SPEAKER_00 1:17

If you're enjoying this channel, I need you to do me a great favor. Yes, I do. I need you to subscribe to the channel. So if you can, just click the subscription button because it helps us to give you more great content. How's that? You hit the subscription button, I give you more great content. Deal? Deal.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

She was number one on the call sheet. She got the job for Paramount Plus from this box. But now you have to deal with the reader and the noise. And the great, great actors are great at that.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Hey actor, welcome to Acting Smarter Now. My name is 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. Today, my question for you is do you know how to be a bookable actor? Well, my guest today is an acting teacher, an acting career coach, as well as an accomplished actress. Her name, Amy Linden, and she has this incredible book called The Amy Linden Technique. It's on book form and audible. You must get it. Anyway, she is dropping so many gems in this interview. I can hardly wait for you to hear it. So without further ado, let's go to the interview. First of all, you have not only been an actress all your life, but you've directed, you've produced, you've written, you are an incredible acting coach. And for nine years you were a talent manager. Which of these jobs taught you the most uncomfortable truth about what actors are doing wrong?

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Uh, when I was a talent manager, yeah. Um, I had I had this assistant once, and she was so upset. I mean, this girl had so many, so many theater credits. She was such a rich, wonderful actress. And I would represent, um, you know, you have to have a roster, right? So I would represent like those, those girls that are would be considered influencers today, like gorgeous, you know. And she had no credits, no training, nothing. And she always got auditions, and this poor assistant, she couldn't, she couldn't stay working there anymore. It was so so upsetting to her that this other girl would get so many opportunities, and she got none. And I said, listen, it's just too painful for you to work here. You should you shouldn't be around that because that is the truth of the business. The beautiful people will be seen. Whether they get the job or not is completely different, but they will get tons more opportunities because it's Hollywood.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Absolutely, and that's something that actors are not taught in acting class, except for your acting class. They are not taught that it's a business and they need to know what their product is so they can get as many auditions as are available. I think that's really important. I want to dive into this little deceptive booklet.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

I call it the little engine that could. It's chalk, chalk, full. And unless you understand acting and you understand process, you will you won't understand that book.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

So, first of all, it's 60 pages. The audio book is an hour and a couple of minutes. But I'm telling you, this is not a book to consume within an hour. This is a book that you need to take chapter by chapter and maybe sit with it for a week. Like really go over it and over it and over it and over it again. Because if you don't, you're gonna miss all the meat.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

I only deal with people that get what you just said.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

This book has no fat in it. That's why it's so little. It has no fat. When I finished it, I kept thinking, you know, if we're if we're talking technology, we shoot a lot. So we have these big ass um hard drives. But today they have hard drives that are this tiny that could fit double the amount of what my big hard drives used to fit. And this is what this book reminds me of. It's like it is so, first of all, it's so efficient, it is so thorough, and you should not do this by itself. You should have the audiobook because the audiobook has things in it that this book does not. And so I am a believer in actors being well prepared, but also knowing what they're doing. You studied with Stella Adler as I did. I studied with Stella for four years. I studied with Roy London. You've you have a huge list of people you've studied with, and you know that in order to be not an actor, but to be an actor who books, you have to you have to know your craft. You have to know what it takes. You have to know that you know you may not get this job because you weren't right for it. Not that you weren't talented, you weren't right for it. When you are teaching your students about booking, because that that's your that is your special sauce. And an actor comes in frustrated, depressed, feeling like they want to quit, what do you say to them?

SPEAKER_02 7:09

I say to them, remember why you started. Go back to when you first started, and let's go back there and talk about why you wanted to be an actor to begin with, because you lost it along the way. And uh when they do that, they go back to the joy. The people that want to quit are in result, they're not in process. You need to stay in process, you just need to stay in because you love it, not because you want this to be uh something that pays your mortgage, you know. You never want to put a stressor, and if if you are one of those people that wanted to pay you a mortgage, then I say do what Kurt Fuller does. I knew Kurt Fuller back in the day when I was a little pup out here, and he quit acting because he couldn't, he was so frustrated, he goes, I'm not making any money. So he made a ton of money in real estate, and he came back to acting and booked Ghostbusters. And after that, he was like on fire. But you know, I if I can give everybody the exact quotient, then I wouldn't be sitting here, I would be on a yacht, my yacht in the Bahamas right now, okay? But what I will tell you this is that everybody has their own journey, and when people come to me, I listen to that journey and I work out a plan for for you and how you could like keep your head together and still be a success. But a success as an artist and going back to the artistry of what is your voice, what's your legacy, what are you trying to say?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I heard your story of taking the train to the uh neighborhood playhouse when you were about 16. Now, my curiosity was did you take that train all the way from Newark Shell into the city?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Oh my goodness. Okay, so let's talk about your early years because I I think today the actors think that, you know, they go and audition, they book a job, they become famous. They don't understand the process, which is what you just mentioned. It is a process and it takes time. It's like the difference between microwaving something and and setting a 12-course meal. That when you are setting that 12-course meal, or as you like to uh say, your Michelin uh star food, it takes so much time and so much practice and so much preparation. One of the things I heard you talk about is your experience taking the train in from New Rochelle into the city. Uh can you just take us through that period?

