Winsome

Winsome Sinclair is a highly respected casting director and founder of the global casting agency, Winsome Sinclair and Associates. A graduate of Florida A&M University, Winsome began her film and television career under the tutelage of film director, Spike Lee. From the late 80s through the 2000s, she collaborated with Spike on all feature film projects for 23 years. In 1996, Sinclair set out on her own business path

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hello everyone, and welcome to theLady Cell Podcast. And if you're running,
why you're only seeing like the tipof my nose in my eyes is
because I do not have lovely hair. Today I had to run out and
I did not want you guys tosee my horrible hair. But I think
I have cute eyes, so Idid it. Ha ha haha. Beautiful
eyes. See see see beautiful eyesanyway, and I don't have them even

(00:22):
makeup, so maybe not as beautifulas they normally are. Because they have
actual bags. I don't know whyI pointed them out, like you guys
probably didn't even see them until Iwas like bags to see them right there.
They're carrying luggage at this point.Anyway, I will know no.
Well, I remember to introduce myself. Good jump to me, the jump
to me, And I'm gonna moveon because I have nothing interesting in or

(00:42):
funny to say, because I mean, once you have a bad hair day,
that's over. It's just done.There's nothing funny to say about your
day. It's a bad hair day. Anyway. I wrote books, and
occasionally I was intelligent on occasion,only on the page, and only for
like seventy five pages at the time. I think that's about its most intelligence
I can do anyway they are andthat's out and that's not being gredables easy

(01:06):
if only arm me and we're morein verse foreign Web, I mean foreign
web. Wow, y'all like wholenew book really no, no, no
foreign coffee, widows Web and widowsdat. You can get those books wherever
audio books are sold. And youcan find out the rest of our seventeen
books at www dot And I thoughtLadies dot com. And yeah, since
I'm half a face today with horriblehair and just two eyes with nice I

(01:29):
mean expertly done, right, eyebroyarchers, I'm going for the car salesman
thing. It's www dot And Ithought Lady that all because that bit had
to be out it because you know, eyes cannot be funny. Yeah,
mines better not be funny to y'all, They better not be funny. They're
beautiful. They can't be funny andbeautiful. But you're not here to hear

(01:52):
about me or just stare my eyesall day. You're here to hear about
our wonderful guests. Wonderful guess butyou'd like to introduce yourselves. Okay,
I'll take the title wonderful guests.My name is Winsome Sinclair, and I
am really glad to be here withyou ladies today. Um So, if
you guys are like now wondering whyI asked her to be interviewed, I

(02:16):
still wanted to say it is sowant to say it, but I don't
want to admit it. But youjust to dore casting for Belly. Yes,
ma'am, how did you find thebeautiful Black League? I never saw
the movie. I just heard.I just heard, and there was a

(02:38):
beautiful black lady in there, babyoil. How the heck did you find
her? First of all? Andthen secondly, what does a casting director
do? Obviously? Okay, sohow we found Terrell Hicks is um.
Terrell was actually I think the onlyperson who was really considered for the role.
She had done some work with ourdirector and he remembered her and thought

(03:00):
that she was perfect for the rolewhen they were writing the project. And
as far as what a casting directordoes, I am the middleman. I
vet and I find the talent toplace in all the films, televisions,
music videos, documentaries, everything thatyou guys see that's visual. I have

(03:21):
probably cast for all mediums and you'renot just the casting director. You have
like a lot of media behind you. Can you tell us a bit more
about, like how diverse your careeringsin the media world. Oh wow,
So I am a casting director firstand foremost, but I am branching.
I have been branching out in thelast five, oh, probably five to

(03:43):
seven years into the producing realm.I am an author, I am a
motivational speaker, and I think that'sit. I hope I'm the worst with
my own resume. And I'm aconsultant. I'm a consultant consults. Can
you consult on how to make mebetter? You know, my eyes better

(04:03):
for films? Your eyes are beautiful. They're beautiful. Oh you have to
say that to the person that that'sinterviewing you. Y'all say, y'all have
eyes you can see. Um.So I have to ask my simply questions
that I asked everyone. I absolutelyhave to ask because it is my dream

(04:24):
to one day beyond set and havecrafty So I have to ask best craft
services. Oh wow, we're episode. So most of my career has been
in New York. So I've hadgood and bad here, good and bad
craft service, really good Crest servicehere, but I think probably some of
the best craft service in terms ofpresentation was when I was in La So

(04:50):
I am stuck with Los Angeles.I was trying, like I'm not gonna
lie. All my fans know thatI have been interviewing people for years now
trying to get someone to let mecome on set to eat craft services.
Oh wow. It has been alifetime goal of mine since I was twelve
years old. Wow, that's yourbucket lists on your bucket list? Okay,

(05:12):
got it, It's the last thing. I have everything else done.
Okay, well, I'll keep thatin mind when we start rolling again.
If you're in our part of thecountry, come over for lunch and they'll
finally be done. And then everyone'slike, you gotta get a new bucket
list or you have to die.And I don't think that's either. I
think I should put a living onmy bucket list exactly. And to be

(05:35):
continued there, you know, yes, to be continued. Oh oh wait,
I had another question besides crafty,and I'm sorry, I just got
so caught up in the idea ofthe food. So Los Angeles has the
best one. So I'll be outthere. Man, when you try to
beg my friends. Now, seeif I can't get on that one.
So what is it like? Okay, what do you like for an actor

