display. The default is Random, but you can also sort Alphabetically by last name or by Submission Time.

You can also change your default sort order in your preferences (page 2)

Click here to reload the page with your chosen filters active. Click Clear to reset all the filters to their default.

Actions on Selected

After you have selected some actors for this role, these options will become available under the Selected section of the sidebar.

Select All Unviewed Actors

While viewing your “Unviewed” submissions, click this button to quickly mark everyone as a specific select number.

Schedule Selected

When viewing “Not Scheduled” submissions, click this button to jump right to the new schedule creation screen (page 13) with this role pre-selected.

Print Selected This button allows you to produce a hard-copy printout of the profiles of your selected actors.

Forward Selected This button will email a link to any address you enter, allowing them to view the actors profiles online. They do not need your login information to view these links.

Cmail Message Queue

After you have clicked the envelope icon to mark one or more actors as someone you want to send a Cmail message to, click the Message button in this section of the sidebar. Or click Clear Queue to remove the chosen actors from the queue without sending them a message.

See page 33 for more information on sending Cmail messages.

Click here to view a window reminding you of what the icons on this page mean.

Creating Auditions

When you have made your selections, it’s time to schedule them into a casting session.

On the main submissions page, open the Schedules menu and select Create Audition or click the button with the same label.

Date and Time First, choose the day of your audition from the pop-up calendar or type it in.

Then, enter the start and end times for your audition day. If you leave the end time blank, the day will end when all selected actors are scheduled.

Time Slots Leave the Room as “Room 1” unless you need to overlap this casting session with an already existing one. Actors will not see the room number you choose.

Then, choose how you want to schedule your actors. Depending on what you select, the next choices will change. To see an example of each method, click the icon next to that option.

Randomly from selected role(s)

This option will randomize all selects for the roles you choose and place them in available time slots.

Enter in the number of talent you want in each time slot and the length of each time slot. Could be 1 actor every 10 minutes or 3 every 15 for example.

Then check off the role(s) and select number(s) you want to be automatically populated. The numbers on the right will change to indicate how many of each role will be given times.

To set aside time when actors will NOT get scheduled, check the box to Include Breaks. Then, below where you select the roles, you can add as many breaks as you need, at whatever durations you wish.

Read Together (Multiple Roles)

This option will allow you to put more than one role into each time slot in order to have characters read together in the audition. For example, you could have 1 Mom, 1 Dad, and 1 Kid in each time slot to be able to audition them as a family.

Enter in the number of talent you want of each role in each time slot and the length of each time slot.

Then check off the roles and select number(s) you want to be automatically populated. The numbers on the right will change to indicate how many of each role will be given times.

To set aside time when actors will NOT get scheduled, check the box to Include Breaks. Then, below where you select the roles, you can add as many breaks as you need, at whatever durations you wish.

Grouped by selected role(s) throughout the day

This option lets you set up blocks of time for separate roles and insert optional breaks between each block.

Enter the number of talent you want in each time slot and the length of each time slot. Then check off the roles you want included. You will be able to restrict each role by select number on the next screen. Then click Continue.

You are now given a number of additional options to arrange this schedule how you would like it. Each role is given a block of time sufficient to see all the actors you have selected for that role. When you run out of time in the day, each role that follows will be indicated as “Role will not fit”.

Change Role Order

Use this four-way arrow icon to drag the roles into a different order

Add Break Drag the “Add Break” icon from the top left into any spot in the order of roles to add a 1 hr long break. You can then expand out the options for the break to make it longer or shorter.

Start Time Each role’s start time is listed. This is determined exclusively by the end time of the previous role

End Time The end time for each role is listed. This is dynamic and will change when you change criteria for that role such as number of talent per time slot and which select numbers to include. You can also manually set an end time for each role.

Edit role Click the triangle on the left of each role or break to expand out the customization options.

Here you can uncheck certain select numbers, change the number of talent to schedule into each time slot, or manually assign an end time for this role. Click Update Schedule to have your changes be reflected.

Note: At this point, no actors have yet been scheduled. This simply gives you a representation of how the day will be arranged so you can adjust it as needed before actually assigning times to specific actors.

None (will create a blank schedule)

When creating a Blank Schedule, the system will not assign times to anyone, allowing you to do so yourself. So it is not necessary to choose roles or number of talent per time slot.

Simply enter the length of time you want each time slot to be.

Once you have entered all of your criteria for the session, click Create Schedule.

Today’s Schedule

This page displays a summary of all casting sessions you have created for that day. You can print out the day’s schedule, delete a time slot, and perform several other tasks on this page.

