Also known as actor sides · audition sides
Excerpt pages of a script prepared for a specific day, audition, or work session -- usually only the scenes and lines the actors or crew need, not the full book.
Sides exist to focus attention. Audition sides give casting a short packet so performers prep the right scenes without a full screenplay NDA circus when possible. On set, daily sides package the pages scheduled that day so cast and department heads are not flipping a full locked script for one hallway scene before lunch.
Good sides preserve scene numbers, page numbers, and character cues from the current revision so everyone cites the same continuum. If the book is locked, sides must match the colour and generation in force -- yesterday's pink cut is how wrong lines reach camera. Include enough action for sense; strip unrelated scenes that only add weight.
Writers preparing audition packets should pick scenes that show range and relationship, not only speeches. Mark clearly if sides are sides (excerpts) rather than a full sample. Production coordinators generate sides from the locked shooting script; writers entering prep should ask which revision colour sides will pull from before they hand-annotate a personal copy.
No. Sides are excerpts -- selected pages or scenes for an audition or shoot day -- not the entire screenplay continuum.
So cast and crew can match the excerpt to the locked script, call sheet, and schedule without guessing which hallway scene they are holding.
Usually the production office or AD team from the current locked revision. Writers should confirm which colour generation the sides reflect.
Short scenes with a clear turn and relationship pressure. Give actors something to play, not only a monologue that explains the plot.
