Explaining Hollywood: How to get a job as a casting director
LOS ANGELES — Kim Williams' nephews, who are in college, recently started watching the '90s sitcom "Martin" and raved about it to their father — how funny it was, how great the characters were and how great the cast was.
"My brother's standing there, waiting for them to finish, and then he's like, 'You know your aunt cast that, right?'" Williams said.
She laughed. "They pull it up onscreen and go to the credits, and they're like, 'Wait, she cast this?'"
"Martin," which premiered in 1992, was the very first pilot that Williams, now the president of the Casting Society, cast on her own. She knew Martin Lawrence, and when her boss at HBO asked if she'd be interested in casting his show, she was thrilled.
She said the role of Pam was the one her team struggled the most to cast. They saw a lot of people, and no one felt right. Tichina Arnold wasn't initially available to audition because she was out of town. But one Saturday, Williams was grabbing lunch at the original Johnny Rockets location on Melrose Avenue, and she saw Arnold sitting at the counter.
Williams walked over to her and introduced herself. Turned out Arnold's schedule had changed and she happened to be back in Los Angeles.
"She came in [to audition], and we all fell in love," she said. "And boom, we have this amazing cast for this show.
"I have other stories like that over the course of my career," she continued. "That's the thing that
