The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast

8 Tips to Not Get Ripped off as an Actor Masterclass

So today, I'm going to be going back to the fabulous Melody Beattie in her wonderful book, The Language of Letting Go, and I'm going to be talking about setting your own course.

And it seems like the world is so turbulent.

I know it sounds like we're always saying that, but it does feel like the world is so turbulent. And I think when it is very important for us to keep the focus on ourselves and how we do that is by setting our own course. I'm going to read a little bit.

“We are powerless over other people's expectations of us. We cannot control what others want, what they expect, or what they want us to do and be. We can control how we respond to other people's expectations.”

Now, I did a podcast on when your buttons get pushed and if this is already starting to vibrate with you, resonate with you, I beg of you, listen to that podcast if you haven't already.

So again, we are powerless over others, other people's expectatio...

8 Tips to Not Get Ripped Off as an Actor and the Three Pillars to a Successful Acting Career

Let's start talking about those buttons being pushed, right?

And I want to talk especially about how to help yourself.

There's a little phrase that I love. It's one of my absolute favorites, which is “if you're hysterical, it's historical.”

I find that when my buttons get pushed, if I'm upset about whatever it is for longer than five minutes, it's not about that thing.

It's about something from my past.

The other really helpful thing to note about buttons, because it's generally family members who push your buttons, is that your family knows how to push your buttons because, hello, they installed them.

Your family knows how to push your buttons because they installed them.

So I want To help you so that when you have that moment, when your buttons get pushed, you can start to practice this particular formula.

Now I need to also say this, when my buttons get pushed, I find it's better...

Thursday, February 29th, Live NYC Seminar

Planting seeds for success.

I call this a Foundation skill, and this is a skill I believe that you can use not only for yourself but also for other friends who need support.

Who needs to be planting some seeds for success for themselves as well the idea is when you “plant a seed,” you are setting out an expectation that you can do it or that your friend can do it.

And more often than not, when you plant that seed of success, and you say, “Hey, you can do it. Hey, no, I can do this.” You actually do it. 

That's why it's so important and why this is such a brilliant and useful foundation skill. 

You can think of it as almost the germination of an affirmation. 

So in other words, you plant that seed starts to germinate, and as you feed it with positive affirmations, it begins to grow. 

Then, as you add those action steps that support those thoughts and, of course, that ultimate goal, that's when the success happens. 

When you plant a s...

Private Coaching

Today, I want to talk about self-love because it's Valentine's Day. 

And the thing about self-love that I have found in doing this work for almost 30 years is that self-love takes on a lot of different forms. Yes, it is ensuring that I bathe, brush my teeth, get adequate sleep, eat well, and exercise.

But it's also about taking care of the things I think and the things I do. 

A big thing that has come up for me, mainly in the past couple of years, is that self-love is about working for myself instead of working against myself. 

And how often I would be like, “I love myself, and I approve of myself,” I would say that wonderful affirmation, but then when a sticky or uncomfortable situation would come up, I'd be so eager to just give my power away.

Ah, giving your power away. Yeah, that is not self-love. 

And that is why the core work, which is that work on yourself, is so incredibly important. 

It's about learning that you are your own best advocate. That you ...

The Voiceover Actor Road Map

About Emma:

Emma O'Neill is a multi-award-winning voice actor specializing in radio and TV commercials, TV narration, TV promo, and corporate training videos. Outside the booth, she's a fitness and wellness enthusiast, and has been a certified yoga instructor for more than 25 years.

About Mike:

Mike Tobin is an accomplished, Montreal-born, award-nominated voice actor, MC, and event announcer who has made his ultra-fluent bilingualism the cornerstone of his brand for more than 20 years. He also loves technology and is an avid Mac enthusiast.

What it's like to be a voiceover actor in Canada.

And it can be very isolating and very lonely.

So when you have people that understand the business, they understand the hustle. They understand the self-doubt that can come with things during slow times, or, you know, I was talking to somebody yesterday, and it was, you know, why them and not me that you can get into these spins in your head.

