I always hate typing the first post – what do you write that’s remotely interesting? I don’t need to write anything about myself because it can all be found here. I suppose starting as I mean to go on would be good, so I’ll tell you about my day.

A bit of background information before I go full steam ahead – I study Entertainment Management at university which, apologies for stating the obvious, teaches us how to manage entertainment i.e. theatres, nightclubs, casinos etc. We can often be found traipsing around campus trying to sell tickets, or in a darkened room drinking coffee planning our next project. It requires confidence, ambition, and a slightly psychotic personality. At various times in the year we go on industrial visits to local venues to find out a bit more about them, and today we went along to a nearby theatre to partake in a “speed dating” exercise.

Forget questions about previous partners, party tricks, and what turns them on – think more along the lines of company strategy, management techniques, and departmental budgets. We sat in groups for a good hour trying to ask various departmental managers intellectual questions and it went pretty well, but all I could think was, “When can I go get some chips?” Three hours later we were still in the same first floor studio being spoken to/at by a casting director (who is a member of BAFTA don’t you know?) about what it’s like to be dealing with temperamental actors all day long. It was actually very interesting and my notebook is covered with random sentences like, “Always mention an actor’s shoes”, “Watch out for the producers”, and “Is it time for lunch yet?”.

Mrs Casting Director then told us to ask her questions. My lecturer asked her, “How do you become a casting director?” The response, and I paraphrase, was this, “It’s basically impossible.” Now don’t get me wrong, it must be hard and she’s been in the business for over 20 years, but nothing is impossible surely? The cynic in me decided to put her ignorant response down to the fact that she doesn’t want any competition – she makes a decent amount of money, and is very well respected, but at least encourage people to try.

Once this was over we were allowed to go on our merry way. It was a good day, and I did actually enjoy it. I don’t know whether this is because I found it very interesting, or purely because I had a plate of chips afterwards. I’ll get back to you on that one.