Hitchhikers on the Highway 002
Meet the Team: Patrick
Meet Patrick, the latest addition to the Highway Team!
They bring a unique blend of creativity, intelligence, and curiosity — along with experience working in media and radio.
You’ve recently come aboard the Highway team as one of the Casting Assistants – did you have any preconceived ideas about working in a Casting Company or the industry before you dove in?
It's hard to not come into this industry picturing the glamour of Hollywood sets and being on sets with Scorsese. I think everyone, media industry or not, has ideas of the casting couch, panels of Hitchcock-equse directors and producers and the ingenue getting her first big break.
Thankfully, the reality is nowhere near as cliché. Without exception, every person I have had the pleasure of meeting through working at Highway has been down-to-earth, professional, and, most importantly, so lovely. There is such a rewarding feeling to being one of the people behind the scenes helping to create iconic media moments that will become a part of the cultural landscape.
And there's not a better place I could wish to be doing this than Highway.
The past few years have greatly shifted how we work. What was your personal experience working from home and what were the pros & cons?
I count myself very lucky that I was able to work throughout all of COVID, as that isn't something that could be said for a lot of people. I was working both from home in a remote role, as well as in person as an essential worker.
Working from home, as many have said, is a double-edged sword. Sure, it's convenient to be able to work from your living room (or, as it was in my case, from a hastily assembled chest of drawers in the corner of my bedroom), and not have to worry about traffic or train schedules. But I missed the human connection that working in-office allows! I missed the Monday catch-ups and seeing my local barista each morning.
I know for an industry as reliant on face to face as casting how hard this would have been. Every day I greet actors for an audition I hear "It's so nice to be back". You just can't appreciate a person fully through Zoom!
What initially drew you to work in media & the creative industries? What parallels do you see between casting and your experiences in radio broadcasting?
I started off studying Journalism actually, then made my way into the world of Digital and Social media. Somewhere along the way, I fell into the radio world and since then, the media industry and I have been inseparable.
Having over 6 years of experience in radio hosting and production has been invaluable at Highway. Both industries are so fast-paced and have a rhythm to them that is hard to describe. You start to see the similarities between prepping for a radio interview and teeing up a shoot day. There are schedules that need to be sent out, calendars to be synced up, agents to call. All these little things that make up two very different aspects of the media landscape, yet are strangely familiar.
It's really quite surprising how much they share, and how much I've enjoyed the challenge of applying this mindset to a brand-new industry!
What has been your perception of inclusion in terms of diversity across the commercial campaigns you have worked on?
One of the things that first caught my eye at Highway was the commitment to diverse and inclusive casting. It's one of the main reasons I'm so proud to be a member of the team.
It's been very heartening to have worked on several campaigns so far which have prominent roles for Indigenous people, Queer people and Disabled people. It's wonderful to see major brands that I've grown up with embrace these communities and represent them proudly. I think it's easy to underestimate how important it is for people to see themselves reflected in every type of media and that's something I'm thrilled to be standing up for as a part of Highway.
As with anything, there is always room for growth and change, but I like where the industry is heading. And I'm incredibly excited to be part of a team and that frontier.
Source: Giphy
What was the one thing you loved to watch constantly on repeat as a kid?
STAR WARS. I am a huge Star Wars nerd. I watched the prequels and loved them (controversial I know) then devoured the originals as well. Honestly have no idea how I got into them, but to this day, I still have my original lightsaber toys from 1998 and DVDs of the original theatrical cuts to rewatch at my leisure.
What’s something you weren't prepared for in the casting environment?
Definitely helping out with the auditions. I'm no wallflower, but having to pop into a scene and pretend to be giving someone their Christmas present or being the shy cousin playing video games is harder work than I imagined. One I was particularly unprepared for was pretending to break someone's finger. That wouldn't be something I'd usually do if I'm honest, but hey, I have to live up to all the great actors we have coming through!
What skills from previous experiences have you found to be the most helpful as you’ve moved into a new industry?
Emails emails EMAILS! Having worked in customer service and radio, I know how important a well-worded email is. After all, it's our main form of communication! You don't want someone to miss an important date, or not receive an invoice. You need that email to be clean, concise and clear!
Another thing I've found the most important has been my people skills. In casting, you meet and work with so many wonderful people. Actors, agents, producers. All of them come from different worlds, talk in different ways and work differently. It's our job in casting to speak all of these languages. It's a unique and rewarding challenge to switch from being the smiling face that first greets actors before an audition to discussing the nitty-gritty of a call sheet with a producer. Nothing has been more helpful in navigating this than my experience with all types of people from customers, to interviewees and beyond.
Hero or antihero?
I gotta go for the classic hero. I thought about it but for me, it boils down to being nice. Sure an anti-hero will still save you but will they be nice about it? No. Would you rather be saved by grumpy old Batman or Superman? I mean sure Superman will be a bit twee about it but at least you'll have a nice chat on the way home.
Who would you cast as yourself?
Hmmmmm this is a tricky one. I’m torn between choosing someone who could believably play me OR choosing someone completely unlike me, but who I think could rise to the challenge. If it's the former, I’d go with a young Tilda Swinton. The latter? Léa Seydoux.
Tilda Swinton
Léa Seydoux
Hitchhikers on the Highway 001
We have had the pleasure of auditioning Riley many times over the years but were not aware of his musical capabilities and keyboard skills until recently seeing his debut solo comedy show, Manifesto, at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
He was kind enough to give us some insight his experience preparing and performing this show.
