About me

It's a funny thing, but I never set out to be a casting director.

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In fact, for most of my professional life I was an ad man.  You know, one of those hotshot creative types with a swanky office, a mini bar and shelf full of prestigious awards.  Okay, so I didn't have a mini-bar but I did have a nice office and won a few awards in my time.

 

Yet despite my success, something inside me was missing.  I knew I had something more to offer than just another TV campaign. 

 

And then I discovered the joy of acting.  And soon after that, writing for the stage.  Suddenly the emptiness in me began to fill with fire.  (If you love theater, you understand.)

 

It was during this period of theatrical awakening that I also came to appreciate something else: the actor's process, and the directions they thirst for when auditioning for a role.

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It was at this juncture that Bob Pomann of Pomann Sound suggested I come work for him as Casting Director.  "Really?" I responded, having never considered such a job before. "Trust me, I've seen you direct actors," he said, referring to the many voiceover recordings we'd worked on together when I was at Grey Advertising.  "And I never saw anyone do it better." He also knew I had once worked in radio and that I had secretly yearned to get back to working around a recording studio again.  Anyway, I took the job, and never looked back.

 

Today, I've come to realize that my strange, meandering career path had actually been the perfect training ground for commercial casting all along.  Where else but advertising could I have learned the structure and rhythms of ad copy, or what goes on behind those closed doors when final casting decisions are made? (Yes, I was one of the people behind those doors).  And where else but theater could I have learned to translate that copy into terms actors understand?   Even my DJ history has come in handy at times, as it provided me with vocal techniques and tricks of the trade that even seasoned voice actors are sometimes unaware of.

 

No, I haven't been running casting sessions for the last twenty years like some of my esteemed colleagues have.  And yet, I feel as though I've been training to do this for my entire life.  

 

And now, I'm ready to begin.