And when you hav...

Private Coaching

Changing your career direction by asking Empowering Questions. 

I'm going to start with a quote from Anthony Robbins, “quality questions create a quality life.”  

Successful people ask better questions. And as a result, they get better answers.  

And this is how I work as a coach. I ask you quality questions so that you can create a quality career. 

Because I do believe that successful actors are asking better questions of themselves. And, as a result, are getting better roles.  

So, let's unpack this a bit.  

What are Empowering Questions?  

They are questions. We all know what a question is, but these are a little bit different. These are powerful. 

These are open-ended.  

Now, what that means is it's not a yes or a no.  

How do you feel about going to the store? Why do you want to go to the store? Those would be open ended questions.  

Also, Empowering Questions are clarity seeking. They are clarity seeking, so they're looking for clarity. The other t...

On-Camera Class

Costar Class

I'm going to talk about illusion and illusion in your acting career in two different ways. The first way is I'm going to talk about how we have the idea that an acting career will go one way, but actually, that's just an illusion, and that's just me trying to control the outcome. 

So when I'm doing that, it is an illusion. 

And I remember this actually in terms of money. I always thought if I made X amount of money a year, I would be free.

Oh, I'm going to be so happy. Oh, my life will be cupcakes and bubblegum. I will have no worries.

Only to find out when I made that amount of money and much more. You don't get cupcakes and bubblegum.

You get more decisions, and it becomes even more stressful. 

And really, the only thing money buys is convenience. And if you're not making much money right now, that might be difficult to hear. 

But money does not buy happiness. That was an illusion that I had. 

Another thing that I find as a coach in the indus...

New Voiceover Masterclass!

About Spencer: 

Spencer Robinson is a literary and talent manager at Art/Work Entertainment who's been in the industry for over 20 years. He represents writers, actors, producers, and also a full book publishing company.  Spencer’s writer clients have been on the writing staff of shows for Netflix, Amazon, Max, HBO, Comedy Central, and many more.  He’s also sold clients’ features to studios as well as brought in financing for independent projects.

Spencer’s actor clients have been in films with directors Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Gore Verbinski, Jeff Nichols, and more. In the TV world, his clients have been regular cast members on shows for Netflix, HBO MAX, Amazon, Disney+, HULU, The CW, NBC, FX, Starz, Nickelodeon, EPIX, and more. Spencer’s clients have also recurred on series for Peacock, Netflix, Freeform, TNT, AMC, Showtime and many more.

I'm a manager. 

I'm a talent and lit manager. So I manage actors, writers, pro...

What's Standing in the Way of Your Voiceover Career? Masterclass

About Mandy Fisher:

Mandy Fisher is a NYC-based full-time voiceover actor with over 15 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with brands like Crayola, Disney, Peloton, Coke, Walmart, and Kohls to name a few.

Her passion for voiceover and genuine love of helping people inspire her to work with actors of all stages of their career. 

With a theater background, she brings her training to guide copy analysis and character creation. As an industry vet of 15 years, she has witnessed the changes and understands the ebbs and flows of the business. 

Mandy created her own voiceover business from the ground up and has a successful and replicable model to help actors build their own successful businesses.

All of this adds up to a coach who can provide audition and career advice while helping actors become the best they can be!

I am a professional voiceover actor, and I've been in the industry for a little ove...

Managing Anxiety for the New Year.

Sometimes when I have something really large looming in front of me, like an entire year, I get anxious.

I think, “How am I going to do this? How am I going to handle this? This seems like too big of a thing to tackle.”

And there's that wonderful phrase that says, “Anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

And that's what I like to help actors with, not only helping you in the business, in the basics, because I have this theory that really the business is something that can be learned.

The problem is it's taught so poorly in so many places, and I have a tried true system that really works. And once you get on that system, it just chugs along in the background. It's like it works and it chugs along so that you can focus on the two other things that I think are the most important things, which is the ability to do your job, which is acting.

So to become a better actor. Possibly, more importantly, what we're talking a bit about today, wh...