Family gatherings can be beautiful. They can also feel like emotional landmines, especially when you're an actor. One minute you're passing the mashed potatoes. The next you're answering a pointed question about your career from someone who hasn't watched a show since 1998.

In this week's episode of the Acting Business Bootcamp Podcast, I talk about how to stay calm, centered, and grounded as you navigate family dynamics. These tools help you protect your energy so you can enjoy the holiday instead of getting swept up in other people's anxieties.

The Question Doesn't Require a Monologue

A lot of actors feel pressured to explain themselves. To defend their choices. To prove they're on the right track.

But you don't owe anyone an emotional TED Talk over stuffing.

A simple, steady answer is enough.

"It's going well. Thank you."

That one sentence keeps you out of conversations you don't need to be in. You get to keep your peace. You get to protect your space.

If someone pushes, you can set a gentle boundary.
"I have a few things moving, I'll share when I'm ready."

Short. Clear. Done.

Their Anxiety Doesn't Belong to You

So often the loudest questions are really about someone else's fears. Their need for certainty. Their discomfort with ambiguity.

You don't have to take that on.

Let their energy stay with them. You return to your own center. Your own path. Your own truth.

Anchor Yourself Before You Walk In

A holiday gathering is like an unexpected audition. A little preparation goes a long way.

Take a few quiet minutes in the car before going inside. Ground your breath. Remember the work you've done. Remember what you're building. Even the smallest wins matter.

This simple pause strengthens you more than you think.

Use The Bathroom as Your Backstage

If you feel yourself getting wobbly, step away. Close the door. Breathe.

One minute is enough to reset your nervous system.

Here's an affirmation I love for holiday gatherings:

"I am my own authority. I love and approve of myself. Life is good."

Say it until your shoulders drop.

Movement Clears Emotional Static

Sometimes the easiest way to break emotional noise is to move your body.

A short walk around the block. A quick step outside. Offering to run to the store. Even a loop around the backyard.

Think of it as an intermission in the middle of the holiday play.

Grace Beats Defensiveness

If someone brings up the state of the industry or questions your path, gently redirect.

"Things are moving. I'm focused on the work. How are you doing?"

It shifts the spotlight off you. It softens the moment. It keeps the energy human.

Curiosity Transforms the Room

People want to be seen. When you become curious about them, the dynamic changes.

Ask how their year has been. Ask a follow-up. Then another.

When you listen deeply, conversations soften. Walls come down. You return to connection, not conflict.

A Final Reminder

Your career is not defined by anyone's holiday opinion. You get to be your own authority. You get to choose peace.

And if family stress gets loud this year, you're not alone.

Join the "Listening to Invisible Guidance" Class

If you've been feeling lost, stuck, or unsure of your next step, I created a one hour class called Listening to Invisible Guidance.

It teaches you how to notice the quiet nudges, how to ask for support, and how to actually hear the signs that are already showing up for you. You'll learn why doubt doesn't block guidance and why disruption can be a sign that you're being redirected, not punished.

It's simple. It's powerful. And it's only $20.

You can watch it as many times as you want.

👉 Get the class. It's one hour, twenty dollars, and it will help you find clarity.

If you need support this holiday season, send me a quiet message. I'm here.

Actors often wait for motivation. We hope a burst of inspiration will get us moving, keep us consistent, or push us to the next level. But real growth rarely starts with motivation. It starts with one small choice.

In this episode of the Acting Business Bootcamp Podcast, I talk about the simple cycle that has changed my life many times over. Choice. Habit. Love. It's a framework you can use in your acting career, your training, and your personal development to build strength and momentum in a way that actually lasts.

The Moment I Realized Something Needed to Change

A few years ago, I was sitting on my balcony, looking out at the marina, and I caught a glimpse of myself that didn't feel like me. It wasn't about weight or appearance. It was the feeling that I wasn't living up to my potential.

It was a quiet wake up call that led to one small choice.

The First Step Is Always Choice

A friend gave me a ten minute workout. The first time I tried it, I had to stop three times. It felt impossible. But I chose to do it again the next day. And the next. Choice doesn't feel glamorous. It's rarely comfortable. But it's the doorway to every breakthrough.

How Choice Becomes Habit

After weeks of choosing that workout, something shifted. It became a habit. I added more exercise. I felt stronger, even through perimenopause and menopause. Habit grows out of showing up, not out of feeling ready.

When Habit Turns Into Love

What once felt uncomfortable became something I enjoyed. That's the surprising part. Love is the result of consistency. Love grows from seeing your own progress.

Starting Over After a Setback

Recently I got very sick and couldn't exercise for almost three weeks. When I came back, I realized I had to start again at choice. Not habit. Not love. Choice. That reminder has been grounding. Setbacks simply restart the cycle.

How Actors Can Use Choice, Habit, Love

This structure applies to your acting technique, your mindset, your self tapes, and your business systems. Ask yourself the small but powerful question: What could I choose today that would help me reach my potential?

Get Your Acting Business Audit

You can take the 30 question Acting Business Audit. It shows you what's working in your acting business and what needs attention so you know where to focus next.

Want Help One on One?

If you want guidance or support, you can schedule a consultation. I'm here to help you strengthen your confidence, materials, and next steps.

This week's episode is all about documentary narration. Voiceover actor Paula Tiso joins me to share her journey from sketch comedy in Los Angeles to working steadily in promos, radio imaging, true crime, and documentary series.

We talk about training, the shift from "perky" reads to grounded storytelling, and what it really takes to support a story with your voice.

About Paula:

Paula Tiso is a veteran voiceover actor whose work spans documentary narration, true crime, television affiliates, video games, and more. She's voiced Smithsonian Channel documentaries, Oxygen and ID series like Living with a Serial Killer and The Devil Speaks, and brought characters to life in games including Final Fantasy X, No More Heroes, and Fallout 76.

Whether narrating history, guiding audiences through true crime, or connecting viewers to their local TV stations, Paula's voice combines warmth, authority, and authenticity.

 

From Comedy to Narration

Paula started out in sketch comedy and found her way into voiceover through commercial training. She explains how those early skills built the foundation for narration work across genres.

True Crime and Empathy

Narrating true crime requires neutrality and steadiness. At the same time, it calls for empathy when addressing victims and families. Paula shares how she prepares for heavy scripts and keeps her delivery both clear and compassionate.

Core Skills for Narrators

• Commercial training as a base for timing and clarity

• Adaptability when scripts change mid-session

• Authenticity in the read, not a "performance"

• Curiosity to keep learning and exploring new material

• Preparation that marks cues and supports clean delivery

Types of Documentary Narration

• Nature: slow pacing, voice supports the picture

• History: sometimes includes character inserts, with age shifts in voice

• In-show and lifestyle: friendly and helpful

• Promos and affiliates: concise and reliable

Building a Career

Paula describes narration as building a career vine by vine, one connection leading to the next. She emphasizes curiosity, preparation, and adaptability as the keys to staying relevant.

AI and the Future

Paula also discusses how AI is impacting voiceover, and the work organizations like NAVA are doing to protect performers through transparency and consent.

Episode Takeaways

• Let the voice support the picture

• Documentary reads today are grounded and authentic

• Empathy without bias is essential in true crime

• Preparation and adaptability make sessions run smoothly

• Careers grow step by step, connection by connection

Resources and Mentions

• National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) 

• Living with a Serial Killer on Peacock 

• Paula Tiso's narration shorts and blog 

Support the Podcast

If you're enjoying the Acting Business Boot Camp podcast, please leave us a 5-star review wherever you listen. We're close to reaching 100 reviews, and your support makes a real difference.

Stay Connected

Email: peter@actingbusinessbootcamp.com 
Coaching and classes: Acting Business Boot Camp

So today, we are going to talk about goals for the first quarter of 2024.

January through March 31st is the first quarter of the year.

We are setting 3 to 5 goals for the first quarter of 2024.

Now, the other thing is that if you do the full yearly goals, you could break that down a little bit, baby-stepping into that first quarter.

But what I want you to be thinking of is the first of the year through March 31st.

That's where I want your focus to be because it's a much more bite-sized piece to apply your goals to and your positive thoughts and actions towards.

I want to give you some questions to think about:

The first question is, with these goals that you have, where do you feel you are at in achieving them?

Talk about what you've done in the past and where that has brought you.

And then the next thing I want you to ask yourself is, looking at where you are at in achieving them and what you've done in the past, how has that made you feel?

What are your emotions around it?

If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you will change.

Now, the reason why I asked you where are you at in achieving them and how does that make you feel because if you did write something down, "I feel like I've let myself down, I feel like I just keep procrastinating, I feel like I'm such a loser…"

I want you right now to feel that pain. I want you to feel it.

I want you to get uncomfortable. I want you to recognize all of those things that you just said. Why? Not because I'm some masochist. No, but because I want to get you to change. If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you'll change.

And then I was hoping you could write this: Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

There's that wonderful phrase "Do something today that yourself in year from now will thank you for."

Use your mind to govern your brain.

Perfectionism leads to procrastination leads to paralysis.

Now, I have one more journal question for you:

How do you feel when you do not do what you said you were going to do?

When you have a thought, that thought leads to an emotion and then to an action. Which then goes back to reiterating that initial thought.

I want you now to make three columns.

I want you to put one of your goals in the first column.

So you're going to put down one of your goals.

And then, in the second column, I want you to write down some thoughts that support that goal.

So, if my goal is to be a working actor, the thought or thoughts that you would want to write in that second column are I am a successful working actor.

I go from success to success in my acting career.

I love myself, and I approve of myself.

So some good positive affirmations around that goal. Because your thoughts need to back up that goal.

What else needs to back up that goal? Your actions.

So, I want you to take a look at whatever that goal is, and I want you to think of one to three small actions that you can take towards that goal.

What's your goal?

What are the thoughts that support the goal?

What are the baby actions that you can take towards supporting that goal?

And that is the secret to success.

It's your thoughts, and your actions must back up what you want.

I want you to go back now and look at your goals, and I want you to put next to them, whether they are a habit goal or an achievement goal.

So let's say I want to take a vacation in 2024, a two-week vacation in 2024. You need to save up for that. That's an achievement goal.

But let's say you want to practice your voice five times a week for half an hour each one of those times. That is a habit goal.

So take a moment and review all the goals you have written down and write down if they are habits or achievement.

I want you to look at each one of your goals, and I want you to ask yourself, is it a goal that is actually achievable or attainable by the end of the quarter?

Or is it a quarter/year project?

It should make you just a little uncomfortable.

If you babystep your goals enough so that those baby steps are something that you eagerly put yourself forward to do that help you to move in that direction, that is something that is great.

Again, that is great because it builds self-esteem. It builds confidence.

Now, I want you to look at your goals and I want you to ask yourself questions about them.

What is my motive for making my first goal, second goal, third goal happen for me?

What will I get out of making it happen? What is my motive?

We do things because there is something in it for us. And it's okay to be selfish.

When you get to those times when you really do not feel like doing the action step for your goal, you can remind yourself what your motive is.

And that's when you can really start asking yourself. How bad do I want it?

I consider that question to be the secret ingredient.

I operate like this all the time because not every single day do I feel like doing things towards my goals.

But when I remind myself what my motive is, I remind myself how it's going to feel when I achieve it. Ooh, baby, that lights a fire under my ass.

Special Rate Life Coaching

This is one of my favorite episodes of the year. Why? Because I recap the entire year, and it's like a play-by-play of all the podcast episodes. 

So, over 52 episodes, you can get a quick little like burst of what it's about and write it down and say, "Oh, I wanna listen to episode 210." 

What's so incredible is that we have over 160 episodes for you to listen to all free content. And it's a great little way to celebrate the holidays by just marking down which ones you want to listen to while you do that dreaded holiday travel.  

Money Mastery for Actors

It's important to encourage yourself. 

What do you get your reps for the holidays, especially this year?

Because it is this year, the year of two strikes, after, let's see, a global pandemic, and a heck of a lot of other things going on in the world, I think we can be assured that it doesn't have to be some momentous gift.

So let's say you had a Killer year, maybe in theatrical at the beginning of the year, or you had a killer print year, or a killer modeling year, or a killer commercial or voiceover year, again Wahoo!

I want to hear about it because that sounds fabulous.

If you did, you can be more generous in what I'm going to suggest.

This year, I would go for a card.

A card that says something sincere in it about how much you appreciate them sticking by you or how much you appreciate their sense of humor or something genuine.

Now, that is if it is a very lean year for you.

If it's not been a lean year and you really want to do a little something, I go to my old standard of Amazon gift cards and Starbucks gift cards.

I know that's not that imaginative, but honestly, from the casting director's point of view, it's just a token.

If you want to take it one step further, then do a little investigating. When you were there, What were they eating? Was it Chipotle? Was it Sweetgreen? Was it McDonald's? Whatever it was, they have a little thing.

Maybe you know that they love VR games.

If they do, then get them a gift card that's appropriate for that.

If you know they love going to movies, get them a movie gift card to a movie theater near their work or their home.

You can be imaginative with this.

The other thing I recommend is A charity.

You can say, listen, in light of this being a crappy year for a lot of people, I wanted to give a little donation to a charity of your choice.

Ask them.

ASPCA and Women for Women International are the two charities of Acting Business Boot Camp. We give a portion of our proceeds every month to those two charities.

 Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS, that's always a great one for the industry.

The Actors Fund is another charity that's fantastic for the industry.

You can do stuff like that, too.

I always feel these things are better than alcohol or cookies because then they get to choose and they get to have something that's special for them.

And I also love those gifts where somebody gave it a little more thought.

Do some homework on this.

Think about it. What would your reps really like?

And honestly, if it's just a card with something nice, that's perfect.

Just take that moment. Stop and take that moment and think about what you most appreciate them.

Thank you for noticing me.

Thank you for seeing me, seeing my talent, and believing in me.

Radio Imaging Class with Mandy 

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!

The first thing is, what the hell is radio imaging?  

Radio imaging is when you are the voice of a radio station, not the DJ, but it's virtual branding for a radio station because they want people to when they turn on their dials to a specific radio station; they want that familiarity. 

They don't want it to be confusing. They want to have that brand recognition. And that is what is done through your voice.  

My next question is, how is one even hired for radio imaging? 

My first kind of foray into it was by accident. And I didn't realize I was doing radio imaging as I was doing it. I didn't realize that's what it was. I started this several years ago when I was a struggling voiceover actor trying to figure my stuff out.  

I was sending samples of my voice to different radio stations, like all over as many radio stations as I could look up and find on the internet. I would send them my voice and say, can I do anything for you on your radio station? 

Do you need anything? Is there anything I could do? And they would say, Oh yeah. And they would throw me a couple of lines, and that was radio imaging at the time; I had no idea that's what that was.  

But now you can still do that; by the way, you can still absolutely reach out to station managers and say, Hey, I like your radio station. 

I'm a big fan. I think I could fit in with your other radio imagers. 

So you can always absolutely reach out to a station manager, but I work with a specific manager, not an agent, a specific manager who handles my radio imaging career; that is definitely a way because he has all of these connections and has been in the business for a very long time. So, if you're really interested in forging a career in radio imaging, I would suggest trying to get a manager to do that because it's a close-knit group and tons of station managers know each other, and they've got this sort of radio world that they're in. 

It feels very different than other verticals of voiceover.  

So, if that's a passion, I would say try to get a radio imaging manager.  

So, let's actually talk about the difference between a manager for voiceovers and an agent for voiceovers.  

It's very similar to the theatrical world, where agents are in voiceover. You are almost expected to freelance with several agents in non-competing markets.  

I don't know of any full-time voice actors who only have one agent.  

And they're going to source auditions for you. They're going to help you in different verticals of voiceover, whichever kind of vertical you're interested in. 

A lot of people have a commercial voiceover agent. And if that agency doesn't have an interactive department, they'll find an agent who specializes in interactive or audiobooks or radio imaging or whatever, but a manager is someone who will really handle the career aspect of your voice-over world. 

So, very similar in theatrical where you have agents who source auditions for you and are less handholdy than, say, a manager who will craft some of the other things, help you with your pitches, help you with your demos, give you feedback, really be there to help you along your career. 

Interactive is all things animation, video games, toys and games, things outside of commercials, audiobooks, long-form, e-learning, or anything else. 

It is the umbrella of animation, video games, mobile, and that kind of world.  

First, is there anything you want to say more about radio imaging?  

Yeah, I would say, if you're interested in doing it, I wouldn't say it's necessarily hard to get into, but I would say if you don't have a lot of experience in voiceover, you should try to take like a promo class or a commercial class or improv class. 

Because you do need to provide a lot of variety, and usually it's short little lines that they're going to cut into what's happening on the air alongside the DJ and other people, other guests, whatever on the show and songs and what you're listening to.  

So they like to have a ton of variety. 

That variety is going to help you book with more stations because they don't want the plain, boring, or the overly kind of sticky sound that was of long ago and is no longer popular these days. 

But you wouldn't know if you didn't know that and taking classes like promo, commercial, and even radio imaging classes exist.  

Before you start pitching yourself in that area, try to get a bit more knowledge so that you are prepared and can start getting radio stations under your belt. 

I'm saying the same line over and over again, but it is in multiple different ways. 

So anything else regarding radio imaging besides the fact that we're going to have you now tell us about these VO gyms that you've been doing for acting business boot camp that people are just freaking loving that people can either attend and participate or they can audit. 

It's amazing for me. I love getting to work with actors. I love getting to, it's educational for me as well because I love seeing what people come up with because what I would do in copy is different than what someone else would do. So seeing that variety, getting that variety from everybody, is a gift to me. 

But it is so much fun. Working with actors who are just eager to work, being a part of an environment where it is safe and fun, supportive, hopefully, it's educational, and people are learning from me. It is a blast.

Auditing classes, I think, is so valuable, especially if you don't know the teacher. If you don't know them sometimes taking a class and working in a class with someone you don't know can be very intimidating. 

I understand how this person works and their sense of humor is how they are, and you can decide then, all right I feel comfortable working with them in the future, or maybe not. I got what I got from them, and I can move on. 

If you see an opportunity to audit, obviously, you should participate first, in my opinion, but if you don't know the teacher, it's a great vetting tool. It usually is for less than the actual price of the class.  

You're combining voiceover business skills and you're combining core work big. You're like one of my biggest fans on that one. So, can we talk about how amazing you are working with someone one on one building, teaching them how to build a six-figure voiceover career?

How do you do that?  

Building a six-figure voiceover business is not easy, and it's hard to sustain. And I've definitely had years where it hasn't been six figures. I've definitely had years where it has been that and plus and that's all great, but it's. 

For me to achieve that, it hasn't been about chasing the money, because if you're chasing the money, I think in any entertainment field, you're going to get burnt out. It's not a sustainable way. It's not a good way to look at your career from a holistic bird's eye point of view for the long term. 

Sure, money is achievable in the entertainment field, but if that's what you're doing, especially in voiceover, you'll get burnt out very quickly. You're probably going to get depressed very quickly, and all of the investments you've made to get to where you are right now will feel heavier and will make you feel heavier and it will be harder for you to climb out of that.  

So don't think about the money. Sometimes I get auditions that are like huge $50,000 for the job, $100,000 for the job. Of course, my heart quickens a little when I see jobs like that come through, but you have to treat every job the same way, the $250 jobs up to the $100,000 jobs, because it's not about getting the money.  

It is about being remembered by the casting directors and the people that you are working with. 

That's such a working actor mentality. 

It's about being remembered.

It is about making choices in your audition and having the opportunity to perform for somebody.

Anytime you have an opportunity to use your skills for somebody, you have this opportunity to showcase your abilities, that's a gift right there and giving that to them for them to remember you is that's your goal, baby.  

That is the goal, which is how you will build your business.  

Any other words of wisdom before we go, Mandy, that you would like to impart? 

Just know that voiceover is the long game. 

If you are in it for a career, look; if you're in it as a hobby, God bless. There's plenty of hobbyist work out there that you can go and pursue and not have. The mindset of it being part of your business.  

But if you're in it as a careerist, you need to think like a careerist. 

You need to treat it as a business, not just something fun to do but something sustaining you both creatively and financially as part of your career.  

Just remember, it's not about chasing that money. It's a long game, for sure.  

AI.  

AI has been around for a long time and has only recently reared its ugly head in the entertainment industry, specifically towards voiceover. 

I haven't read the agreement yet, so it's hard to comment on everything.  

But I do think I've had many a client this year, big clients. I have quote unquote lost them to AI and they said, "Sorry, we're no longer going to utilize your services. We're going to go the route of AI. And Thank you very much."

Months later, this was actually like at the beginning of the year. 

And then they came back to me around June or July. And they said, "Hey, are you still available? Because we really don't like it. It's not for us. We tried it. It sounds okay, but we prefer working with a human being, and we prefer working with you."

So I've lost them, quote-unquote, and they have come back. 

I think it's going to be a mixture. 

It's just going to be a new learning curve of how we will work alongside it, not against it. 

Free Month of Coaching

Heidi's YouTube Channel

About Heidi Dean:

Heidi Dean is known as the industry's top social media strategist for actors and the creator of Marketing4actors.com. She's a social media writer for Backstage Magazine and a frequent speaker at film festivals, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, conferences, podcasts and universities across the country. Her clients include Emmy Award-winners, Broadway stars, series regulars, directors, producers, casting directors, voice actors and audiobook narrators. Heidi turns social media rookies into ROCKSTARS!

How the heck did you get into doing social media with actors? 

The tweetable version is well, I really got my start in social media marketing and I was actually running social for my husband who is a Broadway and television actor and now audiobook narrator.

And a lot of the things we were doing for him and promoting his album and everything, just started taking off. And of course, working actors know working actors, and I started running social for other people, for actors, producers, and casting directors. 

What I started to realize is that I was not just running social media for them, I was acting like them, and the people interacting with me had no idea I was this person. They had no idea. So it was enlightening to me because I realized that actually, nobody was helping actors with their social media.

You had to be like an A-lister and have media training and social media training and really have someone running your social media to actually get that kind of education. 

And so that's when I started my blog, Marketing for Actors, now 2015. And really just talking about the mistakes I was seeing every day, as people interacted with me when they thought I was this producer, this casting director, or this big actor, and that's when the blog just took off because no one was helping. 

And there was a need that nobody was fulfilling unless you paid thousands of dollars every month to have someone run it for you. 

How important is it for actors to be on social media?

It's important for so many reasons, and I feel like the conversation gets stuck on followers all the time. 

I love that you're asking this because, like I said, I think this conversation of like, How important is it? Why is it important? 

It tends to get stuck on this conversation about followers and I think it's the wrong way to approach it and it's not even the most important reason to be on social media.

So let me give you a couple of reasons why I think it's important and hopefully, that's going to help reframe some things for your listeners. Yeah. 

First of all, it's like almost 2024. You may be listening to this in 2024 and social media is just part of the world. It's, and it's becoming part of your job, right?

Your next gig is probably going to have posting guidelines. They're gonna have some guidelines about when you can post, when not to post, what to post. There may even be posting requirements in your contract, which, just so you know, it's actually a powerful thing. If they require you to post, and you have any kind of audience, ask for more money.

This is powerful, okay? 

So you may have guidelines, you may have requirements. Your next job could have an Instagram takeover or they could ask you to go live or do live tweeting.

These are all just reality.

So it's becoming part of your job. 

It's also part of your first impression. We know this business has gone virtual and people are looking you up all the time. It's a business of referrals and also, people, they need to know who you are. 

So they're going straight to social, they're going to Google, and guess what pops up for a Google search for your name.

Your social media, your bio, you can read it right from a Google search. 

So if you're using social media, I want to make sure it looks professional because it is part of your first impression. 

Another reason I think it is so important is that it can help you get cast and this is not just about followers, but yes, whether you like it or not, having an actual, real live social media following can help you get cast. 

But I don't want to sit on that idea. I've witnessed it over and over again, social media helping actors get cast in so many other ways, from my students sharing a post with their special skills.

Or creating a post that has a certain location hashtags or special skills hashtags and people went online and they were looking for an actor with that skill and now they're auditioning.

It happens all the time or even now that we've been gifted vertical videos like TikTok and reels and Youtube shorts you have all been given a virtual stage to perform and yes actors are getting cast all the time because of it so you know It can help you get cast beyond the followers reason, right?

Honestly, I think the biggest reason, it helps you build relationships and your relationships are your career. 

