14 Oct 2025

An inspiring evening at Spotlight’s legendary studios in central London, hosted in partnership with Shiny. Gain valuable tips and insights on casting from leading casting directors Hannah Marie Williams (Dominos, Adidas, Red Bull, Carthago) and Selma Nichols (child cast for the Grammy Award Winning video 'Brown Skin Girl' by Beyonce in Disney’s Black Is King and others). You’ll also have the chance to enjoy a special guided tour of the casting studios and see first-hand how some of the UK’s biggest films, TV shows, and theatre productions are cast. This is a unique opportunity to connect, learn, and experience the centre of London’s casting industry.

Free entry, free drinks and nibbles, panel discussion, studio tour and networking. 

About Spotlight: Spotlight has been at the heart of casting for nearly a century, connecting performers with casting directors across film, television, commercials, and digital content. As the industry's trusted casting platform, we ensure that screens remain filled with the most talented performers. 

Panellists

Hannah Marie Williams is a Casting Director in Wales and London working across TV, film, commercials and theatre.

Hannah’s experience spans 13+ years and many different applications, from assisting casting directors with more traditional casting and street casting for studio films & documentary projects. This mixture of experience now informs Hannah’s style of outside of the box casting, mixing a discovery process for new talent with the casting of more established talent. All of Hannah’s work is driven by representation, authenticity and attention to detail in world creation.

Hannah’s work as a Casting Director includes BAFTA & BIFA winning projects with the BFI, BBC, Film4 and Sky. In 2022, Hannah received recognition for the international cast of TV series, Carthago which won the ensemble cast award at Canneseries. Hannah’s films have been selected for Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, Berlinale, LFF and more.

Upcoming work includes Deadpoint, a 5 part TV series with Clerkenwell Films (Baby Reindeer, End of the Fucking World), feature film Rabbit Trap from Spectrevision and Bankside Films, plus feature film projects with the BFI, The Bureau & an exciting debut feature from Anna Fredrikke Bjerke. Alongside casting for screen, Hannah has cast for stage with National Theatre Wales and WMC and casts for commercials with clients including Meta, Dominos, Adidas, Red Bull, HSBC and Grind.

Selma Nicholls is an award winning casting director and founder of Looks Like Me Casting, with a decade of industry experience casting factual, VOD, branded content, theatre and commercials for the UK and global markets. Looks Like Me believes in raising the profile of underrepresented voices featured in mainstream content, celebrating an inclusive spectrum of talent through casting.

Selma was motivated by her daughter Riley-Ann, who questioned her own identity at three years old due to the limited visibility of children that looked like her on TV, billboards, theatre shows, the big screen, magazines and within advertising content. This motivation led Selma to found 'Looks Like Me Casting'.

Selma's motivation has since seen her presented with the ‘Best Casting Director Recognition Award’ 2024 from The Black British Theatre Awards, alongside ‘Best Casting of an Open Media Project’ 2024, ‘Best Casting of a Live Performance’ 2024 and 'Best Casting Featuring Children in a Commercial' 2022 awarded from the Casting Directors Association, and an 'Arts and Media Senior Leader Award' from the Black British Business Awards 2018. To date, 'Looks Like Me' has worked with businesses as diverse as LEGO, Disney, Barbie, Dove, Google. Selma cast the child cast for the Grammy Award Winning video 'Brown Skin Girl' by Beyonce in Disney’s Black Is King film, and the Queen Charlotte Global Orchestra featuring Alicia Keys for Netflix Promo advert.

Selma also co-founded The So White Project – an initiative to reverse the lack of diversity in commercial photography in partnership with Getty Images and AdLand. As a global public speaker, Selma has inspired and motivated businesses, broadcasters, brands, advertising agencies, and universities in the UK, Europe, USA and Asia, to have inclusive communications, demonstrating the importance of inclusion and representation in casting. Selma is a proud Board member of Punchdrunk Enrichment, celebrating the magical world of immersive theatre.