OK, we're good. Wow, such great response on the
last podcast. I know it's awesome.
So exciting, I thought. I mean, I was you hope it like
is like helpful to people, but I'm just gotten some really
sweet messages about like people feeling like the first time in
their career they thought they are like thinking maybe I am
enough. And I mean, that's what we want.
That's the one of the, yeah. Yeah, you know, and a lot of
people were like, I'm a newbie, and so these tips really helped
me, you know? Yeah.
And, and like I told you before, I got 71 shares of it.
The video was 2 minutes and 44 seconds on Instagram.
Crazy. Crazy.
So it's like striking A chord, you know, it's striking A chord.
And that's what we that's what we're hoping that you know,
since she is not easy. So anytime that you can feel
supported and get insider information that will help you
because a lot of stuff is gate kept, as we all know, right?
So let's, let's change the narrative a little bit.
That's what we're here to do. Yeah.
I mean, I wish I had me when I was.
No, I wish I was. Had me when I was you.
Yeah, I wish I had me when I was you.
Yeah. Because it's like we we didn't
have the Internet. We were faxing things.
That's what we were doing. Oh my.
Gosh, we were faxing things and so like.
Dropping off. Dropping off.
Hard copy tapes, couriers, Yeah, like not a Courier pigeon, but
but couriers. And so now, you know, there's
just so many ways that people can can get in touch with each
other. And yeah, Facebook wasn't even a
thing back then, you know, so there Facebook and then there
was. And then all of a sudden
Instagram and Tik Tok's crazy. I'm not even on TikTok.
I will refuse. Same.
That's so funny. It's 'cause are we cool or what?
Because I'm like, you know what, enough is enough.
And honestly, like casting directors don't really ask for
that. They always ask for Instagram.
So it's like we have limited time.
So like, you know, but hey, I, I'm impressed with people that
are content creators because it takes a lot of creativity and a
lot of creativity to be like constantly coming up with stuff.
But you know, even it's like, OK, we're on Instagram.
We're like refusing other forms of social media.
However, I will tell you that you don't want to leave social
media on the table. If you're an actor, you don't
want to leave it on the table. It's a tool.
It's a great tool. It should not be your main focus
as an actor or actress. But why leave it on the table
you know? Yeah, You know, The thing is, is
that I remember, and this is going back.
This is going back. Like when I was teaching in the
theater, one of my students came in, he was up for this really
big studio movie, and seeing him and somebody else, he gave it to
the somebody that had more followers.
Yes, that is yeah, that I, I heard happening like fairly
frequently, like a couple years ago.
And then I feel like something shifted.
And so a lot of people are a lot of you guys are still trying to
build up your social media and you're trying to be an
influencer on top of being an actor.
And like, if that's what you feel like joyful and excited
about doing, that's awesome. Like do it.
However, if you're, if it's like drudgery and it's stressing you
out and it's still been making you feel like you're not enough
because you're have to be on social media all the time and
you're looking at everyone else and it looks like their their
lives are amazing and they're killing it and.
Your lives aren't amazing, guys. They're not It's it's it's all
press. OK, I mean, but although when I
say my life's amazing, it really is such it's.
Except. For lying, but a lot of people
that you see are like I remember I went to have this client and
I'm not going to say his name, but.
But he. He made it into like People
magazine or something because he was on the red carpet with Ava
Longoria, right. And he was.
And it said his name from 24. I remember the show 24 yeah,
yeah. So I made it seem like he was
like this thing, OK, Like I just bid on myself.
It's keeping it real here. It's like, Oh my God, he made it
seem like he was this thing, but all he had was OK, let me just
tell you what his role was. Yeah.
The guy that came in to do the to do the truth serum, so he
came in with the silver attache case, opened it up, pulled it
out, hit it a little bit just so some of it would come out at the
top and he'd say it's ready. I swear to God, he did that
twice in two different episodes, the same dialogue, the same
thing. And so now he's recurring major
network show, OK, and in the trade.
So in the trades are saying as seen on 24 like he's got this
big role. Right, right.
That's exactly what they do. That's exactly how it's written,
communicated because they because they're trying, they're
trying, you know, they have a purpose in it.
They're trying to, you know, as an actor, you're trying to do
your own PR because unless you're a star, you don't have
APR team. So this is what you do.
I don't have a problem with that.
But my problem is, is that you guys are looking at people like
him and feeling jealous. That's it.
Like as if he's further along than you.
He's not. All he said was it's ready.
I mean, come on, Like, I'm sorry, you guys have had way
more dialogue than that. And so now you're looking at him
and he's showing up in all these magazines, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. And you're going, Oh my God,
he's doing so much better than me and.
It's fun, absolutely. And here and even Even so much
so that like, you know, a lot like this, this recent, a recent
trend with social media is that if you you know, if you're I
just was talking to manager about this the other day.
He's like, Oh my gosh, when I first started, like if my client
had like, you know, 10 lines, you know, or they are a small
recurring, like I start thinking about pulling in like APR team,
right. Let's take advantage of this.
And and he's like, you know, now with social media like you, you,
it's like you don't even, you don't really even need, you need
it to be you. Don't need it.
You don't need. It right, you don't need it.
It's really important how you position yourself on social
media too, you know? I mean, my Instagram looks
mostly like I'm the celebrity coach, which is true.
Exactly it's I've. Made I've made 56 series
regulars, guys. So I have made celebrities,
yeah, celebrities that have won absolutely, like the Critics
Choice, Emmy. And so so that is true.