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Well, my mother and father were not interested in doing anything for my career when I was a child. And I wanted it so much. I did everything that I could get my hands on when I was all the way back to when I was 10 years old. And I actually just talked about um writing on the bathroom walls because that's what we did in New York. We wrote on the bathroom walls in Indelible Hank, right? I mean, you would write Amy and Johnny, and then the next week it was Sam, and then the next week it was Ray. But but I didn't do that, I wrote Amy Lynn with an E because I was already changing my name to be an actress. And because I'm like, oh no, it can't be Levine. I mean, Levine wasn't even on the map until Adam Levine, right? Um, and and back then, it if you were Jewish, because I I mean I'm Jewish, but I don't look Jewish. Like you look more Jewish than I do, right? Because that's the Jewish look, right? And so I changed my name when I when I ended up in Hollywood, but as a child, I was always thinking, I need an actress name. And I got my hand on everything, you know. I would I would entertain as a child the pediatric ward ward in the in the Rochelle Hospital playing Lucy and Charlie Brown and and anything that I can do. I went to camp, I was in all the plays, I did musical theater, anything I can get my hands on. And my parents said, when you're 16, if you want to jump on a train and go to the neighborhood playhouse, I'll let you do that. Well, as soon as I hit 16, I signed up for the junior school, and I got on that train and I walked that city like I was the shit. And I stopped by Nathan's hot dogs, and I got me a hot dog and fries, even though it was the morning, and then I would go to the place, and you know, I was in the junior school, right? And so the the senior people they were upstairs, we were like in the basement, you know, but we had our group, and they went there for two years straight, and then get on the train and come back every single week. It was on a Saturday, and then my parents sent me to London to study Shakespeare.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Hey Hector, are you tired of being tired of being tired of being tired? Your pictures aren't working, you're not getting into auditions, your agents aren't calling you back, or worse off, you can't even get an agent. Well, if that sounds like you, if it sounds like you are at your wit's end, that you just feel like all is lost, you don't know what to do, come and join us at the Acting Smarter Circle, where we are a community of actors who help other actors. And I am your guide and your coach to help you with a plan, strategy, and your branding. So if you are interested and you're tired of being tired and ready for change, come and join us at ActingSmarterCircle.com. We're waiting for you now. Okay, so you are taking the train from upstate. Us in Manhattan think that's another country. Well, it's upstate. That's how it's upstate. You oh, you live upstate, and you take the train, and so now you're coming into the city regularly, you're working on your craft, and now you go across the pond to study Shakespeare. What the hell was that like for you?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Well, you know, in England they care about their actors. You know, they they the they even have a fund for actors. They care about their artists. And so the the feeling was completely different. You felt taken care of, you felt, you felt embraced, you felt like like people really cared that you were there studying. Here you say you're an actor, they're like, Yeah, what restaurant do you work in? I mean the the disrespect is is so high. But in in overseas, or across the pond, as you say, I mean they they praise their West End. You know, I remember I took my mom, we went for her 50th birthday to England, and we saw Richard III, and and and we were up there uh up there clapping, clapping so loud, we were the only ones standing, and everybody, yeah! Everybody probably looked at us like uh New Yorkers, you know. Um but but you know they they have so much money and appreciation for actors there, and so that was the difference that I felt. I felt um that they embraced the art.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Was there a takeaway from that experience that you still uh uh walk with today?

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Uh discipline. I I've always been disciplined. Um actually I just did a uh an episode with Ophelia about discipline. Yeah, I I it's it's all about discipline. And I didn't have discipline when I was a child, which is why I was always punished.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

So let's talk about Orphelia because you just brought her up. Um, you have a podcast that you do with her. Uh, she's an agent, but not your agent. Um but it's a wonderful uh podcast because you you really break down what the actors need. What made you want to partner with her to do this uh podcast?

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Well, I was already doing a podcast on what was anchor at the time, you know. Um and I had her on, and I was like, wow, we're really getting along. And this would be so much more fun to do it with someone, you know? And I said, hey, um what do you think about uh staying on? And so we did all of, and so I said, you know what, let's just make call it something else, call it actors, you are enough, because it's just more spiritual, um, and and empowering the actor, you know, giving them tools to empower themselves. And and then uh so we did the first season, and now we're in the second season, and we're in episode four.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

And I highly recommend it because it is wonderful, it is so informative. You know, uh what I love about not just that uh podcast, but the one you did before is that you're giving tools that I know I wished I had as when I was starting out, you know, which is why I do this program, is because to be able to equip the actor to know that they are enough. Your your title is so prophetic. It's you are enough. Walk in what you are, and and that is your theme throughout your teaching.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

It's throughout my teaching, it's throughout my life. I even started a brand, and your listeners, if they want to go to IAMENUFCollection.com, you guys use the code enough20 and you can get 20% off anything on the site. But I am enough, so I have t-shirts, I am enough, you are enough, anything to remind you um that you are enough exactly how you are, and and it started way back when I first started teaching, which is close to 32 years ago. Wow. Yeah. I wrote that I wrote that book in 2009, and I did the audiobook, which is the advanced version of that book, which is why you hear different things, in 2016. So uh, but I've been teaching this technique since '93.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

You studied with Stella, you studied with, was it George Master? Harry, Harry Master George. Harry, Harry, Master George. Okay, my dyslexia got in.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, and I have got a PFA from Syracuse University.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Your first acting teacher in Los Angeles was Al Russo.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Al Russo was, yeah, because he was working with Jeff. Oh, wait, what was Jeff's name? Al was his his offshoot and he lived in Los Angeles, and Jeff was teaching in Malibu, and I wasn't gonna drive to Malibu to his house. And and so Al Russo was just a great character actor, and he he was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

What did he teach you that you still work with today?

