SPEAKER_00 0:57

We're the director of our self-tape. And what does a director need to have? A vision. They have to have a vision for what they are presenting to entertain the audience that's watching it.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Welcome to Acting Smarter Now. I'm Lydia Nicole, actor, producer, and your acting career coach, dedicated to helping you cut through the noise, own your craft, and take your career from undiscovered to unstoppable. I got a question for you. What will you do if you could have a cheat sheet to help you with your commercial auditions? Well, I have it for you. Oh, yes, because today I am joined by Spencer Cranber, actor, acting coach, and commercial session director, who is giving it all to us in this interview. So without further ado, let's go and check it out. What is the top maybe five mistakes you see actors make on self-tapes?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

When I do quality control on self-tapes, uh, that means a casting director has hired me to watch the self-tapes as they come in. And I have a very specific group of tasks. One is to set the thumbnails. That means that we're going to change, possibly for that casting director, the headshot on your profile, whether it's casting networks or casting frontier or whatever, to um from your headshot that got you the audition to an image that looks like you from your video. And the first thing that actors are screwing up is that they're not following direction, because in a lot of, especially commercial auditions, in the self-tape instructions, we'll be very specific and we'll say, we want you framed up like how I am now in a close-up. And we want you looking in the camera with a nice smile, and sometimes we'll even explain why. And we'll say, uh, because we want to get a nice screen grab of you looking in the camera. And actors won't follow that direction. Not all, I'd say like 80% of them do, and it makes our job so much easier. But our job as actors is to follow directions. And if you're not even following the directions of the self-tape from the casting director, first thing you're telling me is that you're an actor who doesn't follow directions. And people are doing that by fading in, putting a title card when we didn't ask for it, um, not editing it so we have a nice look at them in the camera, and their zero frame, that first frame of a video looks like this, or it's like this, where they're hitting a record button on their phone or their device or something like that. Or it's they're fading in for some reason, or they're not even on a close-up, they're on a full body shot, or they've put their slate at the end when we specifically asked for it at the beginning, or anything like that. So right away off the bat, I'm going, uh, or they're not looking into their camera, um, which is just telling me that, oh, this actor doesn't even know where their lens is. They're looking over here, or they're look like right now I'm looking at myself and they're slating like this. They think they are the camera. Hi, I'm Spencer Cramber, and I'm reading for when they give us information that we don't need, just in their slates. Let's say it's uh one casting director who's just like, just your name, nothing else, don't want anything else, don't want to know if you're willing to shave, don't need height location, da da da da. And actors don't listen to it. Hi, my name is Spencer Cranber. I'm six feet tall. I live in Los Angeles. Here are the profiles, and I have a and we're like, we didn't ask for any of that. All you're doing is wasting our time and telling us that you are taking longer. Does this mean you're not gonna get a callback? No, if you're great. Does it mean that you're telling us that you don't follow direction and you're gonna be a little bit to work with? Yes. So that's the first thing. So that'd be just number one is just that opening second. Two, do you have a setup? Are you do you look professional? Do you look like someone who's invested in your career? Do you have nice lighting, a backdrop, or are you just kind of shooting from the hip? Now we understand people are on vacation, their own hotels. Maybe you're being a little creative with it and you're doing it someplace else. That's all fine. Um, but when people aren't looking in the camera or the camera isn't at eye level, and I could give you an example, but I'm gonna leave, I'm seated and I'm gonna leave the computer down here, but then I'm gonna stand up and it's pointing up at me. That's a noob fail right off the bat. In the first two seconds, you're telling me you don't understand what your job now is as self tapes. Three, not pulling me in in the first couple of seconds, get to the goods in all of your self tapes. There, we you hear that we're making decisions in the first 15 seconds, and it's true. Uh, in addition to that, self tapes taking uh slates taking too long. Um, slate should be 10 seconds. I can do everything if you ask for my name, hands, height, and location. Hi, my name is Spencer Cranberry. I'm six feet tall and I'm located in Los Angeles. And while I'm saying that, my full body shot is popping up to the side. That was less than 10 seconds. And I see slates, Lydia, that take a minute. Because they're doing things that aren't asked of them. They're walking back into a full body shot, and then they're doing full body profiles, which weren't asked, and it's taking a minute. It's just like, I'm never gonna, we will never get the years back of our lives watching people do the slates. Um, and then in the first just so number three, then in the first just couple of seconds is are you engaged in the scene? Are you giving us some type of just an activity at the beginning and getting into the scene? It's a commercial, it's 30 seconds, or it's a TV show, it's a sitcom. We don't have time for you to ease into it. I love this. Uh, one of the directors that I work with directs all the progressive commercials with Flo and the team. And his expression is get to the goods. Help me make a decision as quickly as possible that I want to see you for the callbacks. And then I can hit, yep, I see Spencer, he's got it. Next, and I'm into the callbacks. Because they are making their decisions so fast because they have three hours of footage, I'm just throwing out a number there, to watch in one hour. Three hours of footage to watch in one hour. So they're looking as quickly as possible to make a decision of yes or no. For us in casting, are we gonna present you to the director? From the director or the advertising agency, are you going to make it two callbacks? And then the callbacks is a whole nother beast. Number four, do you believe what you're seeing? It's all in the eyes. So if I come into a scene and I'm a farmer, and you know, I take a step in and I I see my cattle out there in the farm, I gotta really believe what I'm seeing, and it has to be consistent. And then I'm gonna look over here at my wife, pick up my coffee, give a little sip, and then walk back off. And those eyelines have to be consistent. If I then look at my wife and then I come back and I put the cows someplace else, and it's not consistent, I don't believe that you believe what you're seeing. And now I'm in my head as the viewer going, oh, this person's not committed to their imagination, which leads me to my last point to answer your question. We have to have a vision for what we're presenting for the story. And this is my big thing that I've been teaching in the last six months is we are no longer just the actor. We're not, and a lot of people hate hearing that. But we have to embrace that we are now the writer, the cinematographer, the set designer, the sound person, the costumer, the um, yeah, like I said, the sound person, the props master, uh, the set the editor. But most importantly, we're the director of our self-tape. And what does a director need to have? A vision. They have to have a vision for what they are presenting to entertain the audience that's watching it. And that means making a decision as a director. Am I walking into this? What are my eyelines? How am I going to keep those eyelines consistent? Um do I what else do I need? If there's a reader, how am I directing my reader to give me what I need? And having that comfort of, I need you to pick up this pace. I need you to cut me off in this line, leave a pause here. And then do I have an exit at the end? And how do I tighten that all up so that way I can work with my cinematographer and my editor? What frame am I at? And the actors who are doing great in their self-tapes understand all those elements, but the most important one is they bring a vision that will entertain them and suffices all the needs that the other people who are receiving this want to see.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

And that is the interview people.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Um I was like, I points.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

No, no, no, no. But but no, but this is this is so important because things have changed since the pandemic on such uh incredible uh level that it has changed. You you know, you're you have to do all these things. A while ago, you talked about the actor being an independent contractor, and as I was listening to that, I was like, no, the actor now is the CEO of their company, they're the filmmaker, they are they are no longer talent, is like 10%. 90% is everything else. And so, you know, when you started acting, all you had to worry about was your material and hitting your mark. That is not the case anymore. That is that is the entry level of the audition is hitting your mark and knowing your lines. Now you have to you have to do a lot. So um, with everything that you said, the first thing that came to mind is investment. What is your belief on investing in your acting career? And and we're just starting with commercials, because I think theatrical is a whole nother beast. But in commercials, what kind of investment do you need to make to be ready to audition?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