Modify Schedule The right-hand column provides a variety of features to modify your session.

Click here to add auto-schedule an additional role to the existing session. Actors will be added simultaneously into the existing groups, allowing you to set up reading partners between multiple roles.

Click here to remove this session. This cannot be done after you have sent the schedule notification.

Add Time Slots Choose a new start or end time from the drop-down menu to add groups on the front or end of the existing session. Then click Add Time.

Move Schedule Enter in a new date, start time and/or room and click Save New Date / Time to move the entire session. If you had already notified the actors of that session you will need to send the schedule again.

Click Review Schedule to view your working schedule and make sure everything is how you want it.

Once you have the schedule arranged the way you would like it: 1. Click Create Notification. 2. When the Cmail form appears, fill in any relevant information. Be

sure to include the audition location address. 3. Check the box to Allow Notes from Recipients to allow the actors and

reps to send back notes when they confirm the audition. No matter what you choose, they will always be required to send notes when they decline or request time changes.

4. When you’re ready, click Send Message.

Agents and Managers will receive a schedule for their clients only. They do not have access to the entire schedule.

To print your schedule/session sheet for the entire day:

1. Click Print Schedule. If you have multiple sessions scheduled for the day, you can choose a specific session or the entire day to print. The printable schedule opens in a new pop-up window.

• Use the options on the top right to customize how the schedule displays. The default display is by time (merging all rooms or sessions onto one list), check “Display by session” to break up sessions with header bars. (This option is only available when printing your entire day of auditions.)

• Check off “Show Previously Scheduled” to include a section at the bottom of the report displaying the actors who could not make the audition with the notes as to why.

• If some talent reps have confirmed their clients by phone or another non-Breakdown Services method, you can click the checkbox next to each actor’s name, and then click Confirm Checked Actors.

• Click the Print Schedule link to send the schedule to your local printer. You can also export this schedule into an editable form so you can customize it further by clicking Export to Spreadsheet (the actors' photos will not export but the rest of the data will).

Reviewing your Session

Click Review Schedule to see the following:

Once you have the schedule arranged the way you would like it:

1. Click Create Notification. 2. When the Cmail form appears, fill in any relevant information. Be

sure to include the audition location address. 3. Check the box to Allow Notes from Recipients to allow the actors and

reps to send back notes when they confirm the audition. No matter what you choose, they will always be required to send notes when they decline or request time changes.

4. When you’re ready, click Send Message.

Agents and Managers will receive a schedule for their clients only. They do not have access to the entire schedule.

After sending the initial schedule notification, you can use this button to send a follow-up Cmail message to all or some of the actors in this schedule. See page 35 for more details on that feature.

To print your schedule/session sheet for just this session:

Click Print Session. Breakdown opens a preview window ready to print. • Use the options on the top right to customize how the schedule

displays. Check off “Show Previously Scheduled” to include a section at the bottom of the report displaying the actors who could not make the audition with the notes as to why.

• If some talent reps have confirmed their clients by phone or another non-Breakdown Services method, you can click the checkbox next to each actor’s name, and then click Confirm Checked Actors.

• Click the Print Schedule link to send the schedule to your local printer. You can also export this schedule into an editable form so you can customize it further by clicking Export to Spreadsheet (the actors' photos will not export but the rest of the data will).

Working Schedule

The left hand column displays the current schedule with actor’s names, roles, and time slots.

Show Pictures To see the actor’s pictures in the schedule, click the Show Pictures check box.

Remove groups of actors

These buttons at the top of the Working Schedule will remove multiple actors from the schedule all at once.

Click this button to remove all scheduled actors from this session. If the session has been sent, you will be prompted to notify the actors and talent representatives to let them know their times have been cancelled.

Click this button to remove all the scheduled actors for a specific role from this session.

These buttons work very similarly, but only affect the actors scheduled in a particular time slot.

Click this button to remove all the scheduled actors in this time slot.

Click this button to remove all the scheduled actors for this role from this time slot.

Move or remove individual actors

To move an actor to a different place in the session: 1. Click the Move button under the actor’s contact information. 2. Select another time slot from the drop-down list.

To move an actor to a different session or a different day: 1. Click the Move button under the actor’s contact information. 2. Select Another Schedule from the drop-down list. 3. Choose the new session. 4. Choose a time slot from the drop-down list.

To remove an actor from the session, or just set them aside for a moment: 1. Click the Move button. 2. Select Unschedule this Actor. This moves the actor’s entry to the

Available Talent column.

If you choose Unselect this Actor from the drop-down menu, they will be completely removed from the available talent and your list of selects.

