2023 Emmy-Nominated Casting Director Susie Farris on Shining a Spotlight on Undiscovered Actors in Freevee’s ‘Jury Duty’

The casting for Freevee’s breakout sensation Jury Duty was no easy feat with the show’s entire success landing on whether the ensemble of largely unknown comedic actors would be able to pull off a season long exploration of legal improv centered around one unknowing civilian under the guise of a legal documentary. Doing just that, Emmy-nominated casting director Susie Farris assembled one of the most inspired and comedically brilliant ensembles in recent memory. Utilizing her decades of work in comedy she was able to highlight some of the most unrecognized comedic talents working in the industry today.

Speaking with Awards Daily, Farris details the unorthodox approach to casting a new comedy without a script to work off of or characters to focus on and her excitement in being able to take a risk on a show like Jury Duty to be able to spotlight some of the funniest names in television you probably have never heard of.

Awards Daily: While watching Jury Duty I couldn’t stop thinking about the ensemble and how unorthodox the audition process must have been compared to traditional scripted shows. What was the casting process like for you?

Susie Farris: This was unlike anything else that I have ever cast in the sense that I didn’t have anything scripted to read or provide for the actors. It was truly a blind canvas. Instead of actors trying to fulfill the role as written the actors were coming in with a character they created. Once they were cast the writers then tailored the character and material to the actor and their strengths.

Awards Daily: Prior to Jury Duty did you have any experience utilizing improv in the casting process?

Susie Farris: I wouldn’t say I have direct experience with improv however I have a lot of experience casting comedy in general. There are a lot of actors that I have worked with over the years who have improv backgrounds and I go to improv shows. I’ve never cast a strictly improv show but there is a lot of overlap in the talent pool.

Awards Daily: You mentioned that the actors came into their auditions with characters they had come up with and prepared on their own. Were you nervous about your own improv skills while reading with them and what was that process like?

Susie Farris: We were casting during COVID so at that point everyone was submitting self-tapes. To get the best sense of the actor we gave them two-character prompts and asked them to speak in character for about a minute. Self-tapes worked well for this process because it highlighted their ability to think on their feet but if I had to read with them I would have been super nervous!

Awards Daily: What were the initial conversations with the producers like? Did they have a strong idea of the types of characters they wanted or did you approach all of it with fresh eyes?

Susie Farris: It was open ended from the start. Because it was a jury in Los Angeles we knew we wanted it to reflect the local community, representing all shapes and sizes and ages; all walks of life. It was also important to make sure all of the faces were new faces. From there we just dove in. I love finding quirky regular types, idiosyncratic actors. It was a blank canvas and we saw a lot of people.

Awards Daily: Some of the best moments of the show was the quick banter among the jury duty ensemble. Did you have the opportunity to do any chemistry reads throughout the casting process and see how they might play off each other?

Susie Farris: We had an amazing callback in the style of a focus group. We had about 30 actors that we wanted to callback but we were limited in numbers because we had the same number of regular people that we brought into the focus group as well. Throughout the day we had about six sessions of 6-7 real people mixed with 6-7 actors. The real people had no idea that there were actors on the panel and the actors had no idea who was a real person and who was an actor. We got to see them interact while thinking on their feet and trying to be real at the same time while providing interesting commentary.

Awards Daily: The show lives and dies on the one non-actor, Ronald Gladden, fully believing that he is serving on a real jury, making it imperative that he not recognize any of the actors. How much of that was on your mind throughout the casting process?

Susie Farris: I was pitched this show as a cross between The Office and The Joe Schmo Show. I had an idea of what they were setting out to do but I certainly didn’t envision it as it came to be. I just set out to cast a jury of super witty, unique character actors who felt like real people. These are actors who have been working for a long time who have set out to make this their life’s work. For me this was beautiful because it was an opportunity for actors that I have known for years to be able to step up and become a bigger player in the show.

We tried to avoid any sense of recognizability. Occasionally, we would get the note from producers that they thought someone was too recognizable. Overall, though we were the first threshold and I think I have a good sense of a face of someone who has been around too much. It was really fun and rewarding for me to be able to give these opportunities to actors who deserved a bigger platform.

Awards Daily: In previous interviews you mentioned how important it was for you to cast actors with authentic legal experience in the judge and lawyer roles. How challenging was it to find actors with that real lived experience?

Susie Farris: I thought that it would be a struggle, however I was blown away by the number of actors with law degrees. There were actors who I had been bringing in for years and years that I had no idea were former attorneys. Trisha LaFache, who played Debra, is someone I have known since my early casting days in New York and I had zero idea that she was a lawyer with an impressive background.

Awards Daily: I want to speak about the casting process for James Marsden who received the first Emmy nomination of his career this year for playing an incredibly committed version of himself. How did you and your team land on Marsden for the role?

Susie Farris: Casting him gave me endless joy. Throughout my career, we’ve sent him stacks and stacks of scripts hoping he would bite at one of them. To be able to get him for our crazy experimental show was thrilling. We approached it in a similar manner to any other scripted show. We knew there would be a celebrity on the jury and we went through our usual process of creating a list, checking availabilities, and gauging interest with agents.

As the creative team began to look at ideas everyone kept circling back to James. He has a previous working relationship with the producers and our director so they reached out directly to begin the conversation. For a show like this that made a huge difference since we didn’t have a script to send him. That personal connection really helped and gave him a better vision of what everyone wanted to achieve.

Awards Daily: Without ever seeing an actual script throughout the casting process I’m sure when you eventually watched the season it was incredible seeing it all come to life. What surprised you the most once you got to see the finished season?

Susie Farris: If I’m being honest the whole thing truly surprised me. Most of the time casting finishes their work before the project begins shooting. With Jury Duty the characters didn’t even have names by the time our office finished! We knew who we were hiring and that was it. When it all came together, I knew who the cast was but I was blown away with what they were able to do with people. For instance, David Brown who played Todd; it was incredible what he was able to pull off with the chair pants situation.

Awards Daily: Were there any other challenges throughout your casting process?

Susie Farris: This was a show where there was a lot of secrecy from the beginning. We weren’t able to show anyone a script and I really applaud the actors who were able to take this risk and go for the ride. For all of us there was a big risk factor. I knew what they were asking me to do but I couldn’t visualize it. It was an adrenaline rush and we crossed our fingers and gave it our all.