I always say your network is your net worth as an actor and social media can help expand this network and you can actually put yourself in circles of the people you want to know.

But even more than that. It's the world's best tool for staying top of mind with the people you already know. 

And I really believe it's the people who already know you and your work, that's the fastest way to booking new work because they already know and trust you, right? 

For those four reasons alone I feel like social media is such a powerful thing for an actor.

If you're looking at it the right way. 

Because one thing I would say is, I can tell you everything I just told you. I could give you a hundred more reasons, but it's not going to matter if you don't switch your mindset toward social media.

I've worked with thousands and thousands of actors on their social media and I can basically group them into two categories with how they approach their social media.

We've got, actor A and actor B, they're both looking at the same pathway of stones, and actor A sees these social media stones as stumbling blocks, something they have to do.

Why do I have to be on social media? It's a waste of time. I just want to act, that's actor A. 

Now actor B sees the same path of stones as stepping stones for opportunity to, build their influence, to grow an audience for themselves, to meet more people in the business or as a virtual stage, for their talents, and you're never going to get good at something that you hate or you don't want to do. 

So if actor A, the actor that looks at social media as a stumbling block, looks familiar, I want you to switch that mindset and start seeing social media as a stepping stone because you're never going to get good at it if you don't want to do it.

You've got to make that switch. 

You're never going to get good at it if you don't want to do it. 

We all want to be actor B.

Learn how to love auditioning because you're going to be auditioning for the rest of your life in some way or form, even if you're being offered stuff, you're still going to be auditioning, when you meet a new up-and-coming director, when you have those new opportunities in your life.

Can you quickly talk about know, like, trust factor?

In terms of relationships, this is a business of you will get more jobs from people who already know and trust you than just random auditions, right?

It's a business of referrals. 

It's a business of who you know, and who knows you.

So the more people that can know and trust you know and trust your talents, know and trust your accountability and that you're consistent, you're going to show up and that you deliver in the room, the more opportunities you will have.

When I talk about relationships, I actually invite actors to first look at the people who already know them. Because, like I said, those are the people that know and trust them. If we can stay, the more they can stay in contact with them between that, the phone ringing, the email coming in for an audition, the more auditions they will get.

And that's what social media can do is it can, help you stay top of mind. It can help increase that know and trust factor. 

And the reality is that meeting new people online, it can create a relationship and also build that know and trust factor online. So it actually ends up being an audition, being an actual new connection as well.

Your network is your net worth.

How you stay in touch with people that you know in this business is going to change the trajectory of your career. 

Who do you know and how well are you staying in touch with these people? 

It will change your career. Your network is your net worth. 

What is a good social media following for an actor to aim for?

A following is not their goal. Like I actually when I work with my clients and students I would say, okay, let's figure out what your goal is.

Is it to share your talents? Is it to share your projects? Is it to build relationships? Is it to grow an audience? What is it? It might be a combination, but what are the main, what is your main goal? Because it doesn't have to be to grow a following at all. And that is completely fine.

What I want you to do is make sure you're growing your following with every job you book. 

So whether it's fans of that project or people, the casting directors, the producers, the associates, everybody, fellow actors, you're always building your following with every job you book because you're getting these little fans, whether it's the fans of the project or the fans that, are working with you on the project.

So I do want to put that out there first because, in terms of numbers, this is impossible to answer really, because if you talk to people in the industry there are smaller projects that, having a hundred thousand followers, even having 10,000 followers and the other person up for the job has no social media. 

That's a that's an advantage because you're a team player. 

You have more people you can share it with. 

But when we're talking like big blockbusters, we're talking millions of followers really turn, make it make a difference. And a lot of times it's just the tipping point.

At that point, both actors are right for the role. They both are funny and beautiful. They're both right. But one person has a larger audience. And a lot of times now, I really want people to hear this. We're in a different time in the past. This used to be an influencer. Now, you're getting [00:15:00] Juilliard trained.

Actors, you're getting NYU-trained actors. You're getting, conservatory-trained actors that are growing they're following. So it's not just, it's this person that's never had an acting class getting a job. It's actually trained actors that are taking control of their career and growing their following.

That's something I hear a lot too. It's people saying, oh, it shouldn't be about followers. I'm like these people are, they're taking control. And I do want everybody to hear this too. If you're becoming an actor in this career, it's hard to hear. This career has always been a popularity contest.

We have different metrics now with social media. So the job you got into in the first place, it's always been about putting butts in the seats, whether that's a movie theater or a theater, it's just the metrics are slightly different now, and we can complain about it, but that hasn't changed much.

The thing that has changed. Actor B. You can grow your audience. That's the thing that changed. And in the past, you couldn't control that. You can grow an audience now. 

And I wanna say again, I'm putting in a plug to be actor B, a stepping stone.

The biggest mistakes I see actors make, and I think it comes out of this idea of, they're so set on hearing about followers, is that they treat their follower count like a number instead of a person.

Stop seeing numbers, start seeing the people behind that number. You're not just growing a number, you're growing an audience, you're growing a community, and I encourage all my students, all my clients, to not call it a following, but to call it an audience. 

Number one, I don't know an actor out there who doesn't need an audience, performing for yourself, but you're growing an audience; these are actual people with actual struggles and hopes and dreams, just like every single one of you.

And I really want everyone tuning in, look at your follower count and I want you to think about it. If you have 400 to 500 followers, you filled a 747 airplane. If you have 3,500 followers, that's the audience at the Oscars. If you have 1,800 followers, you filled the Hollywood Bowl. 

That's a whole lot of real people. I want you to think of these as people, not just numbers, and take five minutes, hop into the comments of your post, and have a conversation with some of your audience. Or click over some of your followers accounts and show them some love on their post.

Make a connection. Because when you make this switch, everything changes for your social media. And you start approaching followers in a whole different way.

And you're trying to get more and more numbers when you're not even honoring the followers that you have. 

I'm going to share with you what I think is the biggest mistake that actors make in social media. "I'm having a really tough day today."

And they shoot that. Because what that makes me as a casting director go is, "Okay, that person's emotionally unstable."

That's rough to say, but I don't feel that's appropriate to share on social media. What I want to know is that the actor that I'm hiring, I need people who are emotionally stable, they are going to show up early, going to be prepared, they're not going to bring their shit into the room, and they're going to concentrate on what I consider the actor's most important thing to do, which is they're going to focus on the work and getting the job done.

Because honestly, once we get into a studio, once we get in on a set, the most important thing is the work. 

I also realized that I might be having a generational thing here go on, but keep in mind that a lot of people from my generation are in, are watching it, and are going, my husband and I, who I do a lot of casting with, he goes, "Oh my God, did you see so and so's post?"

And that's not reflecting well on that actor. 

Now, it's not that we don't have compassion. That person is having a bad day or, is going through a tough time and I'm not talking about I just put my animal down or my mom just died and sharing about that verbally.

I'm talking about, you're in the car, and you're just crying and sharing about whatever. I just find it, for me as a casting director, it does not reflect well on you. 

Now, mind you, if I need that person for a particular job, of course, I'm going to hire them. I think it comes from a couple of places.

I think some of them are doing it for views and I immediately know when they're doing it for views, which makes me not like, know, and trust them anymore. 

My trust in that the actor would be able to get onto a set the next day goes down.

I invite you to take the Insta out of your Instagram. 

As an actor, you're a public figure. So number one, if you are a parent of a child actor, take the insta out of your Instagram. You should never be shooting at the Magic Kingdom when you are there.

Take the insta out of your Instagram for safety, for spoilers. Too many projects have been spoiled because you shot something thinking you weren't giving anything away but your location did or something did.

When we take the insta out of Instagram, we're able to take that second and really ask, put together a good post and should we be posting this? 

And it directly relates to what you just talked about as well. If something just happened, I think it is a generational thing, some people just turn on the camera and go and, as your career goes, you need to take a pause.

And, either enjoy the moment or deal with a moment.

Really take the time to reflect on what you're going to say. It does not happen just because it happened right now doesn't mean you have to post about it right now. 

And I feel like when you take that little bit of time, it does make us create a different post, usually a better post, and tell a better story with what's happening.

Even if you're hopping on video, it's going to help you make a better video for watch time, which more people will see, if you just take a second to think about what you're saying. 

Stop, take a step back, observe. Is this healthy for me? Is this unhealthy for me? Respond. 

A response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it. 

And that's precisely what you're saying here. Just because it happened right now does not mean you have to post it right now.

What platform should actors be most active on in 2024.

It's hard for me just to give a blanket answer for everybody here because your social networks which you choose, should always be based on your goals, no matter if it's 2023, 2024, 2030, it always has to be on goals.

I want you to write down these questions. 

This is what I do with my students, my clients. 

These questions will help you decide if the platforms you're using are right for you and your goals. 

They're also really good to go through when there's a new platform that you're not sure if you should use. 

Yeah, grab your name on that platform, but these questions will help you decide if you should play there. 

So write these questions down. 

Number one, will this platform help me reach my career goals? 

Number two, does it help me with my networking?

Meaning do the industry pros I know and do the people I want to know spend any time there? 

And then number three, after you have learned the 101 of that platform, do you actually enjoy it? 

Use the networks that play to your strengths and talents. It's not the same for everyone. Like I said, you're never going to get good at something that you don't like to do.

Does it help you reach your career goals? 

Does it help you with your networking? 

And do you enjoy it? 

And there's a bonus question, too, so I guess it's really four: if you're in a show, do the fans of the project spend time there? 

And that's important because sometimes you like a certain platform, maybe you love Facebook, and you've been there forever, but the show you're on, all the fans are on X, or they're on Instagram, or maybe they're on TikTok.

Every job you do is an opportunity to gain a fan base. 

And if the fans are on a different platform, you should be spending time there. 

Now, I want to reframe this question a little bit instead of what platform for 2024. I want instead of what platforms I want to think about what features.

So many actors are afraid of vertical video: the vertical video thing, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts. Vertical video is the future, which is now; it was the future two years ago. 

I have been preaching this. I've been preaching TikTok for a while, but I've been preaching Instagram Reels since the day it came out; I think it was August 5th; I know this because I was camping for my daughter's birthday in 2020.

That's how long Instagram reels have been out, and I know some of you have never made one. 

Vertical video. 

It does not mean dancing on TikTok. It doesn't have to be lip-syncing, pointing at things, or doing trends. It could be you sharing your talents with the world, with a video that is just shot vertically.

Vertical video is the best way to get more views on your talents. Vertical video is not going away. Video is not going away. 

I want to challenge everyone listening today to lean into more video in 2024 and beyond.

Because it's so important, you're actors. We need to see you on video. It will change the game. Okay. So choose platforms based on your goals, but please lean into features that are going to help reach your goals and share your talents as well. 

And I know this is scary for people. It's so funny because actors they're on camera, but it's scary for actors.

A great resource for you. Totally free. 

My YouTube channel. I have a billion videos on Reels, TikTok, and all of those things. Plus, my recent videos how to be more confident in videos for social media. 

That's going to be a good first step for you to push past and start using features that are going to help you.

Free Masterclass

About Maribeth Fox:

Maribeth Fox has worked with Laura Rosenthal Casting for fifteen years and has had the privilege of working alongside major talents like Todd Haynes, Paolo Sorrentino, Oren Moverman, Joachim Trier, Ed Burns, Mindy Kaling, Anton Corbijn, and Lisa Cholodenko as well as up and coming feature directors, Guy Nattiv, Olivia Newman, & Paul Downs Colaizzo.

Favorite credits include Olive Kitteridge and Mildred Pierce both for HBO, Jay-Z's music video for Smile, Wonderstruck with Todd Haynes, A Quiet Place, Modern Love for Amazon and Liz Garbus' narrative feature debut, Lost Girls.

Two of her three films at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival broke sales records, Late Night and Brittany Runs A Marathon.

Most recent credits include Sharper for Apple TV, directed by Benjamin Caron, Bottoms, produced by Elizabeth Banks, Murder Mystery 2 with Happy Madison, and the upcoming A Different Man from Killer Films and A24.

How did you become a casting director?

I learned how to work with actors, what they need you to tell them, and what they don't need you to tell them about ego. And I just decided to spend five to seven minutes with actors instead of a career with them.

So I switched to casting, and I worked for CBS primetime casting for two and a half years, which was a really good learning experience, but corporate wasn't for me.

I wanted to do more film, and I wanted to be freelance so my eight-week job with Laura turned into 16 years.

How does a casting director get a film job?

So oftentimes, we are one of the first people hired and production companies hire us, producers that know us, that know what The material is that we're drawn to.

Sometimes we're hired by our directors who you hope to get repeat business if you've worked with them before.

The first thing we'll do is read a script to make sure we're creatively aligned and feel like we strategically know how to cast the job. And then we're offered one of two situations.

The first situation is. Attach names to this to green-light the rest of the financing. So we do that side, and then sometimes people come attached to a film, which is wonderful news.

And they're like, "We just want you to cast this movie if you like it. And this is who's doing it."

So we're normally found by producers and directors, and we're one of the first hires.

So, just a question I have: if you are asked to attach a name talent, and let's say it's one part, let's make this real simple, Sure.

How long does it generally take to cast a film, would you say, to attach that kind of name talent if it's a good script?

It's a long time.

It's a long time, so much so that Laura has received producorial credit on quite a few of her features because of the time, attention, and effort it takes to get those attachments in place.

You think about somebody, let's say you're offering something to somebody like Julianne Moore. It could take a month for her to read it. Not because she doesn't read quickly but she's got a lot going on. And somebody of that ilk, their whole team, has to read it.

She has to read it. Everybody has to have an opinion. They have to have a discussion about it. And so we try our best to set respectful boundaries with agents and managers to say, "We really need this to be read by this time."

But if a creative team is invested in a certain person, oftentimes, that deadline will stretch.

So you could be with one actor for a month or more.

We try to get them sometimes to line up like their top three for each part if we're doing more than one part so that if there is a pass, it's not an utterly crushing situation.

The producers knew that a writer strike was imminent, and I was a little shocked to hear what you said, that you stopped getting calls about six months before.

Can you talk about that and what that was like?

It's helpful to know just in terms of our similarity to what actors go through that a lot of our business is independent film and that really continued. That was not a problem. We were still getting calls. We were still getting pings for that, but in terms of the book of business that would streamers and network, which is a lot of people's businesses, they anticipated the strike.

And normally, we have no shortage of things to read, think about, sign on to, or not sign on to.

And I think all casting directors experienced a similar shut-off. That was very different than the strike in 2008 where we were out of work for a little while, but no big deal.

But yes, like the work has been. It's been different this time around.

How has it been different, do you feel?

So I think a lot of people feel, there's a lot of feelings this time around. Where, as there should be, right? I obviously heartily support the actors and what they're going through, and it's, it's time, right?

It's time to do this and ensure everybody gets what they're owed fairly. And also, I think there is, within the SAG interim agreement, there's some stuff where I think we all need to work together in community to understand what everybody does and what everybody is going through and maybe have a little bit of empathy and open conversation and understanding because right now, it has felt a little bit of an angrier time and I understand it.

Also, It's hard to think about what life will be like after the strike ends, and I don't know.

I think a backlog of projects stopped right before the strike or started to shoot, not believing the strike would fully happen. And those are the things that are going to start to go first. And those things are already crewed up.

So, from my perspective, could it be an influx of new work? Maybe. I sure hope so. But also, we have to think about all the stuff that got interim agreements is stuff that mostly was already staffed.

And so I wonder how much the huge influx, or if it's just going to be figuring out what's actually going to shoot now and what's going to be put to the side.

The great news is that I think you're right about the flood. And actors will feel it. And start to work and self-tape again. And hopefully, it'll get back to business as usual.

And I think what's very important for actors to understand is it's not only you who is on strike, it's everybody.

I'm so proud to stand with the actors that I love and support in my day to day.

And absolutely, we are with you a thousand percent. And also, it's real, right? Many people have turned to survival jobs that they haven't had since they were 22.

Everybody's done. Employment is out. And you live in an industry town, so every business is thoroughly affected by the lack of availability of income for people.

The actors are the ones who are fighting and are going to get the benefits but do remember when you get on the set, there were a bunch of other people who were fighting right along with you, who are not going to get necessarily, the benefits that you were fighting for.

They were supporting you, but the hairdressers aren't going to get any more pay, or hair stylists, the grips aren't going to get anything.

I think that AI is an existential crisis for actors, and I don't think that is something I cannot give up my voice and my likeness and have you pay me once and that be okay, so I do think it's a worthy fight and as you said, it's a definite fight.

I also think it's in the forefront of what humanity will be dealing with. Bartenders will be dealing with it, taxi drivers will be dealing with it, it just has come. Not here first, but here.

We don't do any background casting, and I don't know what that life is.

But I do think about that entire loss of an industry. That will go first, right? And it already has started to go. They take your picture; they can pump you in if they need an arena full of people. I've had many family and friends during this time try to like talk in a fun way about chat GPT and those types of services.

And they're like, have you played around with it? I'm like, no, I don't want to help it get smarter.

And I think it will have real ramifications, and it already is having ramifications for our industry. No, I'm not going to hang out on that service, but thank you so much for asking.

What do you want actors to know [00:18:00] about self-tapes?

So many things. The first thing is it's a grocery store sample. If you're at Costco, yep, that's exactly right. If you're at Costco and the old woman is serving you pizza, you're not going to steal the whole pizza. You're going to take your sample of a square.

We do not expect a fully baked moment for a self-tape. I think artists are artists, and folks are getting bored. And so there's a lot of Heavy wardrobe, heavy movement choice the ability and the time to make almost like a short film.

It's not the job.

A self-tape should look different than how you would behave if you're on a set with a DP.

I think the other thing that I've noticed that I've started to see as self-taping goes on and on, as a public service announcement for actors, is... You're getting too good at them, and I'm going to explain more.

I think actors are really great at self-taping now, and it can almost feel robotic at times. Because they've gotten so good at knowing and thinking about, their mentality has shifted from what I want to put forward as an artist that's unique to how can I get this job by thinking about what they might want.

And so then they know what pace to do. They know what tone it is. They've done their research and all of those brave, bold choices start to get ironed out and it's safe acting work.

It's still beautiful work, but it's safe because they're so good at it.

They know exactly what they might want instead of infusing their own artistic uniqueness in the mix.

And I think casting directors hear the plight of actors, and I think something great that's going to come out of the strike is, I think there's going to be more options offered.

So some actors love the self-tape process and bless, please, if that's how you feel comfortable, wonderful. I will still take time to adjust you via Zoom. If you need an adjustment, if I get your self-tape and there's something close to there, I will still take time for you on Zoom and say, hey, and we'll workshop it together.

But then there's, we really do hear actors that they want more of us again.

I do think that in-person chem reads and callbacks will start to come back.

In the meantime, I think casting directors are far more open to reopening Zoom rooms, to make sure that we're available in some tech-helpful live way so that we can make better connections with actors.

I still get lovely, vibrant self-tapes on everything that I do. But generally, I think, there's a mindset that I've been thinking a lot about that actors carry that is, I think trained into a lot of people that it's just a scarcity mindset.

And so you come out of school and you're told that your job is so hard. There are so many people competing. You're in constant competition. There's not a ton to go around. SAG releases their statistics that only 3 percent of actors are working. And it creates this mindset that can be helpfully hungry and eager.

And it can also really destroy the artistic spirit of what an artist has to offer.

I think within that scarcity mindset, the goal of this is how I feed my family. This is how I gain health insurance, pension, and welfare. And I can't make that brave, bold choice because we don't have a casting director anymore.

You don't have us in the room to be like, "Okay, let's just do that a little bit faster here. I know the director wants this. Let's just clip it up."

Or give you a simple redirect that could really change your performance.

Now, a lot of us are doing that. We are adjusting people who give great self-tapes.

Actors feel like I've got one shot at this. I'm sending it off into the void. It better be exactly what I think they want.

The one thing that I have always stood by is that it's one audition in a lifetime of auditions.

I am going to get the opportunity to audition again, and there is enough work for everyone.

What's important for me is what's going on in the work.

People ask me, "what do you look for in an actor?"

And I'm like I'm looking for the actor who shows up a bit early, not too early. Knows they are, knows themselves. They are good at their job and I'm also looking for someone who when the work starts, they're focused on the work and not what I think of their work.

Actors do have it tough in the sense that, it's the only art form where you have nothing to stand behind.

You're not painting a picture to show me. You're not singing a song, which is separate from your acting. You're not doing a dance, which is your body and your emotions. But it's just you; it's just your subjective raw emotion.

And I think what a lot of actors specifically, I love my New York actors in our market, they've all been to school. They're all crafty, great actors.

And I think that a lot of actors think, "Gosh, I must be doing something wrong."

And so much of film and television is just subjective look-based. If you're in an audition with me, you're probably a well-trained, good actor.

And so it's not about someone being such a better actor than you are. It's about the dinner party atmosphere we're trying to create. And somebody was a better fit. So we invited that person to the dinner party and not you this time. And that's hard.

You can be the most talented actor in the world.

You get the opportunity, but ultimately it does come down to who doesn't blink at the end.

And I also feel that it's the person who knows they are good at their job.

And what I want to give actors the perspective of is, you know what? Maybe you're doing everything right.

Maybe you're doing everything right. And you just need to keep doing that.

Because a lot of times, it's about what's being written. Are there roles for you right now that really fit your marketing package and your type?

Do you fit the world? With our eyeballs. And so that has nothing to do with your craft a lot of the time.

You do have to think about this as a business. And so you think about putting somebody on set, and when we get to cast somebody and it's their first job on a set like that's a great day.

There is like buoyancy and adaptability that we're looking for in people to be able in that callback setting to turn something on their head if needed, to be able to take direction quickly. And if they're not understanding what we mean or what the director means, ask a question. Nobody's going to think you're stupid.

Nobody's going to think you can't hear it well, or like that you don't agree.

It's okay.

We all have days when we're not that great at our jobs.

If I give an actor a direction that's not clear, I don't want them to yes to me and nod their head. I want them to ask me a question and follow it up. If you're not understanding, then the two takes are going to look exactly the same.

Read the directions out loud.

I think it's really important that when you get a breakdown and, they say, submit it this way and, specifically, do your slate at the end.

One of the things that I encourage the actors I work with is to really, read the directions out loud, then you know you've heard it, and highlight anything that's specific.

Speaking of breakdowns, I think. A lot of times, people's focus on the breakdown will be the small adjective-filled description that we write instead of knowing that if you've got the audition, the breakdown has already done its job, that part of your job has already been done, your agent or manager or you submitted yourself based on the breakdown.

I saw your headshot. I selected you. Now it's done.

So you briefly look at the breakdown and ensure you're in the realm, but actors often get old breakdowns. And it's not because we're lazy. It's because we don't want to resubmit a breakdown with a subtle change to hundreds of agents and managers.

So if an actor gets a breakdown and they're 55, the breakdown says 30 to 40, they freak out or they think their manager or agent isn't doing a good job.

It's you just got an old breakdown; you don't have to worry about that anymore.

Focus on the work.

Private Coaching

Today, I am going to talk about what is honestly sometimes a very painful thing to talk about, which is going home for the holidays. 

Because actually going home for the holidays for me is a joyous thing now. 

But when I was younger, it was harder. And it wasn't necessarily because of my parents, but it was things that triggered me, like the cold, like it being darker. And those kinds of things would bring up a lot of anxiety with me.

One of the things I will be talking about is triggers and how to take care of yourself around triggers. 

So, what do I mean by a trigger? 

A trigger for me is it gets darker earlier. 

If you listen to my podcast episode 102, you'll hear that when it started to get dark when I was a child, that's when my anxiety would kick up. 

Guess what happens now? It gets darker earlier. 

Now, I will be honest with you: it still reminds me every year, but I also have come so far that it doesn't bother me anymore.

But I'm not going to tell you that if I get emotionally ruffled, it's not going to get kicked up again, and that's what I want you to look out for this holiday season. 

Exercise:

Either on your phone, while you're listening to this or pen and paper, I want you to think of three to five things that could potentially trigger you this holiday season.

So for me, it's that it gets dark earlier. The other thing is that my family lives on the East Coast. And guess what? It's cold on the East Coast. It's freezing. That's why I live part of the year in Los Angeles because it's nice and toasty here. 

Those are things that immediately crop up for me.

