RISING TALENT 2024: CASTING DIRECTORS

RISING TALENT 2024

The IF Rising Talent list for 2024 is made up of people we think will shift and lead our industry into the future. Some are newer faces, others have recently stepped into senior roles where they’re now making waves. We think you’ll want to work with all of them. We put this list together through a public call out and extensive insdustry outreach. This year, we had a staggering 692 names put forward. As always, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of talent that’s out there in Australia.

CASTING DIRECTORS

STEPHANIE PRINGLE AND ALISON FOWLER

Stephanie Pringle and Alison Fowler are the co-founders of Chicken and Chips Casting, launched in 2015, and work across advertising, TV and film.

Their recent projects include Jack Clark and Jim Weir’s Birdeater, winner of the Audience Award at Sydney Film Festival and due to screen at SXSW in March; the AACTA nominated A Savage Christmas, directed by Madeleine Dyer; Monica Zanetti’s AACTA-winning Ellie & Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt); Canneseriesselected horror anthology Deadhouse Dark, and Angela How’s upcoming feature My Eyes, starring Adam Garcia and Tsu Shan Chambers.

Pringle and Fowler have received several Casting Guild of Australia nominations, most recently for short film Pasifika Drift in 2023. They are dedicated to fostering collaboration among directors, producers and actors, and have earned a reputation for advocating on-screen diversity.

The pair are strong believers in providing grassroots opportunities for actors and offer accessible resources and workshops to demystify the casting process.

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AMY METE

Originally from Far North Queensland, Amy Mete is a trained dancer and was drawn to Melbourne to continue her career in performing arts. She worked at a performing arts school and dance and musical theatre agency before starting at Nick Hamon Casting as a casting assistant in 2011.

From 2013, she assisted Hamon on several TV productions including It’s A Date seasons 1-2, Open Slather, The Divorce, and How To Stay Married seasons 1-3. More recently, she was casting associate on the kids sci-fi television series Planet Lulin, which just went to air on ABCME.

In 2019, Mete landed her first casting director credit on the drama series Why Are You Like This, which aired on ABC in Australia and Netflix worldwide. She also served as casting director on the Poppy Stockelldirected dramedy web series Triple Oh!, which has screened at queer festivals around the world and will soon air on SBS.

Mete has received several nominations at the Casting Guild of Australia Awards, and has had two wins for her casting work on TVCs for Flybuys and R U OK?.

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ANNABEL CLAYTON

Drawing from a background in production, Annabel Clayton moved into casting in 2018.

In 2019, she established the web series department at Highway Casting, driven by a commitment to diverse and innovative content. Her work as casting director includes TikTok series Love Songs and Scattered, which have each amassed more than 5 million views worldwide.

In the commercial sphere, Clayton has worked on TVCs for brands such as Nintendo, ANZ, Mastercard, Coles and Target.

Clayton is a proud member of the Casting Guild of Australia (CGA) and currently sits on the Executive Committee. She has been nominated for several CGA Awards, including achievement in casting for web series Celebration Nation in 2022.

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WILL PEARCE

Will Pearce’s casting career started in London, where he worked with some of the UK’s top casting directors.

After moving to Australia in 2017, Pearce then joined McGregor Casting and worked his way up from assistant to associate on local and international projects such The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Babyteeth, Foe, Evil Dead Rise, The Twelve S2, Apples Never Fall, The Wilds, Fisk and The Deb.

As a casting director, Pearce has several TVCs and short films under his belt, including 14 in February, nominated for Best Casting in a Short Film at the 2023 Casting Guild of Australia (CGA) awards.

This year, Pearce will co-cast season 3 of ABC’s Fisk alongside Kirsty McGregor.

Pearce is an active member of the CGA, passionate about developing strong working relationships with fellow creatives and strives to look further afield to unearth new talent.

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NATALIE WALL

Natalie Wall is an independent casting director currently affiliated with Barrett Casting.

Her credits as casting director include the feature films Inside, Of an Age, Blaze, The Sapphires and Holding the Man, and TV series Black Snow (for which she was nominated for a Casting Guild of Australia Award), The PM’s Daughter and Bay of Fires.

During her time as casting associate for Nikki Barrett, Wall gained experience working across more than 40 Australian and international productions including Elvis, Fury Road, Carmen, The Invisible Man, Peter Rabbit, Aquaman, Breath, The Great Gatsby, The Babadook and series Pieces of Her, Jack Irish and Picnic at Hanging Rock

Wall has been a guest presenter on casting at AFTRS and facilitated numerous audition workshops for actors in Sydney and Melbourne. Wall tries in her approach to be creative, empathetic and curious, with a particular focus on character analysis and finding truth in performance.