That's real talk. And then, you know, I do put my
acting stuff on there, but it's not really an acting site.
OK. I I do think that if you're an
actor and you want casting to find you, then it has to look
like Instagram is just acting. Yeah, you, you don't want to
like throw up on your Instagram page.
You want it to be like cohesive. You want it to have some people
you know, need to look at and be like, they need to kind of look
at it like really quickly because people's attention spans
are so fast, right? And if you want, if you're
talking about casting directors, looking on it, our directors,
you know, they're even faster, they're moving even faster.
And so they, you want to be able to have people look at your look
at your Instagram, like your social media and immediately
know like, what is the essence of this person?
Like who would who this person? And so if you have, you know, we
talked about a little bit about this in the last episode, but if
you have like, you know, your direct, your director
directorial debuts and your, and your, your latest script and
then you're also doing acting in, I mean, your focus is it's
OK to have a little bit of that, particularly if you're doing.
Find a little bit, but if we don't, if we can't recognize
what it is, right? Yeah.
I mean, we have to go. OK, well, what is it like?
You see the stars, Yeah, they probably have publicists that
that do their Instagram, but they have like all their movie
posters, clips, interviews, layouts for different magazines.
But for beginning actors, we want to see you on set.
Yeah. And you know what?
For the love of God, please do not go on like X or TikTok or
somewhere and or the stories and be political.
There's some that are being political that are actors and
and I don't want to put it down. I think it's great to have an
opinion about and about religion, right?
It can actually kick you out of a job.
Remember the girl from from that, that that movie that she
was the transgender girl and she said something when she was a a
boy. She said something 10 years ago
and, and during and then they just blackballed her.
They blackballed her. She was.
Oh, she was for an Oscar, yes. She was yes, yes, OK.
Why if I is my brain back in the movie this year, this year
that's just happened. Yeah, but but that was 10 years
ago that she wrote that political statement. 10 years
ago. And and she's not even that
person anymore, OK. Right.
She was a boy, you know, so she's not even that person.
So much has changed in this woman's life within the 10
years, and she's now held accountable for something she
said 10 years ago. Right.
Yeah, absolutely. Have to be careful guys.
You can think about like with Snow White.
Oh my God, yeah. Horrible.
It did terrible in the box office.
Terrible. And real the consensus is that
it's from like, spouting off political views.
Yes, yes, and I'm, I'm not surprised.
I don't think she's going to work again.
I mean, I because they, I would be shocked because that was
millions and millions and millions of dollars that that
could have been millions of people watching.
But if you figured like 3/4 of the country voted Republican,
right? Yeah.
In the country are not going to go see that movie. 100% so like
that. Was not a good idea.
No, it was it was a not issue and and she learned she had to
learn the hard way. I think, I think that your
people should be smart enough in this day and age to know like if
you're going to do that, there's going to, you're gonna like
isolate yourself in your work, you know, from, from groups of
whole groups of people, whole populations of people.
So it's like, you have to be really smart.
And again, like you said, like we're, it's like you, it's OK to
it's you should have an opinion. I hope you have our, you know,
some kind of conviction or thought.
And if you want to post it, that's fine, but you have to
know the effect that that's gonna have.
Well, you're down the line. There.
When you're up for a really big role, they're going to, they're
gonna go through, they're gonna screen you.
Oh. Absolutely.
You are. I remember years ago when Disney
was really in its in its prime. Disney and Nickelodeon.
Were, yeah. I had five kids on series at the
same time during. That well, that's.
So fun it was crazy. That's so fun, but.
Not necessarily kids, but if the adults went in for series
regulars for a Disney project, yeah, you had to screen there.
Anything that was on the Internet, yes.
See if it was Disney approved. 100% do that.
Yeah. That's the other thing.
It's like if you're gonna you, you talk about, you know, you
could if you, if you really want to post stuff like you have a
separate private account that's for like friends and family, but
also in your public accounts, you also want to be thinking
about like how you're presenting yourself.
So we're not just talking about branding.
Like think about like maybe like maybe do some research on like
styling, you know, if like most, most people can't afford, you
know, if they're beginning or even middle like to get a full
whole stylist. But you can like look up what's
trending and you know what I mean?
And you can, and you can kind of get an idea what are my colors,
what it, what is my essence? What you know, what do I do want
to be doing? Like monitoring.
How do I want to be seen? How do I?
Want to be seen and so kind of like have that the consistent be
consistent. But then also, you want to think
about like, and I, and this is a little bit more for women than
for men, but if you want to do like, really provocative stuff,
you also have to know if you want to do that, that's fine.
But you also have to know that that is that is going to be
looked at by if you're up for a big role, they're going to look
through. And if it's a family.
Yeah. And even even still, even though
Disney shifted a lot, they still look at that.
They still in fact. We're talking about the network
also like like the This Is Us or a million, a million Little
things or any of the family or like Virgin River, you know
those family Hallmark Lifetime. You know, they're going to look
at your social media and they're going to see how are you
provocative. Absolutely.
And and and the and another thing to remember in another
group that will look and even scrutinize a little bit more is
faith-based films. That has become there's a huge
increase in in both films and popularity with faith-based
films. And so not everyone cares to,
you know, to be a part of that, but there is a lot of people on
my roster that do that, that want to be they want to be on
the chosen. They've asked specifically are
there any roles in the chosen fit this part or Angel Studios?