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Use the Add Notes or Edit Notes buttons under each actor to put private notes on them. These are not seen by the actor or representative, but can optionally be included when you print your session sheet.

Review responses

Once the actors and agents have had a chance to respond, their responses will display to the right of each actor.

Each actor who has replied is marked Confirmed, Unavailable to Audition, or Requesting Reschedule.

Any notes the actor or rep has provided will display in the box below their name.

You can now make changes to the schedule, as necessary.

Note: If you would like to respond back to an individual actor without moving them to a different time, see page 34.

Use the Change Status button to manually change an actor’s confirmation status. So if the agent confirms their client verbally or tells you they can no longer make it, you can use this feature to mark them as such.

Click here to indicate this actor as someone you wish to call back. The button will turn blue to indicate that they have been marked as such. Click the button again to change the color back if you decide to not call them back. See page 27 for more on creating a callback session.

Available Talent

The right hand column displays anyone you had selected for that role who hasn’t yet been scheduled.

Filter Available Talent Expand the filters at the top of the list to more easily find a specific actor to then move them into the working schedule.

Show Use the options here to view only actors who were previously scheduled in a time slot and notified, or the actors who have not yet been scheduled at all.

Role Use this drop-down to filter the available talent by role.

Selects Uncheck the number here to hide actors who are selected as that number.

Agency Use this drop-down to filter the available talent by agency.

Name Type an actor’s name or part of their name to find them in the available talent quickly.

Click Reset Filters to show all available talent once again.

Add Custom Actors Sometimes you are planning to see someone in your casting session whom was not submitted and/or is not in the database of actors. You can add them as a Custom Actor so they can be placed into time slots as place-holders.

1. Click the arrow to expand the section titled “Create Custom Actor”.

2. Enter the actor’s name in the First, Middle, and Last Name fields. 3. Use the Description field to enter contact information or other details

about this actor. 4. Click Add Custom Actor

Your Custom Actor will now appear under the “Custom Actor Listing” section of the Available Talent.

Edit or Remove Custom Actors

Use the provided buttons under each Custom Actor to edit them.

If you need to fix spelling or update the description of a custom actor, just click the Edit button.

If you no longer need this Custom Actor, click the Delete button to remove them from the available talent.

Click here to upload a photo from another source so when you print your session you’ll have a photo for this custom-added actor.

1. Click Browse and choose the photo from your computer

2. Click Upload and wait for the file to upload and process

3. Click Continue 4. Rotate the full-size printable version of

the photo, if needed. Then click Apply Changes, followed by Continue.

5. Use the provided tools to choose the thumbnail for this photo. Then click Apply Changes, followed by Continue.

Schedule Available Talent

To move an actor, including a Custom Actor, from the available talent into a time slot in the session:

1. Click the Move button under the actor’s contact information. 2. When adding a Custom Actor to a time slot, you will need to choose a

role for them from the drop-down list. 3. Select a time slot from the drop-down list.

When you have finished making adjustments, click the Update Notification button at the top to send the Cmail to notify the actors of the changes. Only the actors whose auditions times have changed will be notified.

View Calendar and View Unfinished Pages

When working with a number of schedules broken out among multiple Breakdowns, it can be challenging to keep track of the status of each of those sessions. The “View Calendar” and “View Unfinished” pages can help keep you organized.

To access these pages, go to the “Schedules” menu from the home page.

View Calendar

The Calendar page will list all schedules that you have created in a visual month, week, or day view. You can specify how you like your calendar to display in your preferences (page 2). Regular auditions will display in a green box, while callback sessions will be blue.

Click the left and right arrows flanking the displayed date to navigate to earlier or later periods of time.

Click a schedule block to jump to that schedule.

Click List View at the top right to see all up-coming audition sessions in a text-only list, grouped by Breakdown title. If you would like this to be your default display, you can make that change in your preferences (page 2).

Search Schedules Expand the Search Schedules options to easily find the session and time a specific actor is scheduled in.

Just type their name or a partial name, or search by agency name or role name, and click Search. Only the sessions with actors scheduled that match your chosen criteria will display in a list below.

View Unfinished

The View Unfinished page will list any schedules that you have created or modified, and not yet sent to the actors or talent reps, sorted by date. Click a listed date to jump to the audition sessions scheduled for that day.

Creating Callback Sessions

Breakdown Express keeps track of which actors have been scheduled so you don’t have to. This way, actors will not get double-scheduled.

However, the Callback system will allow you override that and schedule actors multiple times.

