We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Cayce recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?

Getting fired isn’t usually the best thing to happen to someone, but it was for me. I’d just received an Emmy nomination for commercial producing when I spoke up against working conditions at the office. My swift exit was unexpected after my accolade, and they quickly got my signature for severance and silence.

The good news was that I had all the time in the world to start my office, turn offices, and finally launch my career. I started my casting office, Compass Casting, out of my garden apartment while driving for Lyft. I’m so lucky that I got fired. I wouldn’t have directed so many films, started my own offices, or gotten to be the captain of my ship in the way I am.

At first, I took getting fired as a failure. Now, it was just the start of my actual career.

Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

While many directors start their careers in camera or another helpful department, I started mine scrubbing toilets. As my high school’s shining hope to go to LA and be an actor, I was advised to take an on-camera class with my home state’s only casting director. After my first class, which I could barely afford, I asked him if I could scrub the toilet and take out trash in exchange for training.

Several months of toilet scrubbing and trash schlepping later, the CD I came up through asked if I wanted to sit in on a casting. One day on the other side of the camera and I was hooked. I went from casting intern to casting assistant, sitting in on production meetings and falling in love with this industry. (If you’ve never sat around a table with brilliant department heads to listen to them tell you how they’ll make black ink on a white page interesting, I highly recommend it if you’re forgetting why you started this insane job in the first place.)

From intern to assistant to associate to smashing into the glass ceiling, I left my home state for Chicago, where I swore I’d never cast again. After a couple of years and an Emmy nomination for commercial producing, I got fired from the ad agency that scooped me up as soon as I moved to the city. Crying on my way home – and wondering how a friend who’d later stand with me at my wedding could fire me – I decided to go back to my casting roots. I opened Compass Casting in 2013 while driving for Lyft and saying yes to any casting who would hire me.

Being a firm believer that casting directors should teach if they’re going to demand constant training, I opened an on-camera acting studio for Chicago actors called The Forge. We’re aggressively affordable so actors can always be training but also helping our amazing teachers pay their bills. When other schools were telling me what I was and wasn’t allowed to teach, I inverted the request and asked insanely talented actors what they wish they would have learned. The Forge went from me teaching one night a week to now having six teachers, seven days a week.

In 2021, the day after hosting a callback for the feature I THOUGHT we were casting, a producer and dear friend, Sarah Sharp, called and said, “The studio paid for a movie to be shot, so…can you direct a film in ten days?” A few days later I found myself on set, flexing every teaching muscle and quick casting direction I had. A dozen shorts and a couple of feature films later, it’s been lovely to hear from my colleagues that directing is where I need to focus. Actor John Pirruccello said, “You’re live Lynch, how you figure out how to talk to everyone in their own way…you’re funny like Hader though.” Even if it was just for my ego, it meant the world to even be mentioned with those two. Directing feels like it encapsulates a lot of the skills I have (working with actors very quickly, having to understand the story enough to communicate it, and curiosity in my leadership) and I’m grateful to be able to bring so many more stories to life.

Too long, didn’t read: I’m a pint-sized former toilet scrubber turned director who owns a casting office and an acting studio with a couple of awards for producing and screenwriting.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

You’d think not having student debt was a good thing. To lenders, it’s not.

On paper, I was a high school-educated, self-employed movie dork who’d just been fired and was now asking for $15,000 to start my offices. So few folks saw the potential of my little empire, because so few folks know what big industry film is. I was rejected by most, my credit tanked after being run, and I ended up with a tiny loan that bought me most of my gear. It’s not a fun origin story, but it’s true. I wish I’d known more scrappy women making it work when I started.

I drove for Lyft, got a tiny loan, and hoped people would take me seriously with my fresh LLC. More than a decade later, and very thankful to have successful businesses, maybe I should walk into the banks and finally have my PRETTY WOMAN moment…

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Lots of us have little jobs – driving for lyft, waiting tables, survival jobs – so that we can do our Work. For me, my Work is creating safe spaces for people. Whether it’s on set for my crew, a safe audition for actors in the casting office, a safe learning environment for actors, or just being a safe person for someone to sit by – I’m here to give people a safe space to tell their story.

When folks meet my wife, they rarely open up to tell her their whole life story. Me, on the other hand? Ask me about the old lady at the grocery store, Pearl, who, in the span of my checkout, told me about her emigration. Bobby, the ex-con who said his sister met me once and she felt like telling me everything about herself – he said he knew it had to be me because of how I seemed to actually want to know.

Getting into film seems inevitable for a kid like me who wants to give folks space to tell stories. Isn’t that what sitting in a movie theater is, or streaming at home? Just a safe space to watch even the scariest stories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pwmfilms.com/sarah
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.cayce/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CompassCasting/
• Other: https://www.compasscasting.com/ https://www.theforgechi.com/

Image Credits
BTS Photography by David Hagen, used with permission – https://davidhagen.xyz/ Everything else is from my phone