They've come out with some really big stuff.
And so there's a lot of people, a lot of people that are, you
know, feel like they want to be part of something that the whole
family can see or that has a positive message in such a very
it's a very a lot of darkness in our worlds.
You know, in recent, I mean, it's always been some, but it's
just seems to have increased in a lot of ways.
It's just craziness and so hope you'll want that.
So if you're going to, if you want that, you really have to be
mindful. What are you posting?
Because like you said, well. I told the client client, she,
she does these stories where she's like, it's like close up,
you know, and she's like crying or you know, like, are you OK,
you know? It was happening.
And I really want to tell her you might want to stop doing
that 'cause people are going to think you're unstable not and
you're, it's just a moment that you're having.
But, you know, potentially somebody could look at that and
say I can't hire this person because they're unstable and
it's true. Right, right.
But what are you, what's the message that you're giving?
Yeah, that's a really good point.
A lot of people or or post in their the hardest moments online
and might not be the best place to post it.
You know if like. I think, I think like you said
earlier then then open up a second account where you express
yourself and don't give it your name, like give it like another
name. Totally.
Yeah, even if. You want to build an audience
where you could express yourself and there are other people that
relate to you. Yes, exactly.
Understandable, but don't mix it with your acting.
Exactly, Absolutely not, absolutely not.
Don't mix your acting. And then I'm remembering what
you're saying earlier. Like, you know, the reason that
you're trying to do your best with Instagram is because there
is a place where there's a purpose in it, right?
Like you want to be thinking about thoughtful and careful
what you're posting, not not to be like paranoid about anything,
but you're really wanting to make the most of what you're
doing because casting directors are looking at it.
And there was a time when they were they were picking, you
know, influencers and asking, are you an influencer?
They did try that from from what they.
Tried and it didn't work and so I'm OK with that.
It didn't.
Really work, but they are still using it.
And this is something interesting.
We talked about verticals last time and like, like we're
probably going to just keep coming back to that like on
every episode at some point because it's just, it just is
out there and, and continuing to like grow like every weekday.
What time is it forecasting today?
It's about 30 vertical. On the time we did this podcast,
I thought we did this seriously. So they, what has started to
happen is it switched over to I, I've heard two casting directors
that recently cast for a big role in a significant SAG
project that they went to look at who is a vertical star right
now and look at their look at their following on social media
and they ended up choosing them. They end up choosing them
because of that. This happened to a couple well.
Because it's trending and and and verticals are going to be
like the new thing because they're shooting them now.
They're not. They're in production.
That's what about see and they will be far from it, yeah.
Yeah, they're so they have a fan base.
And so here they have OK, so they have a fan base and they
actually know that they can act because I think what they were
finding with the influencers were OK.
They're not. It's like they're they can't act
like they're not. They have a following, but it's
for not a reason of acting. You know, yeah.
And they're like, Oh well, they must be a great actor because
they're elite in a in a big vertical.
Yeah, so they can just do some kind.
Of they haven't, they haven't together, those vertical people,
and then it's like clockwork. Oh, there's very that came.
That came from Asia. That was a really good deal with
that. Yeah, I was on a kick where I
was watching all South Korean TV shows.
Yeah, Oh my God, why? Why does this not surprise me?
I know, I know. But because it's like, it's got
humor and it has drama. Yeah, they're just like them.
So if you guys want to learn how to act for the verticals, watch
the South Korean TV shows. That's a great tip, yeah.
Because it's exactly the same kind of storyline.
It's the same kind of drama, it's the same kind of humor.
It's soapy, but it has like a a little wing to it.
Totally. Yeah, that's kind of, that's
kind of the little bit of the formula, but it's, it's, yeah,
if you're non union like this, could this can be a good gig?
It it, it can't, it really can't.
I'm seeing them, you know, I just thought I'm seeing them for
like $1000 a day. There's some coming in for that
now. And it's like, you know, 7 to 10
days and 800. So they're kind of going,
they're kind of increasing in, in.
Value. Yeah, yeah.
I was thinking maybe I'm gonna go 54, do a whole bunch of them,
and then go rejoin the union. Yeah, I mean, why not?
What do you have to lose? You know what I'm saying?
Except. They do shoot.
They shoot very fast, guys. So it's like a soap opera.
Yeah, very, very, very fast. And there's hardly any
rehearsal. So it's just like a regular soap
schedule. Yeah, I'll do a lot of pages in
one day. And.
It's like 30 second 3060 second like clips because it's because
it's social media, right? It's their vertical less than
any vertical and so. Yeah, they literally didn't have
platforms. They yeah, platforms that are
people are buying like subscriptions.
Yeah, yeah. And it's, and it's primarily
like teenagers and maybe young adults.
Yeah, they're, they're making, they're making the industry a
lot of money. This is like this, I told one of
my preferred way to watch entertainment.
Yeah, I told one of my students she's non union.
She's very upscale, very upscale in her in her early 60s.
And I'm like, Oh my God, you know what, if you're not doing
these because she's she's saggy. So yeah, if they only white want
white women that are elite, it shows up like the white woman,
billionaire white woman, upscale white woman.
Yes, have like a down and out woman that's white, that's like,
you know, crawling on the floor like begging for money.
They're none of that, right? Every single one of the white
women are supposed to be, really.