I love that you say commercials because for a lot of people, you're gonna start off in commercials because they're they're looking for actors who are starting. You don't have to be union, you can be non-union. There's a lot more non-union opportunities for commercials than non or union. Um, and there's just so much more turnover. And a lot of people think like, oh, I don't want to do commercials, I want to be in TV, film, Broadway, which I totally get. But you're gonna earn your chops by doing commercials, and I could do a whole lecture on that. The investment, and the most important thing about the investment is it's it's not so much what are you buying, which is important, but how are you buying it? Where are you getting the funds to buy your equipment, to have the backdrop, the lights, um, the space, the microphone if you want that, the good computer, the the better phone, anything else like that, the opportunity to uh go to a callback, which a big proponent that I talk about when I go to colleges and I teach is how are you paying the rent a year after you have graduated? You might go off, go to Europe, have fun, live at home with mom and dad for a little bit. But when you find yourself in your market, how what is your survival job? And a lot of kids, me included, haven't thought that through. And there's flexible work and inflexible work, which we might have talked about last time. Um, but flexible work allows you to step away to do an audition, a Zoom callback, um, to go to an in-person audition the next day, uh, to go be on set for something. You have the ability to say, hey, I've got to, I gotta go. Can I get cover or something like that? In flexible work, you're not. Your boss will fire you if you have to do that. And and that's okay for some time too, if that's your situation. And then you keep working, you keep doing things. But I like to tell actors that when you come out to LA or let's say New York or Chicago, the big three hubs, what is your war chest in savings that you have saved up to hit the ground running? Now, don't let this stop you from coming out. Um, because you can come out, get a job, and just kind of make it work. But when you come out, you want to get into a class right away because you want to start building your network. You wanna keep learning. And like where we teach, I teach at uh Keep It Real Acting, our introduction A to Z class, a six weeks, six weeks course is$500. Uh, and we we offer some pretty good deals. Whenever a holiday comes up, you're gonna see some great savings come up. But let's just say that's kind of the average for any place for six weeks, it's gonna be$500. So, right there, it's$500. But what you really want to do is find that studio, that teacher that speaks your language, that you really feel like, okay, this is a place, and you want to see their program as much through as you can. Uh, you want to take the beginner level class, the mediate intermediate, the next level class. And if they have an advanced class, like we do at Keep It Real Acting, we have four different levels: A to Z, Improv, Master the Commercial Cell Tape, and the Advanced Commercial Callback for our commercial track. And the students like Lexi and Emilev and Daryl Fisk, and I can just name so many, use so many names. The ones who really succeed go through all four. They graduate. And Judy sees them, all of our teachers see them, and they really see it through. But that's gonna cost. That's gonna cost$1,200 to$1,500, and you can do that whole cycle in one year. And in that time, you will learn as much as you can about one specific medium for auditioning. And then, and you'll also make a network, you'll meet other students in class and they will help you out as much as any teacher would. Then you also throw in headshots, and uh, those are really the kind of the big things. That's$2,500 that you've got to invest, throwing a little extra money for lights and your setup and anything else. So you're looking at about$3,000 to invest in yourself, but it will pay dividends in return.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

I would say it's closer to five, but um uh just just starting out the gate. It's closer to five.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Well, what would you say that I missed uh to get that? How do you get five? Because I I'm curious about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Well, you gotta have a good phone, which is gonna run you about a grand because you need to get a phone that has enough storage space that every time you you do a self-tape, now you have no storage. You know, you can't your phone is your office, your phone is everything. You for me, uh, and and you know, for me, I believe you need the top-of-the-line phone with great camera, with um great storage. That's your little filmmaker kit in a box.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

You need that, then you need to get a little audio, some kind of mic that you can connect so your audio is good. Then you need to have lighting. To me, having just a ring light is not sufficient. And having um, you know, sometimes I've heard people say, well, if you got a window, you could use that. No, you need lights that you can control. A good kit is gonna run you at least a hundred bucks, at least a hundred bucks. At least at least, and I and and I I would have to say probably I have, I mean, I I have upgraded so many times with lighting, and a good kit is about three hundred dollars to get two uh um um light stands, and it's gonna run you about three hundred dollars. Then you're talking about a good headshot, a good having a a really good uh photographer that's gonna do your headshots. You gotta consider your wardrobe for commercials. What is the look that you're projecting, right? You talk a lot about your branding and what you're selling. Well, that's gotta show up in the headshot. And you gotta get a photographer. First of all, you got to know what it is that you sell, right? That may take uh a little bit of investment. You may have to get a stylist, you might have to be in a class where all they're talking about is your brand and how do you get there and what's your hair look like? What does your your face? If you're a guy, do you wear a, you know, is it clean shaven? Do you have a mustache? Do you have a beard? Are you scruffy? All of that stuff goes into play as your brand. If you're if you're a female uh ingenue, how many times do you have to go to the beauty parlor or or the salon to get your hair maintained? That's at least once a month, once every three months, then you got to get your nails done. It's not a cheap entry-level business to get into uh to me. If you really want to start out um ready, you need certain things that you have to take care of. You you mentioned before about what is your war chest. I always tell people if you're coming to Los Angeles, have a year of savings so that it gives you a runway. And and in that year, take little jobs, do things that that you can replenish some of that money so it gives you a longer runway. Do you know? I I've had friends over the years that I would say, hey, you need to have at least six months of cash that you can pay your rent, you can go wherever, and that you have a car in Los Angeles. It's not uh it's better now because of Uber, but still that's a lot of money that you're paying Uber to get you around town. So it is an expense, and and for actors, it is about investing. You know, we see actors coming all the time, and you probably see it more than I do, but I've seen it for over 45 years of actors thinking that this is a lotto ticket. They're gonna get in and they're gonna hit it big. And I I mean, I think that's a wonderful idea, but before you can do that, you have to you really need to think of acting like being a doctor. It takes years of training. You went, um, and I want you to talk about this. You went to college for acting, then you went to grad school, and then you took a job in in casting. Talk about that because I don't think people understand it's not gonna happen overnight.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

No, and you're you're absolutely right. And I I react when you said I got a job in casting because that was such a journey. I graduated from UCLA grad school, uh, the School of Theater, film, and television in 2003. And I learned, I teach now from a lot of my mistakes, and I was not set up for success. I was not prepared. I had a job during the summer, like at a camp on a beach, and I just thought things were gonna happen. I'm the fourth of five kids. I always had a guardian angel looking over me. And uh I spent three months unemployed and living off of credit card and building up debt and really stressed out, which led to just depression and anxiety and not a good state of mind. And um, I got very lucky that I fell into casting. I was uh ready to do anything else, and I sat down with a teacher named Michael Sh uh Michael Schlitt, who was working at Sony, and I was like, hey, can you just give me any job here on the Sony lot? I can be a PA, um, uh a build sets, whatever. And he's like, No, Spence, you're an actor. I'm not gonna let you go that route. Get a job in casting, just do what you can. So then I spent like another month cold calling, um, dropping off resumes, whatever I could, to casting directors. And forgive me if I told you the story before, but you haven't. Yeah, God bless. I started like really spreading myself out too thin, and I was living on Venice Beach. And then uh one day I was like, you know what? Let me go local. And I found a casting director named Mimi Webb Miller, who lived also in Venice. So I called the number that I found in this book that you know, keep in mind this is 2003. I'm leaving this bleeding heart voicemail, and God bless her, she picked up the phone. And in this sweet Texan accent, she just goes, How can I help you, honey? Oh my God. I said, Mimi, my name is Spencer. I just graduated from UCLA with my MFA and And I'm I'm needing a job. Can you help me? Yeah, sure. Come up to Westside Casting. You meet my office and we'll see if we can help you out. So I did. And I followed advice from a friend of mine, Lisa Nani, and she was a casting assistant for uh Heidi Levitt casting, who did all of Oliver Stone's movies. And when she brought her resume in so many years ago, she stuffed it with chocolate in the Manila envelope. So I brought in mine stuffed with chocolate. It looked like a football. And they were just like, wow, what's this? And then they said, let's train you as a camera operator, because one of their camera operators was working just so much as an actor, he wasn't reliable. So they did. They trained me as a camera operator. And I learned how to run VCR and uh three-quarter inch and half inch tapes and camera and everything else. Problem was, Mimi didn't work that much. She had other things going on. So she'd have a job and then she'd disappear. So I'd call her up and they're like, Mimi, what's going on? She's like, Well, I'm back in Texas, but just go and hang out at the studio. They kind of know you, they're not going to kick you out, and maybe something will happen. So I did. I would just go up there, hang out because I knew people. You don't just do that. You don't just go to a studio and hang out. But I'd kind of been trained there for a couple weeks. And that's when a friend of mine, Tim, pulled me out into his office one day. And he's like, Hey, what's your story? I see you, you know, kind of hanging out. What's the story? So I told him, and he goes, Well, I just got promoted to the manager. I was the he was the assistant manager. He goes, and I need an assistant manager. Would you like to you want to try that? Yeah. For the next three years, I worked about 60 hours a week at that studio. Opening, closing, dubbing, shipping, setting up callbacks, training, everything. Saved my life. Those two people, and just the luck of timing, right place, right time, opened up that door for me. And I say that because so many people have said to me, Spence, how do I become a session director? How can I get into casting? And it's harder now than it was then because of self-tapes. There are less session directors now because of self tapes. And I'm not bashing self-tapes. I like self-tapes. Um, but it's just a fact. So when people come to me and they're like, hey, I want to do what you do, it's like, so do the people who do what I do. They're scrounging for work now. Um, but that's that's our industry, is that when headshots started going digital, I remember going to a headshot reproduction place and they're like, Do you want the 500 or the$1,000 package or the$1,000 picture package? And I went, Do you have something that's like$50? And they're like, Why? And I said, Because it's up on casting or LA casting at the time. And I told her what was going on, and she looked at me and she just went, So you're telling me I'm going out of business? And I was like, uh, or pivots. And next time I went in, she had 25, 50, 100, or 200 packages for her headshot reproductions. And that's what we had to do, as what we do now is that if you're working less, I now pivot to teaching at colleges or coaching more or teaching more or starting a nonprofit so I can bring Act with Spencer and my coaching to veteran affairs, um, correctional facilities, high schools, uh, regional centers, anything else like that. Um, but I love it, so that's what I do.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

