The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast
Episode 224: Is This Good Enough? The Self Tape Saga
We have a problem because we are looking outside of ourselves to get validation.
The only validation that counts is getting validation from the hardest person on the planet to get it from, which is ourselves.
What do you need?
And it's the same for our self-tapes, and it's the same for auditions.
I also need to say, from a casting point of view, from a casting director's point of view, if I see somebody posting something and asking if it is good enough on social media, I am immediately not interested.
Because what that tells me as a casting director is you don't think it's good enough and that you need to go and get validation somewhere else.
As a casting director, I am only interested in auditioning and only interested in booking actors who know that their work is good and doesn't don't need to put it out on social media.
You are good enough.
I always say that I am good enough is the one affirmation you can't say enough.
Our...
Episode 223: How to Set a Boundary
Setting Boundaries
"Boundaries. Sometimes life and people. And the business seemed to push and push. But because we are used to so much pain, we may tell ourselves that it doesn't hurt. Because we are so used to people controlling and manipulating us, we may tell ourselves that there is something wrong with us. There is nothing wrong with us. Life is pushing and hurting to actually get our attention. Sometimes the pain and the pushing are pointing toward a lesson. And the lesson may be that we've become too controlling, or maybe we're being pushed to own our own power and take care of ourselves. When this comes up, the issue is actually boundaries. If something or somebody is pushing you to your limits, that's exactly what's happening. You're being pushed to your limits. And a different way of thinking about it is we can actually be grateful for the lesson that's here to help us explore and help us to...
Episode 222: Realizing Your Full Potential
The longevity of the work.
You helped me to see how strong I could be and how secure and how confident, and how you have to teach people how to treat you.
And from that advice, I have continued to use it when negotiating clients and contracts and, you know, dating, you can't assume people are going to treat you right, and you have to stand up for yourself and ask for what you deserve.
You just gave me the right tools for me to realize that it was all in my control. I didn't have to be a victim of other people's bad actions or negativity holding me back.
You stand in your own way.
Let's say when you came to coaching, you were operating at 30%. Of where you were at, of where of what your potential was—30%. I helped you to see—the other 70%.
And on the good days, it's 100%. And on the bad days, it's 80 or 90%. But it's a heck of a lot more than the 30% that was being operated with.
Life and work are hard enough. Why...
Episode 221: When You Hear "We're Passing..."
Guide to Booking Commercial Voiceover
Introduction to Commercial Voiceovers
What to do when they “pass.”
Leslie Jones/ Chris Rock Story:
- “You’re not ready.”
- Basically what she said is, what the fuck does that mean?
- But, she kept following him. She kept, you know, making sure he saw her work, and then one day he basically got her an audition for SNL.
And sometimes a pass means just that by that one person.
That you're not ready. And sometimes it means, “Hey, I can't do anything for you. I would like to, but I can't do anything for you.”
I cannot tell you how many times I have said to an actor, “I don't have anything for you right now.” And I can tell that Actor believes I am lying, but I genuinely don't have anything for them at that moment.
The Language of Letting Go.
And I'm going to talk about the emotion of sadness.
“Ultimately...
Episode 220: Resisting Negativity
Today I'm going to talk about resisting negativity.
I want to talk about preserving in you a spark. No matter how many times you get beaten down. That is never extinguished.
The Language of Letting Go
“Some people are carriers of negativity. They are storehouses of pent-up anger and volatile emotions. Some remain trapped in the victim role and act in ways that further their victimization. And others are still caught in the cycle of addictive or compulsive behavior. Negative energy can have a powerful pull on us, especially if we are struggling to maintain positive energy and balance.”
HALT: stands for hungry, angry, lonely, and tired.
And when it becomes more difficult for me to resist negativity, is when I'm hungry and when I'm tired.
If I let my blood sugar get too low or I get too tired, resisting negativity from other people around me becomes more challenging.
But negative energy is a powerful pull on us when we are struggling to maintain positive energy...
Episode 219: Financial Fear of the Actor
The Language of Letting Go.
