Vancouver-based casting software company Casting Workbook recently launched a new tool that may make life a lot easier for casting directors and agents.

Dubbed Smart Script, it analyzes Final Draft PDFs to instantly break down roles, line and scene counts and sides in scripts, to name a few. The arduous task that traditionally fell on the shoulders of the casting office can now literally be completed in seconds.

“Agencies will employ two to three people to do this, and we’ve taken it down from three hours to three seconds,” Casting Workbook president Susan Fox tells Playback Daily, who adds that there are services in the US that sell sides for up to $1 a page. “This gives clients more opportunity to understand and discuss the role [and] make it easier to make a better decision.”

Smart Script helps agencies gain a better sense of the roles in each script. For example, it can also break down the numbers of scenes in which each character – or characters – appears.

Director of marketing Ryan Glasser says the software is currently in beta and that a few users have already come on board to test it out, with the response being overwhelmingly positive. Casting Workbook has also been receiving feedback on how to improve Smart Script, which also includes security features and watermarking.

Meanwhile, the company has also released its first multi-language software, officially launching Casting Workbook in French in Quebec.

“There was definitely a demand there,” says Fox. “They have nothing [like this], no system. Hollywood typically works in English. We were missing a big opportunity.”

Now that Casting Workbook is available in French, Fox says that it will be easier to roll out other languages and Spanish is likely up next.

Casting Workbook is also looking to expand internationally, with announcements to come in the near future.