Hannah Birkett gives casting advice for actors

Mandy's Surgery Sessions are a great opportunity to get free one to one time with an established industry expert. The private session is your chance to brush up on your auditioning skills, get advice on how to move your career forward and ultimately increase your chances of securing auditions and roles! 

We held this CV careers advice surgery in Birmingham with top Commercial/Film Casting Director Hannah Birkett.

About Hannah Birkett

Hannah Birkett has been casting films and commercials for many years. At the age of just 23, Hannah won the first of two British Arrows Craft Awards for ‘Best Casting’.

Hannah’s experience in both street and studio casting is evident in the quality of her work. Hannah is lucky enough to have worked with many celebrated directors and prestigious production companies worldwide. 

Hannah is a long-standing voting member of BAFTA. She benefits significantly from her knowledge of recognised performers. However, she is continuously scouting fresh talent from all over the United Kingdom, with bases in London, Birmingham and Manchester. 

Last year, Hannah won 'Best Casting’ at the Film Craft Cristal Awards in Paris.

Top Tips

• Simple showreels are best.
• Make sure headshots are a true reflection of what you look like.
• Be proactive.
• Open lines of communication with your agent. Find out what you’re being put up for and what you can be doing.
• Listen to the director’s notes in an audition.
• Have a focus and a goal and go for it!

Feedback from Hannah Birkett Surgery

‘Great to have some quality time with a casting director to really understand what is and isn’t working with my cv and have an idea about what to do next. Really useful and will help me in the future.’ Lee Comley

‘Very successful - Hannah was straight to the point and enthusiastic. Thank you for a great opportunity.’ Georgia Neath

‘Brilliant! Hannah was friendly, chatty and helpful. Really put me at ease and told me what I needed to know. I could have talked to her for hours!’ Katrina Sansone

‘Really informative and interesting. Hannah was extremely engaging and positive and offered some great insight and advice. Great to have such a great opportunity outside London.’ Jonathan Stanley

‘Amazing - very helpful, a great insight into the audition process and how to nail an audition. Hannah was very passionate and I shall take all her comments on board. Thank you!’ Adeel Ali

‘Really helpful session! I found Hannah’s advice really useful and to the point. All my questions were answered.’ Victoria Pritchard

‘Extremely informative and useful. Especially having come from abroad where casting directors work slightly differently. Really appreciated the advice and comments.’ Larry Rew

‘Really helpful. So lovely to have such a positive chat with someone with such great knowledge. Straight to the point and made me feel at ease. She helped everything seem a bit clearer. Thank you, The Mandy Network - please keep coming back to Brum!’ Amy Pople.