Advice for Someone Seeking This Job
A casting director must have the confidence of a producer and director
to land the job. To build that confidence, most have interned or appren-
ticed with other casting directors. Contact casting directors and offer to
work for free so you can observe the process. You might answer an open
audition call so you can experience the casting process from the actor's
perspective. Experience and relationships are necessary.
Professional Profile: Kim Petrosky,
Casting Director, Kim Petrosky Casting
Kim Petrosky is a self-described people person. She loves working
with people, especially actors. Before heading for Broadway, the
Nashville native earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1985 from the
School of the Arts in North Carolina. Her first break in New York was as
an assistant stage manager of an off-Broadway play.
Hooking up with a family
friend who is a cinematogra-
pher, Petrosky began assisting
him with grant research and
other production assistant
duties on a documentary he
was making. Eventually she
learned to cut the 16mm film
and edit it. But it was when a
friend who was a casting direc-
tor needed some help, that
Petrosky found her niche in
the industry.
"I jumped into it and real-
ized it was what I wanted to
do. I love actors. And, you get
to sit and audition people and
work with the director. I found
it really exciting . . . Susan
[Shopmaker] did little, tiny
films, crazy things where we were looking for prostitutes down on Tenth
Avenue in the middle of the night and wrangling them for different
scenes."
Attracted by the "crazy hours" and "nutty people," Petrosky reveled
in casting. She worked for Shopmaker for a couple of years before
moving back to Nashville in the early 1990s. After a brief return to New
What do you like
least about your job?
"I least like people that
don't understand how
important casting is for a
picture; they take the job
lightly."--Kim Petrosky
What do you love most
about your job?
"I love most finding that perfect person that
is just so right for the role, and the director is
ecstatic--I'm ecstatic. It just feels right and
it fits right and things come together. The
other thing I like is being able to call an actor
at their day job, at a restaurant, and tell
them they got the part."--Kim Petrosky
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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