A conversation with Riley Nottingham reflecting on his solo comedy debut at Melbourne Fringe
Highway Casting has had the pleasure of auditioning Riley Nottingham (rep: Natalie Hall Management) many times over the years, but we were not aware of his musical capabilities and keyboard skills until recently seeing his debut solo comedy show, Manifesto, at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
He was generous enough to give us some insight into his experience preparing and performing this show.
Supplied: Instagram
How was your experience performing your first-ever solo comedy show?
Terrifying and wonderful! It's fantastic to be able to create something and perform it yourself, in some ways you are totally in control. But of course, if something 'goes wrong' ... you're all on your own, buddy! There is a particular terror that I hadn't felt before, and pushing through that for the first few shows was especially challenging, but ultimately what has made it such a rich journey for me as an artist. I am absolutely loving it.
How does working and performing on a solo show compare to ensemble work?
I think being self-motivated is the biggest difference; if you don't turn up to the rehearsal you set for yourself, you can only really complain to ... yourself? Both solo and ensemble work is great for different reasons. I'm always trying to get to the deepest level of truth I can (aren't we all) and when it's just yourself and the audience, the connection you can form is a bit more focussed... you get to know the audience and they get to know you. You can definitely be more spontaneous and throw in improv because there's no worries about you throwing off your fellow performer. You might just annoy your tech operator (sorry!).
Supplied: Instagram
What was it like performing at a historical venue like the Trades Hall? How do the ghosts of the venue affect your performance?
It's so funny you say this! In last night's show the door opened up by itself and it was actually quite scary! I had to close it... hope I didn't shut a ghostfan out. But then again they didn't pay for a ticket... it is such a beautiful space. It comes alive during Fringe and you've got hundreds of performances going on in the one building, circus, dance, theatre, comedy, music, puppetry and the bullet holes from Squizzy Taylor - so much history. It's been absolutely wonderful.
How has the reception been from Melbourne audiences? Does the energy of the room impact a show?
I still haven't had a show where nobody has laughed at least once so that's good! People have said some lovely things and most importantly are saying it's resonating with them. Audiences do really change every night; you never quite know where and when people are going to laugh. Generally speaking the smaller the audience the less they want to laugh, the more uncomfortable they feel that they'll be picked on... being in a dark room, anonymity in a crowd is quite important to the performer/audience relationship in a theatre, I find.
“In last night’s show the door opened up by itself and it was actually quite scary! I had to close it... hope I didn’t shut a ghostfan out. But then again they didn’t pay for a ticket...”
We admire your bravery and nerve to be so vulnerable on stage – how did you prepare for that?
Thank you for saying that. To some degree, there's muscle memory as I've been acting since I was 10. I am often s$&t scared but no matter how I feel, I just tell myself it's not my job to care about how I feel. It's my job to perform, to not be scared but to be as honest and clear as I can be with a show I have made. I'm big on self talk before I go out, really amp yourself up. Same as on camera, you can't just start acting when the cameras are rolling, you need to warm up to a place where emotionally you are THERE before you have to be.
Was doing a one-man musical show a longing or a sudden inspiration?
Fairly sudden. When I turned 30, I wanted to examine a limiting belief about myself. A big one for me is I've always said, "I can't really play music." I've increasingly written songs with colleagues and sometimes by myself, but always I would pass that on for other instrumentalists and musos to do with what they will. I realised that I wanted to be better at piano and playing songs and singing at the same time, and I felt that was when I was 20, but thought it was too late. But then I found myself thinking the same at 30! So, upon realising I would still want to be better at music at 40, I resolved to play piano every day. Most of 2022 I have been playing 6+ hours a day and I started writing songs and then it all kind of turned into this show. I had written some songs (all serious songs) for an EP that was meant to be finished months and months ago... but Manifesto took over.
During your show you sing (in jest) about leaving performance and taking a job in finance. Is this inspired by an experience of questioning whether you want to continue life in the arts?
Absolutely - it's such a tough life. It's a beautiful life too, and a privilege to be able to create things for an audience, but financially it doesn't really make money until.... well... maybe not ever! But as my psychologist would say I am cursed as an actor and artist, I can't really stop... like most artists, it's a calling to do it, otherwise you would go and do something else that gives a bit more financial security. That being said, that song you're talking about in particular, is also based on people in my life I've observed who have worked so hard for so long and even with the money to show for it, haven't really achieved their dreams, haven't found the purpose they wanted or created the change in the world they wanted to... so money really isn't everything. By the way, how much am I being paid for this again? KIDDING!
Congrats on your recent marriage! Did you workshop Manifesto with your partner or do you like to keep a show under wraps until it’s ready to premiere?
Thankyou very much! Haha Declan has incredibly sore ears I'm sure; every few hours I will rush into his room... "Do you have a minute?" ... it's fair to say he knew most of the show off-by-heart by the time I first performed it in Sydney. I do want to keep it more under wraps for the next one - sometimes sharing the process can be a bit too vulnerable and hinder you more than help.
What’s a typical meal pre or post-show?
Ooooh this is a good question! I try not to eat much at all for the few hours before I perform, so if I'm on at 7pm the latest I'll eat is 4pm... otherwise jumping around + singing + food = BLURGHHH. Water water water for the 24 hours preceding (it takes around 24 hours for your vocal chords to be affected by your hydration levels) and I try to have some protein, vegetables and something with carbs for energy. Post show I am not opposed to a glass of bubbles and a steak! With all this though, I think being adaptable is a great thing to strive for - sometimes you'll have the perfect routine and food before a show and sometimes you will have a very 'junk food' day... but both of those can lend themselves to you being able to perform amazingly. I will give a shout out for the Noway Jelly Collagen bars though... have you tried them?!!? They taste just like turkish delight. Mmmm, so chocolatey.
Thanks, Riley! Love your work and looking forward to what else you have on the horizon!