My parents also live in the country. And for some reason, even though in L. A. I'm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of L.A., and I, for some reason, get very triggered by the cold and the night and being isolated. 

So those are the three things that trigger me. And I want to ask yourself what your things are. 

Is it a family member who says, "Oh, wow, that strike? Hey, are you even going to still have a career?" 

Whatever Uncle, whoever Aunt, your mom, your dad, that older brother.

I recently heard from a dear friend of mine that his older brother used to put him down a bit. And although time has passed, it's still a trigger. 

So, write down your three to five triggers. If you have more, that's fine. 

Then, what I want you to do is I want you to think of a contrary thought or an alternate thought that you can say to yourself if you start to get triggered. 

One of them, which is the ultimate Truth, is this too shall pass. 

Or reminding yourself, is there something soothing you can do for yourself? 

One of the things I like to do is have these special peppermints. My mom gave me them. They're Dutch peppermints. I like to have them in my pocket. It's just a little thing that comforts me. 

Also, sometimes, putting my hand on a particular area of my shoulder comforts me. 

So it's things that I can think of and things that I can do. 

You want to think of an alternate thought and an alternate action.

With an alternate thought, as I said, "This too shall pass," but also, a good thought would be, "It's going to be okay. I got you. It's going to be okay."

Reminding yourself that the Universe is on your side. 

One of the things that I do is light a candle that makes me feel safe because it reminds me of the presence of the Universe and that I'm not alone, that this too shall pass, that I'm going to be okay and that I love myself. 

I approve of myself and that I've got myself emotionally during that time.

The thing is, and Melody Beattie talks about it in Language of Letting Go, for some people, it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever you celebrate; it's that time of year. 

And for some people, it's like the worst trifecta in the world, which is Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, or Thanksgiving, winter holidays, and New Year's, and they're like, "Oh God, I just want to get through."

How can you take care of yourself this holiday season? 

One of the ways you can is to write down those potential triggers and create a plan. 

Create a plan of positive thoughts. Create a plan of positive actions that are going to help you. 

What are you going to do if you get triggered?

Are you bringing a pet with you? Is there a pet where you're going that you can go to? 

Is there a relative who you know you're safe with? 

What can you do to take care of yourself? 

Remember, you also have this podcast. There are so many core messages. In this podcast, I've done over a hundred of them.

Bring it with you. Bring me with you on your holidays. 

I'm more than happy to be your companion. 

Write to me if you get scared. I'm here. peter@actingbusinessbootcamp.com

The thing is, have your own back. Have a plan. If you need to, go a little late and leave a little early. 

And also remember, you can just listen.

That's one of the best things somebody told me about triggering situations. When you're in a triggering situation, start asking the person about how they're doing. What's going on in their life? You don't have to prove anything to anybody. 

Do you know what you need to do this holiday season?

You need to love yourself and take care of yourself. 

And how do you do that? Write down those potential pitfalls, those potential triggers, and then write out your thought plan and write out your action plan of how you are going to get yourself through. 

Because you know what? You can do it. You are capable.

You can manage this holiday season.

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The Power of Intention

An actor shared that they had turned down an opportunity because, ultimately, they felt that they didn't deserve it.

And, I think that is an incredibly painful place, especially when she realized afterward what had been done and why they had done it.

It brings up the question, how many times have I turned something down or walked away from a potential opportunity because I felt I didn't deserve it?

And that programming that we have in our, as I put it, motherboard, in our belief system is so deep within us because that is what we operate out of.

And yet, what I am trying to do in these weekly classes is to make you more conscious.

And what do I mean by more conscious?

What I mean is when you are conscious, you are operating out of what the Universe sees you as, who you truly are, as opposed to who you think you are or how you were taught to be.

So there's who you really are, how the Universe sees you in all of your glory, in all of your greatness, in all of your incredible wisdom, and then there's who you think you are, or how you were taught to behave or to act or to think. And most of the time, that is two very different things.

It's really about success and deserving success.

You deserve success.

And a wonderful affirmation that she talks about is every experience is a success.

Now, why is every experience a success? Because I learn something for it. I either gain something in terms of a win, or if I don't is an experience for me to learn.

"What does failure mean anyway?

Does it mean that something did not turn out the way you wanted it to or the way you were hoping? The law of experience is always perfect. We out-picture our inner thoughts and beliefs Perfectly. You must have left us out a step or had an inner belief that told you that you did not deserve or you felt unworthy."

What are you out-picturing, out-feeling, out-believing?

Are you thinking positively and with the Universe's thoughts behind you and the Universe's strengths and Truths with a capital T behind you, or are you operating out of "the motherboard" because somebody told you only deserved "X" amount of success?

Or you told yourself that because you are (fill in the blank), you only deserve Y.

Your beliefs can be changed from someone who feels they don't deserve to someone who very much knows it is their right to.

She says, "It is the same when I work with my computer..."

If there is a mistake, it is always me, which I find very frustrating. It means that something has not been done to comply with the laws of the computer. And what it ultimately means is that there is something for me to learn.

If you think of the Universe that same way, that is really powerful.

Because there are laws of the Universe.

My job is to get myself in line with them, but I can always ask for help in doing that.

I can invite the Universe into making this podcast, guiding me to think more positively, guiding me to get on my own side so that I feel I am deserving of that success.

And it takes attempts at this.

I never did this perfectly.

I have been doing this work for 28 years. And guess what? I've never done it perfectly, but I've always aimed in that direction.

When a plane is on autopilot, It's only on course 10 percent of the time. The 90 percent it's trying to find its course.

In my learning to be deserving of success, I've probably only been on course about 10 percent of the time, but ultimately, I have headed to a much more happy and successful life.

Thomas Jefferson said, "The only time we ever really fail is our last attempt at trying."

And the old saying that Louise Hay talks about here is, "If at first you don't succeed, try again."

And it's true. It doesn't mean to beat yourself up and try this old same way again.

It means to recognize your error and try another way until you learn to coordinate with the Universe.

Adjust yourself to the station of the Universe if you think of a radio dial. Tune myself in to the station of deserving as opposed to the beating up of not.

Which, again, is how I may have been programmed in my past.

Louise Hay says, "I think it is our natural birthright to go from success to success all our life. If we are not doing that, either we are not in tune with our innate capabilities,

because I so strongly believe. That we are smarter and more capable and greater and wiser than we think we are. That was today's lesson in the weekly coaching group.

And if we don't believe that is true for us, We're not going to even recognize our little successes along the way, which is so important.

I think another thing that I keep talking about in my weekly coaching group is this idea of being your own best friend, of having your own back.

And that's when good stuff happens, and also when not-so-great stuff happens, but having your own back in all areas throughout the day.

When we set standards that are much too high for where we are in this moment, standards we cannot possibly achieve right now, then we're going to always fail.

But I'm a big one about teaching people how to baby step. Because with each little success, we get something that we cannot buy, and that is self-esteem, and that is confidence.

Self-esteem and confidence are magnetic. They are magnetic. People are drawn to them.

When a little child is learning to walk or talk, we encourage and praise them for every little improvement they make. Why are we not doing that with our life today?

And the child will beam, and they will eagerly try to do better. Is this the way you encourage yourself when you are learning something new, or are you beating yourself up?

Are you working for yourself instead of against yourself in your quest for success?

In your quest for knowing that you deserve all the good and the abundance the Universe has to offer you.

Or do you make it harder to learn by telling yourself you're a failure, or you're stupid, or you're not good enough in some way?

And I love this because Louise Hay goes on to talk about actors and actresses.

"Many actors and actresses feel they must be performance perfect when they arrive at the first rehearsal. I remind them that the purpose of rehearsal is to learn. Rehearsal is a period of time to make mistakes, to try new ways, and to learn.

Only by practicing over and over do we learn the new and make it a natural part of us."

When you watch an accomplished professional in any field, you are looking at innumerable hours of practice.

And it's the same thing if you hear truth in my podcast. If stuff is resonating, understand I have spent countless hours, decades, almost three decades of my life devoted to practicing this, to practicing opening myself up to Consciousness.

The Consciousness that I am a part of the Universe and it is a part of me. I deserve all the good and the abundance the Universe has to offer me. I am deserving of success.

If you say that out loud if you write that down, see what other things follow up.

It's taken me a long time to say I deserve success.

And the answer that comes right after it is yes because it used to be, "No, you don't. Are you kidding me? You're such a loser."

That is the kind of stuff that used to come up. Everything that I coach in the weekly coaching group and in these podcasts, everything that I coach, I have guinea pigged on myself.

And I share it truly because if I can help you, if I can share with you one moment less of the agony that actress I spoke about at the beginning of this podcast felt when she realized she turned down something because she felt she didn't deserve it.

But you know what? She learned something from it.

She learned that she actually does.

So that when that next opportunity comes up, she'll say, "Yes, of course, I'd love to."

This is why we refuse to try things that are new.

Because, on some level, they scare us.

I encourage you to try new ways of thinking and new ways of acting that are in line with that belief that you deserve success.

Affirmations to think of are, "divine intelligence gives me all the ideas that I need."

"Everything I touch is a success."

There is enough success to go around for everyone. It's not that if Jane gets success, I won't. It's not that if Bob gets success, I won't. There is enough success out there for all of us.

You deserve success.

"I am a magnet for success."

"Golden opportunities are everywhere for me."

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Energy attracts like energy. 

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." Gandhi

Like attracts like, and we attract and create our world.

If I am not treating myself well, that is what I am giving out to the world, and I will end up attracting people who don't treat me very well. 

By focusing not on what was but on only what can be, we create the world we choose. And we do this through the practice of affirmations. 

So again, by not focusing on our past but focusing and putting our attention on the now and the future we wish to create, that is how we create a better life for ourselves. 

Now, I'm not going to lie to you. When I first heard this kind of stuff, I was like, "That's a bunch of voodoo, voodoo, gobbledygook." 

Until I was, honestly, sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I was desperate enough to change.

Until I was like, "I cannot stand my life as it is right now. I need to change things up." 

So, I started the practice of affirmations. I stopped putting my focus on my past and started putting my focus on now and the future I wanted to create. And here I am, decades later. And I have a life beyond my wildest dreams.

Everyone wants an abundant life. Living an abundant life begins with believing in and focusing on an abundant world. 

I just finished teaching a class on Money Mastery. And one of the things I talk about is how I used to believe that there was not enough money. But that's the biggest bunch of bullshit out there.

That's thinking out of my ego. That's thinking out of finite thinking. I need to be switching my thoughts, aligning them with universal thought, with infinite thinking. Which is there is always enough money. That's the way I think today. There's always enough money. If I don't have any at the moment, I will be making more.

There's always enough money because there's always more money out there. Why? Because it is an abundant and infinite Universe. 

We are practicing gratitude and a gratitude list. It is so important because whatever we put our attention on will expand. 

So if I am putting my attention on abundance and the abundant Universe, whether that's even in this moment there is an abundance of air around me, if that's the only thing I can put my thought on that I can grasp in my brain, fine, we start there.

It doesn't matter where you begin in this. It's that you begin. 

If we focus on lack, if we focus on failing relationships, if we focus on not finding work, if we focus on not having enough money, like I just explained, we start to live in those "realities." 

And I put the word realities in quotation marks.

And what am I doing by doing that? I'm putting a label on myself that I always have failing relationships, that I'm never able to find work, that I don't have enough money. And then that is the world I find myself living in. But I don't want to live there. 

I gave that up a long time ago. I want to live in an abundant life.

And I want to focus on an abundant Universe. Because it goes so much further than planet Earth, it's universal. The Universe is constantly expanding. 

And it wants us to expand. Why? Because we are a part of it. It is a part of us. 

Always remember the Truth is that the world is an abundant place with enough resources for all.

There's a fabulous affirmation for you. "The Universe is an abundant place, and there are enough resources for all." 

And now, I'm going to move into the concept of truth and talk about how truth exists past my ego belief.

I must understand the difference between Truth with a capital T, which is universal Truth, higher Truth, my intuitiveness, higher knowledge, and little t truth, which is ego's truth. 

Now, there's a wonderful acronym for ego, which is "easing God out." 

Now again, I consider this term God to be of your understanding. Someone once told me that God can be "good orderly direction." It can be nature. It can be the universe. It is up to you. You can think of it as higher intelligence. Or your higher intuitive self. It can be that. It's the part of you that knows what good, orderly direction is.

Capital T Truth is Universal Truth. It is plants, it is nature, it is the wind blowing. And I want to be in alignment with that Truth.

Because I don't want to be tuned into that ego truth.

Because of that, I'm only then relying on finite amounts of information and wisdom. I want to have access to all the wisdom. And that is Universal Truth, infinite wisdom. 

And here's the thing: if everyone in the world still believed that the world was flat, would it be flat just because we believed it to be?

Some things are the Truth, whether you believe them or not. Including there is enough. Including I am enough. The incredible thing is that successful people question everything. And they also do what they most don't want to do by noon. But successful people are curious people.

Do not believe anything, and most importantly, do not believe anything you think about yourself that is limiting you in any way. That is just a limiting Belief. 

Remember, we started this podcast talking about energy. Then we moved into Truth. Truth with a capital T. 

And now we're looking at our beliefs.

The definition of consciousness is who we really are as opposed to the you that you believe that you are or we're taught that you are. 

So again, we talked about energy. We talked about what kind of truth. Now, I am challenging you with what is your consciousness.

Are you operating out of your limited beliefs and thereby accessing little amounts of energy and little amounts of truth? 

Or are you truly conscious?

Understanding who you really are from the universe's point of view, that you are infinite. Your success, your money, your abundance, your happiness, your achievements are unlimited.

I'm going to end this with a journal question, and it's a challenging one, so I encourage you to take pen to paper. 

• If I did this, and then (fill in the blank), what would be possible for me?
• If I did (fill in the blank), what would be possible for me?

For me, it was if I solved the riddle of my anxiety, what would be possible for me? 

And if you go back to the second podcast, now we are 150 podcasts in, more than that, but if you go back to the second one, you'll hear my story about anxiety. 

It's even been in the journey of doing this podcast on a weekly basis that I've really started to see what the possibility is if I solved the riddle of my anxiety.

I'm now seeing what is possible. And it's infinite. And I wish the same for you.

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Work with Jason 

About Jason Figgis:

Jason Figgis is an award-winning IFTA-nominated film and TV director who has had feature work commissioned or acquired by major broadcasters that include Sky One, Sky Arts, Channel Four, Hulu, RTE, Apple+, iTunes, KSM, SVT, Cinedigm, Discovery Channel, Amazon Prime, and Lionsgate Studios. 

This work has been placed in territories that include 150 countries worldwide. 

Figgis' work includes the IFTA-nominated Discovery Channel documentary THE TWILIGHT HOUR, the Sky Arts documentary A MAVERICK IN LONDON (featuring Alan Rickman, Richard E. Grant, and Joanna Lumley), SIMON MARSDEN'S HAUNTED LIFE IN PICTURES (featuring John Hurt), High Fliers Films / Pinewood Studios release THE GHOST OF WINIFRED MEEKS (starring BIFA winner Lara Belmont) and LOVE? (written and presented by Samantha Beckinsale). 

Figgis directed the official music videos for the QUEEN OF ENGLAND'S PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS IN 2022. 

He also restored the classic German horror film NOSFERATU for the 100th anniversary. Figgis is in production on the authorized documentary looking at the life and work of actress Olivia Hussey called THE GIRL ON THE BALCONY and has just completed an authorized series of films looking at the life and career of prolific writer and philosopher Colin Wilson under the title COLIN WILSON: HIS LIFE AND WORK. 

Other feature documentary work on the slate include A MAN FOR ALL REASONS, which looks at the life and work of former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, the Manchester County Council sponsored feature documentary SHIRLEY BAKER: LIFE THROUGH A LENS which looks at the life of the celebrated Mancunian street photographer, DIE STRONG which looks at Fallacy of Barriers founder Lily Brasch and FATHER OF DRACULA which looks at the life and work of Dracula author, Bram Stoker. 

Figgis started his career in TV and film in animation for Murakami-Wolf on the celebrated cult TV series TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. He went on to work for Steven Spielberg at his London-based Amblimation Studios on the feature classic AN AMERICAN TAIL 2: FIEVEL GOES WEST and for legendary animator Richard Williams at his studio in Camden, London, on the cult classic THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, which starred Vincent Price and Kenneth Williams.

I started in communications and then decided that I wanted to be a filmmaker. As a boy, I'd always wanted to be a filmmaker; when the digital world opened up, and it became something feasible, I realized I could launch and start getting work done.

So I moved into the field of documentary because I've always liked reality over artifice. Even when I write screenplays, I put my mind into a real situation instead of creating something fantastical. So I'm much more interested in relationships, other than big spectacles.

In the film industry and writing, a lot of the things that happen, you don't plan for you. You have relationships with people that you feel simpatico with, and you start developing things.

So I worked a lot with a writer called Simon Golding, and he's a real facilitator. He puts people together who he feels will work together. 

I like to write because when I write, I have to get my mind into a character as a real flesh and blood person.

I always loved the idea of putting a camera on a real subject. And having people and letting it just unfold in an interview, for example, but the horror and the beauty, I always think the two of them can live quite well together and that a lot of the real horror in the world is what goes on behind closed doors and people's houses.

Obviously, I don't mean everybody; I mean, even in ordinary couples where you might have an explosive argument and for that brief moment, there might be fear between the couple that it could escalate into something terrible. Thankfully, it rarely ever does, but there still is that how you can go from a really happy moment to a very dark moment in the blink of an eye, if somebody says the wrong thing or something happens, or even if a vase is dropped on the ground and suddenly this explosive anger.

I just think that the light and the dark live very closely together, and to be able to show that on-screen and for people to see a beautiful couple, but then what they hear about, in the narrative or the narration, is the complete opposite to what they're looking at.

So you can have beauty and horror right there simultaneously on screen. 

The discipline of documentary filmmaking has helped you with scripted content. 

When you're interviewing a real person for a documentary, when they're talking about their own real-life experience, I find that if you're really concentrating on the person and what they're telling you, you get a much greater understanding of the human condition all over because you're forced to put your attention on a subject when you want to bring it to life.

For example, if you're directing narrative fiction, you're worried about all the different aspects. You're concerned about the lighting, camera setup, exterior, and any extraneous noise, and it's quite stressful. But if you're doing a documentary, it doesn't matter about the other stuff happening around you. If something annoys the person while you're doing an interview, it's part of the reality and that real moment.

What are the key questions to get the best response instead of just the standard questions? I like to get to know the person before I film. So then you get an idea of how you can relate to them on camera. Will they be able to trust you in a given circumstance?

I'm working on one at the moment. An amazing thing called Gladiator School with a guy who was a former prison inmate and who decided that when he was in prison, he was going to change his life. He's come out of prison, and he's now setting up a thing called gladiator school for kids on the street to get them away from crime, motivate them to do creative things, and follow their passion.

But again, when working with the young man involved, I had to be very careful about the kind of questions, I had already spoken to him beforehand. I said, "Look, what kind of things can I ask you? Is there anything triggering that will throw you right off the page?"

And he was like, "Ask me anything you want. Ask me anything you want. I'm here to be honest. I'm here to be truthful." 

So I did. So I asked him some searing questions about how he ended up in prison, what led him, what were those life choices, what were those experiences that moved on and rolled onto another experience that got him into a position where he ended up in drugs and prison.

But again, it's still essential that I get to know him first and have a few phone calls to build that between us so I can ask the right questions. 

If you're passionate about something and put your mind, thoughts, heart, and feelings into something, it's amazing how the Universe works on your side and allows those things to happen.

But what's really important is to be yourself, be genuine. 

Don't have somebody meet you and go, "There's an artifice there. I don't believe how he's dealing," because if you do that, they're not going to trust you. They're not going to work with you. One of my main things is I'm always myself. I never tried to be anything other than.

Just being yourself is highly important in anything you do because people know. 

How do you come up with your ideas? 

It could be anything. I could read a headline. I could see a little snippet in a book; it is a line that will lift off the page as an idea.

It could be a name; from that name, an entirely fleshed-out story could emerge just from the title, which has happened with several things. 

I'm open to being inspired by absolutely anything.

Once I come up with the story and know who the characters are, I will allow the characters to speak to each other. And a lot of the time, I've no idea the direction they're going in, and I just follow it. I speed write with it, so I don't think, if anyone saw my notes, they're illegible, and I do have very neat handwriting, but when I'm writing a script, I always write freehand in notebooks, like A5 notebooks.

I'm usually excited by the characters' direction and the elements of their life that emerge just through a conversation. 

What are the questions that you ask them to start getting, moving them in the right direction? 

Decide on a character they're comfortable with and then get to know the character and allow the character to speak to them.

But if you're going to write a one-woman or one-person show, don't miscast yourself in the role, right? Write something that's going to suit you. That the people are going to look at you and go, "I believe this immediately, I believe this."

What's the story you want to tell?

Now, take that story and put it into the mouth of a character you can inhabit in that 45 minutes or an hour and a half on stage and grab people's attention. 

The scripted content becomes a documentary because it's that real, or you know a character so well that it's not a character; it's a person.

It's taking what I've learned in making documentaries and bringing them into scripted, you know, narrative drama because if you listen and listen, the words will come to you. 

Now, just find this character in a particular situation and let them tell their story.

When I started writing, I never knew I could write screenplays. 

I realized that with honesty, you could write things that came across powerfully.

I believe that Characters exist in space, waiting for the right actor that they can choose to play them. 

Creating the backstory for your character, you arrive in a scene, but who were you before that?

Acting is reacting to your environment and the people you're in the scene with. 

People just need to get out of their own way.

Find the people who can see what you're trying to do.

Today's episode is called "Your Audition Superpower." We're talking about what really makes an audition competitive, not just good. Because in a crowded industry, good auditions disappear. Competitive ones get remembered.

Whether you're stepping into the booth, walking into the room, or recording a self-tape at home, these five elements can transform how casting directors see you.

Why "Audition Superpowers" Matter

Every actor has talent. What separates the hobbyists from the professionals is how you show up under pressure. Casting directors don't just want a great read. They want someone they can rely on, someone who takes risks, and someone who knows how to communicate humanity through their choices.

That's why these five aspects aren't just skills. They're your audition superpowers.

The 5 Audition Superpowers 1. Confidence

Not the fake-it-till-you-make-it kind. Real confidence is clarity and control, the ability to deliver without obsessing about what the casting director wants. It's trusting your instincts, playing with choices, and knowing every version is still you.

2. Preparedness

Prepared actors sound professional. Unprepared ones sound like hobbyists. From knowing your character's secrets and desires to understanding the platform you're working in, preparedness eliminates scrambling and allows you to deliver with authority.

3. Professionalism

The least glamorous but most powerful superpower. Label your files correctly. Follow directions exactly. Show up early and ready. Charm gets you in the room once. Professionalism is what builds long-term trust.

4. Boldness

Safe auditions are wallpaper. Bold choices make casting directors look up from their coffee and say, "Who is that?" Boldness isn't about volume. It's about commitment. Commit to your weird, specific humanity. That's what makes you unforgettable.

5. Range

Range isn't about pitch or speed. It's emotional truth and control, the ability to flip from playful to grounded, warm to terrifying, sweet to cruel, without losing authenticity. Range shows casting directors you can carry an entire character's humanity in your voice.

Putting Your Superpowers to Work

Confidence. Preparedness. Professionalism. Boldness. Range. Together, they make you unstoppable.

It's not about perfection. It's about being consistent, being human, and being willing to risk a little weirdness. Some of the strangest choices I've made in auditions are the ones casting directors still remember.

So ask yourself: which of these audition superpowers do you need to level up right now?

Stay Connected

• TikTok: @AstoriaRedhead 

• Substack: The Actors Index 

• Email: mandy@actingbusinessbootcamp.com 

• Coaching & Classes: Acting Business Boot Camp

About Joshua Lastine:

Joshua Lastine, Esq., Entertainment Business and Transactional Attorney is the Founder and Managing Partner at Lastine Entertainment Law. 

A strategic negotiator, fierce advocate for talent, and a practical problem solver, Lastine strengthens his counsel with an ineffable passion for show business, its players, and creators. 

As a former Lionsgate and ViacomCBS attorney, Joshua Lastine launched Lastine Entertainment Law in 2021, formally Lastine Impressions, to protect the artistry and livelihood of actors, production companies, writers, producers, directors, animators, social media influencers, and podcasters. 