I want to stop at Kira, uh, keep it real acting, um, which I think is one of, first of all, one of the best commercial audition acting studios in Los Angeles. It's one of the cheapest in Los Angeles, and one of the most effective in Los Angeles. So I just want to say this, and what is great is that anybody can take it because it's on Zoom. I recommend actors do it all the time because I know the quality of work that they're gonna get, that they're going to be so much prepared, so better prepared for auditions, callbacks, onset work than a lot of other places that are offering commercial um acting classes. Kira reminds me of HB Studios in New York on a different level, but HB Studios in New York, I don't know how it is now, but when I was acting regularly and I would go back to New York for a period of time, I would take classes there because it was always so affordable, so actor-friendly, and you got great information. I could take Alexander Technique, uh scene study. I mean, I could I could take so many classes in a week. If I was there two weeks, I was signing up for those classes. What I love about Kira is that every month or every six weeks, you can take a class, an acting class. Yes, a scene study. You can take a commercial uh class if you don't know anything about commercials. The A to Z will help you immensely understand what it is that you're gonna be dealing with. Because as an actor, you have to know the business. You have to know commercials are different from musicals and stage and television and film and indie film. They are all very specific mediums and voiceovers. There, and uh I I I forgot cartoon voices. All of it are different mediums. And what is so great is Judy Kane, who I adore. I've known her over 40 years. Maybe 43 years I've known Judy, somewhere around, somewhere. I know we've hit 40, but I it might be 43 years. Judy has been in over 400 commercials, she's won all these awards, she's done a lot of TV, a lot of sitcoms, um, uh just all kinds of stuff. And she cares about the actors. You, Spencer Cranber, care about the actors. As an actor, you have a different take than someone who is just giving the technical stuff. I'm sorry I'm doing a commercial on you guys, but I just think it's important. What I love about your technique, I'm talking about you specifically, and I had mentioned this to you a little while ago, is that I love your coaching because you're coming from uh someone who sees it every day. You live it, you work it as an actor. You've you've been in the rooms, you know, when when it was just audition. So you've seen it on so many levels. So when you coach an actor, you're really giving them everything, you know, and and and your stuff is so lean. Like, you know, this is what you got to do, this is what, and and for me, if I'm an actor and I want to start booking commercials, guess what? You're gonna be the person I'm calling to coach me because that's an investment I am willing to make for myself so that I can book the jobs. You are so specific in your choices. And what I love is that you not only help to set up your launch and your button. And for those of you actors who don't know what that is, that's what they teach you Akira. Um, but you gotta, you gotta, you gotta bring the extra. And you you teach them how to bring the extra. So, and you also, what I learned about you is that you really do help the actor figure out how to edit. We talked, you talked about editing and how to be time specific. And most actors are not, you know, they're they will they're not they're they're not considerate about, you know, this has to be a very short, it's only a minute commercial. So you can't be sending an hour tape. You it's gotta be boiled down. So I just wanted to say that about you because um I love your work, I respect your work as a uh session director, as a coach, as an acting teacher, and as an actor. You do great work. And I I uh before we go back to what we were talking about, I just want to talk about how you have learned to be a better actor from being a session director.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

The first thing I got was peace of mind. Uh, the amount of times I remember there was something I was running one time, and I just saw all these great people in the room. This is 10 years ago, and the number of them that didn't get called back. I mean, these are great actors. They came in, they they I love them because they walked in, they were prepared, they had fun, they made their choices, they listened to their instincts, they did everything right and they didn't get a callback. Or people got a callback and then at the end they weren't on the table. They just were like, no, no, no. And I'm going, like, I've seen this person 50 plus times in the amount of time that I've been doing this. They're amazing. And they just got completely looked over. Not for any specific reason. Who knows why? And so now I have the peace of mind as an actor, by being a session director, that there are so many more variables that go into this that truly, when I do an audition, the second I'm done, I walk out the building, I hit submit, it is forgotten. I do not think about it. If I get a callback, that is the most wonderful surprise. And then I have to try to remember what I did. And it comes back to me, and I have my notes and everything else, and I can remember what I wore and blah, blah, blah. Um, but I I don't do an audition and think like, oh, this is gonna be the one. I did really great. Uh, I think I'm gonna get a callback. And then when it doesn't happen, that I'm sitting there beating myself up. Uh, the pros just throw it up against the wall, and if it sticks with somebody else, great. But uh, you know, there's a the old prayer control what you can control. God give me the um the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the uh the courage to change the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Yes, and I find serenity in what I can and what I can't control. And but what I can control is my audition, is the moment between action and cut. And that is where I that's my moment of zen. I really thought about this, Lydia. I've been thinking about this. Uh years ago, I was doing a play, the director's wife came and saw it, she was an actress, and she said, Spence, you know something that you have? She said, When you're on stage, you have presence. And I don't know how to define that. It's a very material thing to just say that person has presence. And I've really been pondering that lately. And I think what that means to me is I am present in that moment. And it really comes down to the whole thick of acting of we know as the actor where the story is going, where the scene is going. We come, you know, that I'm gonna come in this way, but by the time the scene is done, this whole thing has happened, there's been discoveries and blah, blah, blah. Um, but the character doesn't know. We have to live in the world of not knowing for the character. The character is truly present. They're not wrapped up in the past or the future. Us as an actor have to be present in the moments. And as we know through meditation and whatever else, that being present is so important just in life. If we are, if I am dwelling on the past, I become depressed. If I'm worrying about the future, if I'm living in what if, I become anxious. And just for my own self personally, I have found peace of mind and happiness and tranquility and serenity by just being present and identifying when I'm driving and I'm thinking too much about the past or the future, to stop and just say, Spence, you are in a car, you everything is fine, you're present. In the present, everything is okay. Serenity now. And that's where when I am acting between cut and action, entrance and exits, I'm present. And if an actor wants to, I think, have presence, you have to truly be present in that moment and forget as the actor what's coming next. Live as if you're discovering everything for the first time in that scene. And that's that's one of the biggest secrets.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

You made a comment the last time we talked, which was don't anticipate, participate.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

You remember that. I love that you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