Rich, some of the titles of these are listen, like when
we're when we're talking about doing protocols, like even even
myself as an agent, I'm not submitting to all them because
some of them I just can't bring myself to.
I just can't bring myself to do it like alpha wolf, pregnant
CEOs, baby daddy, like, like I just can't, I just can't do it.
But some of them are like Christmas ones or like they're
you know, or they're somewhere in between.
And it's like, OK, well, this is this could be workable.
You know one of them are hilarious, but.
You do notice that every time that they have an older woman.
That's why I said to her you would be working all the time.
I mean all the time yes and take advantage of your sag E non
union status. I mean you guys that are non
union take advantage of it. Like.
Go all out. We got off topic.
We have to go back. Yeah, go and follow on
Instagram. Like like follow like Instagram
like like vertical, like look at vertical watch, watch some
verticals. You know, I began where this is.
This applies to non union or ficor March riddles.
And then like, see who the actors are and then like, go
follow them on Instagram, see what they're, see what they're
doing with their Instagram. It's another thing about social
media is that if you want people to see if you're going to put
all this work in it, you want people to see it, right?
Well, how do you show up on people's feet?
You have to engage with other people.
You have to engage, like be really targeted with, you're
engaging with. Look, go, you know, go look at
casting directors. Don't ask casting stupid
questions or make a stupid comment.
And don't be needy. Oh my God, I'm needy.
Don't. Guess OK, what does that look
like? A.
Really. Audition for your For your TV
show. Like don't do that.
Don't. Say that.
Don't say that, OK? Trust, trust.
If you make comments, intelligent comments, if you're
sharing their their feed. Let's say they put out something
and you share it on your story. Yeah, they want eyes on them
too, right? So share their story.
I mean, share their feed, you know, do that.
Or or comment don't message them on Instagram.
Let leave that for your agent. If you don't have an agent,
don't message them. Just comment something
encouraging you spend. You know you should look at
social media as part of your job.
Like again, be be business minded and look at it as a job.
Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day engaging with people that you
want to see your profile, you want to they you want them to
see your feet. So like like you said, sharing
is a great thing if they post something like inspirational
comments. And just say, wow, you know,
look at this. I really loved what so and so
said here. It was inspiring.
Yeah, yes, that's so good. It's perfect.
That's what you don't. It doesn't have to be long, it
just be short and sweet. That's perfect.
That's so perfect. And then when they do look at
your feet, if it does it just show up and they do happen to
see it. They might not, but you can also
be connecting with other actors in the meantime.
Well, it does show up. Like whenever you hit like or
you make a comment, it shows up. They could see everybody doing
everything so. For sure.
It's called name recognition. If you're actually floats by
somebody enough times, they think they know you already.
And so when your agent submits you or they happen to be casting
something on Actor's Access and they see your name, yeah,
they'll say that name looks familiar.
Well, it's because you've been commenting on their.
Yeah. It's a whole thing.
Yeah, your name has been showing up, you know.
Absolutely. I, I've engaged with a few
different casting directors and then when I, you know, have gone
to do a pitch for them or, or they reached out, you know, for
one of my actors something, it was like, it was like a friendly
already a friendly e-mail because like, oh, we've been
talking on social media a little bit, you know, so it was like,
oh, it's just kind of, you know, it was a more natural
connection. So it can be really effective.
Yeah, I mean, years ago it was postcards.
OK, so now, now people don't want you to kill a tree.
So if you send somebody a postcard, they'll be angry at
you. They'll like throw a lot in the
shirt or something. So like, don't do that.
This is this is really true, really true.
But Instagram has almost taken over where postcards left.
Definitely. You know, like you, you could
promote and it and you your reach is much bigger and it's
doesn't cost it. I remember I used to be in the
post office putting on the stamps, you know?
And like, honey, Oh my gosh, we used to set, we used to
encourage our talent to send thank you cards after they've
done an audition because it's just, it makes you stand out a
little bit because most, most of our I.
Think that's a really good thing to do, I think.
I think if you can, however, so many people are working remotely
now that and you don't you definitely don't want to send
else try to find their house address.
Don't do that. Don't don't do that.
But if you if they do have an offer.
Don't do that. Please, if you do, don't tell
them I'm representing you. But you can, you know, if there
is an office that that's a great way to do it.
But if you can't, you can. That might be something you you
maybe could send on Instagram, like thank you for seeing me,
you know, or, or or shout outs. To people.
You shout outs like you can record like like like don't do
the audio part of it, but you can.
I think it's so awesome when I see talent, my talent posting
like a little clip of their audition, but they just have
music over it. You don't want to you don't want
to post the actual audition because most of the time I'll.
Be right. Never do it you have something
playing over it I. Like that too, because it shows
the look, the lighting looks great.
And. And they could say they could
just say something. Had a great opportunity today.
Yeah. And girls you know and you could
say something cute. Totally.
And then thank the casting director, yeah.
Thank you for being so amazing to me, or thank you.
Yeah, don't leave it on the table.
Use it for use it for this, you guys it really it really is
effective and. Should we do it?
Don't leave it on the table mean.
I think you need to tell everybody.
OK, so that means like if someone it's like that, that's
an expression like if someone's giving you money and you don't
take it, you're like leaving it on the table or or someone makes
you an offer on a piece of paper and it's folded up and you have
to pick it up to open it to see what it says, you know, like
you, but you leave it on the table.
It's like a waste. Like you're just not utilizing
something that you really can be utilizing.
