How Long Is “Casting About”?

Inspired by filmmaker Barry Hershey's attempt to find an actress for a student film he was making at USC School of Cinema over two-decades prior, Casting About allows those unfamiliar with the sometimes arduous casting process the opportunity to experience firsthand the intensity of choosing the right actress for the right part. In the fall of 2000, Hershey assigned casting directors in five cities the task of finding actresses for his dramatic period film "Moving Still." Having remembered the profound affect that the casting process had on him as a young aspiring filmmaker, Hershey intended to incorporate clips from the various auditions into the fictional film. It didn't take long for Hershey to realize, however, that the stories shared by 350 actresses in the seventy hours of casting tapes were enough to merit their own feature film, and in the months that followed the director worked with editor Marc Grossman to edit the key moments down into an eighty-six minute film. Now, for the first time ever, industry outsiders can bear witness to the remarkable dynamic shared between actress and filmmakers in this documentary that offers an impressionistic montage of the casting experience.