I I remember it a lot, um, but I think that is so crucial, especially for actors who are just starting out, being in the moment, experiencing it for the first time, whether it's a commercial, whether it's theatrical, whatever, or or being on stage, is you have to find the freshness to it. Even though you know as the actor what is going on, the character doesn't. And and commercials, you're doing little characters, little vignettes. So you have to just be present in the awe of it, right? And and I just I love that because uh I I remember when I was starting, I I studied with one of the best teachers in the world, Roy London. And one of the things that he really uh just pushed in me for the first six months was stop telegraphing, just do it. And he would just say, you you can't, you, you keep wait, you keep wanting to get to the end. You have to live in the now of it, so that when it's over, we're still wanting more of you, yes, as opposed to doing an audition and we can't wait for you to finish.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

One of the biggest things that you brought up buttons earlier, and this is one thing I've been telling a lot of people earlier. Uh when I get a script, and uh let's say it's a commercial script, and you know, we we encourage buttons. It's just and for those of you who don't know, a button is just a little bit of improv or ad lib that you add at the script, add at the end of the script, uh, assuming that we don't say cut right away. What are you going to add on to just show a little bit of creativity or your personality? And it's an action, or it could be three or less words. It doesn't need to be a lot. Uh I'll get a script and I will read the script and I'll understand everything. And then at the end, I will go, I'll think of options. I'll think of like, oh, at the end, okay, my character, I might say this, I might say that, I might say this, I might say that, I might say this. And then I forget them. I forget them. And when the moment comes, and I'm in an audition or a self tape, and I get to the end, I say the last scripted line. Um, and then in the instinct, in the moment, something happens. We can tell painfully when someone has scripted a button, when someone thinks like, oh, I thought of this really funny thing that I'm going to say. And it doesn't come across as authentic at all. Um, that you can tell that they've really written something. And when I'm coaching an actor or directing somebody in an audition, and I say, okay, give me a different take, you know, do the same thing, just uh give me a different button. And they say, okay, just give me a second, let me think of something. You know what I say? Action. Don't think about it. Be true to your character, be true to the moment, and the right thing will come out of your mouth, whatever it is. So, yeah, don't get in your head trying to think of everything. I just did an audition the other day where I had to play a commercial director on sets, and I had so much fun. I gave myself little parameters. I was like, okay, I'll talk to the DP and I'll talk to my producer and have this type of thing. But I'd say about 70% of what I did, and this was all ad lib improvise because it's MOS, there's no script, but they were like, no, you talk to these people, so it's improvising and ad-libbing.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

So for those people who don't know, what is MOS?

SPEAKER_00 41:25

All right. MOS, the urban legend is that there was a director, a German director on set who was going to shoot something without sound. And but because he was German, he said mit out sound. So it became known as MOS. I've tried to look it up, and I think it actually stands for like motor only sync or motor only sound. Um, so there's there's some discussion about what MOS stands for. But what that means is they are not recording any sound during the shoot of that moment or scene. No actors might be wearing a mic, there's no boom mic or anything else like that. Um, so that could mean that actors are just going through the scene and they're not verbally saying anything, it's just looks and expressions. Or they are saying something, but none of what they're saying is being recorded. And that involves another form of improv. We think of improv as whose line is it anyway? Ground lanes, upright citizens brigade, improv Olympics, all these types of things. Where humor is what's important, but for some MO, uh some MOS tapings or work, it's not about being funny because you're never gonna be hurt. It's about appearing natural. So if I'm walking into a convenience store for a pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical commercials use this all the time, and I'm interacting with the clerk. Uh I'm gonna walk in and be like, hey, Todd, how's it going, man? It's good to see you. Yeah, I like what you did with the place. This looks I'm gonna have a very genuine back and forth conversation. They will never hear it. I might as well be saying peas and carrots, peas and carrots, watermelon, watermelon. It's not about what I'm saying, it's about how I look while I'm saying it. And I need to look natural and interesting and kind of hitting these tones that might be important. So that's a whole thing that we teach in MOS. And I show examples of different commercials where people are going through and no sound is being recorded, and they don't say anything, it's all just looks. Or people are full on having conversations, but you never hear a word of it, but they look very slice of life and natural. So those are some of my examples with MOS.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Let's say you're you're coaching three actors for the same commercial. How do you not give them the same thing? So it's a cookie-cutter coaching.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

One thing I try to do, Lydia, is I give the bones, because we'll do a lot of group explanations, for example, in commercials, you know. So you get a script, you get an idea from the script, and then if it's in person or in Zoom, I will bring in a group of actors. We'll have, let's say, five to seven people out in the lobby. I don't have time or the energy to give everyone individual explanations. So we bring in everyone knows a group explanation. And the same thing happens in Zooms, where you'll get a group explanation, everyone will turn on and we'll give a group explanation. And what I focus on is what I call the bones of the audition. I used to train session directors too. And I would, when I would train a session director, which I don't do anymore, I would say, look, when an actor comes in, this is the first information you give them. What is their blocking and what is their eyeline? And if it's important, what is the frame? And so therefore I will say, like, okay, hey everyone, thanks for being here. I'm Spencer. For Slate, I'm gonna have you stand here. All you have to say is your names. We don't need anything else looking right in the camera. On action, you're gonna start out of frame over here, walk in, land right on the mark where you slated, look up at that light right there. You're gonna look, and we're gonna say, I don't know, it's a Pepsi commercial, and that's Godzilla. Why? And you're gonna look up at Godzilla, just a deadpan reaction, give it a beat, look in the camera, say, drink Pepsi, and then walk off to your left. So one more recap: walk in from your right, hit your mark, then look up and discover Godzilla, give it a beat, look into camera, drink Pepsi, walk off to your left. That's the bones. That's your blocking and eyeline. Then, if there's anything that I have to give tonally, then I'll say it. I've seen so many people in auditions give the unnecessary information first. My example of that is all right, everyone, thanks for being here. This is gonna be a huge spot. It's gonna air during a big football game in February. The director's blowing up, she's shooting something in Guam right now, and your character's kind of an old soul, but they're blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And as actors, we smile and we nod, but what are we thinking? What's my blocking? What's my eyeline? And then, like I said, that's the bones of the audition. And I just kind of leave it at that. Because the actor then adds on the muscles, the flesh, those great little minute details that makes them. Them and I don't mess with that. I don't want to over direct from the beginning. Just hit these things, do it, and then great. And then if they want to be creative and be like, hey, Spence, instead of like walking into it on my second take, could I pop up from underneath? Or could I walk in backwards or something like that? Yeah, great. You're being creative and within the confines that I gave you. And that can apply to our self-tapes. If you get the direction, you're going to get a certain amount of direction. But how are you going to fill in the little gaps on top of that to make you unique? Uh, because as Oscar Wilde said, be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. Everyone's getting the same bones. How is your muscle, your flesh, your skin, your details different from everybody else?