It's not going to make or break your career, but it can push it
could push you over because you guys, the industry is so
competitive as an actor, it's so competitive.
So anything you can do to kind of push you over a little bit if
they're, you know, if people are casting as deciding between you
and one other person, like you're pinned or you're, you
know, you're first avail like, and it's between you and like
one other person, like there's little things that can push you
over the edge. And this is just one of those
things, you know? Yeah.
And I, I talk about it all the time when you're neck and neck.
OK, so when you're neck and neck with somebody else, your
followers actually could push you over the edge to get the job
'cause they're looking for a way to kick you out of the running.
But neck and neck and the room is split on you.
Yeah, room is split on the other person and they can't make a
decision. Then they might say, oh, OK,
let's just go look at the Instagram.
Yeah, absolutely. I.
Do that you know? Definitely, and especially it's
even it's so much more competitive right now than it it
has been because there's so fewer jobs.
And so you need to be thinking of everything, the social media,
thank you cards when you can even even like offering to, you
know, I, I just had this happen a month ago that it was between
the catheter told me it was between my talent and one of the
person. They picked mine because they
offered to drive to the to location as opposed to being
like flown there like they, it was like 4.
It was like, I don't know, maybe a six hour drive.
And they're like, they're like, I will, I'll you know, I'll
drive and if you just want to pay my mileage instead of flying
it because they were, they were offering flights.
OK, look at that. Like that a little bit but hey
I'll I got this covered. I all work local even if they
are offering to pay. Hey I'll I can work local higher
here. Yeah, you want an edge.
You want to have a little bit of an edge on people, you know?
Yeah. I, I, I think Facebook is good
too, because there's a lot of people.
I mean, you guys, it's not just for grandmas, OK?
I mean, it's amazing. Dating ourselves, however, it is
still useful. Oh my God, It is really, really
useful. There are some people that
really like communicating on there, especially on the
messenger on there. Yes, absolutely, really
communicating on there and then and there's.
Groups. There's the TikTok, but if
you're going to do TikTok, then do it because you want to be a
content creator and build it really, really big and become
like a TikTok person. But just to do like random
stuff, it doesn't make it's. Just it's not worth it.
Yeah. Then you're kind of all over the
place. But group Facebook is also
really good for groups as well. There's some great groups that
you can only find on Facebook at this point.
So it's definitely where even if you're Gen.
Z, it's, it's, it's not going to hurt you to get on there and get
connected and into some groups. Yeah, I mean, one of my really
good friends, Wendy Elaine Wright, she has TMFA.
It's talent managers for actors. Yeah, he's got like a like
120,000 people that are on there.
I mean, and people are always posting on there.
There's always stuff going on on there.
So that's a really good place to be.
Absolutely. And she has a special group
called Hollywood's Winner's Circle.
And so that's a really good place to be you guys.
There's stuff to do, absolutely. And, you know, again, I go back
to I didn't have any of this. I had to create things from
scratch, you know? Yeah, there's so much stuff to
do. Yes, you know, and and you could
find out about it online exactly by it's like the new way to
network. Oh, definitely.
You know, and look for events online on Facebook.
They have events, yes, very events.
Online they have. There's local film festivals.
Oh. Please, please utilize this for
OK, this is such a good thing you're bringing up because we
all know that in the industry probably like half of success is
like who you know, it's not just what you know.
So where do you, how do you find the people you're supposed to
know? You need to be networking.
I think that one of the things as we're talking about social
media, like there's, it's it, it's such a blessing.
And for so many reasons, there's like we're talking about now, we
didn't have this, you know, in the past.
But one of the things that is also happening is that people
are not forgetting, not neither not learning or forgetting how
to socialize with people. And they get like social anxiety
now and it's like inhibiting people from networking.
There's nothing that replaces in person networking.
Nothing. Well, that's why you got to look
for those events, you know, go to those open mics, you know, be
around if you, if you're, if you're a comedian and you don't
want to do stand up, but you want to do sitcom, go to the
open mics. You're going to meet a lot of
comedy people. You know, you know, place
yourself places. If you want to be a singer then
then go to open mics and sing. Yes, go to films.
Find these things, go to film festivals and especially like
like indie film makers, you know, you, you should be hanging
out with directors, you know. Festival has has TVATV Film
Festival coming up soon. The ports are really big apart
from LA. Yeah, Newport's a really big
festival. That's a good place to network.
Yeah, yeah. For the.
Smaller ones, you know, we do respect for the smaller ones,
but the bigger ones, like if you're in New York, you should
be going to Tribeca. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Even if you just go for a day, even if you can just afford a
day ticket or or an event, one of the events or something like
just. Do it, we'll find out about it.
You know, I mean, it's because it's on social media and what's
good, you know, Instagram, you could just put in a, a link,
like just put in the search festivals and then all the
festivals will come up and it'll tell you like who's who's
launching when, which is good. Yeah, absolutely.
And you can even find Nish. You know, I have a a couple
talent that they've they've done horror like that's their that's
they they've feel like they're really good at it and they are
good at it and that's kind of their interest and passion.
And so there's even niche like events for stuff like that, you
know, like so just looking out if.
You want to do theater? I mean, there's a fringe film,
there's a Fringe Festival. There's those I like.
A lot of my students do. A lot of those one woman, one
man shows. Those are really great to go to,
really inspiring. I think as an actor you just
need to stay inspired. Inspired as much as you can.
