‘Casting Confidential’s Rose Rosen on What Led to Starting Her Podcast, How the Casting Industry’s Changed Since the Pandemic

December 11, 2024 | Neil Turitz
Photo by Brian James, courtesy of Rose Rosen.

Rose Rosen is one of those casting directors who has done everything and then some. From movies, to TV, to commercials, it’s all part of the fabric of her career.

The Florida-based casting director has spent several decades working on productions shooting locally, and since the COVID-19 pandemic opened things up, has branched out beyond the Sunshine State. Her podcast, Casting Confidential, features her and other casting directors taking a regular deep dive into the entertainment industry.

Where it’s going, where it’s been, the ups and downs, all of it is fodder for Rosen and her guests. Currently in its second season, Casting Confidential is available wherever you get your podcasts. She talked to us from her home office in Tampa.


Insights: Lessons from Rose Rosen

  • Read all audition instructions and scripts carefully before preparing your tape or attending an audition.
  • Prioritize showing your acting skills and professionalism over trying to display your personality.
  • Be prepared for digital casting and remote auditions to expand your opportunities in the industry.

What got you into casting?

I did fashion writing at the start of my career, after college, and since it was a small magazine, I did everything. I did that for some time, and then I wanted to make more money, so I jumped over to advertising and used that same skill set.

Then I moved to Florida, where nobody understood that you can’t do all those things, and a friend of mine suggested I should get into casting. She’s saying this to me because there was a mean casting director here.

There was a certain school of casting back in the day where they just built their business on mean. She’d rip up your headshot and resume if it wasn’t stapled right. So I said, “I’ll build my business on kindness and niceness,” and it’s worked ever since.

Do you think that so many actors mistakenly have this sense of an adversarial relationship with casting directors because of old-timers like that?

Such an astute thing for you to notice here. Talent does have this crazy adversarial relationship with casting that boggles the mind. Maybe it does go back to that style of casting director that was, on one hand, mean, on the other hand also giving classes where they would just shred your work.

I think it’s scary for actors. They want the feedback, right? But it’s such a give-and-take thing.

Is that why you started the podcast?

I started the podcast with another casting director friend of mine, Kim Swanson, and we were talking about how talent could do things better, as we might do behind closed doors. But we said, “Let’s do a YouTube show.” We did 40 episodes, and they live on as Casting Notes from Rose and Kim.

Then I went into Clubhouse. I was very active back then, and we did shows that would bring in 2,000 people a night. Every Monday night, this group of casting directors, we’d get together and talk about the business and for all of us, this has been transformational. Now it’s a podcast called Casting Confidential.

I love talking with other casting directors about how the sausage is made. It’s transformational not only for actors — who find it fascinating — but producers, directors and people who consume our product.

Can you give me an example?

I met a dear friend from childhood when I was in California last and met her husband, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I’m telling them about the podcast, and I go inside for five minutes to change clothes, and he’s listening to our episode about imposter syndrome.

He’s your regular retired guy from the furniture industry. He says, “Rose, I can completely relate.” That’s the whole thing.

But the podcast itself gets into the nuts and bolts nitty-gritty, too, right?

I think our business affects you more than you realize. We talked just last week about the state of the industry. If we’re not working this year, then you’re not getting content in 2025, 2026, 2027 and so on.

It’s something you should care about, that our industry is changing and crumbling, and bad stories are coming out of it. I’m not going to sugarcoat that. We are very unfiltered about what we’re doing, but we also tell actors what to do with their headshots, their resumes, the really practical things.

Thanks to the way COVID-19 changed the world, it seems like you can now cast from anywhere.

For so many years, commercials were my bread and butter and then came digital casting, and I found that I could cast anywhere in the country using computer software. An iPhone or an Android, whatever you want. This was way before anybody was doing that sort of thing.

I learned how to move that information around. Now I cast everywhere. The movie business and the TV business are changing, and have been for years, and always will. Either you keep up with it or you get out of the industry.

What are the advantages and handicaps of working in Florida, especially Tampa, rather than Miami?

Back when I started in the 90s, they used to call us Hollywood East. We were solidly number three in making films in the United States. Then certain political figures came in and ruined that, and we’ve not come back from it. Films moved away, and we still have the locations, the weather, all the things.

What has sustained me over all the years is commercials because that still always comes here. And often they do come to Tampa, more so than Miami, because Miami is hard to work in. Also, Miami looks like Miami, while Tampa has more of a variety of locations and looks for a commercial.

I love everything about doing a commercial, the quick turnaround, and it allows me to afford my obsession with doing films.

We’ve been talking about helping actors with the podcast, and I’m curious if there are common mistakes that you find actors make when they come in to audition.

The biggest mistake, and it’s just the truth, is if you haven’t read the instructions. We take so much time to do step-by-step what we need, either for just a self-tape or if you’re coming in. If you don’t read them, or don’t do what we want, then why would I pass you along?

The biggest note I have to to actors is, read, read, read all the directions, read the script, read it all three times before you even start doing anything for me.

With that in mind, what piece of advice or wisdom would you give to an actor coming in to audition for you?

Don’t try and impress me. Every time they come in, actors want to show their personality, and I am not hiring your personality. I’m hiring your work ethic.

I want you to come in on time and do all the things, but I’m not passing you along for your personality. I’m passing you along for what you’re bringing to that character. I’m not going to be your friend. I do not have that time. I appreciate you as a human being, but that’s not the thing you need to aspire towards. You need to aspire towards good work.

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