Real People Casting: What Actors Can Learn from Authentic Casting - with Casper Black

The Drama Coach Podcast

Host Lisa Southam interviews Casper Black, a casting director specializing in 'real people' casting for commercials, documentaries, and tele

Key takeaways

• Authenticity in casting means stripping away 'actuaryness' and simply appearing as yourself without performing.
• Casper Black uses research, outreach, and community access rather than relying solely on traditional databases or outdated street casting methods.

Main topics

• Real people casting
• Authenticity on camera

Notable quotes

Authentic just means don't try to do anything else. Just come as you are.

Conclusion

The episode offers a profound look at how naturalism is reshaping the

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Hello and welcome to the Drama Coach podcast. The podcast for performers, parents of young performers, and anyone wanting to better understand acting, training, and the industry. I'm Lisa Southam, actor, drama coach, and your host. Throughout Series 3, we're building the Performer's Toolkit, speaking to actors, coaches, casting professionals, and other industry experts about the practical things performers can actually use in their work. And today we're talking about something that I think actors hear about all the time, but perhaps don't always fully understand. Authenticity. What does it actually mean to be authentic on camera? And perhaps even more interestingly, what can trained actors learn from people who have never acted at all? My guest today is Casper Black, founder and casting director of Casper Black Casting. Casper specializes in real people casting. working across commercials, documentaries, television and branded content. Rather than simply searching traditional casting databases, Casper and her team use research, outreach, conversation, community access and street casting to find people with genuine stories, personalities and presence. Her casting work has included campaigns and projects for brands and broadcasters, including EE, Dove, FIFA, Garnier, Smart Energy GB, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. And something that really stood out to me when researching Kasper's work was the emphasis not only on finding interesting people, but on looking after those people, building trust, communicating clearly and supporting contributors who may never have stepped onto a professional set before. So today we're going to explore real people casting, street casting, naturalism, what makes someone compelling on camera. and what all of this might teach those of us who are training or have trained to be actors. So, Casper, a very warm welcome to the Drama Coach podcast. Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here. I'm so glad. We're going to go straight into what is real people casting, because the listeners might not know and might be quite intrigued by this. Speaker 1 (2:25) Sure. And yeah, I think it's really helpful that people do understand because it basically pertains to any time somebody is on screen when they're not acting. So I think that the world is starting to realize how large of a space that actually takes up, which is great, especially in an era of AI and a lot of things that aren't real. I think people are leaning more towards needing real people, real faces, real stories. And that's where I come in and I love it. Speaker 2 (2:51) I can tell you love it. I can tell from our emails as well that you take great care and pride in your work, in the people that you work with. And I'm so intrigued as to how you find these people, especially because I thought about the idea of street casting. And I imagined you sort of going up to them with a clipboard or something, having seen this interesting face or this person that fits a brief. How do people react to you? Do they think this is a scam? I mean, I just, I'm intrigued. Speaker 1 (3:19) I think that the term street casting is quite outdated at this point. Sure, there are times that you need to get your boots on the ground. I can't deny that there are times that you have to do that when things are really specific. Or, for example, when I was casting, I was helping cast on a project for Doc Martens, and it was all about finding people that just embodied like. a vibe. So it's not something you can look for online. It's not something you can really find via social media. You just need to see it with your eyes. So things like that, sure, when it's required. But I would say more than that, it's... It's networks of people and over the years building your way into them. I'd like to think that with every single brief, we do a completely fresh search so that we give everybody a fair chance of kind of coming to us and seeing it. And I pride myself in trying to put everything in front of as many eyeballs as possible, not just going to, of course, sometimes we post in casting groups. I can't deny that. I also like to try and find ways of accessing people who you just wouldn't normally find or that wouldn't normally see something in those spaces. Speaker 2 (4:19) Sounds very exciting. It sounds like putting all these different people together, it sounds like for the right person, that is... so fun I'm like oh I love this because I love meeting people and finding people but of course if that's if that's not in your nature or your personality that that wouldn't be for you but I get that genuine feeling from you at this this buzz this excitement for for what you do I Speaker 1 (4:43) genuinely do love it I do no sorry I was just I really do I really do love it and I'm glad you can tell because I really genuinely do and I think that that um hopefully makes people understand kind of why it would be a positive thing to kind of get involved just because there is great care there. Speaker 2 (5:00) I'll come to that actually that was one of my later questions and that was what first struck me about you and then my research into you confirmed that I applied to you it was an advert and I was applying as the podcast host and you know your reflection on my work was lovely and you asked a bit more and then when it didn't come into fruition and I wasn't selected you were so beautiful with your words and your care to me. And for me as an actor, that was really refreshing to go, gosh, we don't get any of this in the industry. It must take a lot of time as well for you to take care of these people. And I can see why with this authentic casting and going for real people who aren't trained as actors and haven't been told time and time again by this podcast that, you know, rejection is... redirection and all of that, that you've got this sort of other level of how you have to care for these real people because they're not used to it. But as an actor, it was really nice and really refreshing to have that sort of that personal touch and that explanation. I really enjoyed it. So thank you for that. Speaker 1 (6:05) That really means a lot to hear because it does take a lot of time. I do put a lot of myself into trying to make sure everybody feels like they've been seen, even if they don't make it through. I try not to just you know, ignore people if they don't get through. I sometimes, and more often than not, things take so much longer than I'm told they're going to. So even though I try and like make sure people understand that there's a timeline at play, why do then, why have a say in? It's usually longer than that. And I think, especially when I have nothing to update people, people deserve to know when there's been a conclusion drawn, even if it's way after when you said it would be. And actually, the responses