My Comedy Career: Rachel Sheridan

Rachel Sheridan won Best Casting in a TV Comedy Series at this year's Casting Directors Guild Awards for her work on Big Boys, and was presented with the trophy by Ted Lasso star Toheeb Jimoh. Other shows Rachel has worked on include In My Skin, Feel Good, The Other One and upcoming One Day, Such Brave Girls and Men Up. Let's find out more...

Tell us what you do in your job.

Hey! So I'm a casting director. I work predominantly in TV, across comedy and drama. I've been a casting director for around 5 years now and previous to this I was a casting associate to Rachel Freck for around 8 years. I've been really lucky to work on some incredible projects with some of the funniest writing and great casts.

This year has already been very busy! I've worked on Men Up written by Matthew Barry and directed by Ashley Way. It's exec produced by Russell T Davies and Nicola Shindler. I'm really looking forward to this one hitting the screens as it's a one-off drama for the BBC about the medical trials that took place in the early 90s in Swansea for viagra. It's currently in the edit and we finished casting for that project back in February.

We've just finished casting the second series of Big Boys! It was really lovely coming back to do the next series as there's so much enthusiasm for this project.

I've recently been casting a new comedy series called Such Brave Girls which is currently filming for BBC. It's written by Kat Sadler and directed by Simon Bird and explores a lot of the themes of shows I love working on such as mental health and LGBTQ+ stories. I've also been working on a comedy series for Apple called Horseface which is currently filming.
It's been a busy start to the year as we've also worked on a few pilots as well. I know it sounds like a lot but luckily it's all spread out and projects start at different times!

I think the main misconception from actors can be not understanding how much time each part of the job takes and not necessarily even knowing about every part of the job. It's so much more than just coming up with ideas for roles (though of course that's a big part). Like any job, there are nuts and bolts and hours of admin! We're often trying to balance casting multiple casts across a number of projects and that takes a huge amount of work. It's similar to constantly interviewing! We're also dealing with budgets, notes, negotiations, documents and availability checks! An actor's schedule can be incredibly busy and complicated, so we're working hard to make sure we can put our dream cast together for the project with all this in mind!

With TV and film, things can happen very quickly so whilst you're halfway through your daily to-do list, ten other things have changed. It's nothing to grumble about, it's just a challenge that is part of this incredibly creative job. I'm really lucky to have turned my hobby into a job. I love watching telly, theatre, talking about actors etc. It's fantastic.

What key skills do you need to be able to do your job well?

You have to have an excellent memory! Not just for the obvious things, such as names and faces but also their previous credit and roles. It means you can talk to directors and producers effortlessly about an actor's work and their capabilities.

That leads me on to the second skill (and probably the most important) is that you need to be incredibly organised and efficient. It is how you run your ship smoothly.

A key skill is also to be creative. We're more than secretaries or list-makers. When you're working with the right team, a casting director is involved creatively and collaboratively in the process. We spend a lot of time analysing the characters and then matching them with the qualities that an actor can bring to their performance. Often we may be conducting the first round of auditions without the director so we're there to give notes and guide the actors

What has been your biggest career achievement to date?

My biggest career achievement to date would be In My Skin. It was written by my very good friend Kayleigh Llewellyn and it was just such a privilege to be a part of bringing this story to life. It was a small show to begin with so we were tight-knit and left to our own devices to be super creative. The whole crew and cast were so proud of the project and of Kayleigh, to see our show do so well. It won multiple awards including BAFTAs, Welsh BAFTAs and RTS. I was also nominated for the casting work at the RTS awards which I was very proud of. Even without all the awards, the project was one of my greatest achievements.

I'm always proud of the shows I've worked on. I'm selective, not because I'm in a position to be turning loads down, but because I really have to passionately believe in them, which I think is why I've worked on a lot of biographical shows! Everyone who works on a project pours their heart and soul into it which for me would be very difficult if I didn't believe in the show.

And what has been the biggest challenge/disappointment?

I think the biggest challenge for me was getting into the industry in the beginning. When I first started there was a lot less TV drama and comedy being made with pretty much just the 5 main terrestrial channels and a couple of cable channels so there was less work to go around I guess. I had to knock on a lot of doors before getting an internship and then more doors still to get my first assistant job.

Now there's so many channels, streamers and platforms that there's a need for more casting directors. And casting director's need bigger teams. That's not to say it's a breeze getting into this job for those looking to get into casting now, but if you're good and hard-working, you won't struggle too much to find a casting office. It took me forever to get an internship. I worked in that internship for three months whilst balancing a job in the evening to be able to afford to live as the internship was unpaid.

How, if at all, do you aim for a good work-life balance?

Oh I'm the worst person to give advice on this! I'm really good at encouraging it for my associate, but not so much for myself. That said, I have just been on holiday so it's good to have those things planned out.

The best way I can try to balance is to be very focused in the day and not letting too much personal stuff interfere, then I can finish at a reasonable hour (by 6.30/7pm). Obviously that's not always possible but it's helpful when you can come back the next day feeling refreshed.

Another good way to balance work for me, is not to overload myself with projects. I'm good at knowing when I'm at capacity, sometimes you have to let go of other work. I recently had to say no to a project that I really wanted to work on with a good friend of mine. I just knew I didn't have capacity and wouldn't have been able to do it justice and I would never want to short change a project.

Tell us a trick/secret/resource that you use to make your job quicker/easier.

I'm so lucky as I have a great associate, Katie Mozumder! She makes life much easier and I'd be absolutely lost without her. It's so helpful when you get on with the people you work with and genuinely enjoy their company too.

The main trick, and I know I've already mentioned it, is to be organised. Chaos will only lead to a stressful working environment.

If you could change one thing about the comedy industry, what would it be?

More women in creative roles! But it's definitely happening, which is so great. I've been lucky to have worked with amazing female directors and male directors and writers who are true allies to women in the industry, like Jim Archer (director) and Jack Rooke (writer) on Big Boys! These people who are conscious about bringing more women into the process are really pushing the industry forward. Across the board in programming we just need more of everyone, we need a true reflection of real life and that includes gender, disability and ethnicity.

What tips would you give for anyone looking to work in your area of the industry?

Build up a really good contact list of casting directors! A lot of the hard work is done for you as those who are registered with the Casting Directors Guild are easy to find as our contact details are listed there. There's also Spotlight's Contacts Listings section as well.

Watch as much as you can. When I started, I couldn't afford to go to the theatre as much I'd like, so I started writing for the British Theatre Guide and What's On Stage. I didn't get paid back then but I got free theatre tickets!

Getting that foot in the door for the first time is always difficult as when you come into a busy office, there's not many people and they don't always have the time to train you, so start arming yourself with the skills you need and have these on your CV! Learn how to use an excel budget, get into editing on iMovie, etc. These aren't always essential skills when you're applying but if you're the person who can come in and literally get going, you'll go far.

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