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Okay. Everybody's coming in for this one line. They're all coming in. You have actors who've made choices, and you have actors who've come in asking for choices.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

Oh, love this one. Uh, a friend of mine, Craig Wallace, years ago said uh, he told this great story. He was working in development at Universal. He's a teacher and he worked in casting. He worked as a rep. He worked as a teacher and in development. And he said he wanted to sit in on a casting director's session one time. So the casting director's like, yeah, go ahead. And this is a long time ago, so it was very different. And actors would come in, and at a certain point, right away at the beginning, the director, the casting director would just say, Thanks, don't need anything else. And the director, actor, but without finishing, would be like, What? And walk out. Craig was kind of appalled by this. He's like, What's going on? And she said, I can tell in the first 10 seconds who's coming in with choices and who's coming in looking for choices to be given to them. She said, We'll do the next test. The next 10 actors, I'll let them come in, but in the first and do the whole thing. But at about 15 to 20 seconds, put down Craig on a piece of paper which category they fall in. And sure enough, he could tell just by them walking in and a little bit coming from them which category they fell into. And a lot of the dialogue, a lot of the back and forth, the the casting director would say, All right, come in, stand there, I'm gonna get you slated. And then the actor would say something invariably of like, um, I have a question for you. Uh, what are you looking for? That's an actor who's looking for choices to be given to them, versus the casting director saying, Any questions? And the actor going, Nope. That is an actor who is bringing choices, or as I like to say, their vision. Now, if they get into the room and the casting director gives them some information, now you're flexible. You say, like, okay, I had planned this, I'd made these choices, but now I'm getting new information that might be different than what I planned. Okay, I pivot, I take what they're giving me, and I adapt what I had planned, what my vision was, to do what they're asking and then add on to it with what I so that's the difference between someone who's bringing in choices and someone who's looking for choices to be given to them. So be careful, actors, when you come in with the just the question of what are you looking for? We are looking for you to bring in what you do as an artist, and then we will work with that. And through that, we will discover what we're looking for, and we want it to be you.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

That brings me to something that actors do a lot. We want to be validated, we want to be liked. We may have made choices, but now we come in the room and we're nervous. We we're that uh imposter syndrome may creep up, the um desperation may creep up, and we over talk. We get in the room or we get in the the callback, we got the audition, we get in the callback, and now we are just what can you tell actors that uh so that they can come in grounded and just do what they are being asked to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

So many thoughts on this. And it's a great question. It's one that I really love that actors ask me. Just a lot of colleges like, how do you handle nerves? And that's some of the advice that I got. Gil Cates, one of my teachers at UCLA, uh, bless, bless him. Uh, he used to say that we had an actress one time starting a scene, and she was like, I'm really scared, I'm really nervous right now. And he said, That's great, that's fine. Just you know what? Say you're excited. Say it out loud. I'm really excited right now. And I've seen some videos where this chemically changes some of the position in our brain. It does.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

I use this on set. I've been on set where I have a line and I feel like, God, if I flub this, they're gonna pull up an extra and just Spence, can you go sit in your trailer for a little bit? And I got so in my head. And I recalled that and I said, you know what? I'm nervous, I'm scared. Nope. I'm excited. Spencer, you are so excited to be here right now, and you're excited because you care, because I care about this. Another one that I tell actors is, and I got this from my therapist, count backwards from a hundred by three. Count backwards from a hundred by three before you go in the room. You've done the work, everything's there. Now our head is starting to get really activated. I don't know what side of the hemisphere it is, uh, but we're getting very emotional. Counting backwards from a hundred by three, and you don't have to do it fast, you don't have to do it right, but it engages the other side of the brain. It takes the pressure off one side. Um, so that's another thing you can do. I do that all the time. Two repetitions, classes, um, just giving yourself that exposure, hiring a coach to say, hey, I have a callback tomorrow, and I'm constantly getting in my head, can we just do a simulation? And you don't even need to hire a coach. You can just get a friend on Zoom and have them sign on and say, and just do a simulation of, all right, hey, Spence, thanks for joining us. Um, let's slate you. Then you do your slate and let's give it a go. And action and get the monologue out, get the script out of your mouth a couple of times. And you don't get to redo it, you don't get to break character, treat it as though it is an actual, the actual audition, the actual callback. Um, let them hop back on and say, okay, let's do it again. Uh no changes. And and then as soon as they're done, like, okay, thanks, and hang up. That is how the real audition will go. And just by doing that, you will have be so much more prepared. The last things I got to say, Lydia, because you brought up so many good things. A friend of mine, Eddie Blackwell, great actor. Um, I heard him once talking about one of his pet peeves when he's in the room with a partner and the director's trying to give a note. And the actor, out of nerves, and I say this with love and compassion, but the actor is just overriding the director with uh-huh, okay, yep, mm-hmm. And the director's just sitting there going, let me get my thought out. So, one thing that we got to learn how to do is just shut up. We just have to sit there and shut up. Let the director get their full thought out, let them take a breath, and then and then what we say is, got it. Copy that, thank you, or just a thumbs up or a nod. And unless there's something that needs to be clarified. So if the director says something like, Okay, uh, when you're holding the mug, hold it like this, not like this. And maybe that wasn't really clear to you, then you just reiterate it. Got it. Quick question. You said hold the mug like this, not like this. Yep, that's what I meant. Got it. And then you get into character. You step back for your entrance or whatever, and the session director goes, and action. Because you know what that's telling the director? That's somebody I can work with on set. So many actors make the mistake of they get an adjustment, just a note. The director just wants to see it a different way. So she says, uh, you know, do it again. Uh just don't use your hands as much. So many actors make the mistake of explaining, defending, or justifying their behaviors, their habits, or their choices. Uh, well, in Puerto Rican, so I talk with my hands a lot, or oh, I'm really animated with my face, so I do this thing with my eyebrows. All the director is thinking is, I can't have that person doing this on sets. I have 50 of the crew around who don't want to hear this person explaining their behavior. And that's why we just say, got it, and then do the adjustments.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

In theatrical acting, we can work on scenes, we can work on monologues, but in commercial acting, how can I work on commercials while I'm waiting for auditions? Let's say, you know, I took, I've taken my classes, and maybe this month I'm not taking classes. I'm hoping actors are always taking classes, but maybe this month or the next couple of months, you know, I just can't afford to take the classes that I would like to. How can I uh do the repetitions and and keep myself sharpened? So when I my agent gets me uh an audition, I am ready.

SPEAKER_00 55:49

First thing I would say, and you're very valid point. Maybe due to time or finances, you you don't have the availability availability to take a class. Hopefully you have a tribe out here. Hopefully you have a network. And not just out here, anywhere in the country where you can reach out to a small group, two or three people, and say, hey, let's have an accountability buddy. Uh, I'm gonna find a script for you. I'm gonna give you a script that I've worked on in the past, you're gonna give me a script that I've worked on in the past. And we are going to send each other self tapes. And that way you can just send each other some something. Uh, another thing I like to say, and and then you record it as a self tape, and you just meet with your partner, your friend, your two or three accountability buddies, and you show each other what you did with it. And then they show you, oh, well, this is what I did with it. And you just have a conversation about it. I totally agree. I mean, the ability to just do it yourself is available now more than any time. I constantly am seeing something on TV, uh, and I'm like, you know what? I can do that scene. I want to do that scene. I'm gonna do that scene. And I just mark it and I find the scripts or the dialogue online, and then I just make it my own self-tape. And that's my own, it's like going to the gym. That leads me to another point, especially with commercials, is save yourself some money and turn off the part of your streaming subscription where you don't watch commercials. You should be watching commercials as much as you're watching TV if you want to audition for commercials. So you get a and then you don't just watch commercials or step away. That's the time when you watch it and be like, I wonder what that audition was like. I wonder what that shoot was like. I wonder why that person booked this over another person. Why did casting make these choices of pairing these two people together and having that other person in the background and so on and so forth? That is our industry. Uh, I think I heard Sting once say that he's tortured by music because he can never just even walk into an elevator and listen to Mu Zak without dissecting it. And we need to have that same type of mentality as actors. So I'm constantly not just watching things for fun. I will, but eventually at a certain point, I'll also start thinking of it from behind the camera, going through the whole process. Uh, but then another thing you can do is just search as you're watching commercials, write down the words and set up your stuff and record it yourself, or just search uh for audition material online, find a script or two, something generic, something that you feel like you might be able to do. And then, I mean, there's tons of material online, and just assign yourself the work. And that way, when the time comes, you haven't been on hiatus for a while. You just had three auditions last week, and this is your fourth, and you're ready for it. But you want to find scene work, you want to find spokesperson work where you're talking to camera, and you want to find MOS. And then the last thing is share this work with people. You it should be to a point where you can say, like, you know what, I'm gonna text us to three friends because I think this is pretty damn funny, and I think it's pretty good. And if you're comfortable enough to share it with people, then it's at a point where you're you'd be happy sending that in for casting.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

You said something I heard uh in one of the interviews that you did, which is if you're doing the copy exactly as it is written, you have failed.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