that I get, I seem to build my network more when I let people down because people are touched and they go, my goodness, I've never ever had an email like that back from a casting director before. And so, yes, for actors, that's amazing because... I'm not trying to surpass any particular standard. I just want to treat people the way that I think they deserve to be treated. I'm unaware of how I've not been through casting processes as a participant. So I don't know how you're treated in other instances. I can only go off what feels right to me. And that is something that really does matter to me a huge amount. So I'm happy to invest the time into making sure that people get updates and do receive feedback when it's possible. Speaker 2 (7:21) This episode is supported by Scene Tribe. a new industry network for creatives built around your credits, your collaborations, and the work that you've actually done. If you're ready to be found by the right people, head to scenetribe.com. Right, back to the episode. So within the industry, we might get rejected, for want of a better word, a lot by... specific casting directors or we might be seen many times by the same casting director and everyone's like, keep going, keep going because it means they like you, et cetera, et cetera. And we are also building up that network. Does that happen in real people casting? Are there people in your mind that didn't fit that Doc Martin brief, but then you're like, actually, they're really cool for this other thing? Or is it sort of, I don't know? these sort of special little gems that are only relevant for particular things. I'm sort of linking how it differs, but also how it might be similar to the conventional casting that myself and perhaps the listeners are used to. Speaker 1 (8:23) So I 100 % have to let people down that I think are fantastic all the time and who I just have a meaning to. People lodge themselves into my mind and I quite often pick up the phone before I even put a casting call out because somebody has just lodged in my mind and I think, and I mean it when I say I really hope that we'll get to work together soon. I'm not just saying things. I really do. I enjoy finding opportunities for people and anytime you kind of come. into my company and you become you you're someone we're aware of then I would love to think that we will try and find you something great and yeah so I think that there's it's a bit cliche to say you know just keep going but you really it's never anything to do with you as to why you haven't got chosen quite often a client is looking for something they don't even know they're looking for that wasn't even included in the brief so it's You know, it's not something to take to heart. It just means that you've been seen one more time. You're further in someone's mind now. And that's a great thing. Speaker 2 (9:25) Because you do cast actors as well, don't you? If they are the right fit for the brief. So there's the crossover there. Speaker 1 (9:33) Sometimes I get acting, you know. Sometimes I have to cast actors in scripted things and sometimes it's just real people but we welcome actors and it's beneficial if they have some on-screen experience and sometimes it's like when I do Dove. you can't have any on-screen experience. So it's the whole, there's a whole spectrum. And, you know, where possible, I like to include as many people as possible. I know it's disheartening when actors see real people only as if you're not a real person. That's not what I mean. I just mean, if you're going to do this, you need to come as Lisa. You can't come pretending you're somebody else. You need to actually align with the brief. You need to actually mean what you're saying. You can't just, you know, act your way through it. That's all I mean. Speaker 2 (10:13) And I think there's something really freeing in that. It was really nice for me to put pen to paper and talk about the podcast for this brief. It was lovely. And like I said, to have positive feedback as well, it feels good. But I'm sure there are actors who, like you say, see that real people in adverted commas and feel disheartened. And I know I've seen them on TikTok and they will do some real comedy versions of briefs that they've seen. which is giving you sort of polar opposites all within and be authentic. That word authenticity comes up time and time again. I know why it does. Have you got sort of your view on authenticity? Because this is presumably your entire business to find authentic people. What does it mean? What are the pros? What are the cons? Speaker 1 (11:01) I mean, I think... Particularly with what I do, being authentic just means don't try and do anything else. Just come as you are. Like if I've asked you in my casting questions on the self-tape to just show us your personality and be yourself, that doesn't mean... how can I show you my personality? It just means relax and show it to us. It means don't try and make yourself smaller or louder or, you know, don't dress in a way you don't normally dress. Like, you just need to be comfortable and show us who you are. But equally, you know, while we're on casting tapes, I think being given the actual, like, actors know how to record. casting tapes and that's a wonderful thing because sometimes we get sent things that we can't see or hear or there's music on or and you just um yeah it really it's certainly when you do a huge open casting and there's a high fee and it's a great brand you can be completely inundated with that so you know I really do welcome that crossover and the fact that I get to work with people that know what they're doing as well as people that we you know hold their hand throughout the process you know there's no preference but I think it's great that we get to kind of sit on that fence and work with both sides. Speaker 2 (12:04) I think that's really cool too. How do you manage then when a real person, for want of a better phrase, when you're taking them to set or they're going to set or you're preparing them for this, say it's a huge, big budget thing. They've never done a day of being on set in their life. How do you prepare somebody for that? Speaker 1 (12:24) Well, it's interesting. I love to go on set. My background is TV, so I used to, that's what I would do. I would, you know, cast and then you would be on set, you'd be on location, you'd be with the cast, you know, throughout the process. But sometimes brands understand that they don't necessarily know how to deal with real people. and they don't realize that as much until it's actually happening and then maybe next time they go right we need somebody here to deal with this and then you know they'll bring me along and so i love that and i love making people feel at ease and i always get a huge amount of kind of positive feedback when i get to be on location or on set with people because i think i build a genuine rapport with people throughout the casting process it's not um you know, this isn't, it's not disingenuous. It's like we've chatted. I've, I've meant everything that I've spoken to you about. I've probably told you a bit about myself as well, because I believe in, you know, this being built together and us building an actual connection so that there's trust there and that you feel safe because. we're in this day and age, how can you know who you can trust? Like, you know, we've met online probably, like, you know, it's good to exercise caution. I'm very grateful that I have a website that's been there for a while and socials that have been there for a while so people can do their due diligence. But, you know, I do think it's an important thing to kind of build. I Speaker 2