Mark actors for Callback First, you need to indicate which actors you want to call back. 1. Click into the Breakdown and go to the “Schedules” menu and choose

“View Existing”, or access the existing schedules via the Calendar (page 26).

2. Click into the day where the actor is currently scheduled or use the search to find them.

3. Click Review Schedule for the session they are scheduled in. 4. Find the actor in the “Working Schedule” on the left 5. Click under that actor. The button will turn blue to indicate

that they have been marked for callback. Click the button again to change the color back if you decide to not call them back.

Create the Callback session

Go to the “Schedules” menu and choose “Create Callback”.

The options for creating your callback session are identical to creating a regular audition schedule (page 13Error! Bookmark not defined.), except that the available talent will be pulled from the actors you have marked for callback.

Review and Revise the Callback session

Just like regular audition schedules, click Review Schedule to see the times your called-back actors have been scheduled for.

If you have additional actors marked for call back who are not yet in a callback schedule, they will be listed in the “Available Talent” on the right.

Adding unscheduled actors to a Callback session

If you have actors who you have NOT seen yet, but want to include them with actors you are calling back, you can do that under “Available Talent”.

Uncheck the box that reads “Show callbacks only” and all selected talent who have not yet been scheduled will appear in the Available Talent. Click Move to add them to a time slot.

Send the Callback session

Just like a regular audition schedule, click to enter the address and instructions to the actors and notify them of their callback.

Using Cmail

Cmail is an internal messaging system designed expressly for users of Breakdown Express. Since it is not part of your regular e-mail program—although it is similar—it never collects spam.

What does it do? Cmail lets you instantly notify actors and their representation of audition schedules and changes. You can even communicate with the agent or actor while you are viewing submissions. Best of all, your messages never get lost in the maze of everyday e-mail.

When you send a message or audition notification to actors or their representation, they see an on-screen alert as soon as they log in to their respective Actors Access or Breakdown Express accounts. And if you receive a reply to a message you sent, you will get an on-screen alert if you are logged in.

How does it work? You can get to your Cmail from anywhere on Breakdown Express. Just click the Cmail icon at the top right. A red bubble tells you how many unread messages you have waiting at any time.

My Folders

Cmail comes with these default folders:

My Messages All the Cmail messages you’ve sent or received. The number in the bubble shows how many new, unread messages are waiting.

Trash All the messages you have deleted (see page 30). Messages are held in the Trash for 7 days before being permanently deleted.

Drafts Messages you have marked Save for Later.

These all function the same as in any web-based e-mail system.

Creating a New Folder You can create as many folders as necessary to organize the Cmail you want to keep.

1. Click the at the top left. 2. Enter a name, and click OK.

Custom folders appear in alphabetical order below the Drafts folder.

Managing Messages

The My Messages folder displays new messages in two groups:

• System messages from Breakdown Services. • Your sent messages with their associated replies from agents,

managers, and actors. (You will never receive un-solicited messages from actors or their representation.)

System Messages System messages, if any, always appear before private ones, but they are hidden behind an expandable section.

You must open a system message before you can do anything else with it, such as move it to Trash. You can’t delete it without opening it.

Allow Replies This column to the left of each sent message shows if you are currently accepting replies from the recipients. Click the toggle to switch replies on or off. A green switch means you are allowing replies, while a white switch means replies are turned off.

Replies Column The Replies column shows how many replies a message has received. Click any message’s subject to open it and see the replies.

Viewing messages & replies

Reviewing sent messages

Click a message title to open it. The text of the message you sent will display below the header information.

Header Information This section shows you basic information like when the message was sent and to whom. Additionally, there are some buttons and options here:

Click this toggle to switch replies on or off for this message. A green switch means you are allowing replies, while a white switch means replies are turned off.

Click here to see a list of the actors this message is regarding

This button allows you to send a new message to everyone who got this message. This is a great way to send follow-ups or notices when the provided information has changed.

Click here to send this message to your trash folder. Keep in mind actors will not be able to reply to messages in your trash.

Reading Replies Any replies a message has received are listed below the original text. Any that you have not opened are shown in bold. Click the subject of the reply to read the message.

Click here to reply to this message. 1. This opens a Cmail message with the original sender’s name in the

“To:” line, and the complete original text in the body of the message. You can keep or delete as much as you like.

2. If you want an answer, leave Allow all recipients to reply checked. 3. Click Send Message to send the Cmail.

– or – Click Save Draft to move that message to your Drafts folder.

Note: You cannot send your reply to anyone except the original sender.

Click Delete to move this reply to your trash.

If you want to ensure that someone else in the office sees this reply, click Mark Unread to make this reply “unread” so the next person to open the Cmail will see it as if it had just arrived.

