Irish casting directors are now being recognised for their hard work in finding new faces in the talent field.
It was a quiet morning during the summer of 2020 in the Covid-19 pandemic. Shauna Griffith, a talent agent at the time woke up to a phone call from a number she vaguely recognised. It was a tv producer she previously interviewed for a podcast she had been creating. He said: “We have this ad for Budweiser, and we need people for it, can you find people?” and Griffith replied, yes. This was the first interaction she had before spiralling into a career as a casting director. “It kind of just went from there and I went headfirst into it.” Four years later and Griffith is now in full swing in the industry, having been involved in many television commercials including SPAR, Arnotts, Allianz, ESB, Chill Insurance and An Post, as well as securing the role as a casting assistant for the show Faithless which aired on Virgin Media.
2025 is a big year for casting directors in Ireland. It will be the first time that an IFTA award will be presented to recognise the work and creativity of casting directors. Griffith explained how grateful she is that casting directors are now being appreciated for their hard work and creativity. She said: “Casting is so important and it’s brilliant we’re now being recognised by IFTA and all the academies”. The Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences have also announced that from 2026, they will begin to present an Oscar award to appreciate the work of casting directors. Griffith explained that she realised she preferred this side of the industry over the acting side after deciding at the age of 17 that she didn’t want to be an actor. “I realised I absolutely loved this side of the industry and being more involved in the creative process.”
Similar to the reality of choosing an actor’s career path, 95 per cent of the time, the role of a casting director is not glitz, glam and walking down red carpets. Griffith explained that her routine varies from day to day, but she spends the majority of her time sitting at her desk. She admitted that the first thing she does in the morning is check her emails and spends most of her time on her laptop watching self-tapes and sending out self-tape requests. “It’s a lot of laptop work, lots of people think it’s glamorous but it’s mostly sitting at a desk.”
When it comes to casting an actor in a production, casting directors can start off a project with hundreds or even thousands of applicants. The number of applicants that do make it past the first stage of the process shrinks to just over 3 per cent of the previous number. Following on from the numerous emails and self-tape requests being sent out, Griffith described the process of casting an actor in different productions as exhilarating. She explained that the length of time and the number of stages involved for each project varies. “Generally, after self-tapes, I’ll then make a long-list and share it with production and the agency, to then do a shortlist and then we’ll do recalls”. Griffith explained that the long lists usually consist of twelve to 20 actors which is then shortlisted to five to ten actors and from there, recalls take place. She explained that for a TV series, however, it’s a much longer process with extra stages such as chemistry reads being included.
A lot of aspects play into choosing an actor for a production and that includes their behaviour. Griffith explained that if an actor is disrespectful throughout the process, then “it’s a total no no”. She said: “Of course it’s going to make people pause for a second and ask, do we really want to work with this person on set? Because at the end of the day, if you’re hiring an actor, then you’re hiring a work colleague”. Griffith admitted that it doesn’t hurt to be nice people in the industry, and this is something she herself has learned to do. “It costs nothing to be nice, so lets all just work together and make a wonderful project.”
The heart-breaking thing about the casting industry is that there is never a constant flow of work. Nothing is ever guaranteed and following on from every manic production, there’s always a crash period where there is nothing happening. This could go on for a few weeks or even months. Griffith admitted that the toughest part of her job is when there isn’t a lot of work and productions. She said: “The quiet times, they’re really really tough”. Griffith explained that it’s hard to stay motivated after a production has finished, but it’s important to stay sharp. She said: “When there aren’t projects on the go, which of course happens, that’s when you kind of have to keep reminding yourself, there will be projects, there are projects coming to you, you’re not washed up, you’re not done in the industry.”
Every day is a new experience for Shauna Griffith in the casting industry. She described how excited she is to work with new talent in the future with her mission to ensure these people are seen on national and international levels. “I think there’s so much really exciting cool talent coming up in Ireland at the moment and I would just love to get those faces and people seen on an international level as well as national.” She explained that there aren’t an unlimited number of productions in Ireland so working hard is essential for this career. She said: “There’s only a finite number of productions so you need to be able to put the head down and be gritty and work”. She warned: “Know your work, know your worth and know the impact you give to a production”. In the coming years, casting directors in Ireland will finally be appreciated for all their talent and efforts that have gone into tv productions and commercials that we can sit and watch on our screens at home.