The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast

About Robert:

Robert is currently starring as Weselton in Disney’s FROZEN. Other Broadway credits include: THE LION KING (Timon), THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (Durdles), ANYTHING GOES (Purser/Moonface), CHICAGO (Amos), THE LITTLE MERMAID (Chef Louis), CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, and JACKIE MASON’S LAUGHING ROOM ONLY.  He was co-author and star of the hit Off-Broadway musical CAGNEY which ran at the Westside Theatre, NYC for over 500 performances. For that role he won the Fred Astaire Award for Outstanding Male Dancer and was nominated for the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best Lead Actor in a Musical.  Last season he was a recurring guest star on the CBS series The Good Fight. Other guest-starring roles include Elementary (CBS), Law & Order (NBC), The Family (ABC), and Life on Mars (ABC). For his cabaret “Ain’t We Got Fun!” he won NYC’s prestigious Bistro Award for Outstanding Entertainer. His debut album Ain’t We Got Fun! was released in 2012 on the LML music label.

The Three Pillars

1. The Core Work
2. The Quality of your acting Training
3. The Language of the Agents and the Casting Directors

Your Audition/ Meeting Notebook

Get a little notebook!

• Date
• What was the Audition/Meeting for?
• What was the Type of Audition? (OC, Industrial, Print)
• Who was the Casting Office? Specific Casting Director?
• What Material did you do? (Script, take a picture)
• What did you wear? Hair? Facial Hair? Make Up?
• Where was I emotionally?
• What did I do well?
• What is my intention for my next audition?
• Additional notes

Your follow up list

 About Scott:

For the past twenty-five years, Scott Freeman has taught at many of the nation's premiere actor training programs and is recognized as one of the leading acting teachers in the country. Mr. Freeman was a member of the founding faculty of The Actors Center in New York City, where he taught throughout the eleven years of its existence. 

In addition, he enjoyed a long association with The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco as a core faculty member of its MFA program and a member of its acting company. He also served as the founding Head of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program. He has also taught at Rutgers University, NYU, SUNY Purchase, The Atlantic Theatre Company, and The Stella Adler School of Acting.

As an actor, theatres he has worked at include The  American Conservatory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, New York Theatre Workshop, Mark Taper Forum, The Magic Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare, San Jose Repertory, Cincinnati P...

“How you do one thing, is how you do all things”

We want to start making the uncomfortable, comfortable.

The Three As

• Awareness
• Acceptance
• Action

Used as a tool to change so you can fulfill your life’s and career’s potentials.

Awareness: In order to change we must become aware of what needs to be changed

Acceptance: Once we are aware, we need to accept where we are at with it.

Action: You can’t take action without the first two.

Definitions:

An intention: the message you give yourself about what you are planning on doing. It is how much and what type of energy you have to put towards it.

Consciousness: You awareness of who you really are as opposed to the “you” that you believe you are or were taught that you are

3 Circles Intersecting that make up your Consciousness

1. Who you are—Your Awareness
2. What you do— The Acceptance
3. How you do it— The Action

How do you describe yourself?

How do you move beyond them?

Ask These Empowering Questions:

1. How do I limit mys...

About Amanda:

Amanda Quaid has over 15 years of experience teaching speech, dialects, and language skills to actors and other speakers from around the world. In addition to her coaching on plays, films, and television, she maintains a thriving private practice in New York City. She's been featured as a dialect expert on WNYC, and her book, American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers was released in 2020.

1. Oral Posture: Position your articulators are in for the Duration of the Accent

ie: A low jaw, pursed lips

2. Signature Sounds: The vowels, consonants, and intonation

Axis of Expressivity (Pitch variety)

How Amanda approaches American Accent Acquisition (as opposed to accent reduction)

3.  Find out what the Accent brings out in you

Techniques for rehearsals, performances, and auditions

The Importance of Breath

Inhale— The act of taking in the partner

Exhale— The act of giving a part of yourself

The Miller Method

The Power of Affirmations

Principle: Energy attracts like energy.

Gandhi, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

"Be the change you wish to see in your acting career."

We attract and create our world.

Focus on what can be.

We do this through affirmations and self-talk.

Create a healthy, productive, and friendly neighborhood in your actor brain.

Living an abundant life begins with believing in and focusing on an abundant world.

Assignment: Practice gratitude in your acting career.

Creating a gratitude list with at least 5 things on it

If we focus on lack, that's what grows.

Truth: the world is an abundant place and there are enough resources for all.

"Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners."

Truth exists regardless of belief or consensus.

• Truth vs. truth
• truth: ego’s truth
• Truth: Universal Truth

Empowering Question: Sit down, set a timer, focus on this question for 15 minutes.

If I did _______________, for my acting career, what would be poss...

About Frank:

Frank is a 30 year veteran of the music and post-production industry, which a long list of IMDB credits from TV networks, feature films, and animation companies like Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

He spends his days making commercials, cartoons, TV shows and more at Digital Arts in NYC. At night, he’s on a mission during Covid Times to get everyone up to speed so we can continue working together!

First thing: Get a coach, take the classes, learn the craft!

Common Biggest Mistake:

1. A home studio is not a USB mic, a laptop in the middle of your living room
2. Your mic isn’t connected
3. Think outside the box
4. Forgetting to turn phantom power on
5. Turn the Rolloff off
6. Mouth noise tricks
7. Stop ruining your sound by over processing it

Values: What Motivates you to Pursue your Goals in 2021?

They make you tick or drive you

Fear Based Values vs Conscious Based Values

Fear Based

• Take action to avoid
• Half Truths, I have to do this, I have to do that

Conscious Based

• Allow you to take positive actions
• Want or need to choose
• Comes out of wanting to fulfill that goal

Are you choosing from your passion or choosing from your fear?

Empowering questions to ask:

My objective: Help you to be more true to your conscious values

1. Think about a time in your acting career when things were really good. Ask yourself, “what value was being expressed or honored at that time?”
2. Think about a time in your acting career when you were really upset. Ask yourself, “what value was being challenged at that time?”

What is really important to you? Why are you doing this?

When do you compromise your values and why?

What stops you from doing your best?

What will it take to get you off your goal?

Let’s look at the things...

Two Types of Goals

Achievement Goals and Habit Goals

Achievement Goals- One Time Accomplishment

Habit Goals- Regular Ongoing Activity

• Requires maintaining a practice
• You want them to begin with action verbs
• Want to have a start date
• Frequency
• Time Trigger
• Streak Target

“Right Goals” and Action Plans: AIM

A-cceptable- What is the acceptable minimum?

I- Ideal- What is the acceptable maximum?

M- Middle. What is a reasonable stretch?

SMARTER Goals

Specific

• What is the first step you are going to take?
• Make it really simple!
• “Anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

Measurable

• Action-Oriented (ex: run 3 miles 2 times per week)
• Verbs!

Reasonable OR Risky

• How reasonable is it that what you’re say8ing you’re going to do, you’re actually going to do
• Out of our comfort zone

Time-Oriented

• By when exactly will you complete the first step of the goal

Exciting

• Compelling
• Does it ignite your imagination?
• What will you feel like when you fin...

About Heidi:

Social Media can be an AMAZING TOOL.

• Build Relationships
• Research
• A Virtual Stage for you to Perform

First thing actors need to know on social media?-- People are looking you up!

Social Media Profiles are a direct reflection of you and show you’re a team player.

5 Things You Absolutely Need to Know:

...