March 6, 2024 • 23 mins
Someone talked Bethenny into doing something she’s never done before. Does she regret it? Also, Bethenny has made a life changing discovery that could benefit you as well!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
I guess I've entered my actress era. This manager called me.
He had asked my publicist who represents me, and she said,
she doesn't really have an active agent. She's never really
had an agent. She has different agencies that she has
good relationships with that will send her opportunities and that
make her money, and she makes them money, but she
doesn't have an agent. And he said, well, let's not
(00:35):
get sticky about it, but would you let me call
her and possibly represent her? And Jill said sure, so
we spoke on the phone. He was like, we don't
need to have a contract, we need to get entangled
with anything. Just let me, you know, work with you.
I said sure, And the following week he called me
and said, I have this acting opportunity. It's a movie
for two weeks in Vancouver, and I was like, what
(00:56):
the hell? And I said what my rate is, which
was way less than what I get paid for other things.
But I did a much lower rate because it was
something new, and it was still at least double to
triple with the trappings what they're used to paying. And
(01:17):
I wasn't going to do it if I wasn't going
to get paid because I don't like to resent anything.
I don't like to get anything in life for less
than what the value is, because then I'm going to
be negative. Like if you hire, if you get paid
less than what you deserve, you're going to resent the
person taking that service from you. And you just got
(01:38):
to set up the dynamics right. So anyway, I got
paid what I deserve, but a lot less than what
I normally would get paid. And everyone was slightly uncomfortable
but also very happy, which is how every business deal
should be done. And I happily went to Vancouver for
two weeks, which I never do. I never leave for
two weeks to go anywhere. I'm not going to Australia
for two weeks, and I don't ever leave my doll.
(02:00):
So I left for two weeks, left my daughter, left
my comfort zone, went to do a movie Love Vancouver,
Love Canada, have loved Canada in the past, Love Montreal,
Love Vancouver. Love the outlier areas of Vancouver. The people
said I wouldn't like because I think they thought it
was like it's sort of near farmland, but there's also
(02:21):
a lot of commerce and like malls and strip malls
and food and things like that. And I don't think
people really know me. I think everyone thinks I need
to like be in Sant Tropez by air mez in
my life, and it's the opposite of the case. So
I decided to do a movie. And I kept laughing
(02:42):
at myself, like what are we talking about? What am
I doing a movie? Like I'm not an actress and
I'm going to Vancouver to do a movie. And I
say it every five minutes because I can't believe it's true.
Like I'm laughing and I'm looking at the director and
the producers and saying, like, what the hell were you
guys thinking? Because it wasn't like I went to go
(03:03):
do a movie and I have two lines. I'm like
one of the stars of the movie, like full on,
massive amounts of dialogue, pages and pages, and like emotion
and like emotion. I don't want to tell you what
it's about because I'll get in trouble, but like full
fledged emotion, full fledged bulky dialogue and scenes and interaction.
(03:29):
Oh my god. The memorization, the memorization of being an
actress is not discussed nearly enough. In order to be
a good actress, you must be a great memorizer and
everybody has different ways that they do it. Someone and
makeup told me that they know an actress or an
actor that like remembers the first letter of each word
(03:50):
of a scene. Other people know the whole thing and
read it a million times and study it, and then
they show up and they don't look at it again.
If they look at it right before, they'll get messed up.
I am the opposite. I need exactly only my scenes
the day before, like the day before the big scene
or the multiple scenes I need. It's how I write
a book, I do it in little pieces, or how
(04:11):
I learned to snowboard years ago. I don't get overwhelmed.
I take on what I can. So, like if I
have a scene tomorrow, I ask them if they can
just deliver my pages only, like stapled, separately highlighted, so
I know exactly my scene only. So let's say it's
called scene one oh four. I tonight will read it
three four times. The tomorrow morning, I'll get serious. Then
(04:33):
in makeup, I'll get really serious. Then in the trailer
before the scene, I'll get really serious. Like that's when
you're just pacing and memorizing. And then on set, because
it's a lot of hurry up and wait when you're
waiting for them to light things. Then I've got the
piece of paper in my pocket and I'm like pacing
and really memorizing, and then bam, you get there and
you know it cold and you can be emotional about
it because you know it so and then I come
back in the trailer and repeat the process all day.
(04:56):
But it's so unweldy and so much dialogue and it's overwhelming,
Like you're like, I have homework. It's full homework. So
props to people that are actors because it takes so
much memorization. But then it's so much waiting around. Like
you'll leave your house at seven o'clock in the morning,
you'll go to a trailer and it's a lot of
interacting and transacting. Knock on the door, yes, can we come,
(05:18):
have wardrobe come in? Knock on the door. Did you
know what you want for lunch? Knock on the door.
You're gonna be ready to go here, knock on the door.
Like so I was like, can you guys just text me,
cause it just felt like every second I was like
yelling out yes, they couldn't hear me. You're outside a trailer.
