Filling the world of "Pitt" is a daunting task for playing directors Cathy Sandrich Gelfond and Erica Berger. The couple celebrated seven years of working together this month, with experience providing impressive ensembles for shows like "Mayor of Kingston" and "Love and Death." But HBO Max medical drama is its own beast. The show is located in the Pittsburgh Hospital ER and requires a large number of medical professionals and patients. Additionally, the show is set in real time, with 15 episodes covering 15 hours of workdays and you are looking for actors who have to appear in each scene, even if they aren't talking.

The two play 300 roles outside the background actors. "If you say a script word, it's us," Gelfond confirmed. "Even some people's conditions do not allow them to speak, but there are actions, so we impose them too," Berger added.

Gelfond compared it to the actors: "In dramas, people are on the stage even when they aren't necessarily speaking. So the idea is to form a drama company that can live in this world. This set of scenes is the actor's dream."

It's also a big benefit, and those responsible - creator, performer and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill, executive producer John Wells, executive producer and star Noah Wyle are all open to actors who aren't famous yet.

"The team is as excited as we want to fill it with new friends we've never met before," Berger said. "It's always exciting to do that. It's also exciting for us, too, because it means we're going to see a lot of people, maybe we don't even know it."

Some of these new faces include Shabana Azeez, who plays 20-year-old medical student Victoria Javadi, whose parents are also doctors at the hospital. "She lives in Australia and we have never seen her," said Galford. Similarly, they are not familiar with Supriya Ganesh, who portrays medical resident Dr. Samira Mohan. Berger said, “I didn’t know her until she walked in.”

Another major discovery: Patrick Ball plays Dr. Frank Langdon, the right-hand man of Wyle senior physician Michael "Robby" Robinavitch. The actor's only TV role before was the 2023 episode of "Law & Order".

Landon is one of the toughest roles, Galford said. Ball is the last actor.

"He's been away from Yale for a few years, but he's not doing much," she said. "That's the beauty of audition; that's why you do it. Because you don't know everyone. I never like to say 'discover' because they've been working hard all these years.

This also extends to actors they have met before, who are able to bring and play key roles. For Berger, one of the first people to think of was Fiona Dourif, who plays Dr. Cassie McKay, a single mother whose ankle bracelet has a mysterious ankle bracelet that hints at past legal conflicts.

“I’ve seen her in things and auditions over the years and she’s so unique and very talented,” Berger said. “I’m so excited to meet in person and hear them talking about the roles, like a kid with a problem in school, I’m so excited, she gets it.”

Wyle showed the active point during the audition process. "Noah has been in the room all the time, and almost all auditions are in the room, and he is so kind, wonderful and respectful to the actors," said Galford. "There are still a lot of chemistry readings. Katherine Lanasa plays nurse Dana Evans and shares a good rapport with Wyle, who lives in Atlanta, initially auditioned through an automatic videotape before zooming in with the team. "Noah was there, they were all talking, but never one-on-one reading. They encountered reading on the table and had an instant chemistry."

This is common for actors who oppose each other, such as Mackenzie Astin and Rebecca Tilney, who share emotional scenes as siblings get stuck in trouble with their dying father. "We are really our own people, and they usually meet for the first time," Berger said.

When Berger saw a patient, Minu, who could only say Nepali, she wasn't sure where to start. Then, they received a video from Arun Storrs from Nepal, “She’s great.”

One of the easiest scenes to talk to is a woman named Natalie, played by Enuka Okuma. The scene is so graphic and realistic that many viewers want to know if pregnant women are born before the camera.

"No, we didn't do that," Gelford said with a smile. "That might really bring us over the edge!"

Instead, the effects work through the profound and compelling performances of prosthetics, puppets and Okuma.

After seeing so many actors over the years, the two are simple in what they are looking for. “Honestly,” Galford said of those auditions. "You always see the truth."

When automatically tapping, they recommend not to hang too much about the technical aspects. "We need to be able to see you and hear you. The blank background is great, but that's not what it means. It's the part that's unique to this character and what you can bring." Berger agreed: "Excellent performances talk to yourself."

They also want the actors to remember that they will be remembered even if they don’t book a specific role. "A good audition is never wasted," said Galford. "Sometimes, six projects go down and we think of someone and bring them in. You don't forget about the really good projects."