19. Cocktails with Casting: Emmy Nominees Charlene Lee and Claire Koonce (Part 1)

Jess and Jenn host Charlene and Claire in person, for the first time! In a two part series, this foursome dive into a bottle of gin and the intricacies of the struggles and triumphs of building a career in casting. Charlene Lee graduated from Colorado College with a B.A. in English & Film Studies. Her extensive experience in television and features have taken her all over the world, including a very memorable search for authentic Sherpas for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  Her work has screened at festivals, among them Tribeca (No Future) Sundance (Don't Be a Hero), and a Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast at SXSW for the feature film A Bad Idea Gone Wrong. On the television side, credits include: Escape at Dannemora (Showtime), Get Shorty (Epix), and Fargo (FX), which received an Artios Award and Emmy for Outstanding Casting. CLAIRE KOONCE is an experienced casting director, acting teacher and co-founder of CL|CK Casting. Driven by a desire to create cutting edge work, she takes pride in finding fresh faces and voices for the screen, and unlocking the potential of every actor she meets.  Selected casting director credits include the Marvel/Freeform pilot Cloak & Dagger, AMC/IFC Sherman’s Showcase, and Universal 1440’s Blade of the 47 Ronin.  Her previous casting department work includes a wide range of projects, with several credits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Legendary’s Godzilla and Skull Island, Disney’s The Jungle Book, Starz’s American Gods and CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery, to indies like Chef, The Little Prince, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Her independent feature film Women Is Losers premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival and closed out the 2021 LALIFF.  With her partner Charlene Lee, CL|CK Casting is dedicated to quality, authenticity, inclusivity and positivity, and their work can be seen in the recent A24 series Beef, currently available on Netflix. CL|CK Casting is comprised of casting directors Charlene Lee and Claire Koonce. Together they bring more than three decades of experience to a partnership dedicated to finding fresh perspectives and original voices, matching known and new faces together to create the widening tapestry of stories on screen.  Combined they have worked on hundreds of projects with companies such as Disney, Sony, Marvel, Legendary, Universal, Fox, Paramount and on the television side, A24, Netflix, HBO, FX, Amazon, Apple, ABC, Showtime, CBS, Starz, Comedy Central, and many more.  Their films have garnered festival recognition and awards at Tribeca, Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, LALIFF, and more.  Together, they value quality, authenticity, and inclusivity, and they bring positivity and diligence to each aspect of their work.  Current projects include the second season of IFC/AMC’s Sherman’s Showcase, independent feature He Went That Way (which premiered at Tribeca 2023) and the A24 series Beef, currently available to view on Netflix. Origin Stories How they formed CL|CK Casting How they got the job to cast "BEEF" Showing Gratitude for Opportunities Getting the Jobs that Were Meant for You Resources: Claire Koonce IG Claire Koonce IMDB Charlene Lee IMDB ──────────────────────────── ⁠⁠⁠⁠Stay Tuned with Tipsy Casting on IG⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tipsy Casting YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Jessica ⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Jenn ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn More About ⁠⁠⁠⁠Jess ⁠⁠⁠⁠& ⁠⁠⁠⁠Jenn's⁠⁠⁠⁠ Casting Journeys  ⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Casting Life Away Merch here!⁠