Casting the net wide
Lucy Hellier offers insight into her role as a British casting director working overseas and how she came to work on productions such as Spain’s La Templanza (The Vineyard) and France’s Mort sur la piste (Death on the Track).
I originally started out in international distribution for ITV Studios Global Entertainment, where I worked for seven years. WhileI loved my job, which involved a lot of travel as well as working with many different nationalities, I always had a yearning to be on the creative side of television drama. As a teenager, I was captivated by British masterpieces like Cracker, Prime Suspect and The Lakes, and I knew that someday I wanted to work on series like those.
My aunt, Debbie McWilliams, has always been a casting director, famously on the James Bond franchise. Following a networking meeting I had with a producer who told me I would be particularly good in casting, I called up Debbie to tell her what he had said. The very next day she asked me to collaborate with her on a film called Centurion, directed by Neil Marshall and starring Michael Fassbender and Dominic West. It was a big moment for me.
Under Debbie, I worked on two huge international series: Borgia (pictured above), as an assistant, and Knightfall, as a casting associate. Both series required casting actors from the UK as well as mammoth searches for international talent. We travelled abroad to meet shortlisted actors for auditions and extensively collaborated with agents and casting directors to explore ideas and make sure we left no stone unturned in populating these extensive cast lists.
Debbie has a great network of international contacts from her vast worldwide searches on multiple 007 films, and this helped ease the process. We were not so reliant on self-tapes at this time, so many meetings would involve bringing actors to us, or vice versa. We cast people from multiple countries for these productions, including Denmark, France, Spain, and Germany.
Another wonderful project I worked on as a casting associate on was a BBC production called One Child. This was a miniseries where the action took place in China, but the story originated from the UK, with a British writer, director and producers. We had several outstanding actors of Chinese heritage based in the UK and many who were in China, where we had also conducted an extensive search. The script was terrific and the story heart-rending. In the end we felt enormously proud of the cast we had found.
Once I branched out on my own as a casting director, I knew I wanted to build on my contacts abroad and ideally use my languages where I could. I feel there needs to be more flow between European countries and the UK, but often the language barrier can make this extremely hard. I remember writing to the wonderful director Guillem Morales, who I knew was based in the UK, asking if I could take him out for coffee. We later became friends, leading to him kindly suggesting me for La Templanza (The Vineyard), a sumptuous period drama in Spain, adapted from a Spanish bestseller for Prime Video.
It was an interesting experience because although much of the cast were Spanish speaking, there is a whole plot line where the protagonist marries a British man and so English casting was also needed. I was able to work with Guillem and the Spanish casting directors, Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano, and together we ended up casting several excellent British actors whom I had first put on tape in the UK.
There were some initial challenges around contracting, though. The Spanish process is vastly different from the UK and, with most of the international production team non-English speaking, all the contracts (which held complicated legal wording) had to be translated precisely so that they made perfect sense to the agents reading them. It was a tough process for us all. The back and forth went on for a lengthy period, with misunderstandings about how the Spanish payment systems worked compared to the English way. We got there in the end and the result was a superb production.
Another international project I worked on was Mort Sur La Piste (Death on the Track), a murder-mystery TV movie commissioned by France Télévisions to celebrate the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race. I was recommended for the job by a lovely French casting director, Nathalie Cheron, who knew I spoke French. They wanted an actor who had been previously well known in France and who had some French-speaking ability because he had to do so in the movie.
I had the pleasure of collaborating with the French producer, Jean-Baptiste Neyrac, and a French casting director, Angélique Luisi. It was a challenge finding someone suitable, available, and up for coming to France. Jason Priestley (who was well known in France from the US series Beverly Hills, 90210) could speak a bit of French and rose to this challenge. I loved this project because I ended up working in French, Spanish and English with Jean-Baptiste – we used whichever words came to us first in whichever language. He also spoke such good English that it made consulting with Jason’s agent an effortless process. For a change, it meant I did not have to get involved in the contracting side and was free to just enjoy the creative part of the casting role.
People often ask me about the similarities and differences in casting for different countries compared with the UK. To begin with, scripts normally need to be translated from their original language while keeping the brilliance of the original writing intact. After that, much of the initial stages are like casting in the UK, such as producing ideas, asking actors to audition face-to-face or sometimes self-tape.
Nowadays we use secure online platforms to upload these so that the actors can be anywhere in the world and still nail the perfect audition. With the birth of platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, we can easily form good relationships with international directors and producers to ensure the process runs smoothly.
Depending on who you are working with, the early casting procedure can sometimes take a lot longer. For example, I am currently working on a Belgian TV series about the FBI that will be for the state broadcaster, and decisions on the lead role are taking quite a while compared to how we would work in the UK. This can, of course, be very frustrating for the actors who are waiting to hear if they have secured the role, but it is all part of the exercise.
Once the decisions have been made on which actors we want to cast (and their agents have accepted the offer on behalf of their clients), there are still some practical elements that can make the paperwork harder, with the location in which the producers are based often dictating where the contracts originate from. It is then likely that the UK actors who have been cast will not be on equity contracts, and this can make things tricky for the UK agents. The agreements from elsewhere can be lengthy and need careful translating too.
The structure of payments also differs massively. In a number of countries, the agents are paid separately to the actors, while here in the UK, the fees come into the agency and then the actors receive their fee directly from them. There are also tax implications, and so the ideal would be that you have a UK producer on board to help the contracting process. There are also work permits and visas that need to be organised depending on where the actor is working. The producers or legal team will organise these, but we may well be involved in the flow of communication to make sure all runs according to plan.
A lot of UK casting crew are keen to know what opportunities there are for working overseas. There are many, but speaking other languages is key. In territories overseas, there are wonderful casting directors who we will often consult with on productions. Building relationships with them is extremely helpful because they are experts in their regions, and it often makes sense that they would do the search for a production coming out of an English-speaking territory. You may notice that on lots of production credits, several names are listed under the casting department, as often multiple teams have all worked together to achieve an excellent cast, each specialising in their individual territories.
This collaboration works both ways. Our counterparts abroad sometimes need a UK-based casting director to help them too. It is immensely helpful to be as knowledgeable as you can about actors in other territories, as you can often then go directly to an agent abroad if you need to. Working on these relationships is also greatly beneficial.
In terms of research, I am a member of the European Film Academy so that I can watch as many foreign films as possible. It is a wonderful organisation to be part of. I also attend an incredible festival called Subtitle every year, created by Richard Cook and run by both him and Steve Cash. It celebrates foreign-language films and it is a great forum to meet exceptional actors and watch excellent movies. I also try to watch as many foreign TV series as I can. I am constantly taking notes of actors I like the look of.
From my experience, the key to becoming a successful casting director is communication and relationships. Often on a production when you are not working face-to-face with one another, things can be misunderstood or misconstrued, so an integral part of my role is to establish a good, open working relationship with the director and producers, as well as any other casting directors who are on the project. I also try to establish a rapport with all the members of the production who have an opinion on the cast we are considering. Frequently, the writers like to be involved in the process, so I make sure I build on hearing everyone’s opinion so that they all feel valued and listened to.
I love my job because the work is always so different. Repped by Casarotto Ramsay, I am currently in development on two big international TV series (shooting in the US and New Zealand), a remarkable Belgian production for the state broadcaster, and five films that will all shoot abroad with an international cast. While they originate from a UK production company, they will film abroad. This means that, as a casting director, I am still yet to work on any UK series that have shot within the UK, so there are always exciting new horizons for me to explore.
tagged in: Death on the Track), La Templanza, Lucy Hellier, Mort sur la piste, The Vineyard