The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast

Melody Beattie: The Language of Letting Go

"Many of us have someone in our life who challenges our ability to trust and care for ourselves.

When we hear that person’s voice or are in his or her presence, we may forget all we know about what is real, about how to own our power, about how to be direct, about what we know and believe to be true, about how important we are.

We give up our power to that person. The child in us gets hooked with a mixture of powerful feelings—love, fear, or anger. We may feel trapped, helpless, or so attracted that we can’t think straight. There may be a powerful tug-of-war going between feelings of anger and our need to be loved and accepted, or between our head and our heart.

We may be so enamored or intimidated that we revert to our belief that we can’t react or respond to this person any differently.

We get hooked.

We don’t have to stay under a spell.

We start by becoming aware of the people who hook us, and then...

About Anthony:

Anthony Arkin is an actor and filmmaker best known for his work on THE AMERICANS (FX), nominated for Best Ensemble Cast at the 2019 SAG Awards. His directorial debut (feature documentary STATE OF ROCK) premiered at the 2008 Santa Fe Film Festival where he won Best Editing. Since then Arkin has directed and/or edited dozens of films and series. His work has shown at Sundance, Berlin, NY Anthology Film Archive, Telluride, Fantasia, Frightfest and various other festivals around the world. His feature film, SENDER, will be out Fall of 2021.

The importance of remaining teachable.

Enjoying the day-to-day of it instead of fantasizing.

Enjoyment of getting up in the morning and doing new things.

Admit you have limitations and things to learn as an actor.

It is essential as an actor to create your own work.

When you have a job you come prepared for a performance.

The ability to keep your energy primed for long days on set is extraordinary. It’s about physical,...

Business Insider Article by Drake Baer

In Outliers, Gladwell wrote, “10,000 hours is the magic number of greatness.”

Gladwell also said, “The point is simply that natural ability requires a huge investment of time in order to be made manifest.”

So Good They So Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

“What makes ridiculously successful people so successful is that they are experts at practicing.”

Deliberate Practice:

• Goal/ Want
• Thought
• Action

Your goal needs to be supported by your wants and actions.

What are the things you are doing for your Acting Training, your Business Steps, and your Core Work?

Rigorously honest with yourself whether you can do more, or you need to stop?

Are you deliberately practicing your acting in your rehearsals?

Kevin Durant, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

“It’s hard to play well, but it’s easy to work hard.”

Consistence, persistence, and determination.

Do...

About Mark:

Mark Bennington is an American actor, photographer, drummer, and author. After graduating from Mike Nichols's New Actors Workshop in NYC, Mark worked in theater for 10 years, with such directors as Sir Trevor Nunn, Paul Sills, Charles Marowitz, and Diane Paulus. 

Mark also did the guest-star grind in LA before picking up the camera in 2004, which quickly morphed into him becoming one of the 'Top 10' headshot photographers in the country. He later added both advertising and documentary portraiture to his repertoire with his work being published in The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, UpWorthy, CNN, PDN, GQ India, Varity, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times and many more. Mark authored the acclaimed photography book Living the Dream: The Life of the 'Bollywood' Actor (HarperCollins) and in 2016 his photography project America 2.0 about Muslim youth in NYC received worldwide recognition and was exhibited at major galleries in Jerusalem, Rome, Tokyo, New...

COVID took energy out of us.

A lot of feelings are coming up.

How do we dig deep? How do we find the things to help us through this?

So you can continue to pursue your dream…

I go back to baby stepping.

How can I break this down?

When you feel exhausted, instead of getting dramatic, get really quiet, reach out to the energy that knows best, and say, “Please guide me in this day, I invite you into this day, and please help me to just take care of things one thing at a time.”

I go as slowly as I need to to take care of myself.

Things like:

• Drink enough water
• Eat
• Permission to reach out to invite the energy that knows best and invite it in

Stop and create space for something else to come in so that it’s not only your will, it's inviting another energy.

When we are exhausted and depleted, our past coping mechanisms come up from the past.

You may start to put yourself down, which is so unhelpful.

You want to have as much of yourself working for us instead of...

About Steve:

STEVE HARPER is a playwright, TV writer, producer, and actor who writes about the “invisible things” (like race, sexuality, politics and religion) that people don’t usually talk about. He currently serves as Co-Executive Producer for the CW series Stargirl. Steve has written for God Friended Me (CBS), Amazon Prime’s Tell Me Your Secrets, ABCs American Crime (created by John Ridley), and Covert Affairs (USA). His web series SEND ME, about time traveling black people, garnered a 2016 Emmy Nomination for series lead Tracie Thoms (Now on YouTube). Short films: Three People (#WhileWeBreathe creative protest online) – also director, Intelligence (Dances with Films), and Betty on the Bed (also director and actor). His Full-length plays include Black Lives / Blue Lives [co-written with...

Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome, or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”.

Letting Go of Shame by Patricia S Potter-Efron and Ronald Potter-Efron

“Shame is more than a feeling, it is a set of physical responses such as looking down or blushing combined with predictable actions such as hiding or withdrawing from others or having uncomfortable thoughts such as, “I am such a failure in life” or spiritual despair.

The definition of shame is a painful belief in one's basic defectiveness as a human being.”

We make choices based on our belief systems, our past, our values, and our collective consciousness.

We always choose what is the best possible choice at that moment. We are always doing our very best.

You are...

About Andy:

Specializing in voice-over, Andy Roth is one of New York’s busiest casting directors with a career that has spanned over two decades.  After several years as the in-house casting director for one of the country’s top commercial talent agencies, Cunningham Escott Slevin & Doherty (CESD), where he did the voice casting for over a thousand projects for animation, commercial, television, film, video games and more, he started his own company and has since been working with many of the biggest advertising agencies, casting houses and production companies in the world.  He has cast shows for such high profile companies as Discovery Kids and Netflix and worked on projects for known brands including, Spotify, Oculus, Target, Calvin Klein, Geico, Kraft, Coca Cola and many more. His handiwork can be seen on just about any network, cable channel, video game system, and all over the Internet.

As a voice director, he’s directed shows for major...

From the book: Wisdom by Andrew Zuckerman

“Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit a ball. 

It also taught me about delayed gratification. No matter how you look or how much money you have, you still have to learn your craft. You have to hit a lot of balls. You have to train.

There are disciplines of life that you learn from tennis or other sports. Another thing is that you learn to adapt. I have two sayings, champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.

When you’re playing a tennis match you can’t say stop I want to do another take or can I play that over. That’s the way sports are. They’re very real that way. They teach you lessons in life but the most important one is accepting responsibility. You have to make a decision, and live with the consequence, that’s what tennis...

Joel Steingold is known for his work on HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, HAWAII FIVE-0, and SHAMELESS.

You can see him in numerous other Films and TV shows both on camera and as a VoiceOver actor.

Catch him currently in THE CHI.

Be an asset to the environment that you’re working in.

What are you doing daily, weekly, monthly, to enhance your career?

"Work begets work."

Specialize in the slow game

Don’t worry about the money initially.