Definitely yes, because it's very easy to look at other
people and get uninspired and feel like they're like better
than you when it's yes. All the comparison.
Told you it's not true. It's not, it's not true.
It is not true at all. OK.
And OK, I got to do a bitch fest here.
OK, here's my bitch. Let's hear it.
I did.
I talked about this on Instagram, but it didn't get
enough people eyeballs on it. So I'm going to say it again.
Don't write how many auditions you had, how many callbacks you
had, and how many pins and no bookings.
Please don't tell us about how many auditions you had that you
didn't book. Why would you announce that
you're? More like, why would you
announce that? Like don't do it.
Don't do it. Please.
Like, save yourself. Yeah.
It makes you look so bad. They're like, yeah.
But Amy, I just, you know, want people to know that I'm just
trying. Nobody wants to know about your
process. People want to know about the
result. Yeah, that's what, that's what
social media is. That's what people are primarily
looking for when they're on, when they're scrolling.
Absolutely. Yes, and that's what any
generation is looking for. You're not going to go to a
meeting and go, yeah, I have, I have 50 callbacks.
That means you can't. Right.
They're going to be like, I don't know if I want to, maybe
this isn't the right, I don't think to have what it takes.
You see, guys, do you see? Do you see how she was like?
There's no way she would have signed you?
No way, no way. No if your numbers are that way
also. Like like if you're here's
another thing that I look out for on social media or even if I
mean someone in person or even even what they, what they e-mail
me. If someone is not, if they seem
socially unaware, like I, I, I get I will be nervous about
sending them on the set. Like if they don't have the
wherewithal to understand like the etiquette in the business.
What's socially appropriate to like be posting?
If people get like super personal, like even we're
talking about this person sobbing or or they're or they're
sharing their oversharing their process.
Yeah, there's one guy. He looks naked all the time.
It's like you wonder why nobody wants to work with you.
It's like you're always like looking naked.
Naked like what's? One thing to be like a model.
Type. Yeah, sure.
That's part of your brand. Like your brand, but in his it's
not part of his brand. Trust me in that one because.
Yeah, that's just to me was like, oh, they're socially not
quite engaged or aware and I don't know that.
You can tell. You can tell, yeah.
I mean even if you went out like if I was on the dating site and
somebody didn't have an Instagram page, I would be as a
SUS. Yes, I love that you know that
Jen's yours. I only know that and that's
that's the only reason. I know a few but my but I'm
forbidden to use it around her so.
Why? Don't ever say talk like that
again because I'm too old to be using those words, but I'm gonna
use them. I'm gonna use them on the
podcast. That'll be my.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let them out.
Let. Them out that's just us.
OK, that's so good. OK, one thing I do want to say
about if you don't have the social you're on Instagram.
If you're younger, casting directors, directors, producers,
they're like this is SUS. OK, all joking aside, no, it
really it really is like why don't they have one?
If you're older, it's a little bit more like accepted
understandable. So you really should have one
and you should be engaging on it is treated as a business.
You want to be on it every day, 10 to 15 minutes.
Post it a few times a week. Use chat to like if you don't
know what to write just asked it to write you like write prompts.
If you don't know what to post, think about.
Think about. We'll talk about that in a
second. However, what I wanted to say
right now was that I do have a couple of talent that like they
were, they were having mental health issues because of their
Instagram usage. And they actually had to like
cut themselves off because it became it like an actually true
addiction. Yeah.
I can understand that though. That's wait wait.
I do want to address that because I actually talked about
this the other day in class, that because I had to ask
somebody, oh, it was last night in after club.
I had Donnie Mercado came in to talk about how to build a
YouTube channel. Yeah.
You represent Donnie. Yeah.
Talking. About her YouTube channel,
right? And we were talking about
Instagram and I said to everybody, it's so important
that that you look at Instagram like an art piece.
If you can look at it like an art piece, then it's it's coming
from your soul, it's coming from your artistic self.
It's not being from wondering if if somebody's going to like it
because I asked everybody, I said, are you guys nervous about
posting because you're not sure people would like it And they
all raise their hand. So it's a big deal.
And so I'm saying to all of you guys, it's not about other
people when it comes to Instagram.
It's about you creating your art piece on there.
And, and trust me there, sometimes I'll put something up
and I'll be like, oh God, I wonder if this is and then I
have to catch myself. Yes.
Well, I'm putting it out there because I feel that I want to do
this for me that I'm not. Yeah, I love that.
I love that that is the healthiest way to be using
Instagram because it really does get in your head.
If you don't have like internal, those internal boundaries.
And if you're walking around feeling like you're not enough,
which all of us are, but you're not, you're not taking that,
that next step to like deal with that, you know, and, and, you
know, fight back against that. Or you have, or have the
developed the right tools like you give your actors of like
being able to like work process through that, then it's going to
be it, it, it's going to affect you more than it really needs
to. It, it, it you should not, you
know, it's a tool. You put limits on it.
Set a timer. I have, you know, someone that I
know has their friend gives their friend their password and
he's like, OK, what I'm going to use, I'll let you know.
And then you give it to me. But you'd cut me off after 20
minutes, you know, like it's because they need that.
Yeah, I totally get that. I mean, if you're finding that
you get you, you fall down the rabbit hole because that's the
rabbit hole, you know? Yeah, it's okay to.
It's like anything like, like not eating cake at a party, you
know? Yeah, exactly.
There's there's there's different ways to deal with it.
