There are very few people in Canada who do what Vancouver-based casting director Kathleen Widows does. Widows casts all sorts of people for all sorts of spots through her Kathleen Widows Casting, but she is also one of a rare species in the Canadian production world. Widows is also a baby wrangler.

"A what?" you ask.

Despite the lack of baby wranglers in Canada, theirs is a service one would think every agency or production house would need from time to time. Perhaps Widows can explain this facet of her job best.

"A baby wrangler actually gets the kids to do what the director wants them to do. Sometimes [the director and wrangler] go as far as going over the storyboards together and the shooting order. You’re completely involved."

In the Vancouver production market, Widows’ name is well known. Through Kathleen Widows Casting she has found the right mix of people for ads for Coors Light, Labatt, A&W, Coffee Mate, Telus, ADT and Visa, among others. She takes pride in always being able to find the right person or people for a spot.

"We always find what we are looking for," says Widows. "Sometimes they give you the type of person and that’s it, but I’ve never cast a job where we haven’t found the talent."

Through her children’s casting arm, Kidlets, Widows has wrangled tikes for Fisher Price, Tyco, Legend Ice Cream and McDonald’s, for starters. In doing so, she has met her fair share of infants, toddlers and assorted little people. As many of us know, kids can be a handful, especially the tiny tots, and a wrangler has to be full of energy to take them on.

"It’s hands-on work," says Widows. "You’re tucked under the monitor or under the high chair and it’s a workout. It is a 10-hour workout when you’re with the little kids."

She’s been working out for six years and says she loves it.

Widows began wrangling as an assistant to the New York-based team of John Hicks and Kathy Mazzie of Baby Wranglers Inc. The pair came to Vancouver for a shoot and helped Widows learn the ins and outs of the job. She continued to assist them on subsequent ad shoots in Vancouver before she established Kidlets. The shortage of baby wranglers in Canada doesn’t seem to surprise Widows, who contends it takes a rare breed of person to be suited for the work.

"You definitely have to have a love for children, which I do," she says. "Working with the kids requires a lot more energy and patience. You bring a two-year-old into a room and we have specific motions that we want this two-year-old to do and all they see is this great toy with all these little pieces – the little Fisher Price family and cars going down the slide. You have to try to get them to do the motions that you want, but a two-year-old is a two-year-old."

Under B.C. law, a child’s mother has to be constantly within sight of the child, which Widows says is a godsend when a child becomes difficult to work with.

"If a baby is really upset on set we’ll bring mama over and say ‘Calm baby down,’ and get them back into playing or doing whatever we are doing."

She says three children are usually brought in for a spot that requires only one child on screen in case the "star" gets sick, is upset or unable to "perform" for any reason. In her experience, rarely is more than one baby used in a commercial at a time.

As a casting director for both children and adults in one of Canada’s most competitive commercial production markets, Widows says there is "enough work to go around."

"When it slows down a little bit, everyone gets a little bit antsy. But every year we get a slow period and we all just need to learn to relax and enjoy the down time. Because I have my own business I can have it as busy as I want it. If I wanted to I could work seven days a week, 14 hours a day."

Widows hopes to expand her casting endeavors beyond commercials in the next while. She says she would enjoy doing an MOW, with or without children in the cast.