Rachel Sutton, from Surf to Set

 
Rachel Sutton is the casting director for the television show Hawaii Five-0.

An avid sailor and surfer, Rachel Sutton arrived on Oahu in 1998 on a surf trip and knew this was where she wanted to live. She moved to Hawaii the following summer and settled on the North Shore, working as a substitute teacher and assistant to casting director Anna Fishburn. When the casting work slowed down, she returned to teaching full time at Waialua Intermediate School. 
Rachel eventually realized she was not cut out to be a teacher and asked her dad for advice. He told her, “Pick something you really, truly enjoy doing for a career, otherwise you’re going to be a really unhappy person.”

She loved casting, but wasn't sure there was any money in it or if it even was a “career.” Her father told her the money was irrelevant. “It’s about doing something you love and everything else will fall into place.” Soon after, Anna Fishburn called. The television show Lost had been picked up, and Rachel worked as Anna’s assistant on season one. That was the beginning, and she never looked back!   

Since then, Rachel has cast more than 100 episodes of network TV including Lost, Hawaii Five-0, Last Resort, Entourage, Flight 29 Down, Beyond the Break and ER. She also helped cast films The Descendants, Just Go With It and Into the Blue 2. She is a supporter of union talent and is impressed with members’ professionalism.

“When we have one-liners, I always go to the union file first. There are a lot of union members that get consistent work all the time, and it is primarily because they are professional, they show up on time, they don’t talk on set, they don’t get in the way, they listen to what they’re told and they work and go home. They are easy to work with, and the ADs love easy.” 

She described casting a role and the pace at which things move. “When I get a script, it’s my job to match people and faces to the vision that they, the writers, have written, nothing more and nothing less; it is really that simple. If I have eight roles to cast, I bring in seven people for each role. That adds up to 56 people that I have to audition, and each person does five or six takes, so that’s more than 300 takes that I have to sift through and post the best choices [for L.A. to choose from] ... Things move very fast. I’ve got to get them cast, approved by both the studio and the network, go through hair, wardrobe, makeup and get them on set in only a few days.”  

We joked about the stress, but I could tell she wouldn’t have it any other way.

This item was originally featured in the August 2013 local newsletter.