casting top tips with disney animation’s jamie roberts

Jamie Roberts joined Meg, founder, and host of GoodBadMad in Season 2 of our podcast. They got down to talking all about her casting career journey which spans over 20 years. A chance opportunity at a talent agency during university led to her whole career in casting big names from Warner to Disney.

Working at Disney since 2006, she shares in on her joining of the team during the casting of the film Enchanted. Jamie talks about all the trials and tribulations along the way, casting Frozen and Moana, as well as some of the lessons that helped her in her impressive career. Full of amazing achievements to date, read all about it down below!

Sometimes you won't know what you want to do until you try it

"I don't think a lot of people really know what a casting director does as you said, and so it's not something that I think that people necessarily aspire to be or at least not when I was a child."

Jamie discusses how at university she was unsure about what she wanted to do and wasn't expecting to graduate. After a family intervention, her sister got her a job working at a talent agency over the summer to see if something would stick. "I loved many aspects of working in management, mainly being around the talent and the actors that I was working with." After a series of further opportunities arose, it was clear to Jamie to follow the career path to become a casting director, and so she began seeking as many opportunities to get her on that journey as she could.

Just because in one moment you haven't got a clue on what you want to do next, doesn't mean you can't go on to have a long, successful, and gratifying career. In the early stages when faced with the actual breadth of jobs in the industry, many of us may not know what we want to do, but following opportunities as and when they arrive and trusting in the process is key. You may go into a niche that you hadn't heard of before, and you may not know what you are good at until you try.

It's okay to leave something behind if its not right for you, even if you love it.

"I actually turned them down and I said, you know, my heart's not in this. I love you guys and I love the clients, but I don't want to do this. And they both said to me, you should be in casting."

Jamie felt the business and management side of the industry wasn't a total fit for her, despite loving working with her team and talent. Not knowing what she would do next, she trusted her own judgment around needing more of a creative outlet. Luckily, this was all fully supported by her co-workers and they even went on to find her a full-time position with an agent.

It is okay to change your mind and move onto something different, even if you don't know what you want to do next. It didn't matter that the experience Jamie had built in the management space was different from that of casting, as that opportunity had served her in moving into the next stage. It's important to remember that even if something isn't right for you, that every experience is valuable.

Find the thing you want to do for the rest of your life, and nothing else will matter.

"It's this gut thing that it felt right. It just felt right. I felt like I was in my zone."

Once Jamie made the decision to leave the talent agency and went on to work in casting, she felt like she had found her place. It's so important to be able to trust in the process when building your career. It's okay to try new things, bounce around, get things wrong and make mistakes. When you find the thing that is right for you, you'll see it from a mile off. Jamie's journey is proof that if you follow the opportunities that come your way, you'll find where you want to land.

Trust someone else's judgement of you, when you can't trust yourself

"Can I do this, like somebody thinks that I can because they put me here. But I got really lucky because I landed there. And it has been a dream job."

In the early stages of your career, it's hard to know if you're getting things right. Remember to always trust in the judgement of those senior to you (unless it's a bad judgement!). They've been in the industry long enough to know what works, and what doesn't. If they are putting their trust in you, then you can be sure that they have the experience to make that judgement, probably better than you can. When you are stuck or unsure, lean on others for their opinions or advice. People are generally pleased to pass on their lessons and experiences, and there is a whole wealth of information there for you to tap into.

Never be afraid of a re-write

"There's never a full script, there's never like a shooting draft of the script, until the film is delivered to the theatre."

When talking about Frozen, arguably the most successful Disney animation movie to date, Jamie describes how they got a group of actors to come into the writer's room to bounce ideas around. With no clue about the success this movie had in store, various actors and writers discussed the possible storyline, with some actors even having entire characters written around them. Jamie talks about how this process continues for the entire moviemaking process, with constant developments along the way. A really excellent example of a 'minimum viable product', exemplifying the importance of getting the process started way before you make your script 'perfect' because half of it will be rewritten anyway!

If you don't get the first role, you may get the next or be top of mind for others

"In my mind, just because you're auditioning for whatever it is that you're going in the room for doesn't mean that it's actually for this role. It could be for anything."

When auditioning for a project, facing rejection can feel like the be-all and end-all. But it's so important in casting to remember that it's nothing personal, you may just not be the right fit, like any other job role. You never know what you will stick in someone's mind for, so remember to always pump the professional; it will help you on the way to getting a great role with a hotshot casting director.

With some of the most successful movies in the world under Jamie's belt, we admire her career and work immensely. We hope you enjoyed this blog on our top tips series from the best our industry has to offer, and have found much inspiration and answers to your questions around casting.

If you would like to learn more about Jamie's journey, make sure to head on over to The GoodBadMad podcast to hear the episode, and subscribe to be the first to know when the next season drops.