1. Deborah Maxwell Dion
Deborah Dion Casting
1938 Hillhurst Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-660-0797
May 13, 2015
RE: SETA VAN DER HOOP
To Whom It May Concern:
As an established casting director in Los Angeles who has been in the business for the
last 20 years, I would like to highly recommend Seta Van Der Hoop. I have been
fortunate enough to work with some of the great directors in our industry such as Tim
Burton, M. Night Shyamalan, Lasse Hallstrom, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Ramin
Bahrani, John Madden and Jon Amiel among many other greats in our industry.
Besides my own casting projects, I have a special niche in the casting world in which I
cover Los Angeles for out of town and out of country casting directors. This niche
usually means I don’t get an assistant fee. However, I do need help so I turn to interns as
my support system though I find most of the interns are actors wanting a behind the
scenes peek rather than people genuinely interested in entering casting or production as a
profession.
How very fortunate was I when a top L.A agent recommended Seta to me.
In her, I found not an intern but an unpaid assistant as I have dubbed her. Seta is one who
is passionate about casting and with me really explored this field by trying to learn
everything she could while with me. I rarely have anyone else work as hard for me.
Seta immediately took on a big workload as we started a specific teen search together –
and it was wonderful to find myself free to be creative again as she took over most of the
tedious paperwork and kept it up to date on a daily basis. She was the keeper of the
master lists and they were fastidiously updated daily and through the weekends.
Uploading and posting auditions was new to her but she learned the system within
minutes and immediately was able to help me get the auditions to the directors and
producers with ease. She was the first person the actors saw when they came in to
audition and her vibrant and vivacious aura was commented on many times by the actors.
I like to create a very warm and secure environment for the actors and she was the
gatekeeper – and a perfect one at that. She made it all seem like fun.
Initiative might just be the most important quality for me in an assistant. I just want an
assistant to take charge and do their work so that I can be totally free to do mine. I am
amazed at how hard that can be to find. Seta possesses so much initiative. She

2. constantly attacked any problems that arose and she stuck with them until we solved
them. She always went above and beyond what was expected. She is the ultimate self-
starter yet she will always ask questions when there is doubt so I always feel very secure
knowing this. She was there for me 24 hours a day – often
I would email her in the late hours – she always got back to me.
Unfortunately I only had the gift of Seta for a short time since she was here as a student
and had to return to Canada. When she left, my workload immediately increased ten fold.
On a personal level, Seta is absolutely lovely. She has a strong positive presence that I
need in this business! I find her to be extremely poised even when she is pushed by the
craziness of those in Hollywood who feel the need to be so “Hollywood”. She has a great
sense of humor, which one definitely needs in this business. I loved having her around,
as did my other interns. She was a very special addition to the office. We long for her to
come back!
I highly recommend Seta Van Der Hoop to anyone who is interested in hiring her. She is
a gem and I feel like she would be an amazing asset to anyone and any casting or
production office in the world. I fully expect to see her name in the credits of many films
to come in the future. She has what it takes
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Deborah Maxwell Dion