Casting clarity: Award-winning casting director Susanne Scheel helps budding filmmakers see their stories in a new light
Junior film & new media major Emma Niu reflects on how Scheel’s insights completely reshaped her approach to audition prep.
From left to right: casting director Susanne Scheel, junior Ema Niu, and senior Ellen Denzin. Photo credit Michael Mittelstaedt.
When junior Film & New Media major Emma Niu signed into a one-on-one Zoom session with casting director Susanne Scheel, she felt a twinge of nerves. Niu was preparing to hold auditions for her thesis film—her most ambitious project yet—and she hoped her scenes would give actors plenty of room to shine. What she didn’t expect was how deeply Scheel’s perspective would reshape the way she thought about what it means to lead a creative process.
“Susanne told me to strip away all the blocking at the audition and have my actors just connect with each other and live in the lines,” Niu recalls. “It was really scary to try at first because it’s not how you imagine the film to go. But once I tried it with the actors standing still, I saw something much stronger and more authentic emerge.”
For Niu, an aspiring director who hopes to study film in college and eventually lead her own productions, that shift was powerful. Sheel’s visit to Interlochen during the Future of Cinema Film Festival (FOCFF) allowed Niu and other film & new media students to tap into even more insights from Scheel’s extensive experience.
Casting director Susanne Scheel (left) chats with Director of Film & New Media Michael Mittelstaedt in front of an audience of students at Interlochen's Future of Cinema Film Festival.
Learning from a master of the craft
A New York–based casting director with a degree in Film and Television from Boston University, Susanne Scheel has helped shape stories for some of Hollywood’s most visionary filmmakers. A three-time Artios Award winner with nine additional nominations, she’s collaborated with directors including Joel and Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, Barry Levinson, George Clooney, Celine Song, Kasi Lemmons, and more. Her feature debut as a casting director, The Wife, starred Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce, and she recently co-cast Celine Song’s acclaimed Past Lives, which premiered at Sundance and screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.
During FOCFF, Scheel arrived on campus to lead a casting prep workshop and to screen A House of Dynamite, a Netflix political thriller she helped cast. For students, Scheel’s visit provided a rare look behind the scenes of the audition room—what little details stand out to casting directors, how to look for expression in actors’ eyes, and what ultimately shapes a performance.
“She talked about her experience casting for A House of Dynamite, a big-budget film where she cast over a hundred actors,” Niu says. “It was awesome to learn from a professional and realize that you can apply the same techniques when you’re doing a small-budget film.”
To Niu, Scheel seemed less like a guest lecturer and more like a mentor who genuinely cared about the growth of young filmmakers.
“Susanne was such an amazing person,” Niu says. “She was really warm and friendly. She felt more like a mentor than just a professional artist, because she really connected with us as students.”
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Workshops like Scheel’s are a hallmark of Interlochen Arts Academy and FOCFF, where emerging directors, writers, cinematographers, and editors regularly learn from visiting professionals who are shaping the industry right now. These encounters remind students that their ideas have weight, their voices matter, and the techniques they’re learning can carry them into the professional world.
For Niu, the experience was transformative.
“Working with her one-on-one felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she says.
At Interlochen, lessons learned from guest artists ripple far beyond a single workshop. They become the spark for lifelong creativity—the kind that empowers young filmmakers to step onto set with confidence, curiosity, and a clear vision for the stories they want to tell.
Students at Interlochen Arts Academy receive world-class artistic training alongside college-preparatory academics. Learn more about film & new media at Arts Academy.
