When casting director Karyn Fine started Real Enough Casting, after a suggestion from a friend, she had already established a knack for problem-solving within the industry.

Starting in the advertising business at an agency, Fine moved into props and wardrobe, a facet of the industry in which she toiled for more than a decade. During those years she learned how to best use her eyes and ears as well as considerable research to ferret out the best props. As she puts it, ‘In order to find the pink couch with one arm and three buttons on the side, you have to use your research mind.’

She says her well-honed detective skills serve her well as Toronto’s only casting agent dealing exclusively in ‘real people’ for commercials. ‘A lot of casting directors do their own real-people casting, but I don’t know another casting director who deals in strictly non-union real people,’ says Fine.

She says advertisers tend to want a specific type of person – whether it is someone with a specific look or from a specific ethnic background or profession. Fine has sought out and cast the spectrum of humanity. Examples that instantly spring to her mind are skydivers, rock climbers, construction workers, real mechanics, hockey teams, soccer teams, midgets, body builders and Chinese grandmothers (who are apparently a rare commodity).

Fine says it is often difficult to break into certain ethnic communities because of trust factors and language barriers, but these speed bumps do not slow her down.

‘There was a Cadbury Caramilk commercial I did where it was all Tibetan monks, so I was in the Tibetan community,’ she recalls. Although it was a challenge, Fine went to temples and rounded up the appropriate number of would-be monks and successfully completed her quest with relative ease.

The candy-maker called on Fine once again for what would turn out to be a surprisingly rewarding job. She was asked to find a real farmer for a spot to play (surprise, surprise) a farmer. An egg farmer to be precise.

Fine found her overall-clad star in Orono, Ont. at a feed mill.

‘You can’t just walk up to a field and say hello – although I have done that before,’ laughs Fine. ‘I spoke to the people at the feed mill and they thought this was just great. It was out of the norm for their day so they were very helpful.’

When she found her farmer, Fine was not sure if he had ever been beyond the Canadian border. Regardless, he soon would be, as the Cadbury shoot was to take place in South Africa.

‘I phoned him up when he got the part and said, ‘There is one thing you should do for yourself. Go into your savings and take your wife with you because you will never have this opportunity again and you will be treated like royalty.”

He did and he was.

Fine reports after a successful shoot in South Africa, the farmer was toured across Canada, speaking with Cadbury representatives about his experiences.

A more recent job, casting the latest Rx&D spot featuring real-life victims of devastating illnesses (Playback, May 15, p. 29), was a bittersweet ordeal for Fine.

She refers to this chapter in her career as ‘an emotionally trying experience’ whereby she was asked to seek out people who had overcome cancer or suffered from other illnesses, both physical and mental.

‘You have to be very sensitive when you go into the community and ask people who have cancer to talk about it, to find children who have lost a limb,’ says Fine. She says in instances like the Rx&D spot, ethics come into play when performing the duties of a casting director. ‘It has to be a moral concept that I absolutely agree with when it comes to things like this. You can’t cross those boundaries.’

This was not an issue for Fine in the case of the Rx&D spot, which she refers to as ‘an important piece of information for the community. We have to understand what is out there so it isn’t so strange to us; so the little kid with the missing limbs isn’t going to feel so odd in the community.’

To seek out the various people featured in the spot, Fine went through various charitable organizations that provide swimming lessons, sports teams and other activities to make some contacts.

Fine is currently working on gathering snowboarders, bikers and rollerbladers between the ages of 14 and 25 years for an upcoming spot. And after that, who really knows, but Fine assures she is up to any task.

‘I know my business,’ she says with a confident smile. ‘If it is out there I’ll find it; there is no doubt in my mind.’