Door side notes, someone needs to invent a process for
trailers where there's like an intercom or something because people
can't hear each other. I've seen this a million times,
(05:40):
and people are screaming at all times, so or it's
someone knocking, and then the person has to come every
time and get up and open the door. So that's
a that's some inside actor content. And then you'll maybe
be shooting that scene that you got there for seven
o'clock at seven o'clock am, and you'll go do makeup
at eight o'clock to nine o'clock, and then you may
(06:02):
shoot that scene at two o'clock. So you've got to
be bringing a book, reading, entertaining yourself. You're gonna get bored,
you're gonna feel gross, you're gonna need like, you know,
a change of clothes, like you're just gonna feel stale,
and then you're gonna go out and you're gonna do
a scene. It's gonna be cold, and you're gonna be
waiting around. They set, they reset like you know a
lot of repeat tedious. This thing that I'll tell you
(06:23):
about later. I've loved I've loved the crew. They move fast.
I did Royal pains years ago, and like that is
a different way of shooting, Like we shoot this side,
we shoot the other, shot side, we shoot the sideways,
we shoot this person, that person. It's like, very tedious,
this is what I'm doing. Which most times that I've
been in a situation like this, it has not been
(06:44):
like that. It's been like they just get it done.
It's amazing. So I love the crew, I love the director.
I didn't realize that this company had been trying to
work with me for a long time, or wanted to
work with me for a long time. But this agent
that I mentioned or this manager just happened to call
them or respond to them, because I don't know exactly
(07:04):
how it went down, but that just shows you too,
like you have to be teed up for success. I
have never said, like for years, I haven't said I
want to be an actress. I used to want to
be an actress so badly, and so like, if you
want something, you need to set yourself up for it.
But the reason I decided to do it also, and
(07:25):
I was a little nervous in the beginning, just for
the experience, just going to a different country two weeks.
It was weird. It was like eerie for me. Another
reason I decided to do it was I didn't want
to I don't like to look fate and look chance
and look at gift Horse. When I was little, I
wanted to be an actress so badly, and I'd know
one in my house that would help me or take
me to auditions or like nurture that whatsoever. So I
(07:47):
just dreamed about it. I thought about it. I would
look in the phone book and be like, how do
I be an actress? Or were auditions? And I just
felt exasperated. It was like this inside club that no
one could get access to. And when I was older
and I moved to LA and I graduated without my diploma,
I just I just didn't even walk with the class.
I just wanted to get to LA and be an actress.
(08:09):
I didn't know how to do it, and I was
sort of embarrassed, and like I didn't know how to say, like,
I'm a hostess at La Scala, but I'm also an actress,
and so like I was just wandering around and like
there used to be these books where you'd try to
find agents. You'd send them headshots. No one would call
you back. Literally zero point zero people would call you back.
You would go spend two hundred dollars get headshots. You
(08:31):
couldn't afford it. They would look great. They would be
like one was you holding a tennis racket or one's
in a ponytail. I still have mine. I got a
show them to you one time, and like you'd send
them out, like it's almost like cold calling, and literally
no one would call you back. You just it's so
hard to even be an actor. But it's so hard
to get out there and like get in the room
to even try to act. And I wasn't even any good,
(08:53):
I'm sure, and I knew the producers that say by
the bell, and I got an audition to go in
and read for the new show, the California episodes, but
I sucked and I just like had no helper. I
said to myself when thinking about this, don't be spoiled,
like for years you wanted this and now you're older
and it just walked in the door, and you're so
(09:13):
grateful and you earned it because of the way you
meaning Beth anding me. I've put myself out there and
I'm on social media, and I've been on television and
I've proven myself in many ways. And and yes, if
they had sent an audition slides, I'm sure I would
have or sides, I'm sure I would have audition for it.
Auditioning is frightening, and it's insecure, makes you insecure, like
(09:35):
it's just it's bulky and it's tedious, and it's never
like the way it's going to really go the way
that you're gonna do it that day, and it's just
like strange. And now they all do self tape, so
you was like putting a phone somewhere and following their
instructions of what to wear and do you put makeup on?
And are you supposed to look like natural you? And
like you get in your head and it's just a
(09:56):
nightmare and it's scary. So I didn't have to do that.
I'm super grateful this company, you know, knows that I
can do it. I cannot believe that they cast me
in this without knowing if I could do it with
all these lines. But that's show business, baby, and they
just believed in the power and the magic. And I'm
sure they believe that I'll bring viewers in which I
(10:18):
hope many of you will watch to see this because
I'm shook that it's like so legitimate and so like
long of a role. I called actresses I knew. They
were like, you've got to do this. So here I am,
and I'm doing it and I'm excited and I think
it's good and it's fun and it's exciting and it's
a new chapter. So lo and behold. I'm in my
trailer yesterday and some assistant whose name I didn't know,
(10:38):
was like, Hey, we have this role in this massive
movie with this massive producer and director that you've heard
of and that you know of and that you would
die to have on this podcast that you've pitched to
be on this podcast. But this is such a megastar,
like major, major, major, famous person in filmmaking and TV
(10:59):
making and in humor wants you to read for a role.
