MJM: Honestly I fell into it from the production world. I was in production and was given the job of doing some casting on my first film in New York and I liked that better than what I was doing, so I pursued it.

CNY: You’ve been in the industry for over 20 years now and have no doubt developed a masterful eye for talent. Tell me a little about that process.

MJM: Well, you don’t really see the person’s talent until you see them in an audition. You can sometimes tell by a headshot or get a feeling that someone might have something that might be interesting, but you don’t really know until you have them audition. When you’re having an audition you’re hopefully seeing one good person after another, but they are sent in from a variety of places. Either from self-submissions, and you just thought their look was right to begin with and so you brought them in, or from their agent or manager.

CNY: You’re open to self-submissions?

MJM: Yes, we have casting sessions. We see both: people that are submitted by representatives and people that have submitted on their own.

CNY: How is it that you elicit this opening for a casting call?

MJM: Through a variety of websites, especially now. It’s always been through breakdown services and through Actor’s Access and other casting sites that are up now. It all depends what we’re looking for: the budget, what types of people they want and then we tailor it to which sites we think have the people that are most qualified for it.

CNY: On your website I see you work with a variety of things: film, new media, music videos and print. Do you also work with voiceover talent?

MJM: Yes I have. Not every day, but we have worked with many.

CNY: As far as your job goes, obviously time management is a big part of it, but what about your routine is the hardest thing to accomplish?

MJM: Well it really depends on what we’re casting. Honestly, if you’re casting principles it’s a fairly sane life; usually. I mean, yes – you can have auditions at night and you can have auditions on weekends, but not everyone is available to do that all the time either. You can lead a relatively sane life, I feel, when you’re casting principles on a project that’s good enough that people understand nobody wants to be doing it 24 hours a day. It’s when you’re casting background, which we also do it, then it’s a much bigger issue because that’s almost 24/7. So that’s the hardest part about doing casting, is background casting. Some people don’t do it but we do it as well.

CNY: How any hours a week do you put in at the office?

MJM: When we’re doing background casting it can be – I mean, I put the computer on at 7am and it goes off at 1am. It’s around the clock and then you dream about it. We can work from anywhere these days because all you need is your computer and your phone. Sometimes I can never even get out of my apartment because I can just not get out of the chair, there’s no time to even stand up. Those are the hard days.

CNY: What is the staffing like at your actual company?

MJM: Very small. It ranges from month to month but it’s very small. About 2-5.

CNY: Any advice for someone looking to pursuing the role of Casting Director?

MJM: I would think having some knowledge of acting is helpful. We have a lot of people who are actors that decided they don’t want to act anymore and would rather pursue casting. It does help to have some acting background because you kind of know what the actors are going through and you certainly can communicate with them and use the terminology that’s right and to be a good reader. Having knowledge of production is helpful and having a lot of energy is totally most helpful.

CNY: Same question, but for actors looking to land the audition?

MJM: There’s all sorts of things, a list of do’s and don’t about what you should do in an audition. I suppose really knowing what it is you’re coming in for. That doesn’t necessarily mean reading the whole script. When you come in and you say “I just got the sides five minutes ago and haven’t had a chance to look at them yet” and they’re standing in the room. And then you say, “Do you want a few more minutes with them? Do you want to come back in in 15 minutes” and if you say, “Yes, that’d be great” - don’t even come in the room. You know? Just say to someone ahead of time that you need a little time with them. At least have read them once or twice and have an idea of what choices you’re going to make to pull them off. Know what you’re coming in for, know the sides and make clear choices on how you’re going to present them. Having your headshot is good because everyone always thinks their agent has sent a headshot and they never do, and just be professional and the prettiest and get on out.