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Um I was all about letting go, you know, but I was already letting go anyway, but but in college, when you study at a conservatory, it's hard to let go there. So when I graduated college, I had a lot more learning to do about how to uh uh just let my work breathe. And so during our scene scene work there, that's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Okay. So uh one of the things you talk about is you've you've taught people who went to Yale and and all these prestigious uh uh theater colleges and theater programs, but they don't know how to audition.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Yeah, because um the universities uh they're still antiquated in thinking that everybody's going to Broadway. It's like, no, they're not. Uh yeah, we're gonna train you to be on Broadway. It it doesn't work that way, and so um I can't even tell you how many times I've tried to get to Syracuse University to teach auditioning, to teach self-tapes, to teach on camera, to teach this box. This box. I I have a student who had eight callbacks for Rise of the Pink Lady. She was number one on the call sheet, and she got the job for Paramount Plus from this box. So um they don't teach that, they're theater-oriented, and they think they understand auditioning, they're still teaching Michael Shirtliff, which which is so antiquated, and so uh it's very difficult to teach an old dog new tricks. Okay, and to me, uh coming out of the university, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know I didn't know how to do anything. I knew how to book films because I was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

It's very easy to book films when you come out of university and soap operas because they weren't juicy people. Okay. When it comes to television, it's a corporate medium and you need to learn how to book it. And and I didn't know how to do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

How did you start to learn how to book TV? Because you did, I mean, you got a lot of credit, so you figured it out.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

I figured it out. Well, um, I hated the corporate structure of television. Because when you come from theater, you do it for the audience, so you're reaching towards them, right? And they're part of your process. And then when you do Meisner, you exchange. Right? Well, you can't reach towards people in a corporate office, and you can't exchange what they're thinking because they don't think like you. So I started learning that I had to self-contain, and that's when I started building what I needed to do to protect myself so they could actually see my work.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

So, in your book, because you just brought up Meisner, you really stress chapter 10. How do you hear what the other person is saying? That you really make a point of saying, if you are a Meisner student, this is crucial for you.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Yes, I had to, I had to become a master of guideline 10. Because casting, and even when casting, when we were in the room, but now you have to deal with the reader and the noise, and the, you know, and then the zoom, and then the callback, and then the people in the boxes. You know, I mean, there's there's so much more you have to protect yourself. Exchanging energy was a big deal, and a lot of people, and and also as an actor, you're also very sensitive and empathic, right? So you're going to feel the energy. Of another person that's going to go into your scene. So, what guideline 10 does is if you think about any argument you've ever had with anybody, you were listening actively so you can beat them. You weren't listening to make the scene work. You were listening from your point of view on what they said. Now they might say, um, that's not what I said, and then you said, Yeah, that's exactly what you said, right? Right? Because that's how you heard it. And so if everybody would just stay in their lane with how they hear what the other person says, and they stay in their lane with how they hear what you said, the editor cuts it together and you've got a great scene. So in Dinosaur Land, uh, they talk about find the conflict. It's not your job in film and television to find the conflict. It's not even your job in life to find the conflict. Your job is to win, right? So if you're in a conversation or in a fight with somebody, okay, let's use you as an example, okay? Have you had like any kind of argument with anybody recently?

SPEAKER_00 26:02

I have arguments with people every day. Every day. Okay. I am very opinionated, Amy. I got things to say. I love everything about that.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Now apply that to everything that you do as an actor. Okay, so give me your last uh what what did you both talk about? Um word. What is the subject?

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Uh machismoism. Men see women as secondary when I hear certain things come out of their giving me your point of view.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

You're not telling me what you both talked about.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Oh, okay. Thank you for the clarification.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

What did you both talk about?

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Um what is it to be an actress? And cheesmo thing. Because he wasn't seeing that there's no distinction. You're an actor. Your job is to do the work. Why are you lowering you're you're almost lowering it to oh, you're an actress, you're not an actor. It's like, no, bitch, I'm an actor, and I do all of it. I just bring a a different part to the to the conversation. So wait a minute.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Hold on, hold on, hold on. So the conversation was about being an actor or an actress?

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Being an actress. It was it was it was um a question for a specific actress, and and this actress has won many awards. And my my thing was you're bringing her down. You're she she is on uh the highest level. She's an actor, she has earned her position.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Okay, so this is still your point of view. Can you just tell me what their point of view was?

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Oh, that well, she was an actress, she's been with, she's she's worked with great actors. That was the position. That was the that was the the statement. She's worked with great actors.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So she said she doesn't think that she was a uh great actor?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

So she's an actress. It it's different. You're not an actor, you're an actress, so it's different. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

So she said, so the the thing, the it's the semantics of actress. You has earned the right to be called an actor.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Okay, you know okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We gotta get their opinion, okay? Their opinion. Okay, so their opinion is ah nah, she's just worked with like a bunch of people, she's still just an actress, and you're like, no, she has done this, this, this, this, this. So, what you're talking about is the difference between an actress and an actor, right? And that was the conversation, yes, right? So, when you were listening to this other person, why did it offend you so much, their point of view?

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Because I heard what I heard was she was less than she was not enough.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Okay, so in their opinion, that's in their opinion, they're saying that's not what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Right. Okay, I'm saying is Yes, so that's the fight, right? That's the fight. What I'm saying is she's been with great actors, and I'm like, but she is great in her own right. Why why are we making a distinction? Why can't we?

