What is a Casting Researcher?
A Casting Researcher finds the right people to take part in productions. This could mean the right actor, or for factual productions it could mean a mix of members of the public, experts (eg. a scientist or a specialist medical consultant), or talent (eg. presenters, celebrities).
What is the Job?
The role of Casting Researcher involves finding actors for a film or TV drama, or on the factual side, contributors or interviewees who will be featured. Finding the right people to be at the heart of a production is crucial to it’s success.
This role is one of the first steps to becoming a Casting Director. There can often be a wide range of contributors or actors to find and the Casting Researcher might conduct an initial outreach push, using street casting and social media, or focus on a targeted approach, liaising with specific organisations. They will then conduct initial conversations to edit the list of possible contributors, and may help the Producer and AP film recce tapes or write contributor documents.
Depending on the budget of the production the job may extend into assisting PDs with interviewing contributors, writing interview questions or sending out scripts/information for auditions. Practically speaking, depending on the production budget, Casting Researchers may also handle a lot of the logistical nitty-gritty, from arranging auditions to organising travel for contributors.
