CASTING EXPERT SELMA NICHOLLS ON AWARD WINNING GEORGE AT ASDA SPOT 'ARRIVE LIKE YOU MEAN IT'

Every now and then an idea just clicks, it makes sense and the premise gets swept up in the Zeitgeist of the time and a perfect chemistry moment happens, and that’s what happened for Selma Nicholls - Casting Director and Founder of Looks Like Me Casting.

Selma is a leading Casting Director in London, with her own Company, and happened to call Corin West for an introductory chat on a cold winter Friday night, and there was a lightbulb moment.

Corin was working on the brief for ASDA Arrive like You Mean It. He was doing some casting of his own and landed the perfect Director (Ato Yankey at Armoury Films) for the job. Corin saw immediately that Selma would be a perfect addition to the Asda George team and introduced her to Ato. Selma said of Corin 'If more people were like Corin we would see more change. Not only did Corin take the call but he then listened to what we had to offer and then acted on it to get us onboard. Its easy to be too busy to be open to seeing creative opportunities, so it was great to connect with Corin, he's pretty special'.

Arrive Like You Mean It was a smash hit going viral on the web and picking up awards left ,right and centre including winning Silver Arrow Award. Ato’s commercial also captured the hearts and minds of the nation with it’s confident charm and cheekiness, even getting a thumbs up from the very hard to please commercial critic aka Louis’s Grandma Pat.

The rest they say is history, and so we wanted to catch up with Selma to discuss diversity, inclusion and everything inbetween.

You had worked on a George at Asda brand ad before the Arrive Like You Mean It project. Did this help you in any way or was it a brand new experience.

I have had the honour of working with George at Asda brand since 2019 on several projects including ‘We Are Making Moves’ Denim campaign London, Miami and L.A, ‘We Are Family’ Christmas campaign 2020, ‘Made To Move’ Dance campaign 2021, before the ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’ back to school project and recently did the ‘Back to Basics’ Denim campaign 2022. 

How did you come to work on the project?  

I came to work on the project ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’ commercial through high recommendations given from Managing Director Corin West and Director Ato Yankey to the Amoury London Production company. Then the casting negotiations begun. I was also highly recommended to cast the stills campaign for ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’ by Sam Richardson Executive Producer at The Production Factory.

What was your approach to casting ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’ 

My approach to casting ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’ was to cast an inclusive and diverse range of children and young people from the UK, from various backgrounds, underrepresented communities and with a range of talents and skills.  It was very important to street cast as well as source talent that were represented by agents, we were seeking extraordinary talented and gifted children and young people who would resonate and inspire other children through the commercial.  For example being an expert in what you love and also having the charismatic personality that makes you go wow you are amazing.  We were in lockdown, so we had to watch over 1000 self-tapes to find the gems that were shortlisted and presented to Ato Yankey prior to the casting session. 

Describe the process working with Ato Yankey.

Working with Ato Yankey was a blast, it was an incredible experience.  We were both open to collaborate in a unique, immersive way that included several phone conversations early mornings and very late nights, he was interested in my casting approach and was extremely clear about his creative vision for the commercial and more importantly resonating with the culture, we made a great team.  During the online casting session, we both created a safe space to make the talent feel super comfortable to perform on zoom and draw out the talented greatness that made the commercial award winning.

How has the industry changed for underrepresented talent? Has there been a noticeable shift from when you first started doing casting up until now?

The industry has changed positively, we consistently see underrepresented talent on screen since I started casting in 2016, there has been a noticeable and welcomed shift that is here to stay and represents the beautiful people in the UK.  I feel there is still much more work to be done with underrepresented creatives working off screen, production teams need to be more diverse and inclusive and not performative, that involves working with diverse creatives that deliver exceptional work consistently, as there is enough work to be shared so we all can thrive.

Tell us something interesting about the casting process that you think people either have no idea about or will find fascinating?