Moving and deleting messages

Moving Messages You will probably want to file your messages into topic-related folders to keep them organized. To do this:

1. Click the check box next to any messages you want to move. You can also click the top checkbox in the title bar to select all messages on that page at once.

2. In the “Move checked To” drop-down menu, select a folder. The messages are automatically moved to the selected folder.

Deleting a Message To delete a message from a folder: 1. Open the folder. 2. Check the box next to the message you want to delete. 3. In the “Move checked To” drop-down menu, select “Trash”.

Deleting a folder

To delete a folder: 1. Click on the name in the My Folders list.

2. When it opens, click in the top right.

If the folder has items stored in it, they will all be deleted along with the folder. To avoid this, make sure to move any messages you want to keep into another folder before deleting the original one.

Trash Deleted messages are kept in the trash folder for 7 days and then permanently deleted. To retrieve messages from Trash before that time:

1. Click Trash to open the folder. 2. Select any messages. 3. Select a folder name from the “Move checked To” drop-down menu.

Sending Cmail in Submissions

Any time you initiate a new Cmail message, there are a few fields you can control:

Subject In some cases a subject is entered for you, but you can always type something else if you choose.

Message Type the body of your message.

Allow all recipients to reply

Clear the checkbox if you do not want to receive replies. Leave it checked if you do. If you change your mind after sending the message see page 30.

When you’re ready, Click Send Message to send the Cmail. – or – Click Save Draft to move that message to your Drafts folder.

To multiple actors

Viewing submissions

When you’re viewing submissions, you’ll notice that every photo includes a Cmail button .

1. Click the envelope to add the actor’s name to a queue for a group mailing. The button turns blue to show it has been selected. If you change your mind, click the icon again to remove them from the queue.

2. Choose as few or as many actors as you need.

Cmail Message Queue

3. Click the Message button in this section of the sidebar. 4. Choose a template to determine the type of message you want to

send.

Basic Message Like a standard e-mail with a subject line and body.

Size Card Request

Size Card Request automatically fills in the subject line. You can still type a note in the body of the message.

The recipient will be able to attach their size card, if available, directly from the Cmail message to their original submission. You will get a reply in return, telling you the size card has been added.

Addresses Since Cmail is handled entirely within the system, you do not need to enter email addresses or anything else. Breakdown Services will ensure the message gets to the proper person.

Finish When you’re ready, click Send Message to send the Cmail. – or – Click Save Draft to move that message to your Drafts folder.

The actors in the queue will be saved until you click Clear Message Queue on the Submissions page, or until the message is sent.

To a single actor

To send a message to a single actor, you can use the message queue as described above, or:

1. Click the resume icon under the actor’s picture to open their resume in a new window

2. Click the button at the top right. 3. Select a template and continue (just like for Multiple Actors, page 33)

to send that actor a message or video request. 4. When you’re ready, click Send Message to send the Cmail.

– or – Click Save Draft to move that message to your Drafts folder.

Sending Cmail from a Finished Schedule

When you have finished a schedule, you may want to send an additional follow-up message to the actors and agents involved.

1. Open the schedule. 2. On the time slot you want to send a message to, click Review

Schedule. 3. When the schedule appears, click the Compose Cmail button at the

top right.

4. OPTIONAL STEP – If you want to only send this message to a sub-

group of actors in this session, click the Select Recipients button just below the subject line. Expand each role to choose specific roles or specific actors to receive this Cmail message.

5. Enter whatever text you want to send, then click Send Message or

Save Draft.

Sending to an individual actor

You can also send a message to an individual actor in your schedule by

clicking the actor’s name and then clicking the button at the top right.

More information For more information about scheduling, see page 13.

Contact Us

Chat with Us

For a quick question while you’re working on Breakdown Express, click the chat icon in the lower right corner of the page to start a live conversation with one of our support staff during regular business hours.

If all of our representatives are busy, or it’s after hours, you can also use this feature to send us an email with your question and we will respond as soon as possible.

Watch Us

At www.youtube.com/c/BreakdownServicesLosAngeles you can view a wide variety of videos focused on the casting and entertainment industry. Specifically, there is a playlist of tutorial videos on using the website.

Call Us If you run into any problems that can’t be answered by the options listed above, or if you would like to learn more about additional casting features, such as our Eco Cast service, please call Breakdown Services at any of our regional offices.

• Los Angeles (310) 276-9166 • New York (212) 869-2003 • Chicago (312) 860-1164 • Vancouver (604) 974-8850 • Toronto (416) 923-1292