Photo by Deidhra Fahey Photography
Photo by Deidhra Fahey Photography
Deborah Maxwell dion
Deborah has been casting for the past 29 years and has a reputation for drawing out the best in actors young and old during her casting sessions. Having worked on over 125+ projects, Deborah is known for the quality of the projects she chooses. On Tim Burton’s Dumbo she was the US Casting Director and has had the honor of working on other Tim Burton classics such as Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Alice in Wonderland, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Other notable directors with whom she has had the honor to cover on the west coast include M. Night Shyamalan for whom she most recently worked on Trap to add to past projects such as Knock at the Cabin, Old, Servant, Glass, Split, The Visit, and more. She has also had the pleasure to work on the following Wes Anderson projects: Asteroid City, The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Moonrise Kingdom. Deborah covered Los Angeles on James Gray’s film Armageddon Time and was also honored to work closely with James on Ad Astra. Three of her favorite indie films which she cast, Liberal Arts, The Scent of Rain & Lightning, and Quest were all popular on the festival circuit garnering awards.
Hadley dion
Photo by Deidhra Fahey Photography
Hadley has been working with Deborah since she was in second grade and would check actors in for auditions after school. As a teenager, Deborah brought her in to evaluate the youth intensives and Hadley helped her rebuild the structure of class with kids in mind. Since then, she has been working as Deborah’s class assistant and note taker. After graduating from Chapman with a BFA in Film Production, Hadley took on half of the teaching business. She handles the behind the scenes of class and has been called the “first AD” of the intensives, making sure all runs smoothly.
Outside of teaching, Hadley is an accomplished producer and writer. She dedicated five years to working as an audio editor and producer for The Mortified Podcast (produced in partnership with Radiotopia and PRX.) She also worked with the Mortified team to produce and sound design their educational show for pre-teens, Ooh You’re In Trouble.
Hadley co-created, co-wrote, and co-directed the ten-episode web series I Would Have Kissed You, which streamed on Twisted Mirror TV. The series won Best Dramedy Script at the British Web Awards in 2020, as well as the Best Humor award at the Top Indie Film Awards in the same year. The writing and performances in I Would Have Kissed You garnered additional nominations.
In 2023, Hadley and Deborah collaborated as a directing team for the first time, on their short film Visiting Birdie. The film is set to premiere at LA Shorts International Film Festival in late July 2024.