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Yes, she was qualifying it in one way, and you were qualifying it in another way, the distinction between it being an actress and a real actor, yeah, and that's what it was about. So, guideline one is what is the scene about? And a lot of people come at it with their point of view. That is not what the scene's about. The scene's about what everybody's talking about, okay? Which is the differentiation, right? And so the way we're hearing it, guideline 10, is you're putting this goddess of an actress that has accomplished so much and you're minimalizing her, right? That's how you're hearing it, right? And the way they're saying it is, no, I'm not saying that at all. I mean, she has worked with great people, so that does make her great. And you're like, no, but she belongs up here.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Yes, see, I didn't hear, I didn't hear the person say, uh, she is great. I heard it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You didn't hear that.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Yeah, you were listening from the way you're you're absolutely right, Amy.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Okay, absolutely right. And you're going to fight tooth and nail so they get it. That's right. I was gonna take that person down. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

There you go. That's what makes a strong actor. Is is get in your lane, have your strong point of view, know how you hear things, and take it home. And anytime that we've seen Viola Davis work, I mean, you guys need to watch her last monologue to the jury in how to get away with murder. It's the last episode of that series. She delivers it, I think it's like 10 minutes, monologue to the jury. That is a masterclass in transitions, strength, point of view, and and emotion. It's about it's about having a voice, which is why the I am enough comes in. You know, not being afraid to have a voice, giving the character a voice. You know? And so if you're a shy person, just get out of the way, you know? Give the character a voice, push it through. Because there's a lot of shy people that are actors, you know. It doesn't mean you can't be a brilliant actor. As a matter of fact, you'll probably be more brilliant because you live within yourself. So you probably know yourself better than us extroverts that are clowning it up all over town.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

The thing you say is that the scene is never about you, and you should leave your ego at home. So, which is what we're the it it it it feels like a good segue to go into right now.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

A great segue, Lydia. Okay, here's the segue. You are a channel, you are an emotional channel for the writer. Your job is to be like Find Waldo and find the crumbs in the writing, in the punctuation, in the parentheticals, in the action, in the choreography, in the movement of the story, to figure out what the writer wants you to do. And then when you figure out why you're there, which is guideline 14, and what the writer wants you to do, then at that time you ask yourself, when do I do that? But you don't get to ask yourself that first because you'll miss everything.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Another thing you you talk about is not to focus on the breakdown of the character, but to focus on the scene, which I think is brilliant and necessary for the actor to really own.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Actors are pleasers. We're all like, Can I get you some bones? Uh, should I call in the next person? Do you want me to close the door? You know, we're just like that. So you're gonna do that with your breakdowns. You're gonna look at it and go, Okay, okay. So they want me to be rye there, they want me to be sarcastic. Oh, I'm supposed to be beautiful, I have to work on that. And then I have to work, you know, and you go through the list that they gave you. Well, is that breakdown for that scene? Maybe that breakdown's for another scene that you don't even know about. Maybe the breakdown was written before, and this scene is being rewritten, and the breakdown didn't change. Everything that you need to know is in the script. The only thing that you should be getting from the breakdown is genre, tone, and style, and what network is it on. The only thing you should be getting from that breakdown. It's a pilot and you don't know what it is. Look at the producers, uh, chances are they keep doing the same thing. If they've made flea bag, this is probably like flea bag. Very in film, there's a lot of departures in style from a director. In television, it's pretty much the same. I mean, you look at Chandra Rhymes, she still has that very fast speaking pickup, maybe some's more dramatic, some's more dramedy, but for the most part, like scandal, very fast, fast pattern, very intelligent dialogue. So don't just dive in and start rehearsing with your roommate.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

So you so that leads me to stop running your lines and work on your transitions.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Work on your emotional transitions, your uh what you're doing. Like you should get up and mark it, like we did in dance class. You would mark it, you go, okay, right? We used to mark it, right? That's what you have to do with your scenes. You know, you have in your hand, okay, what does it say? He comes through the door, okay, comes through the door, okay. And I look at my wife, where's my wife? Okay, there's my wife, do I have my wife? Okay, I have my wife. Okay, you know, and and just uh look at it in terms of where the camera is going. Every frame, not like beats, frames. And the way to study is you study the beginning by itself, the middle by itself, and the end by itself. And so clean, so your work is nice and clean and clear, and you can breathe because you know what you're doing. The map to the map to booking is sets a foundation so you know what you're doing all the time. So if you get up and you go, Okay, and now I'm supposed to feed my son here. What am I feeding him? Okay, I know what I'm feeding him. Okay, where is he? It's right here. It's not too, it's not down here. You see what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Mapping it out. Mapping it out. You always know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Okay, you're talking uh framing as in TV and film. How does that translate to stage?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

It still translates to blocking, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Okay, so you're okay, okay. So you're doing it by blocking. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Doing it. It's blocking. It's framing your blocking, your marking, blocking. Yeah, it's blocking.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Okay, okay. Then uh another uh question about the key line, your key line, how important the key line is. Can you break that one down for me?

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Okay, what was the one line of dialogue when you were having a a kerfuffle with this person about actress and actor? Give me your one line of dialogue that was the emotional core of the entire argument.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

You're an asshole. Thank you. Sounds like key line.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

There's your key line.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

So you would circle it and put a star on it and go, KL, right? Key line. Because that's the spine. That's the whole thing that goes with guideline 14. Like when you do the this technique long enough, they all start working together. But right now they sit by themselves. But that goes with guideline 14. Why am I in the script? I'm in the script to tell you you're an asshole. Right? And so the boat will be moving in the right direction. Gotcha. A lot of times I think a lot of us have we're like just reading comprehension problems. And we just don't read properly. And so this technique, what it does is it teaches you how to break down a script and see what the writer intended. Not what you intended with your directorial choices.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

Gotcha. So you talk about don't play the emotion, but feel it. And and I think that's this is my point of view, but a lot of actors today don't understand the difference. Like, I I will look at social media and see actors say, Let me teach you how to cry. It's like, no, bitch, that's not how you do this. That is not how you do acting. I'm gonna teach you how to cry in two seconds. I'm gonna teach you how to do this. And you talk about having an emotional journal, which not only do I appreciate, but I I believe you have to have an emotional journal as an actor.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

