The phone rings.

"Hi Carol, it's Paul. We have an interesting film to cast...a marketing film, international audience. We need six authentic Australians who live here in the States...real cutting edge. Iit's going to be shot in Phoenix in two weeks. If you need to cast in California, don't hesitate, it's in the budget. I'll need the casting early next week. I'll fax you over the script with the specific breakdown of characters...be great if we can get an ethnic mix."

The first thing I do is set my timetable in motion. For me to do a proper search in New York, I'll need time and a native Australian person to serve as "ear" for the prescreen casting sessions (If this is being heard in Australia it's got to be [authentic]." As far as casting in LA, I'm better off calling a trusted LA casting director and overseeing the project from New York. She knows LA talent and can send me a tape once I have the specific requirements of the script. This is also time and cost efficient for my client.

From the script there is one role that requires a major talent, male late '30's to '40's, appealing and a great actor. He's the whole show. The other roles are two women and three men, all office workers, and one young bike rider. Although these roles require fewer lines, they all must be interesting, distinctive and natively Australian. I go over the script with my director and we choose the portions of the script we need to hear. I inform him that I'm doing LA from New York City. He's shocked that I don't want to fly to LA, but delighted to save the money and glad I'm dealing with it. I contact LA, fax the script and indicate the portions I wish read. I go over the specifics of the breakdown and arrange to have the tape expressed to me so I can go through it for the type talent and accent needed.

I fax "Breakdown Services" NY. Breakdown will make my needs available to every agent, manager and now with the Internet, actors around town. Starting tomorrow faxes will be pouring in and I can start seeing people the next day. Great! This will give me three days to prescreen this job.

I get my "ear" in place (three days work plus the reviewing of the LA tape) and check out my files for native Australian actors. I make a list from previous castings and have my assistant begin putting out appointments for the day after tomorrow. Even if I audition actors who may not be right, the fact is they are part of the Australian community and see the script. This can help me tremendously.

A call comes in from the head of media services of a major bank. "Carol, we're planning to do a piece to be shown in branches around the city to encourage the public to use services by phone. There's going to be a lot of actors, but they don't have to speak. What's this going to cost?" I ask for more of a sense of what the script will sound like so I can be sure of my answer. "It sounds like a silent bit to me but let me run it by my union." I do. It is and I call him back. He's relieved - his budget will work. He'll call me when he gets the green light.

I leave for my afternoon prescreen audition. I call it prescreening because the client won't be present and I'm not putting anyone on tape. This is my third afternoon seeing children. I can't schedule any children's auditions until after the school day. This is a particularly difficult program. It's for immunization, and I need to find the same child at 8 years old, as a toddler, and as an infant. There needs to be a strong resemblance. Only the 8 year old needs to be able to act, but the toddler must follow direction (An impossible feat for that age.) Yesterday there were two toddlers who were great, but one was not available for the second day of the shoot.

I need to give my clients several choices. Tomorrow morning I'll be seeing more toddlers. Hopefully the good 8 year olds will look enough like the good toddlers. The infants should be easier. Since I'll need backup babies as well, I've included seeing twins in my breakdown. Oh well, it looks like I'll be casting on Saturday. Somehow it all comes together.

A call comes in from my assistant. "Carol, I just got a call from Bill, and he wants to know who he can use from the last casting to be a live host for a big corporate event."

"Have Bill fax us the script," I reply. "I'm sure there is someone from the last casting who would be right, but I need to know the requirements of the job and the rhythm of the script to come up with the right choices." Just because someone is right for one kind of job doesn't necessarily mean they are right for every job.

I get back to my desk, check with LA, and leave for evening theater. Seeing new talent is part of the job. Many actors are not represented by agents, and I would have no idea of their existence if I didn't attend shows and find them myself. This evening I'm seeing Eugene O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness" performed by an all Asian company.

I leave the theater quite happy. It was a good performance and I saw two talented Asian actors I had never seen before. I'll get in touch with them in the morning and have them send me pictures and resumes.

I get home by 11:00 p.m. and check my e-mail and service. All is quiet for now.

The phone rings the next morning at 7:30. "Hi, Carol, there's been a revision in the marketing film. The client now wants six authentic Austrians; the Australians are out. Can you still meet the schedule?"

Carol Nadell is a member of the New York Chapter and president of Selective Casting/Internationally Speaking.