"I make lists of names. I'm constantly talking to agents to see who's available, who's not available, who's considering TV this year. Meeting with actors, looking at tapes. Always putting together ideas."

Hirschfeld and his staff of a dozen attend film festivals and comedy clubs, troll the Internet and even monitor podcasts.

They also draw on a long memory.

Hirschfeld tells of a child actress he cast in a pilot that didn't sell five or six years ago. He kept his eye on her career after that. Flash forward to early 2006, with the casting for "Heroes" under way.

"When they were trying to decide who the cheerleader should be, I literally picked up the phone and said to the producers, 'You got to meet Hayden Panettiere,' " he recalls.