Close. Um, that will be an adjustment. I just said that to somebody the other day, which is so funny. Um in a in a class. In a first take in commercials, traditionally, we like to get one take where it is pretty close to scripts, pretty close to as written. Because you got to keep in mind, in a commercial, there's two different entities that are making decisions here. There's the production company with the director and the producer, and then there's the advertising agency that has the direct line to the client, the brand, uh, the product. And they wrote the commercial, the advertising agency. And like any writer, especially with sitcoms, they want their words to be respected. Uh, the director might be watching it from a different perspective. They want somebody who's talented and creative and able to add on to it, maybe make a bad script better, things like that. So a lot of times I say traditionally, and there's no absolutes in what we do. I try really hard, Lydia, to stay away from saying you always do this, you never do that. Because the second I say something like that, tomorrow the universe is going to give you something that you're gonna be asked to do the opposite. Uh, so I traditionally like to do a take where, hey, let's try to get it to scripts, add on a button at the end. And then on a second take, assuming they did that, they came in, they said exactly as written, great. But now, my casting director, my director, we want you to play with it. And I'll say, okay, great, play with it now, make it your own, all those type of things. And then there's a lot of actors who don't know what that means, they don't change anything, they do it again exactly as written. And I'll try again. I'll say, okay, try it again, but change something, play with it, you know, um, add something to it. And they do it again and they say it exactly as written. And I get it, you know, they just they don't know whether so then I will pull out the big gun and I'll say, okay, hey, if you say this again exactly as written, that is a fail. And that, and I say with a smile, and and they go, Oh, okay, okay. But the the lesson that I can give to that, what what I try to, and this is what I really teach a class, I say, it doesn't need a major overhaul. I'm not asking you to change the structure of the script. What I call that is this is my own lesson that I created, is simple substitutions. If your first line is the character saying into camera, hey Lydia, how's your internet going? Instead of that, on the second take, I want to say, Lydia, I got a question for you. Your internet, talk to me. I'm saying the same thing, but I'm just changing the words. If the car calls me in line and the scripted to say, hmm, pizza and a beer sounds pretty good. But then I start talking about my Toyota. Then the next take, I can say, like, oh yeah, soda and a hot dog. And then I'm going into something else. It doesn't matter what I say, but it shows enough of a change, enough of a playfulness, enough of creativity, that's a director's gonna say, like, that's somebody I can have on sets, because they're gonna bring, they're not locked into a choice. They're listening to their instincts, which the biggest thing that I teach now is all of acting, almost whatever medium you're in, is a marriage between technique and instincts. And sometimes it's 80% technique and sometimes it's 20% instinct or reverse it. Um, so you really got to pay attention to that. I mean, if you're doing comedy, whatever it can be, there's gonna be a certain amount of it where it's gonna be asked, you know, do this, stand here, do nothing. That's pure technique. That's great. Spencer Tracy used to say, acting is hitting your mark and telling the truth. Hitting your mark can be incredibly technical. You have two and a half steps, your big toe has to land here, you have to land right here, so that film the war light is hitting your eye right here, and the focus is good and everything else. But once you land there, what is the truth? And the truth comes from instinct, it's a nanoscience.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

I love that because when you're hitting your mark as an actor, you also have to incorporate it into being organic. You know, so it's like you gotta learn the marks, you know. If the director wants you, okay, when you say fire, you need to turn, you gotta turn your head. That then you have to make it, you have to take all that technical um direction and make it organic. It still has to fit the character, it can't be um mechanical, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:01

The the acting begins before action. There's so many actors who I can tell who's new because I'm saying ready and, and they're just standing there waiting to begin. And I have to say, no, no, no. As soon as I'm saying ready, or you get a sense that I'm about to say ready and and my finger's going to, I'm like, you are already in character, you are already doing the dishes, you're already making the notes on the notepad, whatever it is, you're you're already in it. And to your point, before you say, uh, before you walk in and hit your mark, you are acting at the beginning of where am I, who am I, what am I doing, where am I in this scene, and everything else. Same thing with stage. They say, you know, you don't you you start acting in the wings. And that way, by the time your three steps gets you to in past the curtain and you're in front of the audience, you are already fully in character. So the acting doesn't start once the lights hit your face, it starts in the dark.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:08

Is the launch the beginning of your stuff, or are you still coming in before ready as an as character and then go into the launch?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:19

Great question. I think launches start with an action. So it's a physicality that you're you're into. And I always like to think of the moment before. Michael Shirtliff has a great book called Audition, uh, that was our mandatory reading, first class in undergrad. And he talks about the moment before and understanding what just happened in the scene. And that's something you can just create, create wherever you're at and ask yourself, like, so those choices again happen well before anything. That way, as they're getting ready to do the scene, you've done that work, you're giving yourself some type of an activity to do, uh, where whatever that might be. If there is a script and you have the first line, whether it's spokesperson or a scene, what was said right before your line that is motivating you to say your line, which is first in the script. And when I establish that, I don't hear action anymore. I'm hearing the other person in the scene, whatever it is, say blank. And then I am responding to that. So that way I'm actually coming from a place of response versus just kind of pulling something out of the ethers. And it really grounds me into the conversation, the relationship, and the believability of what I'm experiencing in that role. So, yes, to answer your question, the everything starts before that. And if once I start the activity, if there's room at the top and I can say something genuine, same thing as the button, I'm not scripting it. I'm finding it in the moment because I'm already in the character. What would I just say in that moment? And and then we're into the scene, and they can keep that or not.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:11

What are some editing tips you can give us um once you are putting your self-tape together?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:19

Editing starts before you shoot, which is really fascinating. Because you got to think as a director and the cinematographer, how am I going to edit this later? There's a scene that I use, spokesperson, where you're talking a camera, and this character, though, has different moments, uh, where maybe they're in the bathroom and then they're in the bedroom, they're standing in one moment, then they're seated, and it cuts from one to another. So right now I know, oh, I'm not gonna shoot this in one take. I'm gonna shoot these specific micro moments connecting the whole scene together. So as a cinematographer and the director, I have to make choices of like, all right, the first line takes place here. I'm seated and I don't know, I'm I'm someplace. So I'm gonna frame that, I'm gonna shoot it twice, and then I'm going to reset everything and shoot this different moment where I'm on my feet and I'm walking into the scene. And I'm gonna reframe it. Uh, it happens all the time where it's like somebody starts, uh, they they walk in to talk to the Principal, let's say it's a student. So the principal calls them in, the student walks in, and the principal says, Hey, Joey, come on in, have a seat. And Joey then walks over and sits. So that can be two different shots because you don't want to walk in on a wide frame and then sit down. And now you're very small in a very wide frame. Or you reverse it and you frame it so it's a close-up of a seated chair, but then you walk in and you want to do this first part standing up, and you're out of frame. Or you're gonna like try to lean in the camera. So you say, like, no, the way I'm gonna do this, my vision is I'm gonna walk in, shoot me walking into it, and then move like I'm gonna go sit in the kit chair, cut, and then have me sit into the chair, and then do the rest of the scene where I'm talking to the principal seated in the chair. And that will involve the editing. The other thing that I love to play with is, and this is so silly, and again, it's not gonna make or break anything, but it's just I love editing because I get to make little nuanced choices, and that's gonna be things like um when to use a dissolve or when to use a fade. So I will use a fade to go from like my slates into the beginning of take one. But then if in take one I have multiple little micro scenes, I'll use a dissolve to flow from one thing to another. And then between take one to take two, I'll use another fade. And I'll even adjust. Is that a half second fade, one second fade, one half second fade, depending upon the tempo and mood I want to set? And these should not be anything obvious. It should, it should almost be subliminal that it's just like, oh, and then at the very end, when I'm all done, I like to throw in a fade at the end. I don't fade it, don't fade in at the top because we're still trying to capture that good look of you in a camera, and that'll screw it up. But that way it just lets them know, uh, we're done. And again, it's a very subliminal thing. I worked with this really wonderful actress the other day on a Chipotle commercial, and I said, you know what, for this thing where you got to say this word, and they just say, like, oh, have fun with it. Just kind of make it your own and do this things. I said, What you're gonna do with this is uh it's gonna be more TikTok. So you're gonna say, like, ah, and then do it the other way, and then you're just gonna edit very quickly and you're just gonna use a hard cut. And then she put it together as like this 20-second montage of this actress, of this character just saying this one word um over and over again, um, but in a different way, or tone, or delivery, or whatever. It was hysterical. It was so funny, and she got a callback for it. Now they lose the bit because they found out the word was something kind of derogatory that she had to say, but um I'd like to think that just they saw her going, this person gets it. This person has a vision, they're talented, they're creative. We might want to work with this person. And that goes back to the whole vision thing is how are you gonna put this all together so that it makes sense? So though that's some of my editing thoughts is have a vision and work with your cinematographer and your director and everyone else to figure out what's his vision gonna be and embrace editing, embrace all these facets.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:41