“I sat in the car looking at a sign on the door of the food shelf office. Closed until Friday. It was Wednesday. I had two hungry children and myself. I had no money. I laid my head on the steering wheel. I couldn't take it anymore. I had been so strong, so brave, so trusting for so long. I was a single parent with two children, recently divorced. I had worked so courageously at being grateful for what I had while setting financial goals and working at believing I deserved the best. I had put up with so much poverty, so much deprivation. Daily, I worked the 11 step. I worked so hard at praying for the knowledge of the universe's will for me and the power to carry me through. I believed I was doing what I needed to do in my life. I wasn't lollygagging. I was doing my best, working my hardest. And there just wasn't enough money. Life had been a struggle in many ways,...
Episode 218: Love Yourself
Guide to Booking Commercial VO Workshop
The Language of Letting Go
“Love yourself into health and a good life of your own. Love yourself into relationships that work for you and the other person. Love yourself into peace, happiness, joy, success, and contentment. Love yourself into all that you always wanted.”
I love the idea of loving myself into health.
And I think the first relationship that I always need to love myself into is, again, the one with me and also the one with the power that makes the sunshine.
A love affair with your higher, smarter self: the Universe.
Loving myself into peace means when I put my head on the pillow at night, it is to rest.
Not to worry. Not to fret.
I also love, love myself into happiness, which is allowing myself to be happy. Giving myself the space to be happy, to feel joy, to be successful, and not worry about whether the other shoe is going to drop.
And then this...
Episode 217: Money and the Actor
Today we're going to talk about money and we're going to talk about our emotional connection to money. And our faith and money, meaning faith that the money will come.
I am still working on my thought patterns around money.
The Language of Letting Go
“Sometimes there is not enough money to make ends meet, much less afford any luxuries. People may tell us we need to do a budget and we chuckle. The expenses we need to pay for survival surpass the income. We look at the situation, shake our heads and say, No way. Many of us have had to live through these situations. This is not the time to panic. This is not the time to despair.”
I used to be one of those people that would look at my finances and go, okay, well, I have I'm just going to make up numbers here, 1500 dollars in expenses and I have $1,000 to pay it with. What am I going to do?
And when people would talk to me about budgeting, I would burst into tears over money...
Episode 216: Interview with Working Actor Lev Gorn (The Americans, For All Man Kind)
About Lev:
Lev is a celebrated actor, photographer, fine artist, and award-winning filmmaker.
He is currently recurring on Apple TV's FOR ALL MANKIND, and Starz' RAISING KANAN. Lev's acting career covers over 50 films and TV series.
He is widely recognized for his role as Arkady Ivonovich on FX's EMMY WINNING THE AMERICANS, and as the character of Eton on the HBO series THE WIRE.
In film, he has worked with WOODY ALLEN, SUSAN SARANDON, ROBERT DENIRO, and many others. He is set to direct his first feature film in the Fall of 2023.
What really influenced my acting as I got older is when I began to realize that good acting is really bad acting.
So for me, what became really important is behavior. Truthful behavior in imaginary circumstances.
If you approach roles, if you approach parts, if you approach scenes as behavior. Then you're not taking a page and trying to justify what the writer wrote.
I'm not going to pretend to do...
Episode 215: Setting Our Own Course in Life & Career
"Setting our own course. We are powerless over other people's expectations of us. We cannot control what they want, what they expect, or what they want us to do or be."
Keep the focus on yourself.
What other people think of me is none of my business.
Taking care of myself pays enormous dividends.
Take care of yourself first, and the rest will follow.
Put on your bubble suit. When you go into difficult situations with people who push your buttons, probably because they install them, it's really helpful to know that you have a little space around you that nobody can penetrate.
"We can, however, control how we respond to other people's expectations."
We are not responsible for our first thought, but we are responsible for our second.
I encourage you to stop taking a step back and ask yourself, "is this healthy for me or unhealthy for me?" And then responding.
A response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it.
"During the course of any day,...
