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