I think that a lot of us are trained and it puts us in our head. A lot of the training puts you in your head, okay? Like this intention and beat stuff, it's just gonna put you in your head. And then then I also came from the School of Actions. I have like an action book. I like every single freaking action known to man.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

I have that action book too. Like, yeah, of course you did.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

You came up when I did, okay? So everything is so heady. People are not going to respond to you if you are heady. They're going to respond to you if you're emotional. But if you like sometimes I'll ask somebody, what do you mean by that? Like, because I've been doing it so long, I'll stop you and go, not clear. What does that line mean? Right? And they'll like they'll talk about what they're doing, but they still don't know what the line means and feels like, you know. And I'm like, well, sit and marinate on it and talk around it until you get what it is that you're saying, right? Um, but a lot of people they go with what they think is an idea and a concept of a feeling and a thing, okay. The people that we're going to respond to are the juiciest. And those juicy people know where their instrument is throughout their body, they know what the trigger is. So you would pick an emotion. Okay, so let's say that fight, let's just pick that fight since it's so fresh.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

I like fighting.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

Well, it keeps your blood going. I mean, it just makes you happy.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

It does. Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Whatever makes you happy with it. Okay, so it what boiled your brain uh about their point of view? What was it? Like, because you were triggered by it, okay?

SPEAKER_00 41:38

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

So what triggered you?

SPEAKER_00 41:40

When I hear someone disregard a woman in any way.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

Okay, so this is a woman thing. Okay. Okay, so um close your eyes for a second, and I want you to tell me where in your body that feels like and what exactly the feeling is. If somebody talks like talks about a woman badly.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

It hits my nervous system. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

What's the feeling?

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Rage.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Okay. Do you feel the trigger there of where that rage comes from? You know where the results are.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

And my heart. I mean, I it it's it's rage, but it also it hurts my heart. There's a Yeah, it hurts in my heart when I hear uh a disregard.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

Where is the feeling inside of you that like what's the trigger? What is it about it that triggers you so fast?

SPEAKER_00 42:34

This may not be right, but for me, it is having seen women because I grew up in the 60s, having seen women being disregarded, discarded, treated badly, treated like second-class citizens when they were smarter than all the men in the room. And I love men, not I love men, but there's a in this country we don't recognize uh strong women.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

Okay, okay. So it's really disrespect is the is the trigger.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Okay, so you guys, you see what Lydia's doing right now, she's marinating. She's marinating on what it what the trigger is for her. So by the time she gets to that scene, the trigger will go off because she knows where it is. She knows what disrespect is. So if you were to redo that scene 100 times, you'd be able to hit that trigger. Yeah, and that's the trigger, it's the disrespect, is the trigger, and that's what fires you. Okay. So disrespect's a real big one for you. It's a big emotional trigger for you. Okay. And so you would write in your book, disrespect, and you'd write down that you don't need to tell anybody exactly where that trigger is. You don't need to tell anybody, but write the trigger in your journal. Okay, and then go to another emotion. So you'd go to like um um paranoia or like I was living in Silver Lake. I just gotta tell you this story. I mean, I was living in Silver Lake, okay, and I didn't have a parking space. So I had a park across the street, and I was living in one of those walk-up apartments, you know. It was like three in the morning, I was coming home, and I had a park, and it was across the street from it, but there was a car with a guy in it, and I'm like, he's gonna rape and pillage me.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

And I was like, I understand the fear, I understand the fear at three o'clock in the morning. He has a woman walking across the street in Silver Lake.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Yeah, and I'm like, he's gonna rape and pillage me, so I'm running, I'm running, and like a Hitchcock movie.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

I tear my stockings, I look at my stockings, I look up at the car, he's still there, and I get up and I'm shaking, and I open the door, and I open the door, and I lock it, and I go up the stairs to get to that stupid apartment, and I go and keep everything everything dark, and I go to the front window and I peek through it to see if he's still there, and it's two guys kissing in a car.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

But look what I did to myself. What I did to myself. So the big lesson is people don't do it to you, you do it to yourself, and so that's why you have to be so in touch with all of your triggers, so then you can activate it. So when something comes at you and it feels like fear, where's fear for me? And where's the feeling of it, not the event? I'm thinking, I don't want to die. I don't want to die, I don't want to die.

SPEAKER_00 46:05

Not like this, not like this.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

And you know, and you're thinking, what underwear am I wearing? No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 46:13

What did your mother tell you? You don't want them to catch you with dirty underwear. You gotta go to the hospital. So, with that, once you are keeping your emotional journal and you're writing down your triggers, what sets you off? Then you talk about being able to map out your feelings.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Okay, so I'm at a party and everybody we're laughing, we're having a good time, and they're like phone call for you. You get the phone call and you find Died the father died. Okay, so you're not gonna glide in life, we don't glide transitions, you're not gonna glide happy time to shock. You're it's gonna go from happy to shock to disbelief to sadness to rage to okay, and the great, great actors are great at that. So you have to rehearse with like your people, rehearse your transitions, don't run the lines.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

And you talk about uh running your feelings, not the lines, so that you are clear on how you're feeling in that scene, and then the lines will show up, not the other way around.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

Yeah, if you know what you're talking about, it'll show up. If you fall out, then you had a disconnect. And so you have to go, okay, why did I have a disconnect? You like you can't ignore why you fell out. You have to go, why am I having a disconnect? Well, because I don't really know what I'm talking about there. So you saying to yourself, oh, I I need to memorize that better, it's not gonna fix the hole. Because the more judgment people there are in the room, the hole's gonna get bigger. I have spun out in and bad ways in rooms. It's the whole reason why I created this technique is because I was nervous all the time. I'm still nervous. So if I don't, if I don't set the world up that I live in in such a big way, then I will be in front of the people that I think are judging me.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Hmm. So let's talk about that nervousness because I don't know any actor who walks in a room not feeling that. It's just that the good ones are able to contain it and and do something positive with it. But before you created your technique and you were walking into the room nervous, what was it that triggered you to be nervous?

