The evidence: The casting director's desk

Nina Gold is a freelance casting director specialising in film, television and commercials. She is currently casting a film for Kenneth Branagh

"This is a script we're working on now, it's Kenneth Branagh's new Shakespearean film (1). We keep one here and send out all the other scripts to actors who are being considered for the various parts. We sometimes use our digital camera (2) to tape auditions and meetings. It's fantastic because it's so small and the picture quality is amazing - it's also broken. Spotlight (3), which contains details of actors, is now on CD-Rom. I haven't figured it out yet but everybody else in the office uses it. I still think the books (4) are better; you don't have to flick through the entire thing. The blue file (5) contains all the contracts for the Mike Leigh film we have just finished casting. I got the old-fashioned pencil sharpener (6) from my boyfriend Frank - it still has LCC stamped on it from when London County Council existed. That's a picture of my daughter Nell (7) to remind me what she looks like, even though she spends most of her time up here, as the office is at the top of my house. I'm really obsessive about my recycling bin (8) - it gets on everybody's nerves. We get sent videos (9) of work actors have done that's relevant to a part. It's hard to consider someone you've only seen playing a school child for a part as a mass murderer."

Interview by Aoife O'Riordain

Photography Darren Regnier