Ted Evans: How I cast RTS-nominated Jemma Joyce in ‘To Know Him’ (and how you can follow her footsteps!)

To find out how to apply to act in Ted’s new feature film, click here.

Photographs by Becky Bailey.

Earlier this year, BSL Zone released my latest drama To Know Him (TKH).

It was a great opportunity for me to get back in the director’s chair after a five year absence making corporate films for clients and developing several film projects from my tiny office in East London.

When we were developing the story, I didn’t have a specific actress in mind to play the protagonist – Sarah.

I had a few ideas but I kept an open mind because it was such an emotional role and casting can make or break a film. When we eventually began searching for actors for the role, it quickly became apparent that it was going to be really, really difficult.

Despite a growing demand, there just aren’t many deaf actors out there. Our best ones are often contracted to theatre productions, months in advanced, and are usually committed for several weeks.

Usually on a mainstream production, casting directors will see dozens (if not hundreds) of potential actors for a main role. We don’t have that luxury sadly, I wish we did, but the fact is we don’t. So we struggled trying to find the right Sarah.

Despite racking up thousands of views from our casting video on Facebook, we only ended up auditioning just eleven deaf actors for two roles in TKH.

Out of that group, two actors weren’t available to do it anyway, because they were committed elsewhere.

So we ended up with a choice of just nine actors, and whilst they were all promising in their own unique ways, I wasn’t anywhere close to making a decision. I just couldn’t feel it.

Usually when I cast an actor for a role, the decision is made for me by a gut feeling. A subconscious ‘yes’.

But at the 11th hour, Jemma’s name was mentioned to me by a close friend of mine. I had given him the script to read, he liked it a lot and instantly thought of someone…

“Jemma Joyce man, she’d be a perfect fit for Sarah…”
“Who’s Jemma Joyce?… never heard of her.”

Obviously Jemma wasn’t someone who was on my radar, despite later finding out she went to the same school as me (Sorry Jemma, but you were a couple of years below me!).

I know most of the deaf actors in this country; I make it my business to know who’s out there, but I couldn’t find much about Jemma online.

I managed to track down an interesting coffee commercial she did in Belgium a few years back, along with a music video appearance, but that was it. She had no real experience with drama.

I managed to get hold of Jemma’s email to ask if she was interested and she was. She sent me a self-tape (a video audition) and if I’m honest, it wasn’t great.

She hadn’t filmed it very well but there was something about her. I wanted to meet Jemma in person; to see what she was like as an individual and to gauge whether we could work together.

So I invited her down to London to audition, but to my disappointment she couldn’t make it. She was about to go to Malta on holiday… right before our casting deadline… dammit!

I was in a tight dilemma. There was no way I could cast someone with very little experience without meeting them; my producers wouldn’t allow it – but I didn’t have that gut feeling yet anyway.

I thought: ‘If she can’t come to me, I’ll go to her.’ So I decided to invite myself to her house and audition her there and then. Luckily she agreed to it and I drove two hours to see her one Saturday morning – less than twenty-four hours before she was due to fly out of the country.

It was an impulsive and slightly intrusive thing to do, but I had to know before making such a big decision. I needed that gut feeling to tell me which way to go.

When I arrived I discovered that Jemma was a mother to two small beautiful young girls. I was at Jemma’s parents house and it was a very warm, happy environment with a strong family unit.

Within seconds, I could see that Jemma was a hard working woman, who was very committed to her children. She had vigour and I liked that. We chatted with her parents briefly before going upstairs and filming a quick impromptu audition.

I gave Jemma the same scene she did in the self-tape, so she had some familiarity with the lines, but when we did the scene I gave her two very different choices. This was to see she could take direction and sure enough, she gave me two very different results.

This told me she was listening and that we could build a working relationship. We went back downstairs and we talked about things like her working schedule and childcare for her daughters.

I then told Jemma I’ll let her know in a couple of days and said my goodbyes. It was all over in just over an hour and I was on way back home to London. As I drove back onto the M1, I had already decided to cast Jemma as Sarah. That gut feeling was there and it finally told me what to do…

Fast forward a couple of months later and it’s our first day of production.

We are filming a dream sequence on a cold, windy beach. It’s the emotional scene where Sarah see’s her deceased partner (Rob) standing in front of the ocean.

Upon being called to the set, Jemma had a 15 minute walk from the base to the beach and when she finally emerged over the dunes, it was clear she was nervous.

It was her first day at work and she had to be an actress now; one who would later have to march into the sea and scream in despair. We were already under pressure.

There’s never enough time when filming but we had the tide gaining in on us. So we had to work extra fast. Before the first take, I went over to Jemma and told her:

“Jemma, you have to go there…”

This was something I said to Jemma often during the shoot. “Go there” was shorthand for “You need to put yourself in a frame of mind and you need to be true. You can’t fake it because we need to see it on screen…” Jemma nodded and still looked a little nervous. I went back to the monitor and watched her do the first take…

“Action!”

The wind is blowing and the waves lapsed on the shore. Everything looked great. Sarah walks right up to Rob, turns him around and she is in tears. No dialogue needed. It’s all there on the face…

“Cut!”

I turned to my interpreter and with a grin, I said:

“Bloody hell man… she can really act!”

From that day forward, Jemma was buzzing. She caught the acting bug early on and went from that nervous first-timer to a hard-working actress; one who would tell her director to “hurry up” because she was ready to give the next take everything!

It was a real honour to witness that transformation. She is a wonderful example of someone who didn’t have much experience but just went for it.

You don’t always need to go to drama school or have a lot of training to be an actor; you just need dedication, an open mind and an ability to listen to people and be able to genuinely respond to human behaviour.

Of course there’s a lot more to the craft with various methods out there to learn, but I think the basics are intuitive.

Jemma is now an actress with her first ‘Best Female Actor’ nomination in ‘a single drama’ for the 2018 Royal Television Society, North West Awards.

Whatever happens on November 10th at the award ceremony, I knew that day on the cold, windy beach that Jemma was going to do something special. She’ll always be a winner in my eyes and I’m so proud of her.

I’m currently casting for my debut feature film RETREAT. It’s a completely different film with a much darker tone, but If I can just find the next Jemma Joyce… I’ll be a very, very happy director.

To find out how to apply to act in Ted’s new feature film, click here!