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Well, I mean, all of us, I I mean, for myself, I came from a very judgy household. Okay, very judgy, very, very judgy, very like uh nitpicky, you know. And so um I didn't most of us as actors we grow up in a broken environment, you know? Like I I always loved it. My couple of friends had like mothers that took them everywhere, loved them, oh like loved them. I didn't even know where the fuck my parents were, okay? I I knew that they were gonna be there at six o'clock when we had pork chops. I I didn't I didn't I didn't know where anybody was at any time, and they never showed up for anything. They might show up with a busload of their friends to come see a play, but it was their party they were having. It wasn't really my play, you understand? So, as broken people, we're always looking for validation because nobody told us that we're wonderful. Now, the people that came that grew up in families of people that really loved them, chances of them making it is very fast. Like when I was uh I coached Adam Brody since he was 16 years old, and he would drive up from um San Diego with with Ari, his friend, who was older, and he would drive him. And his his confidence level was so hard because his parents loved the fuck out of that guy. And then so I I taught him and then I managed him all the way up to the OC. But his confidence level would border on cockiness, but it wasn't, it's just that nobody told him he could do anything wrong. And us actors, we have to work so hard at believing that. So I was like, uh, that would take years. I better figure something out. So what I figured out was if I could build a world that I could live in, that people outside don't come into it, and I make them the characters in my story. Like you're the you're the cow in the field, I'm on the porch, and the person I'm talking to right now is my pa, you know, and and we're we're drinking, you know, moonshine, and you know, and and and this is the and I'm not in your office right now, and you're not giving me a job. But people like Adam Brody, and people I've I've known so many people like Adam that have made it so fast that didn't need to do all of that, but most of them didn't need to do all of that, and I didn't realize that when I was coming up, and that's why I wasn't booking TV.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

So when you were managing actors and and you had clients like Adam Brody, and you and then you had the other clients who were sabotaging their their auditions, sabotaging their callbacks, just sabotaging. They wanted it, but there was something that was getting in their way. Was there any kind of advice that you gave them or could give an actor today to help them dismantle that self-sabotage because they didn't get that at home, they didn't get love, they didn't get the affirmation from people that were supposed to take care of them. Yeah, no, I get it.

SPEAKER_02 52:21

I get it. I I think A, it starts with you, you you really do need to do work on you being the gift. Okay, so that's gonna be the first part. Um, the second part is like have a technique. Because if you don't know what you're doing, you're gonna leave yourself open to people taking shots at you. So whether it's my technique or other people's techniques, just make sure that you know what you're doing always. And if you know what you're doing, that's what gives you confidence to stay on track, and then and then it needs to be become about doing it for you, you getting better, you going, you know what? I really like that one self-tape, but this is what I need to work on, and that's what makes my students so successful. They go, Thank you. Now I know what I need to work on, and then they work on it, and then that's done, and then I find something else to pick on them about until they start working. I'm like, okay, now what you need to work on is environment. Now what you need to work on is behavior. Now what you need to work on is who am I relating to? It's not strong enough. Now you need to work on the movement and the space, you're too tightened and then the character's moving and you're not, you know? So to stay in the game, like when you just started out becoming an actor and loving acting so much. Uh, you loved it because of the creative process. And I'm asking you to get back to that. Get back to the learning of wanting to be better, not for anybody else, not to book a job, but for you.

SPEAKER_00 53:54

I want to stay in technique for a minute because we don't value the importance of technique. We don't value that having a technique is going to save you when you're on a shoot and you're on the 15th hour and you're having to do that scene over and over and over and over again. And if you don't have the technique, it's gonna break you because you don't know what you're doing, you have no clue, you're now you're tired, you're angry, you're you're depressed, you're distraught. I mean, all those emotions are going through you, and you don't know how to channel it to go, let me put it in technique.

SPEAKER_02 54:36

Yeah, you know, um, Crystal Khalil, who's now on her like 15th year playing Lily on Young of the Wrestless, when she first booked Young of the Restless, she said, Thank you so much for your technique because nobody rehearses with me, you know? And it's one take, you know, and then it's more and more like that, you know. And so those of you that are rehearsing a lot and rehearsing a lot and rehearsing a lot, you're actually not studying properly to actually work on television, not book television, but when you get the job. Now, if it's a feature film, you're in a studio movie, you have the the luxury of 10, 15, 20, 30 takes, but then there's a technique of having to be able to sustain that as well. I think, you know, I had a I was coaching somebody, oh, he was from Romania. He's like, I really like, you know, just being where I'm at when I'm at it.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

I'm like, that's what the hell does that mean, sir?

SPEAKER_02 55:31

I said, listen, what's great about you is you are natural. I love him naturally. I said, nobody wants to take that away from you, but but honestly, you're flat. You're so like doing what you're doing as you're doing it, and guess what? It's going nowhere, you know? So you don't have a technique of breaking down a script. So wouldn't it be great if you were doing what you're doing because you love it, and also had a technique like have a beginning, have a middle, have an end. You have a beginning, a beginning, and a beginning, and nobody's gonna care, really.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

You just said something keeping who you are and infusing technique. Yes, that you're not asking anybody to stop being who they are, you're just saying, let me fortify you and make you stronger as an actor because I'm gonna give you the tools to give you a foundation so you can be who you are at any given moment.

