“What is screen age? Theoretical and empirical insights from Italian screen production” relazione presentata alla conferenza annuale della British Association of Film, Television, and Screen Studies (BAFTSS). Brighton, University of Sussex, 3-5 Aprile.

Screen age is an industry term worldwide used to signify the perceived age of an actor as they appear on screen. It is routinely referenced in above-the-line and below-the-line work materials, such as scripts, casting calls, talent portfolios, online professional profiles. Within the film and television production industry, screen age acts as an aesthetic benchmark, situating a character on the age spectrum, thanks to the actor’s display of certain outwardly features conventionally indicative of that age. Additionally–and consequently–screen age also functions as a segmentation criterion of the acting labour market, mapping and separating workers who, by virtue of their outwardly features, can aspire to, and compete for certain acting jobs. Screen age is a multilayered theoretical and operational concept that has yet to receive adequate scholarly attention. In this paper, I draw on sociology and cultural gerontology to account for various categorizations of age beyond chronological measurements, namely functional, subjective, and contextual age (Schwall 2012). Then, I rely on semi-structured interviews with Italian casting directors to argue that screen age is to be regarded as a distinct categorization of the age construct. Screen age is not so much shaped by an actor’s chronological age, nor by age norms prevailing in Italian contemporary society, as it is by industry labour practices (e.g. typecasting), as well as Italian film genre and format conventions. Finally, I discuss the (gendered, see Raisborough et al. 2022) implications of such theorization of screen age for actors’ access to the job market and career trajectories.