Something interesting about the casting process that I think people either have no idea about or will find fascinating is that we sit and watch every self-tape (100’s-1000’s) that are sent into us, to be able to find the right amount of talent to shortlist for individual roles.  We also must be emotionally and culturally astute, this intelligence is always required throughout the casting process.  I must be able to read the room, the talents facial expressions, their body language and figure out very quickly do I believe what the talent is presenting and is there any additional advice I can offer to support the talent in presenting the best version of their creativity in the casting session.  

What was it like, personally, to work on ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’? 

Personally, working on ‘Arrive Like You Mean It’ was fantastic!  We cast a total of 21 awesome children/young people who had a range of amazing talents and for many of them this was their first commercial.  Their performance ability was extraordinary and resonated with other children and young people across the country and especially the culture.  The culture loved the ad and so did adland.  It was a pleasure to work on such a brilliant commercial with my great team at Looks Like Me and Director Ato Yankey.  I am also grateful for Corin West, who listened when I called him randomly and explained that I wanted to help diversify production companies through casting and Corin kindly recommended me to Amoury London.  People with influence and power can make great change in this world and it can start from a simple recommendation.

We utterly love the name of your company ‘Looks Like Me Casting’ talk to us about the process of choosing the name. It immediately sets a scene and just the name encapsulates your ethos but in your own words tell us. 

The name Looks Like Me came from my daughter Riley-Ann who at three years old, wanted to have straight hair and didn’t want to be brown.  While watching the film Annie with Quvenzhane Wallis playing the role of Annie, within 5mins Riley-Ann said “Mummy, mummy Annie is beautiful, and she looks like me”.  That was the light bulb moment, Looks Like Me was born and I was on a mission to raise the profile of underrepresented people in mainstream advertising and media.  Riley-Ann motivated me, to make sure that little Black girls could see children that looked like them represented in mainstream content because they were not visable.

What drove you to get into casting? 

What drove me to get into casting was having a conversation with my mentor at the time Karen Blackett OBE about the importance of representation and where I belonged in the industry.  I asked Karen what she would say my creative skill is that would be of great use to the industry and Karen said casting.  In that conversation I realised that I had been doing great castings for several campaigns including co-founding The So White Project – an initiative to reverse the lack of diversity in commercial photography.  That is when I decided that a career in casting is where I can make meaningful change, that the world is ready to see.   I love casting commercials and campaigns and hope to cast for film, series, and TV this year.

When casting for entire families, what makes them feel believable as if they actually live and grow up together?

When casting for entire families, what makes them feel believable as if they live and grow up together is in many cases, they are actual real families.  If they are actors there would be a process that is in place to unite and bond everybody into the new created family.

How intuitive is the process casting someone for a project? Does it depend on exactly what is mentioned in the brief and how much do you bring to frame a character? 

The casting process is slightly intuitive, however it mainly depends on the casting brief and treatment that is provided.

If there was something you could change in the industry what would it be?

If there was something I could change in the industry it would be that more people in positions of power and influence lead by Corin West’s example and remain open to working with and recommending new creatives who deliver outstanding results to Production companies.

You must be very proud of the role your company plays in promoting diverse talent - tell us a bit about your mission statement.

I am extremely proud of the role Looks Like Me plays in promoting diverse talent on and off screen, it all started in my kitchen, with great imagination and innovation we have proven the impossible is possible.  It is critical that underrepresented people and communities have a voice and are visible on and off screen.   Looks Like Me serve an integral part in casting and content creation, celebrating an inclusive spectrum of people through our love of casting.  Credits include: Tesco, Nickelodeon, Costa, Heathrow, George Asda, LEGO, Masterclass, Barbie, Dove and Grammy award winning video Brown Skin Girl by Beyonce part of #BLACKISKING film.

Tell us about any future projects coming up that you’re allowed to talk about.

We have a few exciting future projects coming up, all under NDA unfortunately.