CASTING - DAY 1 - Birmingham

James: I remember being hideously unwell and tanked up on ibruprofen for our first casting session. We'd hired some really dank studio space in the Digbeth area of Birmingham, and the alarm kept going off every time someone opened the front door.

Gabby: No James was not at his best. And this ‘ casting room’ was is large, old and shabby...slightly embarrassing.

We see a lot of good actors for the extra parts. First in was Jane Lyndsey-Smith, midwife turned actor. We were convinced from that moment she would be our doctor.

James: We were also particularly keen on Zak Lee, who demonstrated great talent. I remember thinking that it was a shame there wasn't a larger part for him to play in the script.

Gabby: We then run hideously late chatting to our last actor, she drives us to the station and just catch our train down to London for day 2 of casting.

No main parts even potentially filled. Even though it had been a productive day, I remember being slightly worried.

SHORT LISTING FOR CASTING

Gabby: Armed with over 350 CVS we quickly sifted out those who weren't appropriate. We were left with a fairly big 'maybe' pile and a very modest 'yes' pile. We wanted to try and audition a mix of people who would fit together as a family unit, so we laid them all on the floor in the television studio in Digital Arts Centre, in lines of each character. We picked actors who interested us, who we felt had a particular interest in the project, who had done interesting projects in the past and who felt would gel well with our other selections.

We than started to ring around. It actually took the rest of the week to finish getting in touch with everybody and arranging casting slots. Far longer than we thought, but then neither of us had ever really been involved in the pre-production of a drama before as our experience stemed from the technical production.

POSTING FOR CASTING

Gabby: We wrote a brief synopsis of the film, and character breakdown, and I then posted ads in PCR, on Shootingpeople, Castnet, and Talent Circle.

It was nerve racking but really quiet exciting. James and myself had cast together on a number of times before. We were confident in our ability to make the right choices, but then our past projects had always been shorts. I am not sure that we quiet understood then just how hard this process was going to be.

James: We kept the descriptions pretty vague, as we didn't want to limit the search at this stage. I'd argue that whilst we got later got lots of replies, the variety still wasn't that exceptional. There are lots of actors with similar experience of The Bill & Family Affairs and tonnes of student films. You get stuck as to what makes a difference. I'd hate to admit it, but some got in because of their photo alone.