On Casting: with Hannah Marie Williams, Nadia Latif, Fateme Ahmadi & Deborah Willey

In the fifth episode of Short Hand, we’re delving into the casting process and asking casting director Hannah Marie Williams (Dawn in the Dark, The Last Days), directors Nadia Latif (White Girl, They Heard Him Shout Allahu Akbar) and Fateme Ahmadi (Chandra, Bitter Sea) and Independent Talent agent Deborah Willey for their perspectives on how to cast your short film.  

Topics covered include: at what stage you should be bringing on a casting director, finding chemistry with your casting director, how long the audition process takes, how you approach agents, how you know you’ve found the right actor, how hands-on the director is and working with younger or child actors. 

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SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES

• Hannah Marie Williams casting
• Equity, the performers & creative practitioners union in the UK
• Bitter Sea (dir. Fateme Ahmadi)
• White Girl (dir. Nadia Latif)
• Isabella Odoffin casting 

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Short Hand is a BFI NETWORK & Film Hub South East production. Produced by Nicole Davis, with support from Independent Cinema Office. Edited by Graciela Mae Chico.