Gabriella Wrighten ’17

Boston Casting, A film, TV, and commercial casting agency in Boston, MA

For the most part, my job was assisting with day-to-day activities in the office and any casting projects we might be working on. Some days, this was helping record in person auditions, observing acting class, or creating lists of talent we’d like to see audition for a project. Most days though, we were tasked with reviewing and uploading self-tapes (auditions) to our online database.

Boston Casting is a fairly relaxed environment. Everything was still professional, so attire was business casual, but we came in at 10 am and left by 4 pm most days. Casting, however, is not a 9-5 job. Some weeks, we were incredibly busy with multiple movies and commercials, so we worked longer days. Other weeks would be slow, with maybe only one commercial, and we would work from home instead.

Yes! “Modern Culture and Media” at Brown is really just a big combination of everything entertainment/media related, so film and TV fit right in.

I loved watching the self-tapes. I would love to be a casting director for films in the future, so it was great to begin working that side of my brain and seeing which people could be right for a role (and, alternatively, who is completely wrong for the role). Boston is such a unique place with such unique people, so we got some wild tapes to say the least. One of the other interns put it this way—we see all the sides of humanity in these videos. Yes, the task is to pick who’s right for a role, but it’s also just fun to watch people make choices and do weird things for the camera.

Funnily enough, all the plays and musicals at Mayfield made this job way easier for me. Because I’ve been learning lines and playing vastly different parts since kindergarten, I know how hard it can be to let go and get into a weird part and how nerve racking it can be to perform in front of a crowd. I helped teach a few acting classes with kids, and I used all the acting skills and games from Mrs. Byrne’s drama classes to get them to break out of their shell. Also, the kids trusted me a lot more when I said, “I did Shrek: The Musical in eighth grade too.”

I learned a lot more about the casting industry, including the software platforms, the types of roles (Union, Non-Union, etc), speed of casting, how deals are done—all of the small things that go into putting a cast together. I also learned how much better things can be with a team, or even just a partner. Almost every day, I had an opinion—sometimes bigger things, but most of the time keeping an actor who I wanted to cut or vice versa—completely changed by a conversation with the other interns in the office.

There’s one big movie and a lot of commercials that, even though my name won’t be on them, I know I had a hand in. Considering my dreams have always been big (both hard to envision and difficult to achieve), I’m just happy to have my foot in the door. 

Did your internship change your thoughts or influence your future career path?
If anything, I’m more sure about my career path now. I’ve always had a lot of potential career options, but I’ve learned enough to know I enjoy casting a lot. Ideally, I can cast some horror movies and or romcoms, but I’ll go with whatever is on my path.

I think it’s important to just go for it. I met so many people (actors, casting directors, producers, everything) that had no idea where they were going to end up in life, but got where they wanted by taking risks and just putting themselves out there. In truth, that’s how I got this internship in the first place—a cold email with my resume attached. In the end, it was great to have that reassurance that I can be good at this. Even if I’m not, I connected with some great people who I hope to keep around for a long time.