In his representations on behalf of entertainment talent clientele, including rights acquisitions, development/production deals, branding/commercial advertising deals, talent deals, and other contracts for new media, social media, and the Internet 3.0, Joshua Lastine has an intrinsic aptitude for structuring deals and closing contracts that are shaping the future of the entertainment industry. 

In addition to his legal negotiations, Lastine also serves as an adjunct lecturer on entertainment business law at The Los Angeles Film School, further impelling the future of the entertainment space and its novices. Joshua's production legal and talent transactions have spanned a wide breadth of media and projects from $100M+ Netflix series to $30K YouTube branding, endorsement, and commercial deals. To learn more visit, lastineentertainmentlaw.com. Follow on LinkedIn and Instagram.

 

Let's talk about protecting ourselves and how the law can help us to do that. 

User generated content creators.

It's anyone really nowadays with the creative backbone. I think that's one of the great things about technology and where we are.

There's a lot of downsides and we can talk about that in a bit, but one of the great things about technology and where it's at today is that it really. Democratizes the creative endeavors. I'm a lawyer and I can now start to exercise my creative fingers in a way that I never could before because of the apps and because of the different technologies and algorithms.

I think we've all become more savvy in how we figured out to, to express ourselves and create art. I think it's unfortunate now that art and entertainment is being referred to as content, but that's still really what it is.

Whether you're creating content for YouTube, you're creating content for TikTok, you're creating content for Instagram or you're creating products and services that blend the line. 

User generated content refers to anyone with a creative backbone that wants to make something cool. And then try to maybe find a way to, to monetize, exploit, and expand on that idea.

For every television show, there's a head of business and legal affairs, a head of production legal that supervises the day to day happenings of the show, whether it's the contracts for all of the actors showing up on set that day, getting the transportation in place, craft services.

The visual effects deals, transportation of large scale assets, planes, trains, automobile pieces all the way through the final credit roll, watching the final credits and making sure that all the credits align with the deals that I had negotiated through the season. 

Doing that on a season by season basis for those shows, building a rapport and in a relationship with the shows themselves to make sure that we're getting what they need done to make the show because at that time, shows like Transparent, Man in the High Castle, I Love Dick which came on a little bit later.

These were first of their kind in 2016, 2017 in terms of Amazon shows. They did a lot to push the envelope in terms of what we could do on TV. I was party to many a nudity writer negotiation with many stars, where we did, nude simulated sex orgies. And we did things like hang swastikas in Canadian subway rails to film scenes for Man in the High Castle.

And it's my job as the attorney was to liaise with the line producer, the unit production manager, the guys on the ground to get all of the deals done, to make sure that filming stayed on schedule and that the company is protected and that, most importantly, in my opinion, that the people on set are protected. 

We do a lot with stunts, we do a lot with practical effects, prop guns swinging from buildings, insurance, putting people in helicopters. I'm also part of those discussions to make sure that those people are protected. So it's a lot that goes into overseeing a television show or a feature film through the production side. That's part of what I do at my law firm. 

The other side is the more traditional talent representation, representing actors, writers, directors to negotiate their contracts.

Why does an actor need a manager, an agent, and a lawyer? 

We love our agent manager friends to death and we work very closely with them, but oftentimes there's a lot that gets left off the table.

I myself, when I work as representing the studio or the production company, I'm the one negotiating against the actors, agents and managers. And I can see those deals. And I can tell you with experience that an actor may get 40, 50, 60 percent of the deal on the table with an agent or manager, but as soon as they bring in a lawyer and it's the three of them working in tandem, they're getting just about everything on the table.

But really, also the devils in the details with regards to the contract especially nowadays studios are taking a wider position in what they can do with an artist's name, voice, and likeness, what they can do with their image. And how it can be exploited.

And, I think even actors at a certain level, even series regular, reoccurring guest stars, special guest stars, people with speaking lines and stuff like that, they can ask for reasonable restrictions on how their name, voice, and likeness is used. And obviously that builds your precedent up as you move on in your career.

Obviously, the bigger you are in your career, if you're Margot Robbie or Anya Taylor Joy, it's a big fight to be had but there are small things that an attorney can ask for that just can up your game and make you seem a little bit more sophisticated and increase your precedent for your next gig.

I think when you start making some serious money and you start making a serious living off of being an actor, it would be wise to reach out and start building a relationship.

What we should be doing in this industry as seed planting, right? Every single job interview that I go on, in business and legal affairs with a studio, every time I have lunch with an agent, manager, attorney, an actor I'm planting a micro seed that someday we will potentially probably work together again.

You never know where these relationships are gonna lead and gonna go.

If, and let's say you take on an actor, what does that look like? Is there a retainer? How does the actor lawyer relationship begin?

So typically for my actors, we engage on a standard 5 percent deal, meaning I'll take a 5 percent gross commission for the contracts that I negotiate and work on myself. There's no form of exclusivity the way that there might be with an agent or manager. You don't have to keep coming back to me.

Although the better the relationship, the better I understand and know your needs, the better it is for me to be able to communicate and advocate on your behalf. 

I'll give you a good example. One of the actresses I represent has asthma, and that's something that I didn't quite know. But she was on a film set and there was heavy smokers around and I found out way later, way after the fact.

And, that is an easy phone call or an easy conversation that a lawyer can make that maybe an agent or manager might not want to make or, oftentimes we get put in the uncomfortable position of being the bad guy. 

If you are getting deals, you're getting engagements, you're getting work, that's just an easy 5 percent deal.

If you are wanting more help developing your behind the camera services, you want to be a writer, you want to be a director, you want to be a content creator in your own right. We will usually charge an hourly rate or a flat rate for something like that. 

Once you become part of the law firm family, we have lots of dinner parties and receptions and meetups between clients. So plug into the lasting entertainment law rolodex and really just build that community, build that relationship. 

A lot of, being an actor [00:13:00] is really the dedication to your craft and learning how to grow and show up to that position. I think a lot of people want to be actors, maybe not for the right reasons. You got to be truly talented in your own right.

But the actors that I do represent, the actors that are on my roster, I will try to, recommend or suggest them or help them take general meetings with my current existing clients, or if there's somebody that they want to build a relationship, they feel very strongly and I already have that preexisting relationship.

Maybe it's something we can work on together, but not as a general. 

When do you know you need a lawyer? 

Entertainment Law School 101. In America, in the United States, there is no protection for unexpressed, unwritten down ideas.

On the flip side of that, the beauty of how the United States copyright law works is if an original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium, that work of authorship qualifies for copyright protection and has copyright protection at common law. So the second your pen hits paper and starts writing, the second you start painting with a paintbrush, start creating with your keyboard, the ultimate creative expression of that work is going to have some level of common law copyright protection.

It behooves you when you have some more of a concrete final product to register for federal copyright protection, it's $65. It's not a lot of money, but in  that instance, you qualify for what is known as statutory damages. If there is a lawsuit for whatever reason later on, you can bring it in federal court, and it's a little bit meatier than just relying on common law copyright protections.

But, at the end of the day I think it's Picasso who said it, good artists borrow, great artists steal. Deep Impact and Armageddon came out the same year, and anyone can rip you off at any time. Really, what you need to do to protect yourself is to grow and expand your brand on as many different platforms between your social media pages, between YouTube.

You need to develop that idea and make your brand as expansive as possible. And really, it's a tricky thing, but what Disney does is they rely more on trademark protection than they do actual copyright protection. The Mickey Mouse copyright is going to go into public domain in 2024.

So long as they're exploiting his image as a trademark in merchandising, it has more qualified protections. And really the best thing that you can do is plant your flag and say, "Hey, I'm here and make it known and open and notorious." This is your idea and this is what you're doing.

And do a little bit of due diligence to see if there's anyone else out there. Doing something similar because that is really a barrier towards monetization. 

If I'm a buyer and I'm in, and someone brings me an idea and I'm looking at it and I'm saying, "Hey, there's a hundred of these other things just like it."

It's not original. I am not going to take the risk on it. 

So, do due diligence yourself, make sure the idea isn't already exploited. B, make yourself as big and loud like a puffer fish as possible. So you can try to create and protect your brand, start to create merch and you can qualify for trademark protection in that, get your copyright protections and fill out your creative ideas in various medias.

When do you think it is a good idea for a creator to start thinking, "hey, maybe I need somebody on my side?"

When there's actual money on the table being had that starts to say, "hey, you know what, there are sophisticated players at the table. Maybe we should have someone relook at the paperwork. Maybe we should have things done correctly by a lawyer."

And then number two, I would say if this is your baby, if this is your project, if this is your investment, if this is your life's work, then it really is worth the $500, $1000. 

I do free consultations, free 15 minute consultations, but to draft paperwork and make sure paperwork secure work for higher agreements, transfer rights, spending $1500 to make sure that your project is protected is a drop in the fucking bucket.

Talk to me about the current trends. Let me articulate it with a little story. I was at the variety marketing summit back in March. And, lots of executives in the advertising marketing space world.

That's not really where I do a lot of my business. I'm working with actors, I'm working with writers, directors, producers, and I'm making shows and making content. But the number one thing that I took out of that meeting is how they are blending these areas and how advertisers are striking back with a vengeance in kind of a way, since the Netflix and the streamers of them all have kicked them out for the last 10 years, they are interested in creating TV shows around more products and services like Chipotle and whatever.

If you look at the top grossing films this year, we had Nike, Blackberry, Super Mario Brothers, Barbie. These are products and brands and not the same IP temples like the Star Wars and Marvel that we saw in years past. 

I think Gen Z and now Gen Alpha, who's coming up, have a very different way of interacting with entertainment.

So if you are an actor, Focus 100% on your craft and build that out first, but also look at ways that you can, monetize and do use social media, Tik TOK and YouTube and how you can start to think about yourself as a 360 brand business.

I don't like that idea per se, in a world full of Zendayas and Sydney Sweeney's it's what it takes to get there.

But you can capitalize on making content in a niche world for something that you like, say toy collecting and you're going to find your audience out there if you're true and authentic and it's something that you're passionate about and love. 

I think that at the macro level, we're going to have to decide what we want to address as a society, as humanity because it is something that threatens every specific industry as it relates to actors and writers. I think it's atrocious. The idea that you could take an actor's likeness and decide that you're going to own it and reuse it in perpetuity for the rest of your life as it relates to the final embodiment in a film or TV project, of course, but you don't own that person's image It's something that I believe is going to have to take a fundamental shift in government and in legislation that maybe recognizes the individual right of self likeness.

Private Coaching

Fear and Courage.

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

"If everybody feels fear when approaching something totally new in life, yet so many are out there doing it despite fear, then we must conclude that fear is not the problem."

Fear is not the problem. It's our attitude and our actions.

One of the things I coach with people is I look at their goal, and then I look at their thoughts around that goal, or their affirmations, their affirmative thought around that goal, and then I look at those actions around the goal.

So we make sure that the affirmative thoughts, or the thoughts that you are having around being a Working Actor, are not thoughts like, "Oh, I'm not good enough. It'll never happen. I'm too old for this shit."

Whatever it is, that we start turning those thoughts around because we need to have our thoughts and our actions supporting and backing up that goal.

That is how you create success in your life.

But for me, when I started first to learn this work, I was like, "Yeah, but I'm fucking terrified, and I am filled with anxiety, and I cannot imagine calling my manager and asking, how come I don't have any auditions, or I haven't had any auditions for a couple of weeks."

But yet, those were the things that I needed to do, either to get more activity or learn that manager was really not that into me and I needed to find someone else.

Fear is not the problem. But what the problem is, according to Susan Jeffers, which I concur with, is how we hold and manage our fear.

It's our attitude toward fear.

So again, remember that fear is not the problem. How we hold and manage the fear is.

Last week I talked about how you will never be given more than you can handle, but you will be given more than you can control.

And manage is another word for handle.

If how we hold and manage fear is the problem, guess what is the phenomenal, exciting news about that?

Then there's something we can do about it. There is something we can actually do about it. Because if it's in our realm of being able to handle or manage. Hey, that's our job, remember, controlling is not.

You're never going to be able to control your fear. Believe me, I spent a lifetime trying to do it doesn't work.

But I can manage how I handle it. I can manage how I think about it and what I do about it. And the thing is that if I stay, in that belief, that fear actually is the problem, then I'm staying in that victim energy.

Then I'm staying in that catabolic energy, that hopeless energy. "There's nothing I can do," bullshit. There is something you can do. Now I'm not going to say that it's going to be easy, and I'm not going to say that it's simple. But it is doable. In fact, it is simple. It's just not easy.

So if we accept the truth that how we hold and manage fear is the problem, and I stress that is a truth, that is a Universal Truth, not an ego truth. That is an infinite truth. Then we put ourselves energetically of taking responsibility, and then we can move forward.

So if we put ourselves energetically saying, "You know what? I understand I have fear. I, but I can manage it. I can handle it." By just doing that, we take ourselves out of catabolic energy, victim energy and in to anabolic energy, which is the energy of taking responsibility.

But if we stay with the idea that fear is the problem, guess what? We stay stuck.

So many people, I was at a networking event yesterday and it wasn't an actor. It was just a neighborhood networking event. The number one thing that everybody told me was "I feel stuck."

The reason why you're stuck is that you are afraid.

So let's get you unstuck.

Now, if again, how we hold and manage fear is the problem, we can move out of fear and then we can accomplish our goals or our wants or our needs.

So Susan Jeffers talks about a how we hold our fear, and she has a chart.

When we hold our fear, we have some kind of what? Pain.

And that pain is caused by feelings of helplessness, feelings of depression, feelings of paralysis. But when we move into that anabolic energy, we take responsibility of managing and handling our lives as opposed to controlling it or just not doing anything, then we end up with choice.

We end up with excitement because "oh my god we're actually doing it now." And we end up with action.

And when I talk about this power, this idea of power of how we get ourselves to do what we want. I am talking about the power within ourselves, which is ultimately building self-esteem.

So if we have power over our perceptions of the world, we have power over our thoughts. We have good, affirmative thoughts.

Then, we have power over our reactions.

Let's say something happens. I spill coffee on my new blouse. My immediate reaction will then be, "Oh God, that was so stupid. Or I'm so stupid."

But then I want to tell myself, "Stop."

I want to stop. And then I want to take a step back from what I just said to myself.

What just happened? Stop. take a step back.

And I use that example of putting your hand on your face and you cannot really see your hand. But if you move back a foot and you look at your hand, you are then in a place of what you are in a place of observation.

When you are in a place of observation, you can ask yourself that valuable question, "is this healthy for me to behave, to think this way, or is it unhealthy for me?"

Then, of course, I'm going to realize it's unhealthy for me to have such a negative reaction to just what was it? A fricking little mistake.

So what am I going to do? I am going to respond. I'm going to respond with a loving thought. I love myself, and I approve of myself. And here's a genius idea. Go get some club soda. Go get a towel wipe off your blouse, and take it to the dry cleaner.

Was it worth beating up on yourself? For all of that?

For just spilling some coffee? No.

Because nothing is worth a dig at my self-esteem.

Nothing. I have a phrase that says, "A Response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it."

And when we have power over our reactions or our perceptions, we are using that process of stopping, taking a step back and observing, looking at it for what it is from a distance because, again, we're in that valuable place of observation and then responding to the situation.

Power to do what is necessary for our own self-growth and career and all of these things make you feel better about yourself.

It creates healthy self-love, and we need self-love to be in this business of show because the business is not going to supply you with that love.

And this is the biggie. As a casting director, I also [00:13:00] am letting you know you cannot ask it to. As a casting director, I cannot be the one telling you, "Don't be afraid; it's okay."

Now, obviously, as a coach, it is. But if I'm in a job situation, I cannot be the one nurturing you. That's not my job. My job is to cast the actor who knows they are doing a great job and who has assured me that they are in great hands.

That's what I need. I don't need to be validating your existence on this planet.

I have way too many other things on my plate. I need you to know you're good. And I need you to assure me. I'm in good hands.

This power that I've been talking about in the podcast before and in this one gives you the ability to get yourself to do what you want to do.

It gets you out of your own way.

It is empowering and ultimately, it creates a tremendous sense of serenity.

But guess what? It always. It always. is, it's always magnetizing.

It's like when in sports, when you see the person who breaks away and runs with the ball and crosses the finish line, or gets the goal gets the goal, or scores the touchdown.

That is so exciting. And it's also exciting when a casting director sees an actor be great at their work.

It just makes me want to cast them over and over again.

You do not have to be incapacitated by your fears. You do not.

 

TV and Film Class

Private Coaching

Fear and Bravery

One way to look at fear is that it is just a fact of life.

And I remember when I had so much anxiety as a child. And I used to think to myself, I'd be like, "If could just get rid of this. I just wish somebody could remove anxiety from me."

But remember that anxiety and fear were given to us for a specific reason: the sabertoothed tiger.

Because a long time ago, we needed to rely on our fear instincts.

I want to have some element of that ability to feel fear because, to be quite honest, I live near a mountain and these animals are around, and I need to be cautious; I need to turn on the lights, I need to make noise, I need not to be thinking about something else when I go outside at night and to be quite honest during the day as well. But really, at night, when I can't see anything.

So, I think again to understand that fear is something that was given to us to protect us and for us to know that we don't want to get rid of it entirely, but we also don't want it to rule our lives.

So Susan Jeffers, who wrote the fabulous book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, says, "the fear will never go away as long as I continue to grow."

Again, I talk a lot about comfort zones and that a comfort zone isn't something that is bad. It's just trying to keep us "safe."

And when I use the word safe, I'm putting it in quotation marks. I'm putting it in quotation marks because the fact of the matter is that life begins at the end of our comfort zone, but here's the biggie: so does success.

And in time management, and all my coaching, my private coaching, my group coaching, I talk a lot about doing that one to three things every day that makes you want to vomit in your mouth just a little bit.

Makes you just a little bit uncomfortable, just a little bit. Why?

Because then you expand your comfort zone and you build the thing that will help you with fear more than anything else: self-esteem.

One of the things that I also believe is that you can use fear to succeed.

Now, this might be impossible; hear me out.

If you start to look at or reframe the idea that fear is a bridge to success. It becomes easy to succeed. Just do everything you are afraid of, and then you will succeed.

And the reason why I think that we know what our next step is, we just don't want to do it. We just don't want to do it.

But the question I always pose to my clients is the following: how bad do you want it?

How bad do you want it? Do you want to give in to fear, or do you want to go after your dream? Do you want to give in to that fear in that moment?

Or do you want to choose the thing that will get you to the next level, which will get you to the success that you want?

And to do those things you are afraid of, and I call it rule number one and rule number two. Rule number one is to do everything you are afraid of.

Rule number two is when in doubt; go back to rule number one.

In other words, you can't get out of it if you want to grow or succeed.

So remember, the fear will never go away as long as I continue to grow. The only way to get rid of fear is to go out and do it, i.e., rule number one: do everything you are afraid of.

Rule number two: when in doubt, go back to rule number one.

Also, remember in that process of doing everything that you are afraid of or doing that thing that makes you want to vomit in your mouth just a little bit, remember this: you can babystep it.

It doesn't have to be all-out frightening. It just needs to be that next little step until you can feel that you can take that next bigger step.

And this can be done.

Now, not only will I experience fear whenever I am in unfamiliar territory, but guess what? So does everybody else.

And remember that doing things that you are afraid of makes you feel better about yourself and builds that phenomenal thing that only you can give yourself, which is self-esteem.

Of course, the problem is that you have to earn self-esteem from the hardest person on the planet to earn it from, which again is yourself.

"Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from that feeling of helplessness."

So, that brings me to catabolic and anabolic energy, catabolic energy is energy that eats you, that kind of that works against you, that destroys you.

Anabolic energy is energy that builds, strengthens, and expands. And again, that is the law, one of the laws of the Universe, expansion. The Universe wants you to succeed. The Universe wants you to expand.

Why? Because as you expand, it expands. You are a part of it. It is a part of you.

The lowest form of energy is catabolic energy and is the energy a victim. It's the "I can't. I can't. I won't. I'm not able. I'm helpless, and I'm hopeless."

And your chance for success when you are living in that energy is so low.

Then we have the energy of anger conflict.

Now, that is stronger than victim. And I am a huge believer because I've used it several times in my life that the energy of anger, yes, is a catabolic energy. Still, it can also be the thing that lights the match, that brings you into that first energy of anabolic energy.

Responsibility. It's like you get so sick of being sick and tired, you're like, fuck it, I'm going to change. And when you change, what happens then is you start to take responsibility.

With taking responsibility comes an understanding and a true learning that you can handle things.

You will never be given more than you can handle, but you will be given more than you can control.

And this a good exercise is, when you start to feel anxious or icky about something is, taking that step back and observing and asking yourself, "Am I handling this, or am I trying to control it?"

And if anxiety is involved, chances are it's control.

And again, when you are in that moment of anxiety, ask yourself, "What am I not taking responsibility for that could be causing me to feel this anxiety?"

Because you might be living under that fabulous line of the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness. Because you're not helpless.

You're not hopeless. It requires just a mustard seed of bravery. And the understanding of these principles around fear and around bravery to change.

You can change.

I only know it because I did. And I always say, "I never teach or coach anything that I haven't guinea-pigged on myself."

I want to remind you of two tools here that you can take away, and then I'm going to read you one of my favorite quotes about being brave.

I want to remind you that when you're feeling fear, if you can, take yourself out of the house or wherever you are. Go get yourself a cup of coffee or a cup of tea or an iced tea or whatever, just a nice beverage with pen and paper, and ask yourself, "Am I controlling? Or am I handling? How could I handle this situation?"

And if you need to, you can even make two columns: what am I trying to handle and what am I trying to control?

Because what you are doing when you do that is putting distance between you and the thing you are frightened of.

Is there something that you need to babystep in order to handle?

Again, take that step back, observing and saying to yourself, "What am I not taking responsibility here?"

You may find it might be something on the handle list, but you have been finding yourself just staying in that underlying fear from feeling helpless, in which case you are just making yourself miserable.

You're just making yourself miserable. And you are choosing to stay in that misery, and you don't need to do that.

Asking yourself, "Am I in victim? Am I in anger, or am I in the energy of responsibility?"

You are again stopping and taking that step back and observing where you are at with fear and where you are at with bravery.

My favorite quote of all time in my entire life and the most influential quote of my life is by Helen Keller. It says,

 "To keep our faces toward change, and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate, is strength undefeatable."

The fear will not win, but we need to do the legwork.

We need to go outside of that comfort zone.

The following quote, which I love, is from Jen Sincero from The Badass Books when she says, "You're going to have to push through your fears, fail over and over again, and make a habit of doing things you're not so comfy doing.

You're going to have to let go of old limiting beliefs and cling to the decision to create the acting career you desire like your life depends on it. Because guess what? Your life does depend on it."

Co-Star Workout

Commercial Workout

Voiceover Workout

Katie Flahive On Camera Class

Today, I am going to be talking about wisdom and choice.  

A quote from William Jennings Bryan. 

"Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for. It is a thing to be achieved." 

In life, we always have a choice, even when we don't feel we do. 

When I forget that I have a choice, what happens is that I am making myself a victim to life's circumstances, or to even life itself.  

Choice is the freedom to see things as we desire, feel what we want, and live as we create our lives to be.  

So, the question is, are you happening to life or is life happening to you?  

Now, I firmly believe that I am the copilot in my life. But the chief pilot in my life is the universe.  

And I choose for it to be that way because the universe is infinite, whereas me, just of myself, am finite. 

In each moment, I can choose how I want to experience life.  

I can choose how I want to experience life, and I always want to be reminding others to do the same. 

Another way to think of this in terms of choice is when you choose consciously, you are at the cause of your life. And consequently, when you choose unconsciously, you are at the effect of your life. 

Jen Sincero from the Badass Books, she talks about the big snore, which is how so many of us are just going through our lives sleeping. 

We're not as I like to call it, using our minds to govern our brains to make sure that we are making the wisest and the most conscious choices in our life each day so that we can create the best future for ourselves.  

Victor Frankel, a survivor from the Holocaust, talks about in his book how, yes, he was a prisoner. But he still had freedom, the freedom within his head, and that's how he stayed alive.  

