The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast

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 possible for me?

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...

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...

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...

“Leave the good aside and focus on the GREAT”

About Bill

Bill Timoney has worked in the Arts & Entertainment industry for over four decades. As an actor, his extensive resume includes Broadway and regional theatre, films, prime time & day time TV, commercials, and voice-acting (he specializes in dubbing English language versions of foreign language movies, TV shows, and animated programs). Bill’s eclectic and wide-ranging work experience also includes producing independent films, writing (including a screenplay for the Nickelodeon Channel’s TV movie division), directing, stand-up comedy, brief stints working for both a casting director and a talent agency, advising film festivals, and even coordinating stunts for low-budget Horror flicks. For the last five years, Bill has operated a coaching service for actors and a script coverage & assessment service for producers and talent agencies (by recommendation only). He often works with his longtime...

The Truth is: The point of Power is in the present moment. 

Staying in the moment in acting is the same way in life and humanity.

1. You can handle this when your anxiety shows up.
2. Ask the question: What do I think I can not handle in this moment?

Anxiety is about not wanting to take responsibility in the moment, and not accepting the reality in the moment, and feeling a lack of control.

Once I ask myself what am I not accepting? What is it that I’m trying to control but can’t?

Then things have the space to shift.

 The fact of the matter is we are going to have these feelings and these situations are going to come up, so the only thing we are left with in a productive way is, “How can we best deal with it?”

3. “I will never be given more than I can handle, but I will be given more than I can control.”

4. What do I think I can not handle in this moment?

Live life on life’s terms.

3 Energy Levels

• Victim
• Anger
• Responsibility

The...

What to Get Your Reps for the Holidays

1- Post-Covid: Movie Tickets— Research a theater near their office/ home

2- Gift Certificate— Research what do they actually like (ie: Starbucks vs. Dunkin)

3- Charity— Ask which charity they support

4- Food Bank— Possibly to one in their hometown

The Crucial Follow Up List

Go through you contacts

Type up writers/ directors/ producers/ agents/ managers/ CD’s

The Benefits of Postcards

• Holds
• Avails
• Callbacks
• Bookings

Separate commercial/ print list from theatrical list

Forward moving energy, put all your resources towards what will move you forward.

No E-Cards

About Roger:

If New York City is the voice-over capital of the world, then Roger Becker is the Mayor. “Hizzoner” has been working steadily in every aspect of the business for two decades. With a background in post production, Roger left that world in the 1990’s to direct talent at a prestigious NYC talent agency. Along with running their in-house studio, he worked in the Broadcast Promotions division to bolster his understanding of talent/producer relationships. In 2005, he returned to directing voice-over full time at a casting house in New York City, eventually accepting the position of vice-president of the company.  He has cast for major accounts in all arenas of the business, from commercial to film to narration to animation…and has taught children and adults about all facets of VO work.

Your audition Space must be comfortable. You’re going to spend all of your time in your booth setup.

Overview of 3 things to Up your VO Game:

1. Specs
2. ...