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Casting Director Play Video

'It really is about the dialogue with the director and finding a way to collaborate about choosing actors who are right for roles in a play.'

Anne McNulty, Casting Director

Casting Director

Role

A Casting Director works closely with the director of a production to suggest actors to play the various characters in a play, creating a list of potential candidates for each of the roles and liaising with the actors’ agents to discuss their actors and organise auditions.

 

Key Skills

  • Excellent people and communication skills to understand and relay exactly what a director is looking for
  • An instinct for talent – knowing who has the right abilities and qualities to play a certain character
  • Very good memory to maintain a working knowledge of the many actors you’ll encounter over the course of your career
  • Patience – it can take time to find the right actor for a role and you don’t want to be hurried into making the wrong decision, which can seriously jeopardise the ultimate success of the production

 

Further Research

 

 

Responsibilities

  • Attending performances, including drama school showcases
  • Reading the scripts to be cast
  • Liaising with directors to create character descriptions/breakdowns
  • Drawing up lists of potential actors
  • Liaising with actors’ agents

Training

There is little formal training to become a Casting Director. Many people start by working as an assistant/associate to an established Casting Director such as Jessica Ronane http://www.jessicaronane.com/ or David Grindrod  http://www.grindrodcasting.co.uk/ or in prominent casting departments like the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. You can begin preparing for a career by familiarising yourself as much as possible with current actors, especially emerging talent. Skills are largely developed on-the-job while gaining useful industry contacts, which are vital for securing future work. Watching productions and reading plays is also a vital part of the job.

Further Reading