By choosing to choose, to open yourself up, you are moving, even just in making that choice, you are moving from catabolic energy, that energy that eats away at you, that is almost decomposes you, as opposed to moving into that anabolic energy, which is that energy of Expansion.  

And again, reminding you that the universe wants you to expand. 

The universe wants you to achieve. Why? Because as you get bigger, it gets bigger.  

You are a part of it. It is a part of you. So again, by choosing to choose, to make conscious choice, you open yourself up to moving from catabolic energies to anabolic energies. 

Now I'm going move into wisdom and the concept that each of us is greater and wiser than we appear.  

A quote from Bruce D. Schneider, who is the founding of IPEC coaching. 

He says, "Look past your reflection in the mirror and see the truth. I am always, and in all ways, greater than I think I am."  

So, what if you are only operating at 40 percent of your potential and your capacity? I think a lot of people feel that. They might even feel less than that.  

Just by, again, choosing to open yourself up, recognizing that you are starting to move into change. 

You're starting to move into greater wisdom.  

You have the ability to see, to sense, and to know yourself to be more powerful, more resourceful, and just a greater and more gifted human being.  

In terms of an actor, imagine if you were so much more talented than you thought you were. 

Because that's the truth. You have more talent. You have more gifts to give than you even realize you do.  

But what blocks you are those catabolic energies, which block us from that universal wisdom.  

Do not accept your limitation, whether that be physical, intellectual, or emotional. 

Think outside the box and know that you have unique gifts to share, regardless of how you have seen yourself in the past. 

It's incredibly empowering, to see the truth about ourselves.  

We are not helpless or a victim of anything.  

We're not helpless.  

We are in Infinite Energy and that propels us to do more than we normally think we could or should do. 

Now this new seeing of who you really are also helps you to set new standards.  

The comfort zone is constantly trying to keep us the same and comfortable. 

But tackling these challenges, whether it be running a mile or ten miles or tackling Shakespeare or starting a new career or a new relationship, it helps you to build self-esteem.  

Which leads to, if you want self-esteem, do self-esteemable acts.  

But I also need to say with this that we do not want to set ourselves up for failure, so I encourage the baby steps. 

I encourage going as slowly as you need to take care of yourself, but still challenge yourself. Because ultimately, you can figure this out. You can find a way. 

Do what you most don't want to do in a day first. 

Or as I joke do the thing that makes you want to vomit in your mouth just a little bit to get you closer to your goals. 

Because that will then give you so much energy for the rest of the day. 

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!

Tell me about all the different types of voiceover that are out there today.

There's more than one thing that you can do as a voiceover artist. And so often, I feel like when people ask me about voiceover, they just automatically assume that I'm an animation or like on cartoons.

Or video games. And while that's definitely part of voiceover, a lot of my work is commercial and like what you hear on the radio or on TV and e-learning. Many companies I work with have videos that they need to show their employees, and that's a big part of voiceover that people don't necessarily like even thinking about, but then there's IVR, which is interactive voice response. So, when you call a business and you, they say, "Oh, thank you for calling Ikea, press one for the manager, press two for household goods."

That's part of voice of real people who get hired for those jobs. And do that as voiceover. And I know a couple of people who do that only, and that's their entire career, and they make damn good money doing that.

E-learning is a part of voiceover where a company will hire you for perhaps they want to teach their employees about some new policies at their workplace, or maybe a new product is launching. They want to tell the whole company who's not in product development. They want to educate the salespeople and the marketing people and all other kinds of people within the company; they want to educate them about the product or even sometimes it's. It's how to handle sexual harassment, go to HR with a complaint, or negotiate your salary. A company will want to have all kinds of modules so that their employees can learn, grow, and be better.

And especially with remote working being such a major part of the corporate world these days. They rely heavily on these videos and voiceovers to educate their employees and keep their workforce culture booming so that they don't feel like they're on an island.

There's anime, there's animation, there's commercials, there's radio spots, there's e-learning, and then the next one you were talking about was IVR.

Interactive voice response and IVR and telephony are two different things, but they go hand in hand. Telephony is when you call a business and they have a message; maybe for they're on holiday or vacation. "Thank you for calling the law offices of Dunder and Dunder. we're currently on holiday, and we will get back to you as soon as possible." That's a message. That's part of telephony, and most of the time, if you get a client that wants telephony, you can upsell them on the I V R or vice versa. But they're two different things, but they often go hand in hand.

There's looping, obviously ADR. And dubbing, many actors who are bilingual that's becoming its own vertical is bilingual voiceover because many people want to hire both the English speaker and the other language speakers for the same kinds of jobs.

What's radio imaging? Oh yeah, radio imaging Is the voice of a radio station, not the DJ. So, not the one calling out the music cues, "you're listening to be 93.3." It's the voice that you hear between the DJ and the songs that makes the station recognizable. So, when you hear that be 93.3, that voice, that person calling out the radio station, it's recognizable to you. You're listening to that station and not Z 100.

There's promo, there's medical, there's political.

Let's start with promos. Promos are promotions for TV shows and movies, but not trailers. Trailers is a different kind of voiceover, but promo is like, "Join us this week for a new episode of Family Guy Only on CBS."

Medical is complicated because it's all jargon. And a lot of times, you'll get a copy with all of these very technical terms or medications, and you have no idea how the hell to pronounce them, and you are rigorously googling, and yes, of course, you can ask the person that sent it to you, but nine times out of ten that person doesn't freaking know and then they have to ask the people that sent it to them, and there is this like long chain of response.

Often, it is so specifically timed.

ISI- important safety information, which is just the bottom half of that medical, of that medical promo that you're doing.

IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet. , once you learn it, you can pretty much look at any word and break it down through these little symbols that help you pronounce words because they stand for the different consonants and fricatives and vowels and all that kind of stuff in a word, and if you use the symbols to write it out. You are then able to read the IPA as it applies to the words.

It's basically just spelling out the word the way that it sounds.

Trailers for movies most of the time. Sometimes short films but big movie trailers always have a VO. "Coming to theaters now, it's Spider-Man."

Video games and mobile fall under the same sort of category, but again, they're two separate things because video games for release on a console are different than a video game released on mobile, only in terms of usage, for performance, they're pretty much the same.

A lot of video games use actors for an entire franchise. I know one video game used 800 different voice actors for one game. So, it's a huge industry.

Toys and games. In the voices that you hear in those little books that have Press the cow. Moo.

A lot of Fisher Price or Mattel or little kid things that have voices.

Non-union and union work for audiobooks, which a lot of people don't realize that you can; if you are a union actor and voiceover, there are union voiceover audiobooks that exist out there to do, but I know a lot of people assume that most of that work is non-union.

So, let's talk about union versus non-union. Seventy percent of voiceover work is non-union.

So, many rules and things you might expect if you're a union actor doing non-union VO don't apply.

And sometimes, you find yourself negotiating a little bit more. It can be an education process, especially if you are getting clients on your own through direct marketing or social or outside of agents.

And I find that when I have to educate a client a little on industry-standard rates, they're receptive. But there is some pushback; that's just not in our budget, but maybe it will be for next year.

So that's something that you should keep in mind as recurring clients are how you keep your business going and how you scale your business is you want to keep them; you don't want just to have one client and then never work with them again.

So, suppose you can be a little compromising in those early stages of that relationship and understand that, okay, for the next time we work together. In that case, we're going to get closer and closer to those industry standard rates. That's one way to keep those clients in and scale.

So, you used a term that I don't know if many actors know, scale your business. Can you please explain what scale your business is? Grow it.

As a voiceover actor, if you are entering into this industry for the first time or if you have been doing it on and off part-time, it's making new connections, meeting new people, and finding out who needs to hire you, that changes the landscape of the industry has changed so much, especially when I first stumbled into it. So, keeping your ear to the ground and understanding how to grow continuously is important.

Guide to Commercial Voiceovers

VO Workout

The guide to commercial VO is for any voiceover actor who wants to learn more about commercial voiceover because there's lots of nuance in every single vertical of voiceover.

All the 15, 20, but they all have their own sort of ways of working, and what works in commercial is not necessarily going to work in video games and how you approach those different things. So, all of the skills behind the performance, as well as the skills behind the business, are in this course, and it's jam-packed with information at the end of it. One of my favorite parts of this is all of the people who participated asked so many amazing questions, and that right there is just, it is worth it to me, like those questions. That's why you want to get the replay.

Get up and work voiceover session; it's 90 minutes and quick and dirty. And it's ten actors we work with. TenI provide or so minutes at a time, and I provide commercial copy that they can use and choose whichever piece they want to work on and read through the copy.

I give them some notes in real-time, and we get to a place where we feel good about the work. Is it ready to send off as an audition? Sometimes it is. And sometimes we get to really great, beautiful places that we weren't in previously, but is it always that way? No, but it's about feeling good about the work, understanding the work, understanding the connections that you make, going through the copy, and being able to say, I know what story this is.

I know what I'm doing. I feel confident about what I'm doing. And that's the goal is to be able to look at commercial copy for the first time. No, history of looking it over for days and days, but seeing it and being able to make strong choices in the moment and then forgetting about it, letting it go, working in the moment, and then you're done and letting it go because that's such a big part of commercials.

And if I sat and stewed and thought so hard about every single audition I get every day, I would never make it through the deck. I would just be sitting here doing two or three instead of the 15 that come across my desk. And I would never get them out.

What keeps coming up when negotiating a non-union contract? In perpetuity.

What we're constantly seeing now in non-union VO specifically are exclusivity and in perpetuity, which again are two very different things, but we're starting to see them go hand in hand.

Now, in perpetuity means forever and ever. Exclusivity means exclusive to a certain category or product.

So, let's say you do a commercial for a toothpaste. And it's like a no-name toothpaste brand startup toothpaste. And they come to you, and they're like, "Oh my goodness. I would love for you to do our voiceover. We would like exclusivity in perpetuity."

This means you can never do any other toothpaste ever again for the rest of your career. So, they better be paying a big sum of money.

And if they're not, then you say, "I'm sorry, I can't work within those within those confines, but I can offer you 13 weeks at this rate or a year at this rate,"

But if it's in perpetuity for any kind of commercial, I stay far away from it. If it's in perpetuity for something like medical, I don't really care. Cause there's no competition there and there, the rates in medical are pretty good, so I don't really care, but in commercial.

Unless they're paying me some six figures for in perpetuity, then then I say no.

If you are trying to have a business, you must have the business mindset at the front and the performance mindset side by side.

What kind of mic do you like to work with, just out of curiosity? Yeah. I have Neuman U 87, which I love. It's beautiful and produces great sound, but I also have a Rode NT1, which is also great, and a DEDS mic, and I think that is just as good as the Sennheiser MK 14.

I use mics for different things for promo or medical. I usually use my shotgun deity for commercial. I'm usually using my Neumann for political and other things; I use my Rode; it just depends on where I'm sitting in my voice that day, what the work is, what I'm going to be doing.

What is direct marketing? Direct marketing is doing research, whether on LinkedIn or Google, or however you like to do research to obtain information about companies and people, and then reaching out to them and saying, "Hi, I'm a voice actor. Here's my shit. Listen to my shit. Do you want to work together?"

You are a salesperson, but are you a good salesperson, or are you a shitty one?

And that comes through trial and error and seeing what works and seeing what people respond to. But I find nine times out of 10, a lot of these people I'm reaching out to have a very good sense of humor. They don't have a lot of time, and they like to be sold to in a snappy way that gets to the point with maybe a little bit of cheek and humor and fun and call it a fucking day.

They don't want to go back and forth nine times about the last episode of Game of Thrones.

Maybe down the line, sure, but right now, they need to do what's best for their business, what's best for their company, their team, whatever. They don't necessarily want to go through a casting site, pay that fee, and then pay these people.

If they can work with you directly and you are good behind the mic, you're a good business person; you can do quick turnaround, you have good sound, they would rather work with you directly than going through all the fucking hoops through an agency or a casting site to find, and then scrolling through hundreds and hundreds of auditions to find the right person that they want to work with.

So, direct marketing is a great way for you to scale your business.

Your thoughts on AI. I think that AI has always been around for a really long time, not always, but for a very long time. And yes, it's getting better, smarter, and more capable, but I don't see it as competition.

I know this will be a controversial thought, but I think there are ways we can work alongside it, learn from it, and utilize it to better ourselves.

I don't think AI will replace voiceover actors in my lifetime.

Every person I've talked to who have at one point hired AI voices for their projects said that they regretted it and they would much rather work with a human being.

My father came up with a brilliant strike slogan, which is human stupidity is better than artificial intelligence.

Working with people in all sorts of stages of their career is not only fun for me, but it is exciting to be able to offer that wide variety of coaching to all walks of life.

Private Coaching

So, Rosh Hashanah, Happy New Year.

I am married to a wonderful Jewish man, and this is the Jewish New Year.

You can restart your day at any point.

And I thought, you know what, it's Jewish New Year, and we could all use a bit of a restart.

I also love that it's coming up right after Labor Day; I think of it being, as I mentioned before, summertime is over, and it's, the school year has begun. So, let's try and infuse some energy.

So, what does restart my day, my week, my month, my year at any point mean to me?

It means that there needs to be some sort of an attitude adjustment.

Meaning that either I have been slacking on something I have been not aligning positive thoughts or positive action with my goals, which is one of the biggest things I talk about.

And I need to make an adjustment.

Free month of coaching

As a Chiropractor for the Mind, I adjust your thoughts so that they are in line.

In other words, getting you to do everything you can to work for you instead of against you.

And how does that relate to restarting your day at any point or restarting your year?

What we need is an alignment. An alignment to get us back on track to what it is we really want.

So today, I decided to give you the opportunity to restart your day at any point: your hour, your 15 minutes, your anything, your year, your month.

I think we could all use a year if you're an actor at this point, or a writer for that matter.

And I'm going to give you some quotes on new beginnings.

One of them is by Richie Norton. "Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes."

What I love about that is a dear friend of mine would always say to me, "Peter, I am only responsible till I put my head on the pillow at night."

That's The only thing I need to manage; the only thing I need to handle is from this moment till when I put my head on the pillow at night.

Because when you put your head on the pillow at night, you reset. And when you wake up in the morning, it is every sunrise begins with new eyes.

Again, this podcast, this particular lesson, is about resetting.

It's about it being a new year. It is about new beginnings.

It's about adjusting. Adjusting to what it is you want in your life. And adjusting your thoughts and your actions to your actual goal. Because remember what I say, I talk about if your action is, I want to be a working actor.

I want to be a working actor. The thoughts of I'm not good enough. I can't do that. Ooh, that's tough. You know what? I'll do it tomorrow. Those kinds of thoughts are not working for your goal.

And therefore, it's going to be very difficult for your goal to succeed.

Last week, in the Weekly Adjustment, which is the Chiropractor for the Mind weekly group I do, I talked about an energy action model.

And I talked about what your chances are for success in terms of mindset.

When your thoughts and your actions do not align with your goals, you have a low chance for success.

But every day, you have a chance to reset. And I'm asking you today to challenge yourself to reset your year.

I love this one by Taylor Swift. "This is a new year. A new beginning and things will change."

 Another famous quote I love is from Joseph Campbell: "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come."

When you make plans, God laughs.

Because if I look back at how I thought my life was going to be, as opposed to how it ended up being up to this point in my life, it's so different and yet so similar.

I got to where I wanted to get to, but not in the way I ever thought I would.

At some point, I just let go, followed what was in my path, and didn't force it.

Do the next right thing. And that's another great slogan for you. Do the next right thing.

Notice I don't say, do the next thing, but do the next right thing. What's in front of you? What is challenging you? The most successful people do what they most don't want to do by noon.

Vincent Van Gogh. "What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything."

Here's another one that I love. "Holding on is believing that there's only a past. Letting go is knowing that there is a future."

You can restart your year at any point. What is your future going to be? And that is Daphne Rose Kingma.

J.P. Morgan, "The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you are."

Getting out of your comfort zone. If you are having trouble getting out of your comfort zone, I ask you to baby step what you want to do. What is the tiniest thing you can do to move you in that direction?

Because when you take a baby step, it's not, "Ugh, look, I'm so pathetic I have to take a baby step." It's not that. It's that, "Wow, I'm brave enough to move in the right direction. The direction that I want to move in."

Remember, your desire to either be a working actor or accomplish whatever you want comes from the Universe.

The Universe has to give it to you for you to want it.

You have the Universe behind you. Have the courage to take that first step toward getting somewhere.

Decide that you are not going to stay where you are at. Restart your day, your year, your hour at any point. You can do it.

I know you can do it.

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

Today, I'm going to talk about clear thinking in unclear times.

And I think that could apply to so many things. It could apply to our industry, it could apply to AI, and what's going to happen, it could apply to strikes, it could apply just to the state of the world.

So, let's take a second to talk about clear thinking and how to achieve it.

The Language of Letting Go

"Clear thinking. Strive for clear thinking."

Already right there with that sentence. Strive for clear thinking. For me, what that means is to strive for wisdom.

Strive for wisdom from the smartest part of me, my highest intelligence, because many of us have had our thinking clouded by denial or potentially our egos. Some of us have even lost faith in ourselves because we've spent some time in denial.

In other words, just like pushing things away so we don't have to think about it.

"Finances, career, love, life, so many things, but losing faith in our thinking isn't going to help us. What we need to do is lose faith in denial or lose faith in our coping mechanisms."

So many times, I've heard so many people tell me that they shove their bills into the drawer and close the door because they just don't want to face it or put it in a pile over the other side of the room so they don't have to face it.

Don't return a phone call because if they don't return a phone call, then it's just not happening.

Again, we are striving for clear thinking, and we need to lose faith in those coping mechanisms, the hiding our face so you can't see me or the pushing the bills into the drawer so they don't exist. We need to lose faith in that kind of stuff and start gaining faith in our thinking.

And in our ability to receive wisdom and clear thought from our higher selves, the universe, or whatever you want to call it.

We didn't resort to denial either someone else's problem or our own because we were deficient.

We didn't do these things because we were deficient.

"Denial is the shock absorber for the soul. It protects us until we are equipped to cope with reality."

Clear thinking doesn't mean that we're never going to resort to denial again.

Of course, not because we're human beings; we're not perfect.

Denial is the first step toward acceptance. For most of our lives, we are striving to accept something, and sometimes, we need to deny it first before we can look at it because we need that shock absorption.

"Clear thinking means we don't allow ourselves to become immersed in negativity or unrealistic expectations."

I have found that when I get negative, I am working against myself. I'm resorting to lower energies. I don't want to be operating in lower energies. I want to be operating with optimal energy.

I want to deal with reality.

What is so important is that we surround ourselves with other clear thinkers, which can sometimes be very painful because some of the people we love most in the world may be steeped in negativity, may not be clear thinkers, may not have a spiritual relationship with the universe, and that is fine as long as I continue to take care of myself when I am with those people.

I always call it putting on my bubble suit, staying in my little positive bubble.

But still being real and still being steeped in reality.

"Seek peace of mind. Seek realistic support. Ask for help from the universe. Meditate. Thank you for giving me some clear thought. Thank you for clear thought. Thank you for helping me to think clearly on this matter."

Thank you for helping me to think clearly on this matter.

That's all you have to say. Just say it doesn't matter if you don't know who you're saying it to; just say it.

"We keep our thinking on track by asking the universe to help us think clearly. Not by expecting the universe or another human being to do the clear thinking for us."

 We need to access our own clear thinking. Because when we do that, we stay out of victimhood, and we take responsibility for our thoughts because we need our thoughts to align with our goals so we can achieve them.

And guess what else we need? We need our actions to align with our thoughts and our thoughts to align with our goals, and we need our actions to align with our goals.

"There is so much to learn. If we can be humble enough to just ask for a bit of clear thinking, thank you for guiding me to think clearly on this matter."

Broaden Your Improv Skills

Money Mastery for Actors

Commercial Voiceover Workout Sesh

Time Management Workshop

TV Class with Katie Flahive

Family and separating from family issues because when I think of back to life, back to reality, one of the things I think about is getting back to dealing with family issues and either the support or the lack of support or the lack of interest from family members in your acting career.

The Language of Letting Go

"We can draw a healthy line, a healthy boundary between ourselves and our nuclear family, and we can separate ourselves from their issues.

And I think that's amazing because I don't think I realized that I could separate my issues or anybody else's issues from me.

I thought anybody I spoke to their issue was my issue, and my issue was their issue. But that is highly codependent thinking and does not lead to a happy or successful life.

"Some of us have family members who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, or you know what, anything else, and they are not in recovery from their addiction. And some of us have family members who have unresolved codependency issues."

And I might also add those might be your unresolved codependency issues, which, when I think about the word codependency, I think of it in terms of I'm not all right unless you are all right.

And I judge how I feel based on you and just Tom Dicker, Harry Sue, Evelyn, Peter, whoever doesn't matter.

"Family members may be addicted, for example, to pain, misery, suffering, martyrdom, or victimization. We may have family members who have unresolved abuse issues or unresolved family-of-origin issues.

We may have families addicted to work, eating, or sex. Our family may be completely enmeshed or may have a disconnected family in which members have little contact."

 And this is where it starts to hit. And I think the core issue here is that we may be like our family and love our family, but we are, and I want you to hear this because this is the biggest part.

We are separate—human beings with individual rights and individual issues.

One of the ways this was described to me is that if you have a highly enmeshed family, It's like a bowl of spaghetti, but nobody knows whose strands are who's.

It's one piece of spaghetti. It's so enmeshed that it feels, smells, tastes, sounds just like everyone else's issue in the family.

And also, when I say the word family, it could be community. Don't think that this has to be blood. It certainly doesn't.

Or your adopted family, your friends, or group of friends, keep in mind that's true too.

"One of our primary rights is to begin feeling better whether or not the other people choose to do the same."

 O M G. Hallelujah. Let's sing it to the rooftops.

We have the right to feel better.

We have the right to our future. Whether or not other people in our lives choose to do the same or not.

We do not have to feel guilty about finding happiness and a life that works or going after a career that we are passionate about. I.

And we do not have to take on our families' issues as our own to be loyal or to show them that we love them.

I think that is also so huge and heartbreaking that on some level, maybe in the past, one has learned that I must go down that rabbit hole with that person to show them that I am loyal to them or that I love them.

"Often when we begin to care for ourselves, family members or friends will reverberate with overt and covert attempts to pull us back into the old system and roles."

So, one of the ways this was explained to me is that if you think of a bike wheel, all the spokes have a certain job.

But when one of those spokes decides, you know what? Not my life, not what I want. I'm not going that way. All the other spokes of the wheel get angry, which can feel like a tsunami upon you. It can feel overwhelming, and it can feel desperately lonely.

"We do not have to go."

Their attempts to pull us back are their issues; we must understand that their attempts to pull us back have to do with them, not with us. And I reiterate we are separate human beings.

"Taking care of ourselves and becoming healthy and happy does not mean we do not love them. It means we are addressing our issues."

It also means that we are going after our dreams, our universe-given dreams we have every right on the planet to pursue.

And the other thing is, and this is our part, we don't have to judge them because they have issues, nor do we have to allow them to do anything they would like to us just because they are our family, which means just because somebody is your family or your friend or someone in your life, you don't have to accept unacceptable behavior.

You do not have to accept unacceptable behavior from anyone.

We are free now. Free to take care of ourselves with family, friends, and everyone.

"Our freedom starts when we stop denying their issues and politely, but assertively, hand their stuff back to them.

Where it belongs to deal with their issues.

So, of course, everything I've just talked about has to do with boundaries, doing things that we may not be comfortable about standing up for ourselves. Self-worth. Self-confidence, self-knowledge.

That's a lot.

But we can do it. We can do it. And if you need help, Let me know.

Work with me privately

 

Learn More About Money Mastery for Actors

About Rose Marie:

Official "Auntie Bear," Rose Marie is Peter's right-hand woman at Acting Business Boot Camp. She learned the budget system and used it to completely renew her relationship with money. Moving from the kind of person who checked her bank account with her eyes closed every few months to knowing exactly how she wants to spend her resources to serve her goals.

She learned this system from Mama Bear herself, which completely changed her relationship with money, empowering her to help others do the same.

Rose Marie's history with money and how she came to the Money Mastery Budgeting program.

I just felt hopeless. I didn't know what to do.

Money was coming in very irregularly because I was working many different jobs.

And I really didn't know how to manage my money at all.

