During her 25-year career as a casting director, Shannon Pinkston—owner of Dallas-based Atomic Casting—has traveled the world looking for singular talents to cast. She specializes in what she calls “real people,” though not “reality” types: Those with special skills from sword swallowing to unicycle riding, who provide background color and specificity to movies, TV shows, and the like. We picked Pinkston’s brain about her craft and how detective work and technology play a big role in her success.
You work with specific types of performers. How do you go about finding such specialized talent?I’m a journalist at heart, and I love a good challenge—the harder the search, the better. With technology as it is today, it’s so much easier [than it used to be] to dig for people with interesting skill sets, or whom meet a certain set of parameters. No more knocking on doors and driving around to look for people. I’m a huge tech geek, and have really enjoyed the evolution of all the electronic elements of casting. I’m a bit unusual, in that I run my own camera and do my own uploads, so all the tech toys have really kept me on my toes over the years.
What do you look
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