Working: A Reality TV Casting Director on What Makes a Good Contestant

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4.2 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s show, Working producer Cameron Drews talks to Erin Tomasello, casting director for the Netflix reality show The Circle. In the interview, Erin explains what it’s like to work on the casting team for shows like The Bachelor, Fear Factor, America’s Got Talent, and more. Then she discusses the casting process for The Circle and lays out what she and the casting producers are looking for in potential contestants. She also offers tips for anyone who’s thinking about applying to be on the show (which you can do at thecirclecasting.com). After the interview, co-hosts June Thomas and Isaac Butler talk to Cameron about the rise of politeness and good sportsmanship on reality shows, and then Cameron asks June and Isaac for some creative advice. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Erin talks about how she got into reality show casting and what it’s like to work as a freelancer in the TV industry. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and the Culture Gabfest—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Danny Dyer, and welcome to What's That Smell?
0:07.6	Smoked with a hint of burgers, it's my barbecue apron.
0:10.8	Luckily, I can make this smell like freshly picked lilies.
0:13.9	Just pop it in the washing machine, add some surf tropical lily laundry detergent, and
0:18.4	oh, my fave, it smells like my dream holiday.
0:23.2	Get long-lasting fragrance with natural essential oils, with surf laundry detergent.
0:28.0	You can make anything perth of surf.
0:36.2	There are hundreds of thousands of people that are dying to be on TV, okay?
0:40.8	But our job, the hard part, is finding the stars among all those hundreds of thousands
0:48.2	of reading through, and really finding those ones that will touch the hearts of Americans.
0:53.3	I want to watch a show, and I want to relate to someone on that show.
1:01.0	Welcome back to Working.
1:02.0	I'm your host, June Thomas.
1:04.2	And I'm your other host, Isaac Butler.
1:06.0	I'm going to ask someone else to identify the voice we heard at the top of the show, and
1:10.4	that is our fearless producer, Cameron Drews, who did this week's interview.
1:15.1	Cameron, who will we be hearing from this week?
1:17.7	Hey, June, thanks for including me in this week's show.
1:21.4	The voice we heard belongs to Erin Thomas-Sello.
1:23.8	She is the casting director for the Netflix reality show The Circle, and that's what I
1:29.0	talked to her about mostly, because I'm a fan of that show.
1:32.8	But Erin has been in casting for around 20 years.
	...

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