# What is street casting?

> Street casting means looking for people who are not professional actors, away from agencies and drama schools, in the places where the story is set. Casting directors use it when a part needs someone authentic to a place or a world. Catherine Willis co-cast the first series of Top Boy this way, in playgrounds in Hackney and Homerton.

## When is street casting the right choice?

When a script needs people an audience has never seen, who sound and move like the place the story comes from. Street casting is about finding something authentic.

## How is it different from an open casting call?

In an [open call](https://www.cwcasting.co.uk/questions/what-is-an-open-casting-call) people come to you: the casting is advertised and anyone who fits can apply. In street casting the casting team goes out and finds people who would never have applied.

## What does it involve?

- Time on the ground in the right neighbourhoods, schools and clubs.
- Short, low-pressure first meetings, then workshops or auditions.
- For under-18s, parents or guardians from the first conversation, and [performance licences](https://www.cwcasting.co.uk/questions/rules-for-child-actors-in-the-uk) before any filming.

## Which CW Casting productions used it?

Top Boy, series 1, which Catherine Willis co-cast. Related searches include two days of open auditions in Bolton for the Alma's Not Normal pilot and open auditions in Liverpool for The Gathering.

## Sources

- [Spotlight: Meet the Casting Director, Catherine Willis, 2024](https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/the-industry/casting-director-catherine-willis-good-girls-guide-to-murder-bbc/)

Last checked: 9 October 2026. Page: https://www.cwcasting.co.uk/questions/what-is-street-casting