Katrina Wandel George is more than just a casting director. She’s certainly that, and very good at it, having worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. She’s worked on projects that include the Avatar movies, True Grit, Snake Eyes and Loot, for which she earned an Artios nomination, to go along with her win, for Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons.’
But aside from her nearly two decades in the business, she has also found a higher calling. George’s hobby is mentoring the next generation of casting directors, finding them jobs, and shepherding them as they become the professionals they want to be. It sets her apart from her peers and has earned her something akin to beatification by the dozens of young casting directors whose careers she has helped to start. She spoke to us from her home office outside of LA.
Key Insights:
- Your reputation matters. Bringing a positive attitude and work ethic to auditions and onto any set is a solid formula for being noticed and remembered by the right people.
- Networking creates opportunities. Leads often come from people you know and trust, even outside of auditions.
- Learn about the entire production process, not just your role, to become a better on-set collaborator.
- Immerse yourself in the industry by watching new shows, attending theater and sharpening your acting skills.
How did you get into casting?
I actually didn’t know casting existed until, and I always put in air quotes, I did a “study abroad” in LA when I was in college. My roommates had casting internships. I had one more semester of school in Chicago, which is where I’m from. Even before I got home, I called someone at my college to help me set up a casting internship. He set me up with the Illinois Film website and lined up an internship with Claire Simon for my last semester of senior year. That was it for me. I interned at an agency in Chicago because I wanted to be well-rounded and make some money, then moved back to LA, and I’ve been here 20 years now.
Did you get a job right away?
I actually was a writer’s PA my first two years, because it wasn’t as easy to get a casting job as I thought it would be. But it was great. I learned everything about a television show. But after my second year, I knew I needed to get into casting. I interned that summer for a wonderful woman named Chemin Bernard, who put me in touch with Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer, who cast Supernatural. I interned with them, too, but Chemin actually got me my first job. She connected me with Gary Zuckerbrod, who was looking for an assistant. She picked up the phone and called him. Then I was on Without a Trace, which I thought would go forever, because it was a procedural, and that got canceled after my second season on it, and then Supernatural went 14 years. (Laughs) But from there, my career just skyrocketed. I’ve worked on everything except theater and animation.
That’s a lot of top-flight casting directors you worked with right off the bat.
I’m so fortunate that I’ve gotten to work with incredible people, like Margery Simkin, Carmen Cuba, Marc Hirschfeld. I’m currently working with Jill Anthony Thomas and Anthony Kraus, and would be thrilled to end my career with them. I think that’s why I have such a big heart for the up-and-coming, because I want to give back. I was the Training and Education Program Coordinator for Casting Society Cares for five years, and on the committee for 10. I just stepped down two years ago, but I still have at least one Zoom a month with them, as well as with new up-and-coming casting professionals. It’s become one of my favorite things I’ve done, putting people into casting jobs. I’m helping casting professionals get their first, second, third jobs and matching them with offices that need support and figuring out who fits where.
That’s interesting. Everybody starts somewhere, but not everybody has such a great desire to give back. What is it that compels you to do so?
Honestly, it just gives me joy. If I could somehow figure out how to make it my job to train and be a recruiter for casting assistants, I would do it for no pay. I just love to see good people succeed. Sometimes this industry can be so daunting. I think I have an easier time going out on a limb for other people than I do for myself. It’s easy for me to call up everyone on behalf of someone else, and I guess it’s just something that I’ve always gravitated toward. To keep our positivity is not always easy, but this is one little way that I can try to do that.
How did you come to be on this committee in the first place?
Russell Boast and Gohar Gazazyan started the Training and Education initiative and brought it to the CSA board, and then brought together a community of casting professionals who wanted to create something to help the next generation, to bridge the gap. They had the idea of the training program, so we started this 13 years ago. We would meet a couple times a month and developed this program, which is now the Casting Society Cares Training and Education Program. The pandemic meant we had to put it on hold, but in 2021 or 2022, we decided to do it on Zoom, and we were able to reach a wider audience, not just LA and New York. We have such a great community amongst our alumni that if I didn’t have my casting text chains, I’d be so lost. I need my casting community. I need my friends. And this gives them a community as well.
Why did you step away from it?
It was just time. Also, I realized I could help them as myself, and didn’t have to be a part of a committee. This past year, I connected five assistants with new jobs. Just the other day, I met with someone who was told, “You have to meet Katrina.” I’m sort of a sorority mom to them. I make sure they’re all okay.
Why don’t you just put out a shingle as a casting headhunter?
I wish it was a thing! (Laughs) It would be my dream job, to be honest. I love casting. I love what we do, but if a studio hired me to place casting assistants on their shows and in casting offices, allowing me to train them, I think that at this point in my career, that would be amazing. I’m not leaving casting. I could do them both, but that would be great.
How do you work with these younger people looking to get into casting? What lessons are you teaching them?
I get on Zoom with them, and I get to know them. I learn their strengths and their personalities. I’m a very big, “work hard, be nice” person, and it’s about talking them through stuff. Talking them through different dilemmas they may be in. I tell my students, “Reach out to me anytime if you run into something you don’t know how to do. I’ll hop on Zoom and teach it to you, or you can pick my brain on something that happened in my career,” and they want that. Maybe because of the training program, so many people reach out to me to see if I know anyone available. I call it my “friends and alumni availability list.” When my friend calls and says, “I need a great assistant,” I go to my list and say, “These are people I know are available; check out their résumés.”
Normally, I end these interviews asking for advice or wisdom to pass on to actors coming to audition for you, but in the context of this conversation, I’m going to change that up. Instead, I want to know what the best piece of advice or wisdom is that you can give to someone who wants to get into casting?
Like I said, work hard, be nice, no matter what you do. I got my Supernatural job because I was ushering at a theater. I was a volunteer, and I was working hard, being nice, and someone asked what I wanted to do, and I told her casting. The next week, she came back to tell me they were looking for interns. People recognize work ethic, and they recognize how you treat people. Also, even if casting is not your first job, learn what you can from it. Take a job. Do you see a job description come out? What do you not know in that job? Take the time to learn it, or find someone who’s willing to take the time to teach it to you. Work hard, be nice, and always, always learn. In our career, learning is going to plays, learning actors, watching shows, so there’s the fun learning, but also learning the technicalities and everything that we need to know for our career.
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