He Spent Decades Behind the Scenes on ER and The West Wing—His Book at 78 Put Him in Front

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When we published Right for the Role, I figured John would sell a few books, make some actors cry and call it a day. I was wrong.

John is a four-time Emmy-winning casting director who spent decades casting ER, The West Wing and Shameless, and his memoir didn't just tell that story—it completely rewired his creative life at 78. The book sparked a podcast, packed acting schools, landed in the Studio City Barnes & Noble window and somehow made him Instagram-famous (his words, not mine). He's now directing plays in New York and reconnecting with collaborators he hadn't spoken to in years.

What I wanted to talk to John about is what it's like to spend your entire career shaping other people's performances and then, in your late seventies, step into the spotlight yourself for the first time. He gets into what it took to drop the privacy he'd protected for decades, what it's like to relive your life with a co-writer on Zoom and why the Smoke House book signing turned into something closer to an LA industry reunion than a reading. He also swears he "discovered no one," which—if you know anything about the casts of ER or The West Wing—is one of the more generous lies I've heard on this podcast.

The thing he said that stuck with me: the book didn't give him a new life. It gave him his old one back.

In this episode:

• How Right for the Role turned into a podcast, a tour and a creative second act at 78
• The Smoke House signing that became an industry reunion
• Why he insists he "discovered no one" (he's being modest)
• What it's like to publish your first book in your seventies and go viral for it
• Why he says the book gave him his old life back, not a new one

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