Wright/Laird Casting

What Wright/Laird Casting does

Wright/Laird Casting is a privately held, Kansas City-based talent casting firm founded in 1993 that provides full-service casting for feature films, television, digital content, commercials, and print advertising. The company operates as Kansas City's only full-time, full-service casting company and is led by principal owner and casting director Heather Laird, who personally carries 25 years of industry experience and credits on 65+ film and television projects and 1,000+ commercial and print advertisements, including work on Academy Award-nominated Winter's Bone. Casting services are delivered by direct engagement with producers, production companies, and advertising clients; Heather Laird sources talent through 10 Kansas City talent agencies, a 5,000+ member Facebook group, and direct outreach to unrepresented talent.

The company's revenue model is professional services: producers pay the casting director a fee (quote-based, not publicly disclosed) to filter talent pools, organize casting sessions, and select audition candidates. A complementary secondary stream consists of paid actor training workshops (Acting & Scene Study I/II, On-Camera Audition for Adults and Kids, and a Self-Tape Workshop) priced from $95 to $350 per course, plus a Missouri Work Permits assistance service for minor talent. Distribution is regional (Kansas City Metropolitan Area) and conducted entirely from the firm's headquarters office; the website and Facebook group serve as the primary marketing, community, and casting-notice channels.

Wright/Laird Casting has no disclosed technology platform, software product, mobile app, or API; the underlying capability is the proprietary talent network, the principal casting director's reputation, and the firm's CSA membership and institutional relationships (University of Kansas Film & Media Studies advisory board, former presidency of the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City). Notable commercial clients include NFL, Disney, Gillette, Toyota, McDonald's, Walmart, Garmin, Hallmark, Budweiser, and State Farm; notable film clients include Winter's Bone, Ride with the Devil, Kansas City, Truman, The Good Lie, Pete's Dragon, Election, and Mars Attacks!.

Name

Wright/Laird Casting

Legal name

Wright/Laird Casting

Website

https://wrightlairdcasting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Wright/Laird Casting is a Kansas City-based, privately held talent casting firm founded in 1993 that provides full-service casting for film, television, digital, commercial, and print advertising productions, serving producers and brands across the Kansas City market.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Talent Casting Services

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Talent Casting & Auditions (Casting Directors, Open Calls) (HSACAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Casting & Talent Services (Casting, Background, Talent Holding) (MPADAFAI), Production & Talent Services (Casting, Crew, Production Management) (MPAAAMAF)

Keywords

• Talent casting services
• Film casting
• Commercial casting
• Acting workshops
• Casting director

Headquarters

HQ city

Kansas City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Talent Casting Services: Wright/Laird Casting is hired by producers to organize the process of finding talent for film, TV, digital, commercials, and print advertising projects. The casting director is paid by the producer for casting services including filtering through talent pools, organizing casting sessions, and selecting talent for auditions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Wright/Laird Casting provides full-service talent casting for film, television, digital, commercial, and print advertising productions in the Kansas City market. Casting services include filtering talent pools, organizing casting sessions, and selecting talent for auditions on behalf of producers. The firm also offers acting workshops and Missouri work permit assistance for minor talent as complementary offerings.