This system has completely transformed the way I look at money. I have like a 795 credit score; I'm able to save. I have zero debt. I paid it all off. I have savings. I have a retirement in stocks.

The budget system has completely overhauled my entire life in terms of finances.

I started coaching for the budget coaching in 2017.

So can you explain what Jason Harris's budget system looks like?

It's figuring out your predictable monthly spending and how much it takes to run us at a baseline.

I'm not talking about any of the extras. I'm talking about rent, cell phone insurance. I include my gym membership in my nut because going to the gym is really important to me. And I cannot survive as a human being if I don't work out.

And then also figuring out how much money you have left over for your unpredictable monthly spending.

And putting it all together using the income you made the month before.

So instead of trying to live with, "the money I made now gets spent now."

Hand-to-mouth does not work.

It really creates so much stress in your life in a way that is just unbearable.

The amount of anxiety, stress, and yucky feelings about myself and who I am. I thought I could never make money. I thought I wasn't good at making money; I thought I was just not good.

I had such a fixed mindset regarding income, spending, and finances.

On the second night, Peter deals with all the yucky feelings that come up when it yucky feelings.

We tie money up in so much of our own self-worth.

You can think your way into Right Action, and you can act your way into Right Thinking.

And I think your part of the course is acting your way into right thinking, and my part is thinking your way into right acting.

So it supports the goal of financial freedom.

More money not a problem. Less money problem.

Gamifying your spending.

"I am gonna have extra money left over in all my categories at the end of the month."

But the other thing that you made me do, which is really revolutionary for me, and I know all of the world is such an internet, digital. We all live on our phones, and there are so many apps that let you do this: you made me carry a little notebook in my purse or my backpack everywhere through New York City, and I would write down every single thing I spent money on, and at the end of the day, I would subtract how much I spent money on, from how much I had left.

And the act of writing it down just made me so much more aware of where my money was going.

AND I didn't give up the first time I forgot to do it.

And so the thing that I really tried to separate myself from was having to do it perfectly for it to work.

The other thing I love about the budget system, you don't have to do it perfectly for it to work.

The goal is to get 1% better at it and not give up the first time you hit some resistance.

Because it's just numbers.

I'll never forget the first month when I was in the green. I was like, "Oh my God, I can do this. This is not outside of my purview. I am capable of creating a financial abundance."

Even if it was a hundred dollars, it doesn't matter. It was still a hundred dollars.

The other thing that I love about this system, in terms of building confidence, is all you have to do is follow the steps.

If it takes three months to get from the red to the green, that's fine. You're just working the system, waking up every day, doing it as we teach it, and eventually, you're like, "Oh, I'm a master at this."

It becomes automatic after a while.

When I started doing it, first of all, when Jason taught it to me, I started crying. I just burst into tears. It was humiliating that I didn't know how to handle my money. I felt like I was stupid. I felt like I was totally incapable, that I wasn't smart.

These were all the things that came up for me around budgeting. And I just felt defective, and I had a tremendous amount of shame around it.

And I told myself, "Swallow your pride, suppress your ego, and remain teachable and see if he's got something here that works."

If I told you how much I have in savings now and how much, you know, abundance I have in my life because of his system, it's incredible.

I'll never forget the first person who used the system to move from New York to la. And like all she did was run the budget system for a few months.

Making rules for yourself.

You have to plan ahead. Otherwise, you end up spending money that you didn't want to spend.

An easy exercise everyone listening to this podcast can do right now:

• Print off all of your statements from the last month,
• Highlight any time you made an impulsive purchase, or you had negative emotions with a purchase
• Also, highlight all the subscriptions and things you didn't know you were paying for.

What it allows you to do is it gives you some awareness so that the next time you have the impulse to spend $40 on a new shirt when you're out and about,

Or get that $7 latte, especially when you're trying to fix your finances and, in the end, you don't care that much about the latte.

I'm not saying don't indulge sometimes, it's important to indulge, but I think to indulge with an awareness.

But also, to get all those purchases you didn't feel great about afterward, they didn't turn out how you wanted them to.

You spent money, and then you're like, "Ugh, why did I do that again? I'm self-sabotaging because I have these goals, but I just spent $200 on this thing that won't serve me."

And just by doing that exercise, you begin to elevate your awareness and your thoughts so that the next time that thing comes up, you'll maybe choose a different thing.

Understand that your budget system is not trying to make your life hard.

You're trying to find something livable and create your income around that.

Because if you say, "Oh, I'm gonna live on $500 a month." Well, yeah, you're living on oodles of noodles and ramen.

It's not practical, and that's not the point. Not spending money is not the point of the budget system.

There's so much morality tied up in spending money equals bad.

The reality is that we live in a world where we need to spend money, and also, spending money is fun when you save up.

Fun funds:

• you're an actor saving up for headshots,
• saving up for vacations
• create monthly patterns so you can end up where you want to be.

I went to Italy for three weeks last year with my fiancé. And I saved up for a year for that. But when I got to spend that money, did it feel good? And I did not even care about spending it. This is the realization of my yearlong dream.

"The walls of your comfort zone are lovingly decorated with your lifelong collection of favorite excuses." Jen Sincero

Mine was, "I'm bad at math, so that's why I couldn't budget. That's why I'm not smart around money."

Separating your self-worth from your bank account.

Acting your way into right thinking and thinking your way into right acting.

Day one is the practicality of it. That's the acting your way into the right thinking.

And then, day two is my teaching the thinking your way into right acting.

And it's also that both your actions must support your goal, and your thoughts must support your goal. Both of those things have to be happening at the same time to achieve it.

That's the recipe for success.

Figuring out where did this shit come from?

Without both together, you end up stuck because you can come up with a million excuses for why you can't do the budgeting.

I didn't think it would work as well as it did, and I mean, countless other people have said the same.

And then my thinking shifted with other things in my life because if this is true, what else is true?

I can manage my money; what else can I manage? That I didn't think that I could.

Think about where your money's going now and where you want it to go in the future.

For example, when I started saving and investing, I put in $10 a week.

That is like nothing. But I knew that if I just budgeted for that, it would get easier to add to it. And add on to that. And until you save a hundred dollars a week to invest in things.

The other thing about investing is just sitting there making money off my money.

And the other thing that I help think it helps with in terms of anxiety is it gives you, if you know how much it takes to run you, you're NUT.

If you know how much you need in your NUT and roughly how much you spend on groceries and everything else, that's your unpredictable expenses.

Then you find your magic number, which we call the number that it truly takes every month that you need to make in income.

And so it also allows you to be empowered to choose how many shifts you need in a week in a month. That's on how much extra in gig work you need to make.

For freelancers, the money comes in different months differently, but it also allows you to be like, "Okay, I made an extra two grand working on this acting project. Now I have two grand. Well, what do I do with that money?"

This budget system teaches you what to do with that extra money when it comes in.

So then, in the months that you have less money coming in, you don't freak out. Especially right now because I know times are hard with the strikes.

But this allows you to feel like you have a sense of control, even if your work is unpredictable.

Your money situation can be really fucked up like ours was, and there is hope.

We do record this, and you can, like, you can watch the course as many times as you need to.

Anyone that takes the course can work privately with Rose Marie for $35 an hour. Because people get stuck, and I want them to feel like they can get unstuck fast.

Private Coaching with Rose Marie

Free Masterclass

Today, I will read you something that a listener sent me, so thank you, Margaret.

I absolutely love this, and I'm going to read it just as it was presented to me because I think it's so inspirational about not giving up and also just it's about tenacity.

"Hi, Peter. I ran across this post on Twitter and had to share some good points. Didn't know any of this about the film Rocky. In 1975, Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay for Rocky. He shopped the script to every producer and studio in Hollywood but was repeatedly rejected.

Eventually, one production company, Chartoff-Winkler Productions, expressed interest, but there was one condition…

They didn't want Stallone to play Rocky. They wanted a "more marketable actor" for the leading role.

In fact, they were so desperate for Stallone to *not* play Rocky that they kept offering him increasing large sums of money to go away.

"It went up to $360,000," Stallone said, "to go away to get off my lawn, boy."

Stallone didn't take the money for two reasons:

1) "I had learned to manage on very little money," Stallone said, "I had it down to a science. I really didn't need much to live on, but more than that…"

2) "There was something about the idea of unrealized dreams, Stallone said, "I knew that if I sold the script, even for $500,000, I knew that after the money was gone, I would've become very bitter if I never realized my dream."

Money Mastery for Actors

This course is just like what Stallone is talking about. It's really finding what your magic number is and what it takes to make that. Do that repeatedly so you're not living hand to mouth so that when oh, a strike happens, you are not panicking.

So you have money. The money you make today is actually for the future, not for today. You're not living that hand to mouth, and you are cognizant of what is going on with your money.

So that gave him the freedom to say, "You know what I'm, I'm good, how I am. I'm good. How I am."

He goes deeper, and he talks about that money. Money comes, money goes, money comes, money goes.

He said he'd be very bitter once the half a million dollars was gone because he would've sold out.

He would've sold out his dream. Think about it, $500,000 or the career that Sylvester Stallone has had today.

Tom Rothman, CEO of Sony, says, "Be fiscally responsible so you can be creatively reckless. "

The trick is to be fiscally responsible so you can be creatively reckless.

Hollywood is a ruthless business. If Rocky failed, that likely would've ended Sylvester Stallone's acting career.

But because he had his fiscal responsibilities down to a science, Stallone could make the reckless decision to turn down the money and gamble his career on Rocky.

And this is the thing; if you are not worried about your money, you can be so free.

Because you know you're taken care of. You have that safety net. Wouldn't you love to have that safety net?

Now let's talk about the other takeaway.

Stallone turned down the money because he feared the bitter person he would've become if he never went for his dream. This leads me to the core work question: Are you really pursuing your dream?

And if you are not really going for your dream every single day, why not?

Why aren't you going for it? What is standing in your way? Oh, so good.

The screenwriter, Brian Kopelman, talks about why he finally started writing after many years of putting it off.

"What I finally realized was that if I allowed these creative impulses to die, It would be like a real death, and like any form of death, it would be toxic, and this toxicity would ooze out of me onto everyone and everything."

The core work has been fully responsible for me going after what I want to do. It's the core work. It's the work on myself. It's the self-confidence it's for; it's the part of me knowing in and of myself I am enough when I create.

I can also do so freely because I'm fiscally responsible, and that is why I hammer time after time, after time, after time after time about core work in these podcasts, because that is the key to your success.

 So that you can say, "I am not gonna let my creative impulses die."

Okay. The final quote for you.

"If you don't take money, they can't tell you what to do. Kid. Money is the cheapest thing. Liberty, freedom is the most expensive." –Bill Cunningham.

If you didn't have fear, How would you go after your career? What would you do differently?

Sign up for The Weekly Adjustment (first month free).

 

This week's episode is all about doing the damn thing. Inspired by Jen Sincero's You Are a Badass, we explore how to move from wishful thinking into real, consistent action.

Because let's face it:

• Epiphanies are useless without execution.

• Self-help without follow-through is shelf-help.

• Trying to be an actor isn't the same as being one.

From Passive Habits to Active Action

Many actors fall into the trap of passive self-help habits. That looks like reading books, journaling, or attending seminars but never actually taking the uncomfortable, messy steps that move your career forward.

Here's the three-part shift:

1. Awareness – Notice your thoughts, excuses, and passive habits.

2. Acceptance – Own them without judgment.

3. Action – Act your way into right thinking and build your courage muscle.

Every day, ask yourself: Am I going to the gym… or am I really going to the gym?

Be in the 5%

Here's a sobering stat: only 5% of SAG-AFTRA members qualify for health insurance. And of all the people who take courses (in any field), only 5% ever implement what they learn.

We want you in that 5%. The ones who suit up, show up, and keep going. The ones who build resilience, embrace discomfort, and grow stronger by being brave.

Stop Waiting. Start Acting.

Waiting is the perfect recipe for self-sabotage. If you want a career, start now. Start messy. Start imperfect. But start.

At Acting Business Boot Camp, that's why we've built:

• The Weekly Accountability Group – so you don't just learn, you follow through.

• Monthly Classes with Mandy – so you keep sharpening your tools and confidence.

• The Weekly Adjustment Group – to help you build bravery into your daily life.

Because knowledge without action won't book you jobs. Action will.

Episode Takeaways

• Epiphanies without execution don't create change.

• Awareness + Acceptance + Action = Transformation.

• Success is about getting comfortable being uncomfortable.

• Build your courage muscle daily.

• Don't "try" to be an actor. Be an actor.

Resources and Links

• Book mentioned: You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero 

• Join us in the Weekly Accountability Group  or the Weekly Adjustment Group  to put this into practice.

Support the Podcast

If you're enjoying the Acting Business Boot Camp podcast, please leave us a 5-star review wherever you listen. It helps us reach more actors around the world who are ready to stop waiting and start doing the damn thing.

Today we're going to talk about a humbling subject: feelings and surrender.

It encourages us to suppress our egos just enough. If you can, think of that game of limbo to get under the bar.

Can you suppress your ego enough to get to the lesson that the universe is trying to teach you on the other side?

And I think that that is so interesting as an actor because I always feel like a character is teaching me, but for the character to teach me, I need to suppress who I am a little bit. See what they are saying, and so allowing that character to come to me instead of putting myself on that character.

The idea of that character allowing and suppressing that ego just enough so that that character can speak through you so that you can truly be a vessel for the character.

The Language Of Letting Go

"Surrendering is a highly personal and spiritual experience."

And I just mentioned that because I think that surrendering to the universe is, is a very personal thing.

Some people get on their knees and they pray. I love to light candles. Some people go for a walk, and I think it is really finding. That ability in you to let it go just a little bit to let go of yourself and be open to what the universe, the character, whatever is trying to tell you.

"Surrender is not something we can do in our heads. It is not something we can force or control by willpower. It is something we experience."

And when I surrender, I feel it inside. I also think that if you can connect it to an action like getting on your knees or going for a walk or whatever it is for you, it's very important that you find what is personal to you.

So much of the core work that I teach is about teaching you how to have a relationship with a power greater than yourself or the universe, or whatever you want to call it, your higher intelligence, that will, in turn help you to solve your problems,

But I also think this: surrendering takes practice.

Surrendering takes practice. It's not something that happens overnight. It gets better with practice, and then it is truly like a key to a door that you can put the key in and open that up.

The key to surrender, the key to willingness. They talk a lot about this in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is, I think, one of the most spiritual books ever written.

And they talk about this surrendering.

"Acceptance or surrender is not a tidy package. Often it is a package full of hard feelings, anger, rage, sadness, followed by release and relief. As we surrender, we experience our frustration and anger at God. Or the universe and at other people, at ourself and at life."

Because what happens when we surrender is that we are giving up our control, and our ego does not like that at all.

"Then we come to the core of the pain and the sadness. The heavy emotional burden inside that must come out before we can feel good."

And I'm just going to share my experience with this.

When I first started core work, I felt like I had a gallon of tears that needed to come out through my eyeballs, and I wasn't going to get through it until it reached empty. But am I glad I did it? The rewards have been incredible.

"Often these emotions are connected to healing and release at a deep level."

I notice that when I can truly surrender, so much energy is released, and it is that energy, that pent-up energy that you just heard released, that stands in the way of me receiving the good and the abundance. The universe is constantly trying to bring to me.

"Surrender sets the wheels in motion. Our fear and anxiety about the future are released when we surrender."

Because the reason why our fear and our anxiety about the future are released when we surrender is because we give up trying to control it and accept that our job is truly just to manage it.

"We are protected. We are guided. Good things have been planned. The next step is now being taken. Surrender is the process that allows us to move forward. If you are stuck, surrender is the answer. It is how the universe moves us forward. Trust in the rightness of timing and the freedom at the other end. As you struggle humanly, we are humans through this incredible spiritual experience."

If you need help, If you need help surrendering or feel stuck, I can help you. If money is an issue, we have a free month of core work coaching available for you with The Weekly Adjustment.

Get a Free Month of The Weekly Adjustment

Learn More About The Working Actor Road Map

About Juan Carlos:

Juan Carlos Diaz is an actor born and raised in New York City. He began acting at the age of six in various school plays and musicals while in private school.

While still in high school, he began working at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre under the direction of Miriam Colon Valle, which led to his first Equity production at the age of 17 at New Media Repertory Theatre, where he immediately became part of the children's theatre company there.  

Juan Carlos holds a BA in theatre from Bard College, where he studied under the tutelage of JoAnne Akalaitis and Liz Smith.  

His work can be seen in BULL, HALSTON, LAW & ORDER, LAW & ORDER SVU, The Last Thing He Wanted (with ANNE HATHAWAY), and many other TV shows and films.

I've always been a good listener so I can figure out the homework later and take notes.

I went for the audition, and then this went on for about two years. I would even get emails that he's pinned for this with just the name. And you start going, "Well, I haven't auditioned for that in months, if not a year. Okay, what's the name? Let me start doing homework." And then, eventually we got an offer, and it was a guest star spot.

It allowed me to understand what our mentors try to instill in us.

Sometimes it's waiting. I got a, "I can't let you go out on this, not this CoStar. I'm going to wait for something bigger for you."

I don't care if I'm one line or a scene. You're soaking in so much that you're going, "Oh, okay. What is that? That's the gaffer. What's he doing? Okay. Because I need to know this, right."

And be part of the collective. That show allowed me to connect with, it's one of its stars, Fred Rodriguez, and being a Latino.

It allowed me to say, "Hey man, I came out of college, and I didn't have hope, and I would see you on this show," I think he was on Six Feet Under. And I identified.

I thanked him because he is part of a seminal movement across the board in this disenfranchised world, and he helped open doors and be a part of his show in this capacity.

Not to mention, I have scenes with him.

Networking

You know, you'll run into a friend who you haven't done a thing with in a while, and then you, that might be a thing, or at least you're like, "Hey, let's stay in contact."

One of the things that you're bringing up is relationships.

It's finding those pockets of the right people.

And I think now I'm starting to understand networking way better, which is,  I don't have to go and do this whole formal, like a date. It's my friend who has a film. I want to support that. Oh, now I have seen four other films. I'm going to reach out to the festival, and I'm going to reach out to the directors and say, "Hey man, love that thing. Identify with that."

It's also about being genuine with it. In other words, if you see a director's movie and don't like it, that's not a director you'll reach out to.

Only reach out to the people who you really, really like.

Something that was taught to me very early in my career, and unfortunately, it's much easier to say than to do and implement, is it's one audition in a lifetime of auditions.

So you bombed an audition, honey; there will be 10,000 of these after this. You may not think so, but there will be.

The other thing that you said is that, when you were talking about the spokes of the wheel, you know, I think a lot, a lot of times, the actors think they have to be the whole wheel. You don't have to be the entire wheel; you just have to do your part well.

One more brilliant thing that you said is this idea that you're coming in to a casting director, to an agent, to a producer, to a writer, to a celebrity as peers.

You're not trying to get them to like you.

There is no us; we are figuring out this thing and bringing our own ingredients.

If you want to get better, you have to have those conversations either with somebody who sees it outside of you. And or with yourself.

Remain teachable.

Measuring your progress.

I allow myself somehow to get back to the work, and because I'm so, in a good way, obsessed with it, it's what allows me to feel 100% truly alive.

Watching movies and tv to all creativity to come.

Read a play.

Improv Class

I have a choice. I can get involved with the turmoil and, you know, continue to make it more miserable for others and for myself. Or I can stand for peace and reason and strength within myself.

It's really about keeping the focus on yourself during the chaotic times, especially when there's so much chaos around us right now.

The Language of Letting Go

"Letting go of chaos. No good work comes from unrest. Unrest, fear, anger, or sadness may motivate us. These feelings are sometimes intended to compel action. But our best work emerges after these feelings have been replaced by peace."

When I am too hot in my response or my reaction, I'm just getting into the problem and trying to control it.

A response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it. And really, what I'm talking about there is when I have given myself a cushion of peace.

Because I don't do my best thinking, I don't make my best choices when deeply embroiled in fear, anger, sadness, or some other huge emotion.

And again, what I talk about in the core work is working for you instead of working against you.

And I'm working against myself when I react because I'm hot, in flames, turned on by anger, fear, excitement, or any large emotion.

But when I give that cushion of peace, I'm working in tandem with the universe.

I light a candle before I coach, and I light a candle before I do a podcast. And I do that to create that cushion of peace, to invite the universe into something I'm going to do, or a situation that may be difficult because I'm reminding myself, I want the universe to be in charge of this, not me.

And that is how I can let go of chaos.

"We will not accomplish our task any sooner or any better by performing it out of a sense of urgency, fear, anger, or sadness."

Now my ego will say to that bullshit.

That is not thinking and acting and choosing my actions and thoughts with thought and intelligence, and with one of my favorite words, if not my most favorite word, wisdom.

Whenever I act impulsively, I am reacting and want to respond to my life. I don't want to react to it anymore.

Our reactions were given to us to save our lives.

Fear was given to us to save our lives, not to panic about things we're trying to control.

If you can understand how you are around these bigger emotions and be able to give yourself again that cushion of peace, wiser choices, choices with wisdom, can come out of that.

"Let go of unrest.

Let peace fill the void. We do not have to forfeit our power, our God-given personal power. Our universe-given personal power or our peace to do the work we are called upon to do today will give us all the power we need to do what we are meant to do when it is time."

And again, that goes back to that serenity prayer I've talked about so many times in our podcasts.

"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

Which is really asking for the wisdom to know the difference between what I can handle and what I'm trying to control.

It is my job to handle this day. It is not my job to control it.

"Let peace come first, then proceed. The task will get done naturally and on time."

So basically, what that's saying is allow yourself to stop and invite the universe in. Invite that cushion of peace in and then proceed and trust that it will get done.

Take the actions, and let go of the result.

I have found in my past, in my early actor years, that when. Situations like a strike or a difficult situation on a set would happen. I could really get in there with the emotions, but I don't think that was really ever helping anything.

My presence at a picket is enough. My chanting is enough. If I am involved in the board and with the strike committee, fantastic. But I cannot control the strike.

I can't; I can support it. I can be there for it. I can thank my fellow members for participating, but I don't need to get so heated up.

I need to stand up for what's right, but I can do that better if I let go of the chaos and insert that cushion of peace.

I will stand a greater chance of being listened to if it's actually essential that someone listen to me because I'm only one member in an incredible, incredible union.

 

Inspiration from Martha Graham.

Broaden your improv skills with Peggy Etra

I take pride in this podcast that I just let you see me for who I am, a flawed human being.

Cause that's what artists and characters are.

I try to use these little mistakes I make as teaching tools on how to be kinder to ourselves.

"I confess that I had a burning desire to be excellent but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me very quietly, there is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action.

And because there is only you. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. As for you, Agnes, you have so far used about one-third of your talent."

A burning desire to be excellent but no faith that I could be.

Today, I taught a class for my core work coaching group, The Weekly Adjustment.

And I was talking about how when we make mistakes, we are not responsible for our first thought, but we are responsible for our second.

The first time I tried it, I was like, "Ugh, you're never gonna get it."

"You're not doing it right. Oh, this is a waste."

But somehow, I was able to say to myself, "Hey, this is the first time you've done it. Just get through it. Just take the action, let go of the results and see what happens."

Then I was brave enough to try it again the second time, and the second time it was easier.

And I was like, oh, wait a minute. I can do this.

I can handle this.

And not only that, and this is how it ties into the quote, I noticed where I was weak and what I needed to do to get stronger, or in the words of Agnes de Mille, be excellent.

See, it's not in strengthening our strengths that necessarily make us excellent. It is strengthening our weaknesses that make us excellent.

Great artists dive into what is difficult and try and solve it. Great athletes find what muscles are weak and try to strengthen them to get a greater performance.

"Martha said to me very quietly, there is a vitality, a life force, and energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action.

And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique."

I want you to think about that. There is only one of you. There is only one of you.

I remember I was going through a very, very, very tough time many years ago. And I made a decision to make it through that tough time. And I said to myself at that time, "If there is just one person I can help for even one second, my going through this will have been worth it."

It was the universe saying you have a message someone desperately needs to hear. You are the only person who will be able to translate that message to that one person to save their day or their life, or their career or help them along in that difficult day.

Well, I'm here to tell you that you have that too, and that's why you have a responsibility to yourself and the universe to express yourself uniquely.