One thing I hear throughout this whole interview is your joy. As actors, can you talk about how important being joyful about what you do is?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:57

Yeah. I remember Meryl Streep hearing a story about Meryl Streep at a QA, and she's on a stage, and they have the open mic, and uh actress walks up to the mic, young ingenue, and said, Uh, hi, Miss Streep. I'm thinking about becoming an actress. I was wondering if you have any advice for me. And I'd like to believe that Meryl Streep with love and kindness just said, and don't. And everyone's like, huh? And she goes, This is such a hard business to be in that it's not really a thought. Either you're called to it or you're not. Uh, and for me it was never a choice. Uh, and I don't know where I get that from, I don't know why. But when I was in my first acting class in college, and the director and the teacher was like, There's 20 of you in here, 10 years from now, only one of you is still gonna be doing this. And without a doubt in my mind, I just went, that's me. And sure enough, I basically am. I mean, there, and I can think of a couple of other people from that class who, but a majority of them aren't anymore. Um, and I think that because it it does come from joy, it does come from a calling, it's it's finding what you were put on earth here to do. And I am a storyteller. Uh, I'm an artist, I am a collaborator, and I love my artist community. You talked about earlier what's um like giving actors that fulfillment, that imposter syndrome, and everything else earlier. My favorite compliment that I have found that I've been giving actors when it's very warranted. When I give a group explanation or an explanation, an actor comes in and they just do everything. They're prepared, they're excited to be there, they've listened and follow all the direction, they bring something new to it, they listen to their instincts. I say, Great, do it again, just the same thing, just better with a smile. And they do it again and they don't do the same thing and they have fun with it. And then they walk out the room and I say, I and I go, and they're going out, they're like, All right, thanks. And I stop them and I say, Hey, if you don't get a call back, it's not because you didn't do this right. And I've literally seen actors cry upon hearing that, because that's all they want to hear. I showed up, I did my job, and that's all I can control. And then they walk out and they and they genuinely say, thank you. That's all I want to hear. Um, and if if that brings them joy and they find joy in that moment, then that's what we're supposed to be doing. And I I find joy in my actors, in everyone that I work with. Uh, I love my community. And it's it's truly not about the destination. It is this journey. I will be perfectly satisfied if I am never the, you know, blow up or be famous or anything else like that. That is not the destination. Success is based upon your effort, as John Wooden said. If you are showing up, you have done your homework, you're doing the best that you can, and you show up and you put in the effort, then you are successful. It does not matter on the results. So that is what I find my joy in. And that's what I try to help all the actors that I work with find their joy in too. Do the best that you can, and you are successful, no matter what happens after that.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:35

You've talked about community, and um, I've listened to some of your interviews, and I really was struck at how important community has been for you, starting in college, that um you still are connected in community with your alumni, with your schools that you go back and you give and you do and you and as actors sometimes we don't realize how important community is because we think it's acting is singular, but but acting is a community. Can you give a couple of of reasons why we need community and how to grow your community, especially when you come from another state and you come to a big city where you don't know anybody, you're you know it's a little scary. How how you start to build that?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:39

Yeah. And first of all, Lydia, I'm gonna give you some props here. You are just the best question ask and interviewer. I love the conversations with you, and I want to ask so many questions back to you, but I know I'm not here to interview you, you're here to interview me. So I'm just gonna have to bite my tongue on so many people. I just I love having these conversations with you. Uh, and where you come up with these questions is so great because uh community is an it it find your tribe, and more importantly, surround yourself with positive people. There's enough obstacles in this world, especially for artists, especially for actors, but whatever your art is, whatever your thing is, uh surround yourself. And that doesn't just mean people who are gonna say yes and you're brilliant and everything else, uh, but people who are gonna support you and genuinely be there for you. Um, and you got to take care of yourself. There's definitely times I've got to wind down my batteries, or I can't beat at every party and and I can't do everything. But I also like to say life doesn't happen sitting on the couch. Uh, you've got to go out there and experience things. And as and especially in our industry is having that network of, hey, I need help with this. Uh, I'm looking for advice on this, I'm looking to connect with somebody, whether it's just therapeutically to complain about the fact that you don't have representation yet, or you're not meeting your goals, or whatever else it might be, or to genuinely collaborate with somebody. I'm at a point right now, I'm really excited to share that I am um developing a sitcom with a co-producing partner, and we're making great headway, and I'm so excited about this. But the one thing that I'm so excited about is that I have such a community of people that I now get to call upon and say, like, I might have an opportunity for you to be a part of this, and I want you to be a part of this, and we'll see where that goes. But it's something that I've been working towards for the long time. It's it's truly about connections, it's about your tribe and who you surround yourself with. And I'm just really grateful that uh you, as one of those people and your daughter and everyone else that we meet through, I'm blessed with a tribe. You get back what you give. And if you're not giving anything to other people, you're not gonna get anything back, and then you will be on an island. And unless you're an author writing a novel, this is a collaboration, and there's nobody who's making a film completely or any type of thing completely by themselves. So uh find your tribe, surround yourself with positive people.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:27

Okay, so the actor that is just graduating from school, just graduating from an acting conservatory, they're going into another city. What's the first thing you look for to start to connect with um with possible tribes people?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:49

Find find a class. And the way you do that, and let's say you uh first of all, you probably already know somebody else in that city. So the first thing you do is you get together with them, you take them out for a cup of coffee, and you sit down and you just start picking their brain about um, I want to take a class. Do you know where I should be taking the class? If somebody came here, I'd be saying, get into an improv class. Because every everything is about improv. I think it's just really great for listening to your instincts and and start there, and then you will meet people in the similar, similar kind of place. Try to find someplace that's close to you. Traffic is real, so you want to find some place that you can get to easily, easy, and it's not a burden. Um, also where you work, you know, what is your job? And finding people there might be on the same kind of plane as you. But in that acting class, assuming they're an actor, then you start to find the people that you think you might connect with in class, the people who seem like they're pretty good, who are just that tier above you, and you take them out for a cup of coffee and you ask them, You're really good in this class. I'm really digging what you're doing. Who else have you studied with? Okay, cool. Are you represented? Who are you represented by? You're not asking for any favors. You're not asking them to pitch you to their agent. You're just getting a lay of the land. You're just figuring out what's what, who's who, how things are going. I did that the other week, and I was um, all these actors that I know from my undergrad who are 20 years younger than me, were all talking about what's going on with verticals in this industry right now, which was stuff I didn't really know about, but it it got me kind of pinged of like, okay, you know, let's let's let me hear more about this. This is interesting. And and that's where it comes from. But it's about being genuinely interested, not going in with an agenda. We can smell that from a mile away. Uh, and it's just literally and and having the mentality of what can I do for you? Not just, I'm just gonna take from you, but uh leaving every conversation. Is there any way I can be of service to you? And they might say, like, actually, yeah, I I'm shooting this thing this weekend and we need someone to show up and just hand out craft services. Are you available? You know what? I am, and then I show up and I do it, and then the next thing you know, you got a part in whatever they were doing because you showed up. But you showed up, and that's the thing, and it came from a genuine place, not a place of, like I said, an agenda.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:20