Product overview

Wright/Laird Casting offers a single unified casting service portfolio centered on talent casting for the Motion Picture and Advertising industries. The core offering is full-service talent casting for Film, TV, Digital, Commercials, and Print Advertising. Complementing the casting services, the company offers educational workshops including Acting & Scene Study (taught by Jeanne Averill), On-Camera Audition Workshops for Adults and Kids (taught by casting director Heather Laird), and a Self-Tape Workshop. Additionally, the company provides Missouri Work Permits assistance for minor talent.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Talent Casting Services Full-service talent casting for film, TV, digital, commercial, and print advertising projects. Includes filtering talent pools, organizing casting sessions, and selecting talent for auditions on behalf of producers. Serves productions seeking principal and background actors in the Kansas City market.
• Acting & Scene Study Workshop (Levels I & II) Two 4-week courses taught by award-winning instructor Jeanne Averill covering acting foundations, with Acting & Scene Study I (Tuesdays 6–8 PM, $195) and II (Thursdays 6–8 PM, open after completing A&SS I). Targeted at adult actors in the Kansas City market.
• On-Camera Audition Workshop for Adults 7-week workshop meeting Wednesdays 6–8 PM ($350), taught by casting director Heather Laird. Teaches adult actors on-camera skills using real feature film and TV commercial scripts and includes self-taping audition training.
• Kid's On-Camera Audition Workshop One-day workshop taught by casting director Heather Laird for kids ages 7–17, covering film, TV, and commercial scripts as well as improv and creative dramatics.
• Self-Tape Workshop Two-week workshop ($95) meeting 6–8 PM for two nights, designed to help experienced talent self-tape, edit, and submit auditions and coached through the process to success.
• Missouri Work Permits Assistance Assistance service providing Missouri Department of Labor work permit application instructions and the entertainment industry PDF form for minor talent and their parents/guardians.

Quantifiable outcome

• 65+ film and television projects cast
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered moderate and core.

• University of Kansas Film & Media Studies Dept.moderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeather Laird serves on the Professional Advisory Board for the University of Kansas Film & Media Studies Department, indicating an educational and industry connection relationship.
• Film Commission of Greater Kansas CitymoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeather Laird is the former president of the board of the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City, supporting regional film industry development.
• 10 Kansas City Talent AgenciescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWright/Laird Casting works with 10 talent agencies in Kansas City. Casting director receives talent requests from these agencies and organizes casting sessions. Agencies provide talent representation services to actors.
• Casting Society of America (CSA)coreOthersHeather Laird is a member of the Casting Society of America (CSA), the professional organization for casting directors. CSA membership requires adherence to professional standards including not charging talent for casting sessions.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Kerry Barden & Paul Schnee Casting: Joint casting director partnership casting for major feature films (Spotlight, The Departed); closely comparable to Wright/Laird as a multi-credited boutique casting partnership with CSA affiliations and enterprise producer clients.
• Tina Kerr Casting: Independent casting director based in a secondary U.S. production market; comparable as a regional full-service casting firm built around a CSA-credentialed founder serving a mix of feature, TV, and commercial clients outside of Los Angeles.
• Avy Kaufman Casting: Independent casting director company casting for major feature films and prestige projects (e.g., Lost in Translation, Brokeback Mountain); comparable as a founder-led, credential-rich boutique casting firm serving national film/TV producers in the same way Wright/Laird does at the regional level.
• Mary Vernieu Casting: Hollywood casting director casting for major studio features and prestige films (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Social Network); comparable as a high-end independent casting firm serving enterprise film clients with CSA-recognized principals.
• Marci Liroff Casting: Veteran casting director and CSA member casting for film and TV; directly comparable as an independent, founder-led casting firm built on personal reputation and CSA credentials, much like Wright/Laird's positioning in Kansas City.

Others

• Actors Access: Digital self-submission platform for actors responding to casting notices; comparable as an enabling ecosystem tool that has reshaped how first-round casting is sourced, and against which traditional casting firms like Wright/Laird must position their value.
• Backstage: Talent marketplace and casting notice board for actors; comparable as an adjacent ecosystem participant that connects productions to talent via notices and self-submissions, increasingly overlapping with the casting-notice function Wright/Laird performs via its 5,000+ member Facebook group.

Broad incumbents

• Breakdown Services: Long-standing incumbent provider of casting breakdowns, submissions, and actor profiles (Breakdown Express); comparable as the broader industry infrastructure layer that mediates casting calls and could continue to disintermediate traditional casting director relationships.
• Casting Networks: Industry-wide casting and talent management SaaS platform (Casting Networks / L.A. Casting); comparable as the broader incumbent enabling digital casting workflows that increasingly compete with traditional director-driven casting fees central to Wright/Laird's revenue.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wright-laird-casting

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wright/Laird Casting