The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast
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...
Episode 197: Interview with Jeremy Redleaf
About Jeremy:
Jeremy Redleaf is an Emmy and Streamy award-winning artist and entrepreneur. He tells stories and creates experiences through his Brackets Creative shingle, including "Odd Jobs," the Streamy Winning web series, "3rd Street Blackout," a feature film (Available on Peacock), and the SYFY special "Who Won the Year?" He's the co-founder of Caveday, a global community built around having a healthier relationship to work. Follow him at @jeremyredleaf on all the platforms!
The ultimate multi-hyphenate.
"Every time I was waiting for the phone, he was going out to make something. And I started to get a little jealous of that because it can be disempowering to wait to hurry up and wait or just to wait."
How empowering it is to make your own films, to make your own work.
Successful working actors are very curious.
Curiosity sometimes just comes out of necessity.
"Well, as soon as I built some self-esteem, I encountered, you know, fiercer...
Episode 196: The Victim Trap
The victim trap.
Being a victim is just a way for me not to take responsibility for my life and when I am, quite frankly, scared.
The Language of Letting Go
"The victim trap. The belief that life has to be hard and difficult is the belief that makes us a martyr. We can change our negative beliefs about life and whether we have the power to stop our pain and take care of ourselves."
Assignment: Ask yourself
- Do I believe that life has to be hard and difficult?
- And then, if I believe life has to be hard and difficult, how do I operate out of that?
- What are the things, what are the thoughts that I think, what are the actions that I do that indicate that?
Because what we're trying to do here is to spot where we are a victim. So I'm immediately in this podcast episode just slamming you right into homework, giving you assignments on how to change so you can get out of this harmful thinking and belief pattern.
"We aren't helpless....
Episode 195: Letting Go of Chaos
Letting go of chaos.
Language of Letting Go, Melodie Beatty
What causes chaos? Well, what causes chaos is control.
"No good work comes from unrest."
And what I have learned about that is how true that is. Because if I don't rest, if I don't fuel up, I cannot be of service to other people around me.
Wake up in the morning and say "Good morning, universe. This is Peter, Pamela Rose, and I am showing up for duty." And I know that kind of sounds crazy, but it takes a lot of pressure off the day.
When I get overwhelmed, all I need to do is simply ask for help, ask for strength, ask for wisdom.
And what does that look like? I'll do it right now. "Give me strength. Please guide me. Show me, show me what it is you want me to do. Show me the things that you need me to do today so I can be of maximum service to other people on this planet."
"Unrest, fear, anger, or sadness may motivate us. These feelings are sometimes intended to compel action. But our best work...
Episode 194: Interview with ABBC Life Coach Molly Noerenberg
About Molly:
Molly Noerenberg is a life and embodiment coach for performing artists. As a coach, Molly helps people make transformational changes in the way they connect to themselves, their bodies, and their unique nervous systems so that they can bring their most authentic selves into the world. Working with Molly means you will have someone on your team with unwavering belief in what is possible for you. As a coach, Molly has an incredible passion for helping performers connect to their truest essence and finding ways to express themselves that make them feel truly alive.
A fellow performer and singer, Molly has spent her entire career supporting the hearts, minds, and lives of performers. Molly is a certified Life Coach from the Health Coach Institute(formerly Holistic MBA), received her Bachelor of the Arts in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University, her Masters of the Arts in Vocal Performance from New...
Episode 193: Surviving Slumps as an Actor
Making The Most Of Casting Director Workshops
Three-Week Commercial Workshop
Surviving Slumps
I'm talking about not only slumps in your career but also emotional slumps.
"A slump can go on for days. We feel sluggish, unfocused and sometimes overwhelmed with feelings we can't sort out. We may not understand what is going on with us. Even our attempts to practice recovery or core work behaviors may not appear to work. We still don't feel emotionally, mentally, and spiritually good as we would like."
"Don't play yesterday's rehearsal."
When you're feeling shitty, you're trying to understandably recreate the feelings you felt so great about yesterday.
But it's kind of like eating. You can't eat for yesterday, and you can't eat for tomorrow. You can't breathe for yesterday, and you can't breathe for tomorrow. The only day you can eat and breathe and drink for is today.
When I am in a slump or negative space, the best thing I...
