Award-Winning Casting Director Valerie McCaffrey Expands Her Career Horizons With Web Series SICK

Following up on her critically praised short film "Dirty Bomb" which she wrote, produced and directed, veteran casting director VALERIE McCAFFREY wrapped production this week on web series pilot "Sick" where a diverse group of teenagers from different social backgrounds in a mental institution find they have more in common than it appears.

Described as "Breakfast Club meets Cuckoo's Nest", the pilot webisode features a cast of up-and-coming young talent including West Duchovny ("The X Files" and daughter of Tea Leoni and David Duchovny), Raven Bowens ("Mr. Student Body President") and Jordan Diambrini ("Murder in the Woods") alongside veteran performers Lee Purcell ("Valley Girl") and James Babson ("Hellboy").

Produced by McCaffrey, Xaque Gruber, Brian Kelly Jones, and Robert Kotecki, "Sick" is written by, Gruber, Kotecki and McCaffrey. Kotecki is a mental health care professional with the Veterans Administration. Cinematography is by Jacob Bojsza and the show is edited by Anthony Bozanich.

"There is a stigma in society toward taking a hard look at the very real problem of teenage mental illness," says McCaffrey. "And as recent tragic events liked Parkland have shown us, we ignore this at our own peril. In "Sick" we hope to bring awareness to the issue through the characters we've created and to be able to confront it head on."

McCaffrey first gained prominence in Hollywood as a casting agent with a gift for discovering new talent most notably Edward Norton and Eddie Furlong in New Line Cinema's AMERICAN HISTORY X (which earned Norton his first Academy Award nomination), and Ellen Page in HARD CANDY. McCaffrey held the position of Vice President of Feature Film Casting for New Line/Fine Line Films; during her tenure there, she cast scores of films, developing strong relationships with all major talent agencies and management firms. Among the many highlights of her career, she was justifiably proud of her casting for BABE which garnered James Cromwell an Oscar nomination for his performance as the farmer with a most amazing pig. More recently, McCaffrey developed various projects such as LOST AND FOUND IN ARMENIA with Jamie KENNEDY and Angela Sarafyan; a documentary CANCER, IT'S IN THE SYSTEM in which she co-directed and co-produced with Cindy Pruitt; and the award-winning film NEO NED, starring Gabrielle Union and Jeremy Renner.

Last October, McCaffrey was honored by the LA Femme International Film Festival with their Executive Achievement Award for her body of work as a casting director in Hollywood. Most recently she cast the film adaptation of Joshua Henkin's best-selling novel THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU starring Radha Mitchell, Chris Mulkey and James Tupper.