The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast
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,...
Episode 214: Self Care During Stressful Times
Do the next right thing.
The Language of Letting Go
"Rest when you're tired. Take a drink of cold water when you're thirsty. Call a friend when you're lonely. Ask the universe to help when you feel overwhelmed."
Yeah, I was in a very challenging, difficult place, along with millions of other people. But I'm here. I survived. I handled it. And out of that came self-esteem, more self-esteem that I'm capable of and will never, ever be given more than I can handle.
I will never be given more than I can handle, but I will be given more than I can control.
"Many of us have learned how to deprive and neglect ourselves. Many of us have learned to push ourselves hard when the problem is that we've already pushed too hard. Many of us are afraid the work won't get done if we rest when we're tired. The work will get done. It will be done better than work that emerges from tiredness of soul and spirit."
Refuel. With self-love, with good food, with tea.
Because...
Episode 212: New Years Goals
I always find December to be actually the hardest time of the year. I feel like there are more demands put on me in all areas of my life.
I will allow myself just to be where I'm at.
So if you feel like you're starting the new year exhausted. I just wanted to say I hear you. I'm kind of there myself, but it's all right.
Find the pockets of time when you can take care of yourself.
The Language of Letting Go:
"Make New Year's goals. Dig within and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part."
If you want to change your own life, you need to take responsibility for it.
"It is an affirmation that you're interested in fully living in the year to come."
Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious and subconscious level. Goals give our life direction.
What would you like to have happen in your life this year?
"What would you like to do?...
