Nancy Bishop CSA , is an award -winning casting director, who works internationally from offices in London and Prague. She is a founding member and former President of the Casting Society of America’s (CSA) European branch. With over 100major feature film and television projects among her credits , Nancy has cast hundreds of actors throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Nancy has been retained as casting director by dozens of major screen producers and directors, including Sacha Baro...
Feb 04, 2022•32 min
Gianna Kiehl (Twitter: @GiannaKiehl / IG: @giannak401 ) is an American actor. She plays assassin Jules in Amazon’s ‘Hanna’. She directed and produced her first play ‘Persephone’ in 2021. We talk about how crucial it is to define what exactly ‘success’ means to you, the importance of finding balance without succumbing to the ‘average’, the significance of playfulness and so much more. *** C ontent warning: this episode contains references to self-harm and drinking. *** If you find this podcast va...
Nov 03, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Ali Cook is an actor, comedian and magician. He has written and starred in the television series 'Now You See It' (BBC1), 'Penn And Teller: Fool Us' (ITV1), 'Dirty Tricks' (Channel 4) and 'Monkey Magic '(Five), both nominated for the British Comedy Awards & the Golden Rose of Montreux. We talk about the immense power of practise, how if you want to become better at something you have to become worse first, the significance of making the unconscious conscious and living an examined life, how ...
Jul 22, 2021•55 min
Jonathan Harden ( jonathanharden.com ) is an actor, director and host of the immensely popular ‘The Honest Actor’s Podcast’ . We talk about the importance of ‘creating’ as much as you can, how to make the fear of ‘public humiliation’ work in your favour, the significance of always doing the ‘work’ and being prepared, the crucial skill of creating your own opportunities, the joy of competing with yourself and so much more. *** If you find this podcast valuable, it would be amazing if you could le...
May 31, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Shakyra Dowling ( @shakyradowlingcasting ) is a casting director specialising in independent British feature films and European coproductions alongside television and commercials- many of which have been internationally recognised and gone to be nominated for multiple awards including BAFTAs and BIFAs, and at festivals from Sundance to TIFF. We talk about the importance of completely immersing yourself in your chosen subject, the crucial skill of not being afraid of bringing yourself to the tabl...
Apr 27, 2021•42 min
Molly Wansell is a talent agent and manager at ‘42’ representing some of the industry’s leading actors and casting directors. ‘42’ is a fully integrated management and production company, producing film, television and content, representing actors, writers, directors, comedians, presenters, producers, casting directors and media book rights; with offices in London and Los Angeles. Molly also runs the very successful true crime podcast ‘Blood Ties’ with her father Geoffrey Wansell. We talk about ...
Apr 20, 2021•54 min
Gordon Cowell is currently Casting Associate for TV Casting Director Kate Rhodes James, where he has worked since 2016. For nearly five years prior to this, he was Casting Associate for Theatre Casting Director Jill Green. Casting credits include ‘A Discovery of Witches’, ‘Bodyguard’, ‘Soulmates’ and ‘Sherlock' to name but a few. We talk about the importance of playing to your strengths, the danger of playing it safe, the value of ‘self-love’, the significance of authenticity, the importance of ...
Mar 27, 2021•49 min
Luci Lenox ( @luci_lenox ) is an international casting director with casting offices in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. Her list of clients includes Netflix, Paramount, ABC, NBC, Disney and several independent producers in Spain. She has served on the board of CSA (Casting Society of America) Europe and also as head of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee in Europe. We talk about common misconceptions of what casting directors do, the significance of ‘resetting your brain’, how your career is more...
Mar 10, 2021•52 min
Joe Hall is the founder of Ghetto Film School – the award-winning nonprofit organisation works to foster talent within communities of colour, aiming to bring diversity to the notoriously white movie industry. We talk about the importance of community building, the significance of knowing ‘who you are’ and clarifying your motivation, the important skill of ‘learning how to learn’, the dangers of not having a clear mission/ vision statement, how you can’t help anyone as long as you’re judging them...
Feb 09, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Patsy Rodenburg OBE is recognised as one of the world’s leading voice teachers and coaches and also as a renowned authority on Shakespeare. We talk about how storytelling has made us human, the immense power of saying ‘I don't know’, the importance of generosity, the significance of realising that you are more powerful than you think you are, the importance of working on yourself, how creating a ‘safe space’ boosts everyone’s creativity, the crucial moment of defining what ‘success’ means for yo...
Jan 07, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Luc Chaudhary runs one of the UK’s leading talent agencies ‘International Artists Management’ with offices in London, LA and Central Europe representing high profile actors, producers, writers and directors. We talk about the importance of trust, the significance of self-discipline, advice on how to approach an agent, the importance of having a strong ‘why’, how having other interests can relax you, the non-linear trajectory of the entertainment business, how understanding ‘supply and demand’ ca...
Dec 19, 2020•46 min
David Lan is a theatre producer, writer and director. We talk about the importance of striving to fulfill your potential whatever field you are in, why theatre has to be more than just good entertainment, the importance of welcoming difficulties, the dark side of social anthropology, how good stories can broaden your mind and thus improve your decision making and so much more. David was born in Cape Town and has lived in London since 1972. His plays have been produced by the National Theatre, th...
Nov 25, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Mike Alfreds is a theatre director, adapter, translator and teacher. He talks about the role of the subconscious, the essence of good storytelling, what it means to be really ‘alive’ in a performance, what we can learn from film/ theatre ‘stars’, the danger of overconfidence, the importance of always being 100% ‘ready’ to work , the significance of curiosity and playfulness, the power of looking at a scene/ situation through someone else’s eyes, the difference between ‘making’ things happen and ...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 21 min
Geoff Lindsey is a writer, director and pronunciation coach . He talks about the crucial skill of reality testing your work on a live audience, the significance of reframing ‘bad’ events, the importance of not being too precious about your work, the significance of adaptability in any creative profession, the correlation between hard work and luck and so much more. Geoff trained as a director at the Bournemouth Film School and he has an MA from UCL and an MA and PhD from University of California...
Sep 23, 2020•59 min
Ryan Metcalfe shares how having worked as a magician improved his approach to business and life, how challenging and destroying your own ideas can help you succeed, the power of combining seemingly unrelated disciplines, the importance of good relationships, when it pays off to be cheeky, the significance of taking a broader perspective and so much more. Ryan started off as a magician, studied stage design at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and left early to found his company ‘Preevue’ a...
Sep 07, 2020•1 hr 12 min
Chris Hardman shares how he started his career completely self-taught and became a visual effects artist and feature film producer. He has worked as a Visual Effects Head of Department on Hollywood films like Jurassic World 2, James Bond Spectre, Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar, Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, Ant-man, Jason Bourne, Kingsman, Assassin’s Creed and Star Wars Episode VII. He also has his own production company ‘Hardman Pictures’ working closely with Matt Hookings at ‘Camelot Films’. T...
Aug 19, 2020•42 min