SPEAKER_02 56:32

Can you be my spokesperson?

SPEAKER_00 56:35

I mean, you really understand me.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

At the bare bones. I mean, the foundation of this technique. That's exactly correct. And that's why I find out where people have trained. So you've if you tell me you've trained at Ivana's, I'm gonna say, okay, you've got a great emotional vehicle, but your your weakness is going to be stored. If you tell me you've trained in Meisner, I'll say, uh, you know behavior, you know environment, you know emotions, but you gotta stay in your lane. You know? I mean, I'll know how to talk to you.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

So you get to keep all of your training. I'm just telling you where to plug it in.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Hey, actor, where are you gonna be in 90 days from now? Is it gonna be with that same old headshot that is not getting you anywhere? That same old story that it's everybody else's fault while you're not booking? Or even worse, depression, because nothing is happening for your career. Well, let me help you. Because in 90 days from now, you can have a whole new set of pictures that are built on your brand. You can have a list of agents that actually would fit what it is that you sell, and a plan to have a more prosperous career. Listen, I cannot book you, but I can make you bookable. So if you are ready, willing, and excited to change your circumstances, come and join us at ActingSmarterCircle.com, sign up and get started. We're a weekly community that helps actors get in gear and get the career that they deserve. Let's talk about, you know, when the actor has technique, it gives them longevity because you you can sustain yourself in a much longer uh with a much longer runway. I'm sure you've experienced this all your career seeing talented actors, really talented actors, quit a couple of years into it because they could not sustain the difficulty, the nose, the um not having technique, because not everybody who is talented has technique.

SPEAKER_02 59:07

Um, I I think people quit because um they they didn't understand that it it's actually a job. Okay, it's it's like a big job. And they thought, I think in their mind that it was gonna be much easier. You know, and it and the people that have technique are the people that have something to fall back on, and they're not like every time they pick up a script, they'll like, oh, what am I gonna do with this? So uh that would aggravate anybody. Every time you've got a script and you're like, uh, this is a puzzle I can't figure out. What technique does is it it levels uh the puzzle out and it and it gives you a map to actually see the story, and then what shows up is you, you know. But if people leave the business, they were gonna leave anyway. And you gotta look at other parts of their life that they've left. The people that make it are the champions, you know. And then I could think about how many times that I I needed to have just been more of a champion than I wasn't. Um I there's I my career could have been so much further along had I had a mentor or had I had somebody that to go, Amy, what the fuck are you doing? You know?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

And but let me just say this: even though you didn't have a mentor, because you dug your heels in, because you could have gone and taken a job at a corporate office. You could have, you know, you could have left the business, but you didn't. You you stayed in it, even though you were in management for nine years, all of that was just informing you to be better uh equipped to help actors. I and I think that is more important uh than anything else because you are a guide. You know, you're an actress and you're still acting and you got stuff on the in the pipelines getting ready to come out. But you talk about it not being about you, and you actually live that by saying, hey, actor, let me show you what you need, let me help you. Um, not to say you are um Harriet Tubman, but you're like the Harriet Tubman of acting, helping actors come this way, let's go, let's go this way. And I love that because I think sometimes for us older actors is that we'll look back and we'll have regrets. Oh, you know, if I had had this, if I had no, we had the the experiences we had, so we can uh be mentors to others, so we can help others, so we can say, man, I fucked up over there. So let me tell you what not to do. And and that brings me to something you said that just it hit it hit me in in the biggest way of everything that I heard you talk about, and that was don't let big events take you down. I I think every actor should have that tattooed on their arm instead of some cute little tattoo. That's it, don't let big and don't let big events take you down. Um, you talk about your manager that you had, Rachel K, who you loved, and she she was your champion. She did so much for you that once she was gone you you lost your compass for a minute. That is so uh it is so important, and that's what happened to us in life sometimes. We have that one champion, and then they're gone, and we feel so disconnected, so out of sorts, so what do I do now? Yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

I'm gonna tell you a story that I haven't told anybody. Um when she died, I had already signed with this one agent, and he was calling me late at night. And he was married, and I thought, this is getting weird. Why is he calling me at night? So I went to the other agent and said, Listen, could you tell him to stop calling me at night because he's not listening to me? And it just feels like he's he's he wants something from me that's not being an agent. Well, they dropped me, okay? And this was right after Rachel died. So not only was I uh lost her, who was she was unbelievable. Why did you have to bring that up, Lydia? It was unbelievable. And then I had uh this man take advantage of me. And you know, one of her dying words before she died, she thought this agency, which was a very big agency, she thought they were gonna take me away from her. And I said, Are you kidding? You made me. I'm not going anywhere, you know. But she was going through some stuff. I uh I thought it was over, and I, you know, chased for many years many different managers until I got this opportunity to be a manager, and and uh and I said, I'm gonna take everything that Rachel taught me and I'm going to apply it. And I did, and I did it for nine years, and I helped people, and and to this day, you know, I mean I use it in my consultations, I help them get agents because of packaging and marketing and all that. But the biggest thing that's that I think is missing today is people who care. Rachel really cared about me. I still have all the cards that she ever gave me to keep going on and keep going on, and and it's because of her love and her support that um uh that I that I went from just feature film credits and a couple of TV shows to a recurring guest lead just within four years. Because of her support, because of her marketing skills, because of her love, because of her belief in me, and because I couldn't do it myself. When she died, the Linden technique came right before I started managing, it was right around that time. And and the teaching and the managing, all at the time, if she didn't die, and if I didn't get a divorce from a narcissist, um, I wouldn't be where I am today helping you guys. It's because of all of those building blocks of just really on your knees, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:23