She goes on to say, "And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and it will be lost."

Think of how tragic that is. Think of if Picasso never painted; if Monet never painted, if Martha Graham never danced, it would be lost. If Vermeer never painted.

Suppose Rembrandt had never painted if Spielberg had never made movies. If Charlie Chaplin never got on the screen, it would be lost. The world would not have it.

We wouldn't have E.T.; we wouldn't have Girl with a Pearl Earring; we wouldn't have Rembrandt's self-portrait. We wouldn't have the Night Watch.

"It is not your business to determine how good it is, how valuable, or how it compares with other expressions."

And, what it's saying, is it's your job to create it is your responsibility as an artist to create it is not your job to judge.

When you get on a stage as an actor, it is your job to portray that character, their wants, and needs, and be in the moment with their situation.

It is the most important thing in that moment. It is not what the audience thinks of you. That is your ego.

However, it is your business to keep the channel open.

You are on one side, and the universe is on the other side of the tunnel, and in the middle of the tunnel is all this junk.

And what core work is about clearing that channel. That's all it is. It's about teaching you to have a relationship with the universe that, in turn, can solve all your problems and, in turn, can inspire you always if you are open.

Now here she says something that I actually disagree with. Oh my God, I disagree with Martha Graham.

Now this is how you know I'm confident because I can actually say that.

"you do not even have to believe in yourself or your work."

I'm sorry, I disagree. I believe you do need to believe in yourself, and I do believe you need to believe in your work.

I think that is a necessity. It also leads to a happier life, but you can choose. You can take what you like and leave the rest on that.

"You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you."

Amen. Hallelujah. Martha Graham, sing it loud. Yes. Yes. Such inspiration. Let it motivate you.

Keep the channel open. Keep the channel open.

And then she says to Agnes de Mille, "As for you, Agnes, you have so far used about one-third of your talent."

That's the bit that just kills me.

Can you imagine if I am only using one-third of my talent? What the hell am I doing with the other two-thirds?

Why am I blocking it? How can I clear it out? Because my talent serves.

My talent serves, and that's not being egotistical or anything because, to be quite honest, my talent doesn't come from me. My talent comes from the universe. I want to be a vessel for its talent.

Yeah. Shit, we don't have one strike going on. We now got two.

So, what are we going to do about it? Well, I think the first thing I'm just going to do is I'm just going to share with you my feelings about it.

I do think this strike is necessary. AI is terrifying for the actor, and I am so proud and honored to be a part of a union that recognizes that.

Having your image so that a company just can use it, however they want to use it is just unacceptable.

I don't think it's worth it.

So what do we do now?

Free Masterclass

The three pillars are the three things that I really think you want to focus on.

Two of them in particular right now.

One, you're acting training. This is not the time to slide.

This is the time to ensure you are still going to the gym.

This is the time to work out your actor body.

I have the Acting Business Bootcamp Strike Challenge that I gave all of my Weekly Accountability Group actors.

It's a monologue workout to keep you going as an actor.

I'm asking for you to get six monologues on tap. Okay? That means, just like you would pour a beer, you would pour this monologue.

So I'm asking for at least:

1. One contemporary comedic monologue
2. One contemporary dramatic monologue
3. One classical comedic monologue
4. One classical dramatic monologue
5. One Shakespearean comedic monologue
6. And one Shakespearean dramatic monologue

This is one thing that you can do for your acting career.

Another is reading the suggested books we recommend in our weekly newsletter.

You can do these things to keep you lubricated, to keep you going as an actor, to keep you motivated, and to keep your skills so that you are hireable.

The second pillar is the business skills.

Now, again, in that Masterclass, I talk about which business skills you need to be concentrating on.

And in this downtime, this is the absolute best time to get ready to go because, let me tell you, I can guarantee you two things.

One, these strikes will end.

This, too, shall pass.

 Two, I guarantee you this: when it happens, the floodgates will open.

So you want to be prepared not only as a warmed-up, ready-to-compete actor, but you want to have all of your materials speaking the "Language of the Agents and the Casting Directors."

So that leads me to the last pillar I want to talk to you about to work on while we have this quote-unquote break.

That would be the work on yourself. And right now, I'm doing a free month of coaching.

Free Month of Coaching

That is teaching you self-confidence and self-esteem.

This, too, shall pass.

Everything is going to be all right, but let's use this time to get ready and prepare for those damn floodgates to open.

Peggy's Improv Class

I'm just going to talk about scarcity.  

What is scarcity thinking?  

It's not enough. There's not enough. 

There isn't enough work out there.  

There isn't any work out there.  

Jealousy is a type of scarcity thinking because it is not acknowledging that there is enough for everyone.  

And this kind of thinking as an actor really only hurts you. 

The phrase is, you take the poison and wait for somebody else to die.  

And, you know, it's the same thing with scarcity thinking.  

First of all, it's not true. Scarcity thinking is based in your ego thought. It's not based in universal thought. And I always talk about kind of like turning your internal dial to universe as opposed to ego.  

The thing about me and my ego is that I know my ego.  

Even though you think by the word ego, it would want everything good for me. I have learned over many years of studying this work and practicing it that it's actually quite the opposite.  

If I need to choose between what the universe wants for me and what Peter wants, I'm going to choose the universe because I know that is the wider choice. 

My ego comes from a very finite amount of thought and intelligence, and wisdom.  

The universe comes from infinite wisdom, infinite abundance, infinite beauty, infinite possibilities, and infinite wisdom.  

So when it comes to something put in my face, like a writer strike and a potential actor strike. 

Because of that, because you know what I see as the quote-unquote reality, I must understand what it means. 

Take care of myself in this plane, but also remind myself to tune my thoughts into the infinite abundance of the universe.  

I'm not going to be destitute. I'm not going to be homeless. None of these things are going to happen. I won't lose all credibility in my business and the reputation I've built for over 30 years. 

None of that is going to happen. 

Strikes are survivable, and we can all manage what is happening in our industry today. We can manage it.  

We can't control it. We can't control it. It is far beyond us as an individual for us to control these strikes, the existing one and the potential one.  

But what I can do, what I can do is remind myself not to act out of scarcity. 

But tune my dial in to the energy of the universe, to the infinite abundance, to the infinite possibilities, to the infinite beauty and expansion, and again, the abundance of the universe.  

And use this time to create, use this time to reflect. Because isn't that better than worrying about something you don't have any control over?  

Recalibrating you to Truth with a capital T. 

Free Masterclass

Today we are going to talk about celebrating

The Language of Letting Go

"Take time to celebrate."

Now the funny thing is that I rarely take time to celebrate, and I need to keep doing it more and more and more because it is in the times of celebration, and it's in our resting times that we are getting prepared to do and accomplish more.

But it's so important to reward ourselves. It's one of the things I talk about in time management to reward ourselves for all our hard work.

"Celebrate your successes, your growth, your accomplishments. Celebrate you. And who you are because through celebration, we are truly loving the self. We are truly celebrating who we are."

And isn't that what we are putting out to the business? We want to put out, "Hey, I've got this great product. It's me!"

I mean, isn't that what it's all about? It's show business. Let me show you me.

It's important to have joy.

"For too long, we have been too hard on ourselves. Others have spilled negative energy, attitudes, beliefs, and pain on you."

 And guess what? It had nothing to do with you.

"All along, you have always been a gift to yourself and the universe."

We teach people how to treat us.

I was working with a private client today, and she was talking to me about how she'd been really doing this work with me and how she suddenly didn't feel like she had a lot of friends.

And I said, you know what? That's kind of part of the process.

And it is odd because as you get healthier, the unhealthy people in your life do kind of seem to drift off.

And there can be that period of loneliness, but it's in that gap that we are being prepared for healthier people to come into our lives.

One of my biggest universe moments or god moments, whatever the heck you want to call it, moments happened on my 25th birthday.

I had just started really delving into this work, and I spent my birthday alone.

I told myself, well, I'm going to do something I always wanted to do. And I took myself to the New York Aquarium. And there was an exhibit of Beluga Whales.

I have always loved whales. I was always so into whales when I was a little girl, and I went to the back of the exhibit, and there was this small porthole. And I walked up to the porthole, and this whale came by me. This beluga whale came by me, and then it came, swam around the tank, and came up the second time and pressed its eye against the window of this little porthole so that me and the whale were looking at each other.

Sometimes when we celebrate who we are, there are people in our lives who don't want to celebrate us with us, and there can be that lag in between.

And for me, that day, my best friend was that whale. And I will never, ever, ever forget that moment. And it stayed with me for a long time.

My birth on that day with kind of the most unexpected creature I could have imagined.

"You are a child of God. You are beautiful. You are a delight. You are a joy. You do not have to try harder. You do not have to be better. You do not have to be perfect or be anything. Anything that you are not.

Your beauty is in you just as you are in each moment. It's time to celebrate that when you have a success when you accomplish something, enjoy it. Pause, reflect, rejoice. Too long you have a listen to the admonishments. Not to feel good about what you have done, lest you travel downward, downward to the road of arrogance.

You're not arrogant; you're just celebrating you. Celebration is a high form of praise, of gratitude to the universe for the beauty of its creation. To enjoy and celebrate the good does not mean it will be taken from you."

 Oh my God, I love that sentence so much because I always thought, well, if I get too excited, then it means it's going to go away.

That's such fucking bullshit.

"To celebrate is to delight in the gift to show gratitude. Celebrate your relationships, celebrate the lessons from the past, and the love and the warmth that is there today, even if it is you giving it to you. Enjoy the beauty of others and their connection to you.

Celebrate all that is in your life. Celebrate all that is good and celebrate you."

Be your own best friend. Take yourself out to somewhere you want to be you and only you and celebrate it.

Okay, now what? We graduated, and there's a fucking writer's strike, and a pending actors strike. Wait, this is not what I showed up for.  

I've been a member of SAG AFTRA for over 30 years and a working actress for over 30 years. 

And let me tell you something, I've been through a lot of strikes, and you know what the greatest thing about them is? They end.  

There is a lot you can do right now, and that's getting ready.  

The number one thing I recommend to actors getting out of drama school is learning "the Language of the Agents and the Casting Directors."

If you think you learned it in drama school, I am here to tell you that, no, you did not. Chances are that you did not learn what the industry was like from the agents and the casting director's points of view. 

Some of the things to know, though, is that yes, you are the newbies on the block, and you are fresh meat. Everybody's all excited about you, but this is the thing you need to know is there have been thousands of you beforehand, and the more you can learn to be professional, and what I mean by that is to not waste an agent and a casting director's time. 

So it is best to keep your ears open and listen to what industry professionals are saying. 

As a casting director, the number one thing I cannot stand is actors who waste my time.  

And one of the ways they waste my time is if I'm in the middle of casting and I want to audition you, I need you to already know some of the things that I talk about in that masterclass because I don't have time to train you.  

You also understand that if somebody goes out of their way to give you advice, listen to it.  

That's why when people reach out to me over social media, if they make some kind of a blunder, I actually say to them, "Hey, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not going to take your submission seriously because you did this or that or the other thing.  

A lot of people call me Pamela. My name is Peter. A lot of people say, dear Peter and Pamela, well, you obviously haven't done your research on me. 

And if you are looking for me to hire you on a job, I would hope that you would know what to call me.  

And I know that sounds like a really silly thing, but that's just kind of that immediately tells me that you haven't even done one ounce of a bit of research on me. You've got Google, the internet, do your research. 

The other thing that I would say is that although you may have been told how special you were in drama school, you are entering a whole new realm here.  

There are lots of special people here, and there are lots of really talented actors here.  

One of the pieces of advice that I wish somebody had given me many years ago was, don't ever, ever, ever underestimate how good you need to be. 

This means keep up your training and keep doing your warmups. 

Keep practicing your voice. Keep going to dance classes, keep going to movement classes. Keep going to acting classes.  

Finally, I want to talk to you about core work. 

That's the work on yourself, and that's the hardest thing because when you are early in your career, you can be given phenomenal opportunities.  

I was given some, and I'm going, to be honest with you, I blew it. I auditioned for two films. 

I'll talk about the Jerry Lee Lewis film Great Balls of Fire with Dennis Quaid, and Winona Rider got the part I also auditioned for. For Say Anything, I auditioned for the Lily Taylor role in that. 

First of all, I should mention I was very young. I was still a minor actually, when I auditioned, and this was the thing, I didn't have the confidence. I didn't believe that I was talented enough. I didn't believe I was good enough. As even a human being, I don't even think I got a call back for that one, and that's okay. 

I wish I'd had the core work and the work on myself at even that young age because what I didn't understand was that I needed to work for me when all I was doing was working against me.  

I remember going into the audition and giving away the part to every other actress in that room. 

I remember being scared to meet this big casting director when I felt so small. There are so many things I wish I had worked on as a young actor, but more than any of them, it's core work.  

I let my ego get in the way of giving a great audition. I was so right for that part. I could have kicked some serious ass, but my focus was in the wrong place.  

Stop working against yourself. Start working for yourself. You can do this. You can do this, and although I understand you are coming to this industry in one heck of an interesting time period with AI and strikes and so much going on. 

The fact of the matter is if you work for you instead of against you, you can do it.  

Become a damn good actor. Be good at your job. That's what we, the casting director, are hiring you for.  

Know "the Language of the Agents and the Casting Directors," I can help you with that in the Working Actor Road Map. 

You Can Heal Your Life

Letting the Past Hold You Back.

"Many people come to me and say they cannot enjoy today because of something that happened in the past.

Because they did not do something or do it in a certain way in the past, they cannot live a full life today. Because they no longer have something they had in the past they cannot enjoy today. Because they were hurt in the past, they will not accept love now. Because something unpleasant happened when they did something once, they are sure it will happen again today. Because they once did something that they are sorry for, they are sure there are bad people around them forever. Because once someone did something to them, it is now all that other person's fault their life is not where they want it to be today. Because they became angry over a situation in the past, they will hold on to that self, self-righteousness. Because of some very old experience where they were treated badly, they will never forgive and forget."

Ways that we use our past as an excuse.

Forgiving is not forgetting; it's letting go of the hurt.

When you are so angry at your past or at someone in your past, it's like you are taking the poison and expecting them to die.

Not even the universe can change the past.

If something happened to you in your past, it is important that you look back but don't stare. It is important that you trace it, face it, and erase it.

Let's talk about an audition that was botched up or a meeting that was botched up, or you were late, so you didn't get to do something in your career.

Always keep in mind that you are doing the very best you can, if you could have done better than you would've.

 If you say, "Well, I could do it better now, you're probably right."

Letting the past hold you back is working against you instead of for you.

As an actor, this business is so darn hard. Why are you going to make it harder for yourself?

You don't deserve that. You deserve the very best the universe has to offer. Now it's time to accept that, and we accept that by starting to let go of our past.

Let me focus on today on the present so that I may create a better future for myself, a future that works for me instead of against me.

Because somebody else hurt, you doesn't mean you need to keep punishing yourself for that hurt.

It all comes down to self-love.

One day I realized this is the only person I can be. So let's have a love affair with ourselves.

Just because something happens to you once doesn't mean it will happen to you again.

I now look at challenges in my life as opportunities to grow stronger and to show myself that I am more capable, stronger, and smarter than I ever thought.

I think everyone deserves to be forgiven.

Forgiving ourselves is sometimes the hardest thing to do.

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

Forgiving is not forgetting. It's hanging onto the hurt, and this is the thing. If you're hanging onto the hurt, the only person you're hurting is you.

The past is over and done with and cannot be changed.

This is the only moment we can experience, even when we lament about the past. We are experiencing our memory of it in this moment and losing the real experience of this moment in the process.

If you have one foot in the past and one foot in the future, you're pissing on the present.

If there is something that you want to let go of. Write it down on a piece of paper and put it in a box. And then, in a month from now, look at it and see if you have let go of it just a little bit.

And in the process, be as loving to yourself, as good to yourself, and as kind to yourself as you possibly can.

Because I'm in your corner.

I genuinely am in your corner to make your life and career move forward instead of staying stuck in the past.

Learn about Wendy's Class

About Wendy:

Wendy Allnutt trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She held the post of Head of Movement at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for 25 years and is a founder member of L'Oltrarno, Acting School in Florence. Other teaching credits include Colorado College USA, Conservatoire Stratford Ontario, Canada, Penn State summer schools, Laboratorio Internationale Teatro Degli Astrussi in Montalcino/St Mineato, l'Accademia SilviovD'Amico, Rome, LAMDA, Colby London Programme, BESG, and BADA.

Movement Director: Sky TV's Fungus the Bogeyman (2016), BBC's Walking with Cavemen, and The Iceman Murderer. Wendy has been the Master of Movement at Shakespeare's Globe 1st season and recently Henry V1 parts 1, 2, and 3. Revival choreographer for Welsh National Opera's Magic Flute (Out of Joint / RNT) She Stoops to Conquer and A Laughing Matter, Romeo, and Juliet & Private Lives (Mercury) Brothers Karamazov, Maybe and Private Lives (Manchester Royal Exchange) India Song (Clywd), Goliath, Voyage in The Dark, and A Wedding Story (Sphinx).

Bad Habits

Slumping

Animals into people

Being in your body as an actor

Just standing in the space. It takes quite a lot of understanding where your weight is in the space.

Do you lean forward, which gives maybe an air of anxiety or enthusiasm? I would hate to say that if you stand in a certain way, it is a certain thing. Right. But we do read bodies.

I work on trying to find a neutrality

Neutral plus, so that your body is relaxed in line and ready to go.

Your body and your voice, and your everything are ready to go. That's why you see so many British actors that you think are mind-blowing because they're ready.

Musicians train every day. The actors don't, and if you're lucky enough, you need to be ready to play Hamlet now.

Not in five weeks when you've done the work. No. Now. Yeah. And I think actors are a bit lazy about that.

Are you keeping up with your instrument?

It's about finding your inner self, your inner balance, and how your body works.

It's a tough old business. It's not a nice game to play.

We mustn't do mindless movement.

Maybe you should challenge yourself on the treadmill, run towards something, or somebody's chasing you. It alters the way you run on the treadmill.

I love it because it's talking about being conscious in your movement.

I think that if we can apply a little bit of thought to why we do something about finding the weight in a movement.

We have to keep the mind alive. There are so many things that block the mind off.

You're going to be exploring conscious movement, that one to warm up the body, but also that can be used in learning what the conscious movement of your characters would be.

I think you have to start with yourself. And discover maybe that your rib cage is very tight and that perhaps you can find a way to make it move a bit more. And also, if you change the thought, the quality of the movement changes.

So again, if I reach up and I want to hail someone over there, it's a different kind of reach.

That's what interests me about movement. How we move and why we move rather than just, it's an exercise.

So that is actually if you are going to play an old person just for argument's sake. Why is their body decreed? What is it about their body? What are they? What are they working against?

I mean, fears, for instance, in the Cherry Orchard. What is his body like? Is it just arthritis? What is it that makes his movements? And if you know the why and the how, then it's easier to inhabit the body of fears.

To be bringing questions to you.

The language changes the body.

A physical imagination.

Just try it. And try not to judge.

Variation is what's interesting. It's not about being a clone.

Okay actors, here it is—your end-of-summer pep talk. I don't know how we got here so fast, but summer's basically over and it's time to stop stalling. Time to get your act together.

In this episode, I'm giving it to you straight. Yes, I even drop a few swear words, because honestly, sometimes that's what it takes to shake things up. I'll share the story of Bowie the cat (our very cautious little housemate) and how it perfectly connects to where so many of you are stuck in your careers. The question is: are you going to stay scared Bowie… or step up and be brave Bowie?

And I'm not just talking theory here. I'm breaking down the exact things that matter most right now: your resume, your headshots, your reels, your website, and the way you correspond with agents and casting directors. These are the details that decide whether we keep looking at you—or hit delete in under three seconds.

What You'll Take Away

• Why being "brave Bowie" matters more than you think

• The three pillars of Acting Business Boot Camp: training, business skills, and mindset work

• How to make your resume speak the "Language of Agents and Casting Directors"

• What your headshots and reels are really saying about you

• Why your emails to agents and CDs often get ignored (and how to fix it)

• The one website mistake that can literally cost you a job

• Why being 98% committed isn't enough—and how going all in changes everything

My Challenge to You

If you're serious about becoming a working actor, you don't have to do this alone. That's what I built Acting Business Boot Camp for: to give you structure, tools, and support from someone who knows this industry inside and out.

So here's my offer: book a free 15-minute consultation with me. Let's see where you're stuck, what's holding you back, and how to get your act together once and for all.

If you've worked with me before and feel like you need a reset, click the link in the show notes and let's reconnect. If this is your first step, perfect. Let's get started.

Ready? Let's Do This

Click the link in the show notes to grab your free consultation.

Because you don't want to spend the next season of your career like scared Bowie, hiding in the corner. You want to be the one who finally steps out, explores the whole house, and discovers just how good it feels to be brave.

About Me

I'm Peter Pamela Rose, a casting director and certified life and career coach. Through Acting Business Boot Camp, I help actors cut through the noise, build confidence, and create careers that actually work. Every week, I share real tools, mindset coaching, and industry insights to get you from feeling stuck to becoming a working actor.

👉 Click here to schedule your free 15-minute session.

Free month of The Weekly Adjustment Coaching Group

The Language of Letting Go

"It is important to identify what we want and what we need, but where does this concept leave us? Well, generally, what it leaves us with is a large but clearly identified package of currently unmet wants and needs, but we've taken the risk to stop denying and to start accepting what we want and need.

But the problem is now that the want or the need hangs there unmet. This can be frustrating. Painful, annoying, and sometimes obsession producing."

After identifying our needs, there is a next step in getting our wants and needs met. The next step is letting go of our wants and needs after we have painstakingly identified what they are and the steps to achieve them.

We let go. We give them up on a mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical level. It's not always easy to get to this place, but this is usually where we need to go."

I'm not talking here about giving up as an actor and giving up your dream.

What I am talking about is giving up the obsession, giving up the frustration, and giving up the pain, giving up the annoyance.

Because how often have I denied a want or a need? Then I went through the steps to identify my needs, only to become even more annoyed, frustrated, and challenged because I didn't have what I want and didn't know how to get it.

If I embark on a plan to control or influence getting that want or need met, I usually make things worse.

"Searching, trying to control the process doesn't work. I must, and I have learned to my dismay, need to let go."

This is very different from getting a practical plan of action, taking the steps, aligning the thoughts, and then letting go.

"Visiting our own head is like visiting a bad neighborhood because it's a place that works against us instead of for us."

I'm going to take these actions, let go of the results, and produce amazing results.

The more I hope and try to get it, the more frustrated I feel because I'm not getting it.

We often find that we really actually can have what we want and need or even something better. But sometimes, letting go is part of it.

Letting go of that obsession, of that frustration, of that annoyance, of that pain.

Keeping at it as an actor.

For me, that means continuing to practice healthy habits as an actor, meaning a devotion to training, business skills, to core work, which is the work on yourself. 

We need to work on these things with diligence, effort, and repeated practice.

But every time we go just a little bit out of our comfort zone, that's where we get stronger, and that's where our new boundaries end. 

We can practice our acting training, do business skills, and work on ourselves even when we don't quote-unquote feel like it.

And again, I would say especially then, because if we don't feel we are worth it and we do it anyway, we are acting our way into right thinking and sending a very powerful message to not only to ourselves, but to the universe as well.  

We can act as if it is worth it. We can act as if we are worth it, but we need to do it and do it, and do it, and do it, and do it day after day, year after year. 

It's unreasonable to expect this a hundred percent commitment to your life and your career.  

In fact, I dare say that success will come when you are ready. So that is why the core work is so important.  

So when that opportunity comes, you know, in and of yourself, that you are enough.  

We need to use our minds to govern our brains. 

And especially using your mind to govern your brain when you find yourself getting tired, stressed, frustrated, et cetera, because that is when you will revert back to old ways of thinking and behaving that will work against you instead of for you. Getting you to work for you instead of against you so you can keep at it. 

Building solid relationships in this industry. Understanding and learning how you tick and operate takes time. It takes self-love, it takes practice, and it takes time, and life experience.  

It takes keeping at it over and over again. 

One of the things my mom always said to me when I was a little girl and, um, things wouldn't go my way. She'd say, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.  

And you know when you do that over and over and over again, and just when you think you've got it, guess what you find out. You have more to learn. 