All that to say, there's ways to deal with like Instagram having
an social media having a negative impact on you can use
it like without it, it destroying you.
There's there's ways to do it. But if you try those ways and
you have you really did legitimately have like an issue
like that's legitimately still is affecting your mental health,
you know, it's better. It's better not to have it's no,
it's nothing's worth. Yeah, it's totally
understandable. Yeah, most people look at.
It is to look at it in terms of marketing.
Exactly, and most people can do that and and if you can, you
should that's kind of the the point.
So what should you be putting on there?
If you're like, OK, I'm going to do this, I'm ready to do this
and you're like, well, I don't know what to post.
You know every. Thursday I do throwback.
Thursday. I mean, you've, you've watched
my throwback. Yes, and I, I love them.
Oh my God. I'm like, look at you in this.
What? What?
OK, what was that? What was?
Age of our lives. Oh, that's.
So fun. That's so fun, yeah.
I've done, I've done a lot of TV, you know, and so it was
like, it's really fun to, to post it and say, do you
recognize this? Like, do you know what show it
is? And it's good to ask questions.
I noticed that that that engaging with your audience is
really a big deal. Yeah.
You know, like, So what time period do you think this is?
Or do you know what happened to question?
Yep, absolutely, absolutely. If you're an actor, you can you
can even be posting clips of you in your in your acting classes.
Someone take a little video. This is what this is what I
learned today in in class again posting auditions if you anytime
you go to any kind of event networking.
Auditions without sound. Sound do not have the.
Sound. Don't say what it was.
Don't say what it was you give the you give the CDA shout out
thank you, but do not say what it was.
Do not post anything identifying and obviously when you're on
set. However, remember that when
you're on set, you have to get permission to post to post it.
You cannot just be. And in fact, sometimes they
don't even they won't even let you have your camera out when
you're on set. So you have to be checking hey
can I take don't take any pictures on set unless you
unless. You've checked, You have to ask.
Hey, I mean I'm doing this dubbing for HBO right now and
they they literally give me some tape.
Yeah. To put over the camera on my
phone. Yeah, it they it's very.
Over the camera and it goes all the way around.
I must have signed like 5. Let's see where you're around.
I'm like, why does it matter? They're like, oh, there's other
things, whatever. Yeah.
And I, you know, even though I signed like I'm not going to
take pictures, they want to make sure I didn't.
Take. Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely. There literally is somebody
there handing it to you and watching you, yes, sit on your
phone. Crazy.
It's crazy. So and it's super.
Yeah. I'm serious, you don't.
Don't SAB it, don't risk it. You can ask and if they say you
can or you can take a picture of this part or something, do it.
But you have to ask and if you can definitely remember to do it
and post. It well, I will tell you this,
there's some network shows that they do have a photographer on
set. I got some great pictures back
in the day when I did NCIS. They it was, there's always a
photographer and and I got their name.
Yeah, they sent me all the pictures they shot of me.
That's awesome. That's.
That. So great.
We've like the most amazing freaking thing.
Oh my gosh, if you see someone taking pictures, that's such a
great tip. If you see you're on sentence,
you take pictures. Like if I know who they are,
like hey, how do I? Go up to them say Oh my
goodness, did you take any pictures of me and and
definitely give them your your e-mail or your your phone number
to say Oh my God, I would be so indebted to you if you can just
shoot me over 1 picture. Yeah.
So I'll send them all, you know, Ask for one, guys.
Yeah, yes, yes. That's so good.
And then also behind the scenes, like if you, if you don't, if
you, you know, whatever you can't, you can do like on your
off days or you wouldn't. You know, if you're not on set,
but you're just with the other actors.
And and again, when you post it until it comes out, don't say
what it is, but you can do like I had someone last fall who was
in London doing a a major. Feature.
And he's like, they were there for like over a month.
And so he got it was really fun. I told him, did you get behind
the scenes stuff to interview his fellow actors and actresses?
Just make your own behind the scenes stuff while you're there.
And it was really fun. He went even went to take a step
further and he got like a a disposable camera and he decided
to do just for the look of it, to make it like retro and and he
did a bunch of pictures and just super fun.
Oh, I love that. Yeah, I can get really creative.
You want to you can post Yeah, they're back Thursday.
There's there's so many themes again.
You can look on chat is such a great resource.
AI is is, you know, there's a lot of controversy.
People do. What's your controversy?
Go ahead. AI it's a big controversy but
you can use it for good things and this is one of them.
Good ideas for what you can post once you get a hold of like
your, what you want your kind of your brand to be.
You can and just and you can type that in and and it'll just
it'll get you, it can give you a whole schedule.
So with hashtags, don't over hashtag, but you want to have
some. You want to have some?
Yeah. Like 7 to 10.
But it's it's got to be relevant to what you're doing.
Don't throw in a random one just because you want clicks, OK?
Exactly, Yeah. I, I do want to say that I think
that I, I know I was really pressing on, like only put
acting stuff on there. I want to know about you too.
You know, like I worked with Rachel Brosnahan.
I played her mom in a movie and started following her because
it's like, and I like to see where she's going, who her
family is, you. Know people are interested in
that, yeah. I mean, like, who's your
boyfriend? You know?
Like, I think that's interesting.
It is interesting. That's why people.
Bought on it. Keep it.
Keep it like it's like your own little reality show.
