How To Hire And Manage A Multi-racial Cast In Malaysia

Malaysia is a melting pot of different races and cultures. It is reflected in our public holidays, languages, traditional clothing and most importantly, food!

This is also good news for production houses that are looking for multiracial casting talents in Malaysia! With Malaysia having a large talent pool, it is easier to scout for talents of different races and also with different skill sets.

How Tankers handle casting requests?

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1. Knowing what you need and specifying it

It’s pretty straightforward: a client provides us with a brief, telling us what their requirements are and the number of talents they require. We then start sourcing according to their needs and luckily for us, Malaysia houses an abundance of multi-racial talents so it’s pretty easy to get what we want. If, however, the requirements can’t be met with the local talent pool, Malaysia is blessed with its strategic location, nestled in the heart of South East Asia, which makes for easy travel arrangements between countries in the region which offer a wider array of possible cast selections.

2. Not underestimating the discovery time

It’s all in a day’s work. Diversity is one of Malaysia’s strongest advantage, hence, we have yet to meet any requirements that could not be solved with a little extra elbow grease.

A potentially challenging situation would be to source for a specific race or country cast that requires a specific accent or spoken language. Sometimes, it’s also about getting a particular look for a particular project. For example, it could be crucial that the project uses a native Saudi looking talent, in which case the availability of Iranians in Malaysia just won’t do. Production houses have to emphasize this in their brief and provide a reasonable timeline for the talent search to take place.

This is why more and more production houses are looking towards shoots in South East Asia. Given the necessary time, a production house could benefit from the low cost from a currency perspective without compromising on the quality of the talents.

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3. Hiring the right people for the task

The service industry thrives on individuals and teams that specialize in doing what they do best. Having more than 20 years of production support experience, we work alongside some of the country’s best casting directors, and they have a plethora of contacts for all the talent agencies in Kuala Lumpur and in Penang.

Considering the complexity of the task, there is no fixed timeline on how long casting takes. A typical proper casting period would last from 2 to 3 weeks but if the client needs it urgently or if it’s a rush casting, then we would go for the necessary lengths to accomplish what our clients require.

Drop us a message at https://thetankers.tv/contact-us/ if you wish to work with us! Our team is highly experienced, having worked alongside some of the greatest Hollywood and British studios. All of us are English speakers and we handle almost everything production from lighting, camera, grip, art team, stylish team, casting, equipment, etc.