Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kara Sullivan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I always loved the movies and TV. As long as I can remember we went to the movies every weekend, there were favorite shows I watched with family and I had to be home on time for every Oscars since I was old enough to appreciate them, before the DVR I would tell friends either come to my place or see me after the Oscars is done. I knew the business was not all the glitz and glamour you see in the media, it was also hard work, which I learned thanks to living in So Cal and my brother’s past experiences in the business. This brings me to being a Casting Director which initally was not the career plan. My plan was to be a teacher, I had started babysitting in highschool, been a part time nanny during college and was a counselor at the overnight camp I went to as a kid, so I loved kids. The year I was going to graduate from UCLA, 2003, I decided I wanted to be with adults all day and I wanted to do something in entertainment. I knew it was going to be hard work and again not the instant glitz and glamour you see on TV.

So my brother had me talk to his highschool friend who was working at Universal at the time about what I might want to do. She said there were a lot of choices and I’d need to try a few things then decide. Her advice was to sign up for a temp agency and tell them I wanted to do entertainment.

I did and one of the companies they set me up with was a management company who repped mostly comedians. Soon after my boss decided she wanted to go back to casting and took a casting job. I loved casting and stayed with her for a while. When I felt I was ready which was not very long after that session I wanted to see if I still loved casting and wanted to be a CD. Lucky for me my friend needed help casting a spec commercial for his new production company, I took the job for free, loved it and decided this was something I wanted to pursue. So I gave the business a name Kara Sullivan Casting and let people know I was starting my own business. Word spread and like anything it took a while before I could just work for myself as while building the business I did work for the first woman I have been discussing for a year and then after worked with other CDs as an assistant so I could build my knowledge and learn how to run a successful casting business. Now and for years Kara Sullivan Casting is thriving and I love what I do.

Kara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

How I got into the business refer to the story before this question.

My job is find actors to play roles in different on camera projects. I am a Casting Director that does casting for everything and anything. I cast films whether features or shorts, web series, like on BET+ I cast a show called a web series called The Rich and The Ruthless. I do commercials for products like Little Tikes and Air Motto plus music videos for artists like Pink. How do I this? Well, I am going to give you the simple answer. When someone has a project I am contacted by the Producer, Director or Production company who tells me they have a project, they ask am I available and once I say yes they tell me what characters they have in their project and we discuss their characteristics. Then, I create a casting notice that I can post on the online sites I use so talent can submit themselves for the role or roles they feel they best fit for or I contact talent I have worked with in the past. On the sites I pick the talent I think fits the best for each role and ask them to try out for the role through a self tape or in person and they do an audition with one or two scenes from the script. With the people I contact personally I ask them to do the same thing.

I love my job, I am passionate about it and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I take extreme pride in my job and deliver spot on casting for each project because many people do not realize that having the right actor in each role is what keeps the audience engaged and interested. It took a lot of sacrifice and hard work to get to where I am but it was all worth it. In my opinion my clients continue to come back and use me because they feel and can see all of this and how much care I have for each of my projects. I have actors that support me because they see how much I appreciate them and all the support and how hard I work and that I always do great projects that they can be proud of.

What I am most proud of? I am proud that I do amazing quality projects and many that tackle serious issues like trafficking, racism and tell the history of important events that have been forgotten or just need to be told again. Again, I always give 110% to all of my projects and that I truly love my job.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Until I became successful enough to just do casting I did have to work part time jobs to keep my business going. I believed with hard work I would make it and could just do casting. For a bit I had steady work as a freelance casting assistant with a commercial casting director but she retired and working for other offices that hired free lance casting assistants when needed. Yes, getting a job with another established office would have made life easier but I knew I was good and I did in fact try that when I first started but many people that had interned during college just seemed to beat me out. Overall, I knew I had what it took to fulfill my dream of having my own casting business.

We got to point where all of these wells had run dry plus my Dad who was helping me here and there passed. My mom who was a fantastic single mom said I could always come back home and she supported me for 2 years after college, this was the right thing. Money wasn’t coming in and I had to move out of my place. A decision had to be made, go back to Palm Desert and move back home or couch surf until I was back on my feel enough to get my own place and found a part time job that would allow me to continue to the goal of just doing casting. I decided on the later and thanks to the generosity of my friends and family I found places to stay for periods of six months and eventually got a wonderful part time assistant job to an actor and his family that allowed to me to the casting. It was a scary time but I made it because I believed in myself, was determined and sometimes in this business that is what it takes.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me being able to work on projects that can make a difference or bring to a light an issue that no one thinks is happening anymore or where they live. For example I did a short on female circumcision a few years ago, little did I know it happens in America as some cultures even after coming here still feel it is necessary.

Also, I love it when I get to cast talent in a genre of film they have always wanted to do or when I hear I was the Casting Director that gave someone their very first job. As actors you do so many auditions before you get a yes, if you ask anyone famous like Brad Pitt or Selena Gomez they will tell you it wasn’t that they got a job right away, it was nos and lots of classes and training to get that yes. For us it is rewarding when we get someone their first yes.

Kids, I do alot of casting kids and many started auditioning for me when they were as young as a baby or toddler. It is amazing to see them grow as actors and when they get that big job that changes everything and to know that often times I gave them their very first job. in the new Dr. Strange, Xochitl Gomez, I started casting her when she was 8. Amazing to see how talented she is and how much she has grown as an actor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://karasullivancasting.com
• Instagram: ksccasting
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kara.sullivan.9404
• Linkedin: Under my email [email protected] or just look for Kara Sullivan or Kara Sullivan Casting