Yeah. And a good place for that is in
stories. So on your grids, like keep that
more like a little bit more professional, if you will, but
stories are such a great place to do that little your own life
reality, you know, thing. Look at that.
Let's celebrate your life, celebrate your life on
Instagram. How did it happen?
What was I doing? I don't.
Yeah. I don't know, maybe it felt your
joy. Yeah.
Exactly. That's hilarious.
Yeah. So that's those are those are
always. Yeah.
And then also on your on your profile, it's OK to write some
of the TV shows you've been on. You know, you could have them.
I see a lot of actors doing that.
Yeah, definitely OK to ask AI to write it for you.
And so you just tell them you're an actor and you know, and that
these are the shows I've been on and what's the best profile for
me? Yeah, that's a great idea.
Every time I use AI though, I, I, I do want to remind you to
like read it and make sure you personalize it because like we
were talking about earlier, everyone knows you can tell now
when something's like AI and it's, it's still a very useful
tool, but you just, you want to like adjust it to like what's
your voice, you know, what's your, what is it like?
Be engaged with what you don't just like, copy it.
Like, yeah. You can actually rewrite it.
It's just there guidance and also you know I I use this thing
called Linktree. Yeah, Linktree is great.
Thanks for bringing that up. Yeah, Linktree is really great.
You could put your IMDb profile in there.
You could put your Actors Access profile in there.
Go to my Linktree. I have my classes and my courses
in there and my books in there. And so it's a really good place.
And this podcast is the. 1st. Is the first thing that comes
up. Yeah, there's that.
Rateling tree is awesome, yeah, it's so good.
Yeah, I think those are, you know, those are like really the
those are really I think we kind of talked about like the key
things that you want to. Yeah, let me, Let me.
Look at your AI list that you sent me.
Yeah, you went over for this. Yeah, this.
Is it was the first thing. It's the first thing you you
said I got your AI list about. Yeah, how could you?
Tell algorithms. Yeah, this is good.
Yeah. And just to just to sum it up,
guys, do me a favor. Don't put anything on there that
that hasn't been like coach approved.
You know, a lot of people are doing this self tape may you
know, and I don't have a problem with that.
But I mean, I again, I'm all about if you're going to put
something up, just know that yeah, you could take it down,
but it's up now. Now it's in the universe
forever. So if you think that you're
acting is not at a place where you're still like working things
through. Yeah.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't put it anywhere.
I agree. I absolutely agree.
Yeah, You don't want to be again, it you're kind of, it's
kind of like talking about processing, like you don't want
to process your stuff on social media unless, unless if you want
to put it on a personal private page just to show like that's
different. Yeah, there's a lot of people
that made a self tape made page. Fantastic.
I'd love that you did that. I think that's the only way to
do that. Yeah, that's good.
It's almost like Pinterest where you're just your stuff up and
trying it out, but don't try anything out on your main page.
Yes, I and I love that like go talk to someone first.
Like like especially when it fits your acting, talk to your
coach like make sure because you know not only is it going to
affect your own reputation, but then it's like, what about your
coach and your agent or manager like?
Please, yeah, please take my name off your resume.
I've actually asked people to do that.
I'm like, you'll make my intensive so you don't get to
have me on your resume. Yeah.
Oh, that's, I mean, yeah, seriously.
That means you, you just, you know, learn the basics.
You're not really doing the technique, so you want to name
anything or your name on me. Yeah, exactly.
OK, so where can people go to find your?
Yeah, guys, by the way, if you like what we're doing, make sure
you subscribe. If we're on YouTube, which is,
you know, if you're watching us, then we're on YouTube.
But if you're listening to us, follow the podcast and please
share it with your actor friends.
Share, share, share. I think it's great for other
people to to become empowered by information.
Information is power. You know, it's really great.
Make a comment, maybe. Maybe write what you might want
us to talk about. That's a great idea, absolutely.
How? And I would love some topics.
Be our AI if you will. Exactly.
And and and honestly, yeah, share how if it's impacted you
share it. We've gotten some couple too
already this week, the day the podcast came out, two really
long, really sweet messages from people about how it was
impactful. And so it's like, it's just not
just, it's helpful information, but it, it really can help
change your mindset and your kind of how you're walking
around in life because it, your mindset is everything.
And if you're, if you're going up to an audition and you're
feeling like you're not enough, it's, it's no matter how much
you try to fake it, it's going to come through.
So get, you know, we want you to be here.
We want you to get more confident.
We want you to get, you know, use the resources and ideas
we're talking about to make you more confident and just start
showing up like that because you are enough.
Yeah. I love that.
That was really good. Guys.
If you're listening to this podcast, I don't care what year
it is, you can DM me on Instagram.
Definitely follow both of us on Instagram and tell them your
Instagram handle. Yes.
Oh yeah, my Instagram handle is my gosh, what is my Instagram?
You, you like caught me on the spot.
It's your agent, JTA. Agent Ophelia.
Yes, but you have underscores though.
I do have underscores JT under score agent under score Ophelia
and I I got like I had to pause for a second because I do have
also have a private account for my dolphin.
I'm like, what is it? JTA under score agent under
score Ophelia. There it is there it is and I'm
at Amy Linden everywhere, pretty much YouTube here, Facebook, but
if you DM me on Instagram and say hey bitch, give me that
discount, I'll give a discount on my online Udemy course and
it's. You have to say it that way.
You have to say, hey, bitch,
give me that discount, all right?
Love you guys. Bye bye.