Oh my god, showing up. Please tell us how important showing up is as actors.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:26

Well, my favorite story to tell is that when I graduated from Minnesota State Mankato, I moved to Ireland for six months because I just I'd never been outside of Minnesota and I wanted to see the world. And it was 98. The Celtic Tiger was going through a boom, and I said, I'm gonna go to Ireland, heritage, all that type of stuff. And I was gonna like work at a bar or a library. That didn't work. I worked at a movie theater, but I wasn't gonna do acting. And uh I was like, no, I need to take a break. I've just been acting for four years, but then you know, you get the itch. So I was like, no, I do want to act. So what did I start with? Headshots. So I went down to the Irish Film Center in downtown Dublin. I was living in Dublin, and somehow through work, I said, like, where do I go? And someone's like, the IFC. So I went to IFC and I asked around about photographers, and they said, here's a photographer, use him. So I went to his place and I got headshots. And then that headshot went into a book at the IFC. And then I got a phone call saying, Hey, I'm casting something. Would you be interested in being uh auditioning for it? A short film. So I went audition. I think I got a call back, but then they gave me the call saying, we're gonna go in a different direction. Thank you so much. And I said, you know what? Uh, thank you. I loved reading for you. Could uh I'd be available for anything. I'm here, I just want some experience, meet some people, I'll hold the light for you if you want. And the director was like, you know what? Uh, that's cool. Uh, we're meeting at this pub on this night. Well, come hang out with us and we'll see. I came home from work that night and I was knackered, as I like to say, and I almost didn't go. But I said, nope, Spence, you gotta go. You life doesn't happen sitting on the couch, you gotta show up. So I showed up, went to this pub having a pint, and I started talking to one of the actors who got cast, and he's told me about a friend of his who's in the directing program at Trinity College, and she's directing something, and I should audition for her. I do. I get cast. I'm in a play at the Samuel Beckett Theater, which is where I got my daughter's name, Beckett. And that was on my resume for a number of years, right at the top, doing this play, and it led to so many conversations and auditioning situations where that's where you want to get to, where someone's asking you, like, oh, you did this. Tell me about it. And now it's not an interview, it's a conversation. And that's where you become human and someone that people want to work with. And I love that credit on, but my life might be totally different had I not shown up that night. Because then I don't have that credit. And I can literally say that might be the reason why I'm not in LA, because that was a conversation I had with Mel Shapiro about being in Ireland on my resume.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:15

You talked about uh meeting younger alumni. How important is it when you graduate from a college, a university, for you to tap into the alumni association?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:30

It's it's very important. It's it's it's important to tap into the alumni association because going back to the old adage, the more you give, the more you get back. And it's a cycle. It's such a cycle. And I do it because there were people who came to my undergrad andor UCLA and they gave back to me. And it's it's it's my duty, it's my obligation as an artist, as a mentor, as a person to give back. And I like to tell them, they're like, Thank you for doing this. And I say, hey, you are gonna do that for the next person. You will have a kid come back, you will be the one going back and doing workshops for them uh at the school and and and pass paying it forward. And again, it doesn't come from a place of um desperation or uh, you know, I'm just uh I'm gonna get something out of this. It's it's truly from a place of love, keeps me young, and it keeps me um expanding myself. I'll share with you real quick, this past year, what's been really fascinating is I have branched to bringing my workshops to college students to the American College Theater Festival. And for those of you who don't know about it, it's kind of like the NCAA tournament for college theater departments, and there's eight regions across the country. So I went to region two in Baltimore in January, and then I also went to Region Five in Rochester, Minnesota, and then region eight. And they gave me the opportunity to present my workshops, the actor's career self-tape workshop, and my on-camera audition technique. They did not pay me. It was on my dime. Now I get to write it off because it's a business-related expense, but to fly myself to Baltimore, fly myself to Rochester. And yeah, I'm letting people see what I do, and there might be some other things that come from that, but there's no guarantee. But it literally comes from a place of I'm presenting this thing. But now here's the thing on my way to Baltimore, I didn't bring with any of my camera equipment. So I pivoted it to a self-tape workshop. And through that experience, I wrote a self-tape presentation, which I never wouldn't would have done had I not put myself in that presentation. And by doing that, I've now expanded my knowledge of self-tapes and how to communicate them and the importance of them and perspective and everything else. If you really want to get good at what you do, teach it to somebody else. Because that's when the rubber meets the road. And there's a lot of students that I've taught that I'm starting to not want to put them in a situation and say, you need to go teach somebody, and then be like, Oh, I don't know what I'm doing. No, but you're gonna figure it out because it's time, and then you're gonna get really good.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:20

Mm-hmm. So I just want to play back some uh a couple of things you said for that young person or even an older person who's coming into another city. You you connect in an acting uh studio or school, meet people, offer to take people out for coffee, you pay the bill, um, you uh get to talk to them about stuff, or take them for lunch or take them for dinner, depending on your budget, but take them out where you you have at least 45 minutes to an hour to get to ask questions, not to be uh an agenda person or a gold digger, like what can I get from you, but to uh have back and forth getting to know a person. So what do you do? How do you how do you make your time in LA? You know, how was it when you were first coming here? Then you are going to follow up with them to start building a relationship because community is crucial. So is networking. They may not become your best friends, but the business is small. It makes it it, the more people you know, the better it is for you and for them. And I love how you you put it. I'm in Ireland, I didn't want, I was tired, didn't want to go, but I showed up. And then I said, How can I be of service? And by you showing up to be of service, not to get anything, but to say, how can I give you it got you a job? And the the community that we serve as actors is so small that when we show up, no matter what it is, even if we're just coming to watch, when we show up, we create a a bigger network, we create a bigger community because people feel like they can trust us. We we did what we said. We were gonna do. We said we would be there, and we did show up. We we showed them we could be a team player, um, not just looking for the lead part, but hey, do you need somebody to sweep the floors? Do you see? Hey, can I do the catering for you? You need somebody to clean the toilet, that you are somebody they're gonna remember for the next thing. I I think that that is crucial for actors to be able to pivot and and put on different hats. It's not just I'm the star of the show, but I am part of a uh of the ensemble, or I am part of that that uh nucleus. I'm part of it. So I so thank you for this. I have so many other questions, but I'm gonna leave it here so we could do another one.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:22

Yeah, number three. And uh Lydia, congratulations on 1000. That is such an amazing number. We are such a better community because of you and what you have provided and offered to us. So we applaud you and your team and everybody on 1000. We love you, and here's to the next thousand.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:44

Thank you. And I just want to say it couldn't have happened without me having a community.

unknown 1:31:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:50

That I, you know, I've been doing this 13 years, just doing the videos, but it couldn't have happened without me having people like you who would come and speak into the lives of other actors. It wouldn't have happened if I didn't have interns, if I didn't have um writers, directors, people in the industry that I made connections with to say, do you mind if I tell your story? Do you mind coming on? Let me talk about you. For me, this channel is all about celebrating our industry. All the wonderful people you talked about being famous. There are so many people in this industry who are successful, yet they may not have the fame of uh a Meryl Streep or the fame of a Leonardo DiCaprio, but they are just as vital, if not more, to this community. So that's I hope I get to do another thousand. So thank you so much. Because there's so many more people to honor, to um get their pearls of wisdom. You know, we learn so much from so many people. And to be around people who are joyful, who love what they do, oh my God, that's the best thing. That's the best to me, that is the best thing as being an artist is that you get to sit around people who also love what they do, and I'm I'm for that. I'm like, yes, you know, it life is too short to be miserable, to be a taker, to be a complainer, and a bitch. You gotta, you gotta do better. You gotta do better. So thank you, Spencer. Thank you, thank you. I love Spencer Cranber. He always brings his A game to my show. I'm so grateful for him. I would love to know your thoughts in the comments below. Let me know what you think. And please continue to support this channel by buying me a coffee, liking, sharing, and subscribing to my channel. And don't go anywhere, I have another great video for you coming right up with more tools to take your career from undiscovered to unstoppable.