The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast
Episode 207: The Power of Serving as an Actor
Marianne Williamson
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
My manifesto for my life is to inspire.
It is the one word that I feel describes what my purpose on this planet is to do. I wake up, and I show up for duty.
...
Episode 206: Family Buttons Around the Holidays
“I was 35 years old the first time I spoke up to my mother and refused to buy into her games and manipulation. I was terribly frightened and almost couldn't believe I was doing this. I found I didn't have to be mean. I didn't have to start an argument. But I could say what I wanted and needed to say to take care of myself. I learned I could love and honor myself and still care about my mother the way I wanted to, not the way she wanted me to.”
Take a step back and observe.
I tell myself, mouth shut.
If you are using your mind to govern your brain while you are with family over the holiday and you start to spot the stuff going on.
You can simply remain quiet and just observe it:
- Maybe go to the kitchen.
- Make yourself a cup of tea.
- Make yourself a cup of coffee.
- Go to the bathroom.
- Say, "You know what? My legs are a bit stiff. I'm going to go for a walk."
- Understand that you don't need to be trapped into it.
You can observe it and can...
Episode 205: Control vs. Trust as an Actor
Control versus trust.
“There was a time in my life when I felt so afraid of and overwhelmed by the very act of living. That I actually wanted to make out a schedule for each day of my life for the next five years. I wanted to include all the chores I had to do when I would do them, even when I would schedule relaxation. I wanted to get some order into what felt so incredibly overwhelming. I wanted to feel like I was in control.”
How many times have I woken up in the morning and just gone, "Oh my God, I don't know how I'm going to be able to face this day?" How many times have I woken up going, "How am I going to take a step forward?"
And the fact of the matter is, I can't control anything.
The only thing I can change is myself and my attitude.
And the whole thing I think about anxiety is that anxiety is about control.
Remember, we will never be given more than we can handle. But we will be given more than we can control.
“Controlling is a...
Episode 204: Have Some Fun as an Actor!
Have some fun.
How important that is, for your instrument as an actor, but also for you as a human being.
“So have some fun. Loosen up a bit, enjoy life. We do not have to be so somber and serious. We do not have to be so reflective, so critical, so bound up within ourselves and the rigid parameters others and often ourselves have placed around us.”
One of the things when I was starting out as a young actress, I would always be quite somber and serious.
It wasn't until doing this work that I allowed myself to be a little bit more silly because it was almost like I felt like it wasn't safe for me to have fun.
I think that I had this idea that I had to work, work, work, and I had to be miserable, and it had to be hard. And that's just not the way it is.
Because when we relax and we have fun, and we play, that's when we enjoy our lives the most, but also how we enjoy a scene or acting the most.
The best actors are so relaxed and in the moment.
“This...
Episode 203: Letting Go of Timing as an Actor
Letting go of timing
Be humble to the moment
“Time thou must untangle this, not I. It is too hard a knot for me untie.”
That nagging feeling of like, “why isn't it moving faster?”
That's what this is all about.
The Language of Letting Go
“When the time is right. How often have we heard those words from a friend? From the universe. From anyone. We sometimes want things so badly: that job, that check, a relationship, a possession. We want our life to change. So we wait sometimes patiently, sometimes anxiously wondering all the while, when will the future bring me what I long for? Will I be happy then? We tried to predict, circling dates on the calendar, asking questions. We forget that we don't hold the answers. The answers come from the universe. And if we really listen closely, we will hear them. When the time is right. When the time is right. Be happy now.”
And when it comes to being uncomfortable, meaning being in process, that...
Episode 202: Interview with Michael Kostroff
About Michael:
Michael Kostroff is an established TV and stage actor best known for his role as unscrupulous gang attorney Maury Levy on HBO's legendary series, The Wire. In addition to his many television gigs, he's toured with The Producers and Les Misérables, appeared on regional stages all across the country, served as an advice columnist for Backstage, created the popular workshop "Audition Psych 101" (which focuses on the psychological side of auditioning), and written four books, including his recently published manual, The Stage Actor's Handbook: Traditions, Protocols, and Etiquette for the Working and Aspiring Professional.
The gospel of low expectations. My philosophy is very different from the popular philosophies—no one's entitled to a career. If you decide this is what you want to do, then you're signing on for the unemployment, the insecurity, the inconsistency, and you don't get to...
Episode 201: Interview with Christin Baker
About Christin Baker:
Christin Baker (A Baker Production) is an award-winning director and Emmy-nominated producer. She has been playing with video producing and storytelling since she was 13 after her family got their first VHS camcorder. She started out directing music videos, and SNL parodies with the neighborhood kids and moved on to start her own digital distribution and production company, tellofilms.com.
She is the co-founder of Tello Films, which focuses on stories for the lesbian/queer community. Tello is the first lesbian/queer network to receive an Emmy Nomination. The series Secs & EXECS has received a 2017 Emmy Nomination for Mindy Sterling, Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy/Drama Series. In 2019 the series "Riley Parra" received 2 Emmy nominations for actresses Liz Vassey and Carolyn Ratteray.
Christin is passionate about telling relevant and meaningful stories. Christin was early in the streaming content creation and founded Tello Films in...
Episode 200: The Art of Self Approval
Being the Alpha Class for SAG-AFTRA
"Most of us want to be liked. We want other people to think of us as nice, friendly, kind, and loving. Most of us want the approval of others."
What I started to learn was that people not liking me was survivable.
That not everybody had to like Peter. Not everybody had to approve of Peter. But the number one person who did need to approve of Peter, who did need to like Peter. Who did need to love Peter was Peter.
"Since childhood, some of us have been trying to get approval, trying to get people to like us and think highly of us. We may be afraid people will leave us if they disapprove of our actions."
I survived. And not only did I survive, but I also thrived. Because I no longer was looking for that person's approval. I was looking for my own.
What was so scary about people leaving me was that I didn't know how to love myself. But guess what I learned? I learned. It's something that you can learn.
Please guide me. Please...
Episode 199: Gaining Perspective as an Actor
"Too often, we try to gain a clear perspective before it is time. That will make us crazy. We don't always know why things are happening the way they are. We don't always know how a particular relationship will work out. We don't always understand the source of our feelings why we've been led down a particular path. What is being worked out in us? What we are learning. Why do we need to recycle? Why we had to wait? Why we needed to go through a time of discipline, or why a door closed? How our present circumstances will work into the larger scheme of events is not always clear to us. And that is how it needs to be. Perspective will come in retrospect. We could strain for hours today for the meaning of something that may come in an instant next year. But let it go. We can let go of our need to figure things out. And we can let go of our need to feel in control. Now is time to be. To feel. To go through it. To allow things to happen. To learn. To...
Episode 198: Making Peace with Your Acting Past
The Language of Letting Go
"The more I cling to my past, the more I'm wasting my energy."
When you have a computer, and you have a program minimized, understand that that program is still using battery life on your computer.
"Not even God can change the past."
"Holding on to the past, either through guilt, longing, denial, or resentment, is a waste of valuable energy. Energy that can be used to transform today and tomorrow."
I want to transcend my past so that I have more energy to fulfill my day.
"I used to live in my past. I was either trying to change it or letting it control me. Usually both."
An audition where I didn't feel I did my best with the casting director, and then that casting director called me in again. What I used to do is then go, Oh, that casting director doesn't like me. So yeah, I will probably mess this one up as well.
Instead of going, Wow, that casting director called me back even after an audition where I didn't feel I...
