There are all kinds of casting origin stories. Some were actors who lost the spark and ended up on the other side of the camera. Others had a love of film and wanted to work with actors and be creative, but didn’t want to direct.
There are lots of other stories and plenty of variations on the theme, but the list of people who got into casting because their kids were actors; and they needed to act as a sort of watchdog for other child actors is short. In fact, there is probably only one name on it: Nancy McBride.
A Florida casting director for more than a quarter century, McBride had three children in the business and suddenly found herself helping other parents of child actors in Central Florida. The experience gave her a career. All these years later, she has carved out a similarly unique niche in the entertainment industry. Hearing her talk about it and her life in the business is fascinating. She spoke to us from her home office.
Insights: Lessons From Nancy McBride
- Share casting opportunities with peers to build a supportive network.
- Ensure self-taped auditions have high-quality video, audio, and a clean background.
- Present yourself professionally in auditions; first impressions matter.
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How did you get started in casting in the first place?
I fell into it. I have four kids, and three of them that wanted to be in the industry. Years ago, agents wouldn’t let you talk to each other. I was trying to get my bearings because I didn’t know the industry.
Parents started sharing information, and I told my husband, who’s a software engineer, “I need an avenue for this because there are so many scams out there for parents.” I said, “If I’m falling and stumbling and struggling, someone else is doing the same thing. But if there’s a place where we could share the information, then as parents, we could work together.”
So he put something together for you?
He built me a forum. We called it “Kid Kasting.” When it started, there were five of us parents on there, and we watched it almost overnight grow to the largest parent network across the East Coast. Then it became [known] across the US. We were posting jobs, we were sharing stuff, we were educating.
The rule was that you share every job you found because your child’s not going to be right for everything, so we make sure that other kids have an equal opportunity. That was the rule to be on the forum and everybody followed it. We posted daily jobs.
All of a sudden, productions started calling me looking for kids for various projects. I was helping the casting process, producers and other casting directors find what they needed.
So you were essentially drafted into casting?
I did that for years. I was representing all these parents and posting, and I was learning the industry. It put me in a really good spot. I started working with students because I knew that I couldn’t come in and take a studio job because there were only four primary casting directors that were really prominent in Florida at the time. Then I became the infomercial casting director. I’ve been casting ever since. It’s been almost 25 years.
It sounds like before crowdsourcing was a thing, you were crowdsourcing youth casting.
Absolutely. That was pre-Facebook. In the forums, you had to refresh to see if something was new. We sat on the forum all day, dealing with parents and all of that stuff. There would be times when I would be out with my husband on a date night and I’d get a phone call that there’s drama going on the board. I was like, “These parents have got to grow up. I’m not getting paid for this, grow the hell up.”
It’s like wrangling cats, and all of a sudden, you have all this responsibility.
Right. I decided originally I was going to be an agent because I had access to all these kids. I was doing the process to do my agency license, then I got screwed out of a commission by a parent after I helped their kid get a job. I decided I wanted to have more power. I was not playing that game.
You said that the first big break as a casting director was an infomercial, but where is most of your work coming from now?
I have commercial work — Disney, Advent Health — that I work on and a lot of independent stuff shooting in Florida.
A lot of my stuff is Christian work, which I love. I worked for Campus Crusades, the largest Christian distribution house for missionary work. They do real-life scenarios and video them, and then their missionaries take the DVDs and hand them out all over the world. I work with the International Christian Film Festival and a lot of the producers who attend that film festival, whether it’s short films or feature films, stuff like that.
That’s an interesting niche. How did you get into that particular part of the industry?
A networking event. I went to that film festival on their networking night. I was talking to filmmakers who work for Campus Crusades and how they struggle with talent. I was like, “Oh, I’ve got talent all day long that would die to do this wholesome, family-friendly stuff.” I said, “I can hook you up, and that was 17 years ago.”
Working with a level of talent that is perhaps not as experienced, I’m curious if there are common mistakes people make when they audition.
Yes, a lot of times when they do their self tapes, their quality may not be good. The great thing about being able to video your audition is that you can master it.
The power of being able to do video is making sure that you are perfect when you do it and it looks good. Some of the greener people don’t understand. It sounds like it’s rehearsed and you don’t want it to sound rehearsed. You want it to sound natural, you want it to sound real. Some of them, they just throw it up there and they don’t realize there’s stuff in the background or there’s not a backdrop. That takes away from what they’re doing.
With that in mind, what piece of advice or wisdom would you give to somebody coming to audition for you or sending in a tape?
Make sure that the audio sounds good. Make sure the lighting’s good. Make sure you look good. I tell talent that all the time, “You are a walking business card.” If you go on video and your clothes are wrinkly and you look like you crawled out from under a rock, people aren’t going to take you seriously.
Understand presentation. Presentation is vital. You’ve got one shot. Half the time, if they turn on that video and you don’t look good, they’re only going to give you three seconds, then go to the next. It’s all about presentation.
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