Thanks for making me cry with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

Well, I just want to say that she she did mentor you, she did show you. She gave you, you were expecting it from somewhere else, but she was the one that watered in you the most, that poured out the most, and because of her, you are able to give it to so many actors because we're talking hundreds and thousands of actors that you've been able to water because of her watering into you. Yeah, your generosity, your your love, not only of your art, but of your your fellow actors, has allowed you to say, let me show you the right way, because I am the acting Harriet Tubman. Thank you very much. So just want to say that. I just want to say that. And I I wanted to, in that space of for actors to understand that sometimes in your darkest place is where the gift emerges, right? We are diamonds, but sometimes we gotta go through that. We gotta go through that pressure, that hard time for us to finally show up as diamonds. And I think that's where the longevity uh helps. It's like find a way to keep your art alive. If you've got to have a side hustle, don't despise the side hustle. See it as the thing that that's your sponsor. That side hustle is sponsoring your career. You give it some love and say, thank you for sponsoring my career so I can have a roof over my head because I need to be doing my acting. It is my oxygen, and you give me that to do. I think actors look at it in a negative way. I know I did for a long time. You know, I would get very resentful that I had to have another job, that I so the learning is find those jobs that allow you to be your best. You know, instead of taking that shitty job that's a $7 an hour job, what skills do you have that you can be your own boss? You know what I love, thank you, COVID. Uh, covet did some good stuff for actors. I just want to talk about the good stuff it did. It it has given us uh the gig economy in a different way. We can do Uber, we can do um just different things. We're not relegated to being a waiter, the the bartender, the busboy. We can actually use our art in in different ways. If if you've got a visual eye, you can be a stylist for other actors. How can you help your fellow actors with the tools you have? I just think we um going back to what you said earlier, it's not about you, it's about the other people. And if we walk in that, and we're not taught that in acting classes, we're not taught in acting classes, it's about the other person. We're taught, what do you want? What do you want? How do you gonna get it? What do you want? It's about how do I get you when you look at the other person, okay?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:52

The guideline is what do I want to make you understand? Okay, like you just talked for, I don't know, about three minutes. And what you want to make us understand is finding our passion again, and you know, and you made us understand. You pushed through the line to make us understand how you felt, right? And so we care about people who are passionate and make a statement and work towards that, and all of your information about you is literally gonna be in the other person's dialogue. So you're gonna spend time on their dialogue from your point of view. Trust me, if the person that you were fighting with, if she gave you her transcript or her dialogue ahead of time, you would have had a juicier argument.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:44

I'm owning it now. I'm taking it.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:47

I would love to know. I'm just saying, in general, if you were to write it, you know? Uh in general, wouldn't it be great if somebody's about to fight with you and you go, hey, listen, um, could you send me over the transcript first so I could so I could I could think of ways to beat your ass?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:03

So for actors out there, because I heard an actor say to you, I don't know how to juggle having a job and being an actor. What would you say to that person right now?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:16

Everybody's got 24 hours in a day. What are you doing with yours? Hey, I'm running like three businesses, and you know, and I have a mortgage and an assistant, and I mean I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on what I'm doing. How much do you want it? You'll figure it out, you know. You you just have to depart to mentalize your life and get yourself a uh a book where you could slot yourself in. And, you know, maybe get uh family members or a sitter to come in once a week for two hours so you can just focus on your acting. When do you get to do your dream? You know, your kids are actually going to be benefit the fuller you are as a person.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:02

Yes. Yes. Can I tell you something? Being a single mom. So I've had my daughter helping me since she was 10 years old. I had a one-person show I was doing in New York, and the stage manager just decided not to show up. Uh right before we had a performance. I made my daughter go up in the booth and do the cues and the lights, and she has been helping me ever since. I think you find a way, you make it work. I think if if if if you were called to be an actor, you will find what you need to do to take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:42

Yeah, and you know, I don't want to, I don't want to shame any of you guys into doing something you don't want to do. But I what I will tell you this is that you could have it if you want it. You just have to figure it out. I mean, if you need help in figuring it out, get in touch. I don't advertise a lot. As you notice, you asked me to send a bunch of stuff, I didn't send you anything. You're like, send uh promotions. I you guys, I'm all about if you need something, you'll find me. And those are the people that I'm supposed to be working with. But I'm gonna give you something right now. Uh, if you want, get a free trial week on my booking and business site, theactors toolbox.net, and oh my god, there's like 15 hours of it up there to learn how to book a co-star, to learn how to put together your package, dude. There's like a million things on there. I started that in 2011. It's a library for actors. But I most recently put up a self-tape class. You can watch the entire class.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:44

Can you share some stuff of self-tape that is not in your book that actors really need to do?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

Uh, they need to learn how to work this box. And they need to frame up. See, that's the frame. And they need to know where they're looking. And then they need to work in this box. It takes practice. And they need to sign up for my class. So sign up for my class. Um, go to thelindontechnique.com and just sign up for the Saturday intensive. I will teach you the technique and then you're qualified to get into the masterclass.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:20

Ooh, I want to know what you thought of Amy, because this woman was throwing down those gems, man. She is hot. So go to the comments below and tell me what you took away from this interview. And while you're there, buy me a coffee. And if you can't buy me a coffee, then subscribe to the channel, like this video, and share it with your friends. Don't go anywhere because I got another great interview coming right up to help take your career from undiscovered to unstoppable.