‘Don’t be Nervous, We Want You to Do Well’

If you look at any random casting director’s filmography, you’ll typically see a plethora of titles. Often, dozens or even hundreds of movies and TV shows showcase a career that has seen them collaborate with numerous filmmakers and creators across different genres and formats. However, if you stumble upon someone who has only really worked at three places over nearly 20 years, you tend to take notice.

This is the unique journey of Gregory Salmon, the casting director for the legendary CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. After a couple of internships and a brief gig with All My Children, he landed at Y&R in 2012, working as an ***ociate for over a decade before finally being elevated to the top casting position last year.

For someone who grew up loving soaps, this is something of a dream job. He took a break from his busy schedule to chat with us from his Los Angeles office.

Insights From Gregory Salmon

• Always arrive prepared and make clear, truthful choices in your audition, rather than overacting or playing to soap stereotypes.
• Emphasize your training and theater experience on your resume, as casting directors value actors who can adapt quickly and handle fast-paced production demands.
• Let go after each audition and stay confident and personable, knowing casting wants you to succeed and may keep calling you in even if you’re not cast right away.

How did you get into casting in the first place?

For most of my life, I have been interested in performing. When I was living back home in New York after college, I was working in a restaurant and going on some auditions here and there. I decided I didn’t quite enjoy the audition process, so I thought, “Maybe there’s something else in the business that I could be doing.”

I knew I didn’t want to work for an agency or a manager, and one day, I came across a job posting for a casting internship at Law and Order. I started interning there, including Criminal Intent and SVU, just answering the phone, looking at the mail and whatnot.

From there, I went over to ABC and worked in the Primetime casting office, also an internship. While I was there, I found out they were looking for a new casting ***istant for All My Children. I’d always loved soap operas, so I was super excited about it.

That was in November or so of 2007, and I’ve been in casting ever since.

Two things jump out at me. The first is that it continues to intrigue me how many casting directors began their careers as performers.

I know. I know a lot as well. I think you put a lot of your acting skills to use in sessions and auditions. I’m usually the audition reader, so I find that I’m able to connect with the actor on the other end. I can dig into the actor’s vocabulary, so to speak.

The second thing that jumps out at me is that it’s not often that I hear younger people saying they’re big soap opera fans.

(Laughs) My mother was a Days of Our Lives fan. That’s really what got me into it.

As a performer, I always enjoyed the soapy dramatics of it all, and once I started working for a soap, what I like is that it’s all day, all year, all the time. We’re constantly working, constantly doing something new. I don’t like freelancing, which is really what this whole business is, right?

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You’re one of the rare people in this line of work who doesn’t. You have steady work.

Absolutely. Over 250 episodes a year. We’re in production most of the time.

Most people who work in casting are always looking for their next gig. In this whole business, you’re mostly always looking for your next gig or your next project. That’s not something that I particularly enjoyed, which is part of why I love it here. You can cast whatever you can imagine; a soap opera probably does it at least once.

Do you talk to other casting directors about the differences between what you do and what they do?

I have a little bit. Not a great deal, but I know the process is completely different.

Even on a show, such as 9-1-1 or Grey’s Anatomy, they’re doing one episode a week, whereas I’m doing five episodes in four days. Just the paperwork alone is different. My volume of work is double what somebody else’s would be.

I was thinking more along the lines of the security you have, as opposed to the constant hustle they have to employ.

I think people are hoping to find something more stable these days. I know a lot of people that haven’t worked in a while. That’s another reason why this is such a great job.

I’m fascinated by the process of casting a soap opera, having to do 250 episodes a season. The grind must be relentless.

There are a lot of people that I know. Looking through submissions, I’ll recognize people who I’ve seen before; but I’m always looking for new people. For a series regular role, sometimes I’ll get 2,500 or 3,000 submissions, so the volume is quite a lot.

As someone from New York who has a theater background, I do love seeing training or a lot of theater on a resume. I think that speaks volumes in terms of someone’s ability to come in and do it because we’re moving so quickly here that you’re looking for someone who, if you had to send them down to the stage that minute, they could just get their blocking, knock it out, do it, and we move on.

Is the audition for a soap any different from a primetime show or a movie?

I don’t think so. I’ve told actors not to think of it as auditioning for anything differently. Everything is a kind of soap opera. 9-1-1 is a soap. Doctor Odyssey is a soap. Grey’s is a soap.

There’s this stereotypical thing, especially with greener actors, where they feel they need to add this over-dramatic emphasis to it. You know, someone’s looking off camera, and then they turn to the camera, “Well, you were my mother, but now you’re my father,” or whatever it is.

Joey Tribbiani’s “Smell the fart” acting.

(Laughs) Yeah. I try to dispel that notion.

You should just come in, and whatever the character is, be truthful in whatever manner speaks to you because the text is already probably dramatic enough. As long as you come in and make some choices, it shows you were prepared. You took it seriously. That says a lot.

Do you still have people coming into the room? Or has your work shifted online?

A lot of it is online now, but if it’s a really important role, then we’ll do it in the office. If it’s just a one-day role or a recurring one, I’ll probably do that online.

Everything starts with the self tape these days, but for callbacks, I’ll come in and do that in person because it’s nice to still have that interaction.

Is there still a stigma attached to working on a soap opera?

I feel that stigma has disappeared. Most people that I reach out to, if their client doesn’t want to do it, they’re still very respectful about it, but I’m really not finding that as much anymore.

Everyone seems very open to doing it, which is great. I think you see that a lot through entertainment. A lot of movie stars are doing TV as well. The walls have separated.

Also, there’s our reputation. The Young and the Restless has been around for so long and been number one for so long; our reputation speaks for itself. Once they get here, they realize it’s as close to a nine-to-five as you can get in this business, which I think is why so many of the cast have stuck around for decades.

Seeing as many people as you do, what piece of advice or wisdom would you give to someone coming in to audition for you?

Show that you’ve prepared. Since I’m the reader, I can usually feel if you’ve just picked it up in the waiting room or if you put some work into it.

Also, this sounds silly, but don’t be nervous. We want you to do well. We are 100% rooting for everyone who comes in to be the one.

Once the audition is over, it’s easy to say and hard to do, but you have to just let it go because there are a million reasons why it didn’t work out.

If you find that casting is continuously calling you in, then you’re doing something right. Eventually, it will click.

Be confident. Be friendly. Be personable. Give us a good sense of who you are, because we are looking for someone to come in and solve our problem.

Final Takeaways

Gregory Salmon’s journey from performer to casting director is anything but typical in an industry defined by constant hustle and change. With a love for soaps and a rare sense of career stability, he offers a behind-the-scenes look at the unique pace and demands of daytime television casting. Here’s quick recap of his journey, highlighting some key moments and insights:

• Gregory Salmon transitioned from acting to casting after realizing he preferred being behind the scenes.
• He found his niche and long-term home in soap opera casting, appreciating the steady work and creative challenges.
• Salmon values actors with theater backgrounds and training, citing their ability to adapt quickly to the rapid pace of soap production.
• He encourages actors to approach auditions with authenticity and preparation, not falling into “soap” clichés.
• The old stigma of working on a soap opera has faded, and the environment now attracts a broad range of talent seeking stability.

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