(05:56):
to do when they come in foran in person interview and when they come
in for a self take? Notokay, so for in person, which
I still miss, I think it'sthe best way to do it. For
in person. I want the actorto um clearly know their lines, do
their research on the character, havequestions ready, because there's gotta be questions,

(06:19):
especially if all you got worth theside and you can get the entire
script, and even if you gotthe entire script, you still may have
questions. But what my goal isfor all actors at all times, especially
in the audition room, is comein and own the room, meaning seize
the moment that you have the undividedattention of some decision makers and do whatever

(06:40):
you need to do in preparation andwilder the room to knock the ball out
of the park. That's amazing.This is why I'm not an actor and
I'm the writing because I get topractice not in the bottle of the park
over and over and over and overagain. Yeah. Okay, So next

(07:00):
to the last question, what kindof collaborations do you have to do in
order to like get the person thatyou specifically want into a movie? Oh
wow, So it varies on theperson's career. Well kind of, because
sometimes we just make a personal straightoffer and we go back and forth with
their agent or their manager as towhether it suits them. We fine tune

(07:23):
it, we tweak it depending onwhat production gives me. My parameters are.
But sometimes if sometimes depending on theircareer and the status in their career,
sometimes you're offering them something more thanjust a acting role. You know,
you had to become aboard as anassociate producer or a co producer because
their name lends power to the projectand it will attract a better you know,

(07:46):
talent and help with distribution and allthose things. So if we know
that you're a high marquee talent,there may be something else in your offer
us other than a paycheck in arole. Oh nice to know. So,
um, if I remember a highmarquee talent and I want more craft
services, well, absolutely absolutely thatyou can have your writer fulfilled exactly.

(08:09):
Oh god, it's so never mind, that's a that's a story for another
time, And that's a narcissist storyabout me and we're here for you.
So you recently moved from the capitalof like I feel like, the capital
of filmmaking, back to the oldstumping ground. What does it feel like
to be back home? New Yorkwill always be home. I mean,
Atlanta was a great decision for thetime, and Atlanta was a great run.

(08:33):
It really was. I was Ilearned a lot, I made a
lot of great connections. I startedmy producing career down there, So it
was good for me and beneficial forme in many many ways. But you
know, there are certain things thatyou can't take away from the industry yet
and still that you know, assomeone put it once, a lot of
a lot or most of the workis being done in Atlanta, but all

(08:56):
the decisions are still being made inCalifornia, New York. Yeah, okay,
that's the last question. What's comingup for you next? And where
can we find out more information orif you have any castings coming out or
anything that you want us to know, any projects that you want us to
know about. Oh wow, yeah, so we actually I just saw a

(09:18):
project that we did us, anHBCU project. You can catch it on
HBCU go. I think that's theplatform. M I just got word before
I tuned in here that a projectthat we're working on that I'm actually very
proud of. Um. It's calledSarah's Oil and I don't know if people
know abody, but go ahead andgoogle this after I'm done. It's about

(09:41):
the first young black millionaire from oilin the United States. I think her
information started circling around the internet acouple of years ago and somebody wrote a
screenplay that was actually riveting, andI was brought into it by TV Jason's
company because they're working on the projectas well. And I love that level
of biopic because I you know,one of the things for me in terms

(10:03):
of what I cast now in principalcasting and the things that I want to
produce is I believe that our storiesmatter and I'm very very committed to telling
our stories from our perspectives. Sothat's what's something that just got UM.
We just cast our lead and we'llbe going, hopefully with no writers strike.
Hopefully there's no strike or to strikedoesn't last one. We'll be shooting

(10:24):
this summer in Oklahoma. Thank youso much for being here. I truly
appreciate it because you've literally had atight schedule and I think that stuck to
it. I'm one minute over,just one minute over, none of that.
You're doing well, you gotta yougotta actually well. By myclock,
you got three monutes. But I'mgood. I'm gonna go ahead and wrap
us up right now, so Idon't want to where can we find?

(10:45):
Did you tell us where we canfind a more information? On social media?
You can follow me on ig atD Summit Sinclair. I put everything
that um, everything that I'm castingis always announced on WSA International, which
is my company, and I'm alwaysputting if you follow me on social media,
whether it be Facebook, Twitter ormainly i G I'm always announcing what

(11:07):
we're doing. We have a coupleof projects that we're lined up to produce
this year and I'll be announcing thoseas we move forward and casting. And
whenever anything that would have done anythingwe have done premiers, I always announced
it as well, so you cantake part and watch it and enjoy it
hopefully awesome. Thank you so muchfor being here, And I'm gonna go
ahead and wrap us up for theladies over here. And yet says I'm
missing Jade yet again because I'm stuckon a car. But you can find

(11:28):
out everything that your ladies are doingat www dot and I thought ladies dot
com. And while you're there,take a moment go down to the middle
of the page and you can seethe charities that we probably support. We
have that you take time out andgive them a little help too. Remember
it's not just monetary. It canbe information or just volunteering. Remember that
wisdom is all around you if you'reopen to finding it and accepting it's a
piece of love. You guys fromRomona and the Missing Jade. Oh yeah,

(11:50):
thanks, thank you for having me