But that's the beauty. That's the beauty of life. That's the beauty of the process of expansion. Keep training as an actor. Keep sharpening your business skills. Keep deepening your core work and learning more about yourself. Keep at it even when you don't feel like it.  

Just keep at it. 

 

Today I'm going to talk about making it happen or if you're me forcing it to happen.

The Language of Letting Go.

"Stop trying so hard to make it happen.

Stop doing so much. If doing so much is wearing you out or not achieving the desired results, stop thinking so much and so hard about it.

Stop worrying so much about it. Stop trying to force, manipulate, coerce, or make it happen."

 Now around an acting career, it feels like so much is out of our control, so I get it. The actor mentality is, well, I'm going to make it happen. But again, it's out of our control.

"Stop doing so much if doing so much is wearing you out or not achieving the desired results."

Recording a podcast, I need number eight, nine, and ten energy, and I was operating at four, so it wasn't working.

Also, there's obsession. Oh, obsession. You know, one of the things that I used to suffer terribly from was that my thinking was unbearable because I would just obsess about wanting to be a working actor or a famous actor, or I want this, I want that.

How am I going to make this happen? It was so toxic in my own brain.

Stop trying to force. To manipulate.

My thinking was crazy. So I would do, I would do, do, do, and force, force, force, even though it wouldn't get me the desired result.

I would think, think, think, trying to get the universe to get me what I wanted.

And I'm not talking about positive affirmations here. I'm talking about worrying, thinking, obsessive thinking, and stinking thinking. And all of this was about trying to make something happen instead of stopping, taking a step back, observing, asking myself if it was healthy for me or unhealthy for me to do this, and then maybe responding.

That is the anecdote to this. That is the way to change things around, and I do this at Acting Business Bootcamp by ensuring you're getting the best training, the best business skills, and learning how to manage this.

The obsessive doing and the obsessive thinking. Making things happen is controlling.

We can take positive action to help things happen, that's more of a response, and we can do our part, which, again, is a response, but many of us do much more than our part.

We overstep the boundaries from caring and doing our part into controlling or overcare taking or over coercing our careers. And this is the thing, controlling is self-defeating.

It doesn't work by overextending ourselves to make something happen. We may actually be stopping it from happening.

Let that land.

Wow. I wish I could return to that 18 or 19-year-old girl and teach her the lesson of let.

Not even God can change the past, and I can only coach you and teach you from the lessons I've learned because I know people, and I can see when I get myself into it that it just doesn't work.

It's painful to understand that when you have a goal, you need to align your thoughts and then align your actions in positive, affirmative, and effective ways.

You're gonna have to do a lot of un uncomfy things to get successful.

"Do your part. In relaxed, peaceful harmony with the universe. Then let it go. Just let it go. Force yourself to let it go. If necessary, act as if you're letting it go. Put as much energy into letting go and relaxing as you have into trying to control you will get much better results."

Learn to let things happen because that's what they'll do anyway. Learn to let things happen because that's what's gonna happen anyway.

And while we're waiting around to see what happens, we will be happier, and so will the people around us.

I'll be happier and have more energy to do the things that will be effective for my career and life instead of ineffective. So instead of worrying about whether agent x, y, or z will call that, I focus on something that will actually be effective, like reading a play or taking a class.

Think of that energy instead of staying home and worrying or staying home and forcing.

Let it happen. Take the steps, and then let it happen.

David's Advanced Commercial Class

About David:

DAVID CADY is currently a professor of commercial and musical theatre performance at AMDA, NYU, and Pace University.

Prior, he was a casting director for Donna DeSeta Casting for close to 30 years.

In addition to countless commercials, his casting credits include the original Dirty Dancing, Disney's Enchanted, Michael John LaChiusa's The Petrified Prince for the Public Theater, and the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's Whistle Down the      Wind, directed by Harold Prince.  

He was an original cast member of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along, and can be seen in Lonny Price's film about the experience, The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened.

Most of the auditions are self-tapes. 

When do you make a daring choice? 

The times when I didn't ask for permission to be Peter Pamela Rose. Those were the times I got the callback or maybe booked the job.  

Really understanding how to interpret that script.  

What is your relationship to the product? 

When you have a theatrical text, it's your job to become the person on the page. And when you have a commercial text, it's your job to make the person on the page you.  

It's odd because even though you are filming something, you are capturing a live performance.  

It must still have that sense of spontaneity, that alive quality if something is 95%. Great. Or let's even say 90% great. You don't throw it out because 10% is not exactly what you would want it to be.  

How many takes do you do?  

What am I trying to achieve here? 

They have to have performance energy, and they have to have performance commitment.  

It's hard to develop a healthy perspective as to what they are looking for.

Ask yourself: What am I looking for when I watch myself tapes?  

Go to an audition with the, "I can't wait to show you what I've got. Like I can't wait to show you what I have." 

And I think in some ways if you can bottle that excitement in your self-tape, and I think there's a real trick there. 

Dropping off the gift of your talent. 

Are you someone who has strong ideas about what this performance looks like? Are you someone who makes choices? Are you someone who makes interesting choices? Are you someone who does something that's out of the box that gets their attention, whether it's something that ever ends up in the commercial or not? 

It's a sense of self, and it's a freedom, and it's a joy in, in doing this that just, that comes through.  

There isn't a tentativeness. 

It's not your job to tell the audience how they felt about your performance. 

I would always love it when an actor screwed something up or said something that wasn't in the script. And I would say to them, do you know that that happened? And they'd say, oh, really? 

Improv in Commercials is different. 

You want to be accessible to yourself. 

How to handle one-liners. 

Improv Class with Peggy   ABOUT PEGGY:  

For over 40 years, Peggy has studied and performed Improv with The Groundings, Gross National Product, National Lampoon Players, TheatreSports, and Improvatorium.

She is a current performing member of Puppet Up! (Adult Improv Puppet Show produced by The Jim Henson Company).

She can be seen in The Barbarian and The Troll (series regular), Seinfeld, Boston Legal, Crash and Bernstein, The Last Champion, Earth to Ned, among others...

She studied at San Francisco State University, Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, American Conservatory Theatre, and holds a degree in Theatre. 

She taught short form at Improvatorium.

It's also great for learning communication skills in your day-to-day time. Listening in your day-to-day.  

The power of Yes and. 

Let's try that again, but this time with a yes, try with a yes.  

The Who, the What, and the Where. 

Listening is a skill, and it's a muscle.  

Emotional response as another tool.  

Improv works onstage, it works in auditions, and it works in life. 

So now what?

"Few situations, no matter how greatly they appear to demand it, can be bettered by going berserk."

It's important to put all of this into perspective.

This is survivable. It's going to be survivable. Is it tough? Is it a pain in the neck? Does it potentially throw off some of our career plans? Does it maybe stop some stuff that we hoped would go forward and now isn't because of the strike?

Absolutely.

Is it survivable? Is it manageable? The answer is yes, it is.

Us freaking out about it doesn't do us any good. What I would say is, Let's try and move into accepting it.

I need to do what I can to be proactive in supporting the writers and keep the focus on myself.

I need to take care of myself, my finances, my family, and especially my sanity.

So let's look at how we deal with panic and uncertainty during this time.

"Don't panic. If panic strikes, we do not have to allow it to control our behaviors."

I don't have to let this strike control my behavior.

"Behaviors controlled by panic tend to be self-defeating. No matter what the situation or circumstance, panic is usually not a good foundation. No matter what the circumstance or the situation, we usually have at least a moment to breathe deeply and restore ourselves to serenity and peace."

Strikes can be marathons, not sprints.

If we panic and we don't look at this by taking that step back and observing, what happens is that we lose our path.

Breathe deeply, and let peace flow through our body and mind from our source, the power that makes the sunshine, the energy that knows best. Our higher selves shall supply the necessary resources.

Let's stick together. Let's take care of each other. And the best way to do that is to take care of ourselves.

Ken Rea's Outstanding Actor Workshop

Well, this week, I turn another year older.

In the 30-plus years, I've been in this industry, I've watched it change dramatically.

Age is wisdom

Age is an advantage

Aging is beautiful

Aging is a privilege

"The walls of your comfort zone are lovingly decorated with your lifelong collection of favorite excuses." -Jen Sincero

I was using age as an excuse.

When you see what you're weak at, you don't want to shy away from it. You want to lean into it. You want to practice it more. You want to get stronger and better and master it.

I've learned so much through getting older.

They are looking for everything. They just want real.

Start saying to yourself. "Why not me? Why not now?"

What is stopping me? What is stopping me because if it's age or any other lifelong collection of excuses, then keep in mind you're the one who's making those excuses, and you can just as easily choose to overcome them.

Ken Rea's Outstanding Actor Workshop

Wendy Alnutt Class

Last week I talked about the potential writer's strike, and I also talked about control.

This is a business of practicing self-control.

But what I think is far healthier is really learning how to keep the focus on ourselves. 

The Language of Letting Go

"Control. Many of us have been trying to keep the whole world in orbit with sheer and forceful application of mental energy. What happens if we let go? If we stop trying to keep the world orbiting and just let it whirl? It'll keep right on whirling. It'll keep right on whirling. It'll stay right on track with no help from us. And we'll be free and relaxed enough to enjoy our place in it." 

"Control is an illusion. Especially the kind of control we've been trying to exert on our acting career."

Your exercise for this week is to list out what are the things that I am trying to control in my acting career that will happen whether I try to control them or not.

Writing things down. And seeing them with our own eyes. Teaches us more wisdom. To be smarter to access our higher knowledge. 

How many times did I think, "Oh my God, am I going to get a callback for that?" How many times have I thought, "Oh my God, am I going to get that role?" How many times have I thought those kinds of things? Did it affect the outcome? Of course, it didn't. All it did was it drove me crazy at that moment when I could have been enjoying the day when I could have been present.

When I could have been listening to higher knowledge and maybe hearing about guidance for something else that was going to come through for me.

How much of my life do I miss? Because I'm trying to control the uncontrollable. 

"Whatever we try to control does have control over us and our life. I have given this control to many things and people in my life. I have never gotten the results I wanted from controlling or trying to control other people. What I received from my efforts is an unmanageable life, and I will add an unmanageable mind, whether it's whether that unmanaged ability was inside of me or in external events. It just makes everyone crazy. I trade a life where I have tried to control to receive something better. And that thing that I receive by giving up control is a life that is manageable."

A manageable mind is something that needs to be earned. And the only person we can earn it from is ourselves.

Ken Rea's Outstanding Actor Class

So people have been asking me about the writer's strike.

Keep the focus on yourself.

But what can you do? Use this opportunity to let go of drama.

There's a great Michael Jordan quote, "Why would I worry about a shot that I haven't even taken yet?"

Everybody is worried about something that hasn't even happened yet.

Now let's talk about how that affects us as a human being.

We're going to talk about that in a moment. But I just want to talk about this subject and my own experience with worrying about a bunch of stuff that I cannot even control. What it does is it uses up my energy. 

When I am worried about something that is truly probably, if you think about it, none of my business.

If I am trying to get somebody to do something, I am out of myself and into control.

So when it comes to this "potential writer's strike," I again urge you to think about keeping the focus on myself, and taking care of myself pays enormous dividends. 

Simple Exercise:

• I want you to make two columns.
• What can I control, and what can't I control.
• And the stuff that you can't control, I want you to just try and put it aside.
• I want you to look at the column where you can control
• Now in that column can be, and this is what I said I would address, preparing if there is a strike.

So what would you need to do if it's going to affect your income?

What would be the things that you could do to make sure that you are taking care of yourself financially?

Is there stuff you need to start thinking about cutting back?

Are there other jobs that are not in the industry that you could start to push a little bit or put a potential plan that, if you need to pull the trigger on it, you've got it?

Is this a time for you to start looking at your acting career as a whole and looking and seeing, are all of your material speaking that "Language of the Agents and the Casting Directors" that I've talked about so many times? 

I want you to look at the things that you can control in your life.

Maybe it's you want to start looking at eating better. Maybe it's that you want to start looking at your movement as an actor or your voice work as an actor, or your training as an actor.

And if this happens, what can you do to prepare yourself financially?

See, that's all keeping the focus on yourself. That's all doing things that you can control.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Ken Rea's Outstanding Actor Workshop

Ken's Theater Troupe

So we wanted to do something that challenged that, that could excite and inspire young audiences and people, people who didn't go to the theater.

There was such an amazing optimism, upbeat, warm energy. And we just got on and did it.

Is it possible to have that attitude again in the world as it is now?

I'm not looking to change the world anymore, but if I can help someone else change themselves, they will then be able to help change other people.

Our first duty is to ourselves.

What can I put back to the planet as a kind of legacy for being on this earth?

Actors have a very important job to do right now in that by telling stories that are powerful and that are going to uplift people and give people hope and inspiration that can hopefully make the world better and better. 

How do you step up to that next level?

How do you inspire people to find the courage to get up to that next level?

So the first thing is to create an environment in which you can be playful in a generous way, generous, playful with each other, making sure your partner enjoys playing with you.

And that takes away some of the fear.

And how do I set that up? Often by saying to people, You don't have to do your best. You know, you don't be afraid of getting it wrong.

You don't have to impress me. You don't have to impress each other right here to explore, to find out things.

Your great strength as an American actor is your sense of naturalism.

Until you can remove the fear in the room, good work can't happen.

You have to love the audience. It's an act of love being on stage or on screen. You're giving something to the audience. 

The Structure of the Workshop.

When I Froze on "Three Takes"

I'll be honest, the first time a casting director asked me for three takes in the same vibe, my brain short-circuited. The first one felt okay. The second? I made it louder. The third? I whispered and hoped for divine intervention.

Sound familiar? If you've been there, you're not alone. No one really teaches us how to do this. We just… guess.

But over the years, I've learned that "three takes" doesn't have to be torture. It's actually an opportunity to show range, subtlety, and intention — if you know where to focus.

My Five Go-To Tools for Variety

Here's what I rely on:

1. Change the environment. Close your eyes and imagine where you are. A noisy coffee shop shifts your energy in a completely different way than a quiet office.

2. Add human sounds. We don't speak like robots. A breath, a chuckle, a little "mm-hmm" makes your read feel alive.

3. Play with pauses. I love a pause. It can create tension, warmth, or surprise. Same words, totally different rhythm.

4. Change your listener. Who am I talking to? A best friend feels different than a five-year-old. A stranger feels different than a coworker.

5. Shift your motivation. This one's huge. Maybe I'm trying to inspire. Maybe I'm trying to tease. Same emotion, new motivation — and suddenly the take has layers.

These adjustments keep me from falling into the "loud-soft-whisper" trap. Instead, each take feels intentional.

Why I Lean on Improv

Here's the secret I wish someone had told me sooner: improv isn't about being funny. It's about being present.

When a casting director says, "Make it feel more natural," what they really mean is, "Stop performing and start reacting." Improv trains me to do that. It helps me:

• Make stronger choices quickly

• Stay grounded when I mess up

• React honestly instead of overthinking

• Give multiple takes that feel genuinely different

As Kristen Wiig said, "Improv is about listening and not trying to be funny. It's about being honest." I've found that to be absolutely true.

What Fear Taught Me

I know improv scares people. It used to terrify me. My brain would scream, "Don't mess this up. Don't look stupid."

But here's what shifted everything: fear means I care. Fear tells me I'm right at the edge of something interesting. If I can use it, not run from it, that's where the magic happens.

Now, I remind myself: I don't have to be clever. I don't have to be perfect. I just have to be available. And ironically, that's when my best work happens.

Why This Matters for You

If you've been frustrated by the 1-2-3 take request, know this: it's not about pleasing the casting gods. It's about showing them you can be flexible, creative, and real.

With these five tools and an improv mindset, you'll stop guessing. You'll start delivering takes that feel grounded and alive — and most importantly, like you.

If you want help practicing this, I'd love to work with you. I offer free 15-minute consults, and I'm always excited to help actors build confidence in the booth and on the mic.

👉 Book your free consult here

Ken Rea's Outstanding Actor Masterclass

About Ken:

Professor Ken Rea is a theatre director, internationally acclaimed acting teacher, and author of the bestselling book, The Outstanding Actor, Seven Keys to Success

Starting out in New Zealand, he worked with the country's leading theatres and in television drama. In 1973 he formed the Living Theatre Troupe, one of New Zealand's most important experimental companies. He went on to study theatre in China, Japan, and India, then moved to Europe, where he studied with leading European teachers.

As Professor of Theatre at the renowned Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Ken has trained some of Britain's top actors and film stars, including EWAN MCGREGOR, LILY JAMES, JOSEPH FIENNES, DOMINIC WEST, JODIE WHITTAKER, DAMIAN LEWIS, HAYLEY ATWELL, RHYS IFANS, MICHELLE DOCKERY, FREDDIE FOX, SIMON RUSSELL BEALE, ORLANDO BLOOM, PAAPA ESSIEDU, and DANIEL CRAIG.

Ken is in regular demand internationally and has previously taught at the national drama academies of China, India, New Zealand, and Italy, and he has given courses in the UK, Canada, Indonesia, Germany, USA, and Singapore.

As a journalist, he has been a regular feature writer for The Times and was for 15 years a theatre critic for The Guardian.

As a public speaker, Ken has given many large-scale presentations in the worlds of business and the arts. He also trains top executives throughout Europe in presentation skills and personal impact. He is about to launch his major online course: Ken Rea Teaches Acting. 

How do I get better work?

And it's a really interesting question so you don't feel stuck in your career.

Ask yourself what would that next level look like for you.

Let's think about the acting itself. What would that look like? And so that immediately gives you a target. I want to be like this. So you know where you're going.

So the next question to ask yourself is, where do you feel you are now? Which then shows you the gap between now where you are and there where you want to be.

Then the next question you could ask yourself is, what would you like to have more of in your work? 

You know, for example, would you like to have more personality in your acting, more sense of danger in your acting, more gravitas, more presence, more charisma, more twinkle in the eye, more playfulness?

And that immediately is going to take you out of your comfort zone.

Progress happens not inside that comfort zone, but just outside it.

That's the life of an actor, to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

And that's your life as an actor, constantly taking risks, working outside that comfort zone. 

How can you be out of your comfort zone and still enjoy that, you know, and love performing?

If you want to be more playful, more twinkle in the eye, more dangerous, what is stopping you from bringing that into the work that's stopping you from being out of your comfort zone?

And what can you do about that?

It takes a certain amount of comfortability in being yourself to know that you can go emotionally to a specific place and also know and play there, and it is out of your comfort zone and in a danger zone and in a scary zone, a risk zone, as you put it, but also always knowing that you have that anchor in yourself that you are able to handle it.

Am I going to be good enough? Will I be found out? And I think as you get older, you make it about them, not about you.

I find what works for me is, is to get the right mindset. It's about them, the energy going outward and forward with the focus on them, on what I can bring to them.

Prepare meticulously.

Outstanding Actor

So I think the preparation is important and the mindset. 

You know, you can coach yourself a lot these days just by trying things out on your laptop, on your phone, recording, and playing it back.

Start to experiment with things.

Be very specific in your choices. 

Using contrary action as an actor.

And it helps get that kind of volcano principle, you know, just the rumbling underneath the volcano before it erupts. Before it explodes, which creates, as you mentioned before, a sense of danger. 

Danger, I tend to think of that as you set up a tension between yourself, the actor, and the audience, thinking, "Oh, wow, where's she going with this? What's going to happen next?"

Because audiences love to be thrilled and surprised, don't they?

We lose that sense of playfulness that is the source of our charm, our creativity, and our imagination in adult life. And so a lot of the journey of the actor is to go back the wheel turns full circle back to that, to find at the adult age.

I think that it's more fun to play the game if you know that you are capable and can handle whatever circumstance comes your way in life. 

Knowing you are capable, I think, is such an important part of being a good actor because you need to feel safe.

So a good question to ask yourself then is okay, if there is fear, what is the source of the fear?

Ken's New Exercise 

Ken's Secret Weapon Exercise

And I think a lot is about paring away the clutter. I use that phrase a lot, you know, just to find a simplicity and an energy that comes from a calm center but is fully concentrated.

As the actor, you play with the other actor, but you're also playing with the audience and have to make sure they're enjoying being there.

Money Mastery for Actors

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 self-esteem and our confidence as actors are imperative.

It is imperative because agents, managers, casting directors, producers, and directors can read your desperation. 

And we're not interested in working with really desperate people.

I'm interested in working with and collaborating with actors who know they are good and know their stuff in their training, in their skill set, and in how they operate in the business.

The more you know yourself, the more you build your self-esteem, the more you work on yourself, and the more I (the casting director) want you. 

The more attractive you are, the more magnetic you are. And isn't that frickin incredible? 

"Trust can be one of the most confusing concepts in life. Who do we trust, and for what? And the answer is learning little bit by little bit to trust ourselves. A friend and I have been texting quite a bit, and he says, "Don't forget, anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time."

So that's the first tool I want to teach you is in learning how to trust yourself, say just a little bit less, and listen a little bit more.

Also, when someone has a problem, not immediately going to solve it for them or try to be helpful, but just be a good friend and listen and say, "I hear you." 

"The most important trust issue we face is learning to trust ourselves. The most detrimental thing that's happened to us is that we came to believe that we couldn't trust ourselves. Ask yourself, Where did I learn not to trust me?"

Keep the focus on yourself. And focus on trusting yourself instead of getting other people to trust you.

• Focus on your own opinion. Your own opinion of your self-tape.
• How do you feel you did?
• Be rigorously honest with yourself.
• Was that the best work you could do in that moment?
• Were you 100% committed?
• Was what was going on in the scene more important to you than what somebody else might think about it?

Well, if your answer is yes and you know you did your best, guess what? It's a great self-tape; you don't have to post it on social media.

Say it with me. I am good enough. I am good enough.

And if you are having trouble saying that, I encourage you to just do something very simple: written affirmation work, which is just take the phrase I am good enough. And write it out with pen and paper and say it as you write it ten times a day if you can do it ten times in the morning and ten times at night. 

Start to change that thought pattern around being good enough because the Truth, the Universal Truth, is that you really are. Now. It's time to believe it.

Money Mastery for Actors

Ken Rea

Katie Flahive

Setting Boundaries

The Language of Letting Go

"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 set boundaries."

The exercise for when somebody is pushing me And I can't take it anymore:

• Sit down with a blank piece of paper, or a notebook
• A pen and an extra pen just in case you run out of ink
• Take yourself to a coffee shop and sit down and bring only that
• I want you to write that person
  • Basically, what I call your fuck you letter.
  • You want to tell them everything about how you feel and what you needed in this situation.
  • And you can be as loud and angry.
  • And underline and exclamation points.
  • And use as vulgar language as you can come up with.
• And then what I want you to do is take a deep breath. And then I want you to read through it.
  
  • And I want you to write down.
  • Two things in one column, I want you to write down how you feel.
    • So emotions, adjectives.
  • And then, in the next column, I want you to write down what you needed.
    • From that person and possibly even, dare I say it, from yourself.
• And then, I want you to construct a different letter
  • And in that, I want you to say how you felt.
  • And that you needed.
  • But leave the word "you" out.

Example: Because if I say to you, you're always late. "I'm really pissed. You're always late." Well, what I'm immediately doing is putting you in the defensive position, and that's not going to help anybody.

Instead, try: "I feel frustrated when I am kept waiting and waiting, and I need for our coffee dates to start on time."

So that's how you set a boundary.

And I encourage you to rewind this a bit and listen to it again so you really, really understand it.

"Sometimes life and people seem to push and push."

And that's where we get burnt out. That's where we get cranky. That's where we get into hungry, angry, lonely, and tired.

"But because we are used to so much pain, we may tell ourselves it doesn't hurt because we are so used to people controlling and manipulating us. We may tell ourselves there is something wrong with us."

 And that's the problem: we continue to accept unacceptable behavior, but that doesn't make it right.

It's time for us to start treating people how we want to be treated.

When we head into that, telling ourselves that there is something wrong with us. That's Shame.

That's shame because we feel that there is something defective with us, which there absolutely is not.

"There is nothing wrong with us. Life is pushing and hurting to get our attention. Sometimes the pain and pushing we are pointing toward is a lesson."

You might have to set a boundary with yourself.

We can be grateful for the lesson that's here to help us explore and to help us learn how to set boundaries.