Barbara Roche

She began in an entry level position as receptionist for Fred A Niles Studios in Chicago, currently the Oprah Winfrey studios. When she walked through the doors of that huge studio complex she realized that her dreams of working in a Hollywood film studio were about to be fulfilled right in her own backyard.

 

She grew in the ranks at the studio and gained a well-rounded knowledge, not the least of which, was how to run a business. Her three greatest lessons from Fred Niles:

 

1. If at all possible, work for yourself.

2. Surround yourself with good people.

3. Never let anyone intimidate you.

 

There was none wiser than Fred Niles, in her mind, and fortunately Fred challenged her with many diverse projects for the twelve years she worked with him. That amazing hands-on learning experience taught her more than any university degree and laid the groundwork for greater challenges and opportunities to come.

 

Birds gotta’ fly

 

After Fred’s death, the studio was sold to Oprah and the entire Fred Niles' staff scattered to pursue other things. Barbara received a call from a former Fred Niles’ co-worker, Cathie Holzer, about a job opening for a freelance casting position at the Geddes Agency, the biggest casting agency in town. Cathie was working for Geddes as a coordinator on set and they needed help in the office with extras casting. Barbara took the job. She liked the idea of working with Cathie again. The two were different in every way but they both had the same vision of how to run a business.

 

Their first project together was “Color of Money.” Right out of the gate, they found it frustrating because they knew there was a better way of doing things than what they were experiencing while casting for Geddes. Cathie and Barbara clicked well with the crew and before the filming ended the crew had them convinced that they were the two who needed to do it right and open their own agency.

 

The Hollywood filmmakers discovered that Chicago was a great shooting location and suddenly Chicago was filming two or three major films at a time. It was a bit like the wild wild west back then with everyone in Chicago staking their claim. Fueled by the encouragement of their peers and following the advice of Fred Niles to always work for yourself, Barbara jumped into the fray and Holzer Roche Casting was born.

 

They began in one tiny office at RAH Producers Center, with two desks, two phones and a Holzer Roche Casting plaque outside their door. They were the two young pups who quickly grew into barking dogs. The work came almost instantly.  Two feature films and a TV series, then another and another.  Within their first year, Cathie and Barbara became the “go to” people for casting in Chicago. Their Holzer Roche office space quickly expanded into almost the entire second floor at RAH and overflowed into the lobby and sound stages when hundreds of people showed up for their casting calls. Their names were a regular item in Kup’s Column in the Chicago Sun-Times and Kathy O’Malley’s column in the Chicago Tribune.  Their casting calls were announced on the local radio and TV news stations. The TV cameras would show up to cover the event and they could watch themselves being interviewed on the evening news. Holzer Roche Casting became a household word in C hicago. Cathie and Barbara never had to wait in line at a restaurant or popular club. They were ushered right in because at one time or another, they shot a movie at that location. 

 

Chicago film business was booming and Holzer Roche was casting most of it. They were doing it the right way. Cathie and Barbara were loved by the directors for providing the right look and loved by the extras for their fairness and accessability. They negotiated a pay increase for extras and personally visited the set to make sure the extras had a comfortable holding area and decent food.

 

By their second year in business they received the award from Screen Magazine as Casting Directors of the Year. They spread their wings and started pitching location casting. If Chicago was one of several locations in a film, their pitch to the producers was simple. "Let us travel with the film and keep continuity in the look."  And off they went. They not only spent a lot of their time on planes, trains and automobiles, they actually made that movie! And every John Hughes film to follow. 

 

Surround yourself with good people

 

It was the best of times, and the worst of times. Cathie and Barbara were living the good life but it was quite stressful. They were hands on operators with a crazy, talented and loyal staff. It was not unusual to be casting two ongoing TV series and three feature films at the same time. Movie making is not a 9-5 job. The studios owned them. They were available 24/7 which means when they all went home, they slept with their phones, and sometimes they slept on the floor in their office or on the conference room table.

 

By their third year, Holzer Roche branched out and opened a second office in Los Angeles on the Hollywood Center Studios lot. It was a busy lot and they shared an office suite with George Burns who showed up religiously for work at 9:15 every morning. Always with his trademark cigar, he never failed to give Cathie and Barbara a, “Good morning girls!” as he passed their office door. Nor did he ever fail to give them autographed copies of his latest book, which he popped out about once a year. Another great role model, George Burns, who lived to be 100 years old and was still making movies at 98!

 

Cathy and Barbara’s faithful casting assistant and right arm, Mark Ridge, eventually took over the company. Cathie married a crewmember whom she met while filming on location in Arizona and she settled in LA with thoughts of having a normal life and kids. Barbara kept her Chicago home in Lake Forest but moved permanently to her little dream house in the hills of Studio City where she could walk out on her deck every morning and look down at three major studios, all of which helped buy that dream.

 

Barbara’s animated screenplay, “Furever Home” is currently in development as are several projects with writer/producer, Ruth L Ratny. Ruth and Barbara formed RuBarb Films for a few of their joint ventures. They share the same goal to continue making films in Chicago.