Marsha Chesley Casting

Here at Playback, we interview lots of producers, directors and writers, and even some actors. But we seldom chat with casting directors, whose services include scouting for new talent, choosing actors to audition for roles, and negotiating with agents on behalf of producers.

So we decided to speak with some veteran casting directors across the country about the highs and lows of their job and the challenges they face. We even encouraged them to complain a bit – after all, everyone else in this industry gets to air their beefs on occasion, so why shouldn’t they?

MARSHA CHESLEY, TORONTO

A casting director for 33 years, Chesley’s credits range from Seeing Things and King of Kensington to Blue Murder and Little Mosque on the Prairie.

What is the biggest issue in casting right now?
The economy. Almost everything is a scale project, so we don’t have the money in the budget to offer actors. I rely on personal relationships with agents, they have to trust me when I say this is a good script, a good part, you should look at it – so they don’t dismiss it right away because it’s scale.

What other challenges do you face?
Casting is one of those elusive things; when it is good, it isn’t really noticed and all sorts of people take credit for it. And when it is bad, it seems to glare and everyone says that was a really bad casting director. The final decision in many cases isn’t up to the casting director – it’s a big group, including director, executive producers, distributors or the network.
A casting director can bring a lot of historical knowledge about an actor – some don’t audition well but can deliver, others audition well but that is the limit of what you get. I can bring that kind of historical knowledge. You want to feel your experience is respected. It often is, and it often isn’t.

Have you helped launch any careers?
I cast Mike Myers when he was 14 years old in a dramatic role – he was just a kid who wanted to act. But I didn’t launch his career!

What is one of your most memorable working experiences?
This Is Wonderland. Over the course of three seasons we had over 650 actors on the series and 20 different languages were spoken. It was challenging to find all that ethnic diversity, and I had to go out into the community to find new talent.

What is your worst experience with an actor?
An actor was supposed to be on set for a 7:30 a.m. call, and at 6:30 a.m. his agent called to say he wouldn’t be showing up. I sat there silently for a moment and then said, “He either better be dead or in hospital or in jail.” It turned out it was a big drug bust and he was in jail. I had another show where the lead actor quit on the first day of shooting, so I replaced him. On day three, a female lead walked out. Not only did the role require an accent, it was a period piece, so I had to find an actress to fit the wardrobe already made. It was pretty dramatic.

Veteran casting director Marsha Chesley is casting for more credit.

The studio, producers, directors and writers are on one side; the actors and talent agents on the other – and the casting directors are right in the middle.

‘Hard to believe we become invisible once the shooting wraps,’ Chesley says.

After more than 30 years in the business, she says she’s had enough of seeing casting directors appear at the bottom of the credit roll.

‘When casting is good, producers and directors take credit. When it isn’t, we get that credit,’ says Chesley, whose recent projects include season three of Little Mosque on the Prairie and Sturla Gunnarsson’s docudrama Air India 182, both for CBC.

‘In Playback, casting directors are rarely, if ever mentioned. Obviously producers, writers, directors, stars, and even directors of photography are key ingredients in a production. But an ear cleaner gets more credit than we do,’ she quips. ‘I can’t help but think there’s more value to readers to know the casting director than the agent – everyone is interested in getting roles.’

Co-chair of the Casting Directors Society of Canada, Chesley wants people to have a better understanding of what exactly it is that she and her colleagues do.

‘When I worked on Air India 182, I cast 72 characters and hundreds of others. Everyone wrote about how amazing the casting was. But no one ever asks ‘Who cast it?’ People aren’t aware of the work that goes into casting, and the ramifications of our work,’ she insists. ‘When casting [the CBC drama series] This Is Wonderland, I cast 650 people, with 17 different language needs, and I negotiated the contracts. If I make a mistake and production is delayed, it can cost big bucks. Before shooting begins, the producer and directors are calling us all the time. Once they begin shooting, they forget about us.’

And, in the past, when the time came to hand out awards, the casting directors were not only forgotten, but ignored. CDC lobbied the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for several years to include a best casting category at the Geminis, ‘but there was a lot of resistance to it,’ according to Chesley.

However, in 2006, the TV awards stepped up with the first-ever best achievement in casting award, which was won by Jenny Lewis and Sara Key for the CBC MOW Heyday!. Chesley notes that it is the only award in Canada for casting.

Academy CEO Sara Morton says it wasn’t resistance, but rather part of the process.

‘The Academy reviews its categories annually in response to requests from members and other interested parties,’ she explains. ‘As a result of such a request, the Academy established a casting ad hoc committee late in 2004, which recommended the establishment of the best achievement in casting category… It took a little time to develop aspects of the award such as its name and definition, judging criteria, eligible credits, and who can vote.’

Andrea Kenyon, one of four nominees this year for her casting work on The Movie Network/Movie Central drama Durham County, agrees it’s about time the industry recognized her craft.

‘This is only the beginning in Canada, and it will evolve,’ Kenyon says. ‘Now that this category has been introduced, the process of selection of nominees, and award recipients, will help to define that further categories are required for proper assessment, and acknowledgement.

‘[Audiences] see actors’ performances, but don’t see the lists, the inspired ideas, the ongoing conversations with the director, the insistence of a casting director to re-look at someone who has been passed over.’

She recalls that her personal highlight on Durham County was ‘returning an actress to the list of callbacks, at my own discretion, and her blowing away the director at the audition, and getting the part. These are the moments that we work towards!’

2008 Gemini casting nominees

The 2008 Gemini Award nominees for best achievement in casting are:

• Marissa Richmond, Andrea Kenyon, Wendy O’Brien, Randi Wells (Durham County)
• Carmen Kotyk (The Englishman’s Boy)
• Rhonda Fisekci, Susan Forrest (Mayerthorpe)
• Deirdre Bowen (Murdoch Mysteries)
• Jenny Lewis, Sara Kay (Rent-A-Goalie)