Life & Work with Rebecca Casselman of Woodstock, GA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Casselman.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Sure! My story starts in Alaska, where I was born and raised, and where I met my husband during our senior year at North Pole High School. In college he wanted to get married, but I told him he needed a real job, so he joined the Air Force. We were married when I was twenty and he was nineteen! This is not something I recommend, but it’s how we started out. It was us against the world. At our first duty station I continued my college education, eventually earning a Masters of Theatre Arts degree. During my time as a military spouse and supermom I continued to pursue the art of storytelling by directing and acting in stage plays, and attending workshops whenever I could. I studied the differences between acting on camera and the stage and learned how to self-tape auditions. One highlight during those years was being on set with Meryl Streep during the filming of Big Little Lies in Monterey, CA. While stationed there, my husband deployed to Afghanistan, and I got more serious about my writing. I wrote my first novel, The Fourth Fate, a middle-grade fictional book with a female protagonist for my daughters.
I tried my hand at writing a screenplay during the shutdown in 2020, and I loved it! At that time I also started the podcast Candy from Strangers to keep our community connected, and learned the art of Voice-Over.
With so many creative projects in development, we decided to formalize our business, Cassel Core Industries, to produce my creative works. In 2021 we flew to Alaska, where I directed and starred in the feature length film I wrote titled, Next to North Pole. Fast forward to 2023 with our three daughters, and several deployments under our belts, we retired out of the military and had to find a new home. I was drawn to Atlanta’s tremendous film industry, rich culture and collaborative sprit; so we tackled relocating the whole family here, and I couldn’t be happier with that decision! To top it all off, my feature film Next to North Pole was just released Nov. 21st, distributed by Twin Engines Global and currently streaming through their label EncourageTV on three major platforms!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If the road is smooth, you’re doing it wrong and probably not learning the lessons you need to. I can tell you I’ve had to learn a LOT of lessons! As a creative person, leaning into the business side of artistic work has been a challenge. That’s because it doesn’t come naturally to me. I’ve found that if I do enough research, and connect with people more knowledgeable than me, I can figure it out. A lot of actors don’t realize they have to treat themselves as a business. There are a lot of contracts, and your agents only find you about 20% of your work when starting out. That other 80% is on you. The truth is, most actors are unemployed, and to make your way through this industry, you have to make it yourself.

I think the hardest thing to overcome as a storyteller and artist is criticism. Not just from the world, I’m talking about the voice inside that says you’re not up to snuff. Learning to name that voice, like ‘Sheila from accounting’, and telling her to beat it is crucial when working in a field that requires you to be vulnerable and dive into emotional depths of the human existence.

Learning that rejection and feedback are gifts is another hard lesson. I learned that early on with acting, but for my writing it felt more personal. Over time though, being rejected from screenwriting festivals became a badge of honor. My girls thought I was nuts when I hung a particularly hard rejection letter on the bulletin board in my office. Now it hangs next to the letter I got saying I won Best Short Script in the New York Screenplay Competition. It means I’m in the arena, and I’m giving it my all. The way I look at it is, it’s all part of the journey. The rejection, the approval, and even the waiting. In the production world there is so much waiting! Waiting can feel arduous, but in the end, God’s timing is nonpareil. You can’t rush it. I’d wanted to produce that short film as soon as we moved here, but we had to hold off until the pieces lined up.
And guess what? They did! We assembled an exceptional film crew, and I’m excited to share with you that we just wrapped filming principal photography for that short film! It’s a comedy that celebrates the messy, raw reality of motherhood called Tit’s Out, and I can’t wait to share it with the Atlanta market when it’s finished with post-production.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My theatre background is what sets me apart in my work. It really comes into play when I’m preparing to direct a production. I truly believe every job is important and cannot function without the others. I think of a project as a whole entity with the departments and people working toward one goal: to support the story. I’m open to hear the ideas of everyone involved regardless of status. I’m a firm believer in the ‘best idea wins’ philosophy when it comes to the creative process. That notion doesn’t go away in the ‘off season’. When not working on a production, I’m working to lift others up, and I’m working on myself. I recently spoke about this on a panel for a Mastering the Audition Workshop hosted by Atlanta Film and TV. As storytellers, we should always be working on our craft. For me personally, while taking classes with big name industry people, I noticed how the intimidation factor impacted novice talent. Not to mention the cost! I decided to provide virtual acting coaching at a ‘pay what you can’ rate to help people prepare for those higher level classes and auditions. As CVO of Cassel Core Industries, I endeavor to support and uplift other creatives while on my own journey. The performing arts can be competitive and there’s an ocean of inflated egos out there. I’d rather work with someone a little less experienced than an egotistical joker any day. When you hit the next level, you realize we all need each other and it’s not about fame, it’s about the work. Collaboration makes us better storytellers and the more we lift each other up, the further we can reach.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
If my work has made one person laugh and feel, even for a moment, that they matter … I’ve accomplish what I was put on this Earth to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://casselcore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebecca.casselman/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/c9FAlIrRE_w?si=7ybUWDg_svivKwNI
• Other: https://www.imdb.me/RebeccaCasselman

Image Credits
Juliana Díaz, Libby Williams, & Thumbprint Creative