So you have to do a self tape and here
are all the instructions. This is what you are supposed
to be like, sound like, look like maybe where the
background you're supposed to have? This is all the dialogue.
It's five pages of dialogue. So now I'm studying my
dialogue for my movie that I'm in, But now I'm
(11:21):
auditioning for another movie. What the fuck. I call the manager.
I was like, what is going on? Because now I'm
on his radar, and so if you do want to
do something, make sure you're on the radar. Like it's
those people were never thinking of me. They're just moving
papers through a desk. We got a fucking we're casting.
We need whoever's teed up and ready to go, not
like weirdo former reality star you know TikTok Instagram, famous
(11:46):
people now that are in their fifties that might want
to act in a movie. Like there have been millions
of roles I've missed over the years because I didn't
put myself in that arena. But it was not meant
to be, and it's meant to be now. And so like, yes,
I'm auditioning for another MO while I'm here, So I
might just ask the other actors or the director to
help me, like help me scotch tape this thing together
(12:06):
in my trailer. Yes, I have a major trailer. It
has a bathroom, it has a microwave, it has couches,
Like they really like they spent the ranch on me
to do it, but I'm giving them everything, like I'm
I'm invested. I think they would say, I'm easy to
work with, Like my rider, What did I want? I
asked for braw potatoes probably twenty nine cents apiece, and
(12:28):
kambucha and like ice coffee and creamer and some cashews.
That's my whole entire rider. But my trailer is amazing,
and like now my rider just got bigger. I'm gonna
ask I need the director and the extras and the
lighting crew and the producer to take, you know, to
give the crew a hiatus day, because we have to
practice for this other massive, massive movie, this blockbuster hit.
(12:52):
Literally that I'm auditioning for. What the actual fuck. It's
so confusing, it makes no sense. But I'm loving the adventure.
And that's the thing too. I am the adventure. I
am the place of yes. And while I can be
bitchy and in a bad mood and no, I don't
want to do that, and no, I'm not accepting that
and know and no and no, my place of yes
(13:13):
is Yes. I'm getting out a plane, I'm going to Vancouver.
I'm starring in a movie for two weeks with tons
of dialogue. And I'm leaving my daughter, which I never do. Yes,
there's a script for a feature film that will be
like in I pick like theaters with like ten dollars
buckets of popcorn to buy and like snow caps. Am
I auditioning for that? Absolutely? Am? I gonna fucking figure
(13:34):
it out while I'm here and try to ask this
director and anybody who will listen and help me. Go
to the fucking lobby of the hotel that I'm also
staying in because they're actors everywhere. Yes, I'm gonna ask
them to help me to get this role, because that's
what life is about. Who gives a shit how you
get it, Just fucking get it. I'll deal with it
on the day that I get there being great at
I'll be great at it. If I get it, I'll
(13:55):
be great at it. But guess what, I gotta get
myself in there, so you know what, I'm gonna scotch
tape together the audition tape and sends it in and
set myself up for success. Don't half ascid, don't hodgepodge it,
don't bullshit it like this is Hollywood, baby, fake it
till you make it. I guess. Martha Stewart said, no.
We at Martha Stewart living on nimdia. She told me
(14:17):
on The Apprentice. We do not fake it till you
make it. Well, fucking guess what As an actress, Bethany
Frankel in Vancouver is faking it till she makes it.
Not when I'm standing there doing the scene. That was
all real, but my memorization process, my needing a potato,
and the trailer, my memorizing multiple scripts at the same time,
my being in Vancouver in the lobby with people asking me, oh,
(14:39):
are you an actress? Of fucking course I am. Got
through to customs in Vancouver, Hi, I need a workers permit.
They said it was one hundred and fifty dollars. What
the fuck are you an actress? Uh? I guess I
am doing a movie for two weeks. Yes, I am
a studying for a role. Bet your fucking titties. I
am so now I I'm entering my actress era twenty
(15:02):
twenty three, was entering my social media influencer era twenty
twenty four. Bethany Frankel, at fifty three years old, is
entering her actress era. What the actual fuck? Go with
God and come from a place of yes, I am
(15:28):
officially over the flexing and posing of luxury handbags more
than anything else, because we watch reality TV and my
best friend was saying to me that she was watching
the Housewives and that the purses are placed on a
pedestal like that it's like as important as the person,
(15:54):
meaning you're just showing the flex and in some cases
they give a underneath of how much the bag is
and the luxury brands are winning. And I've been thinking
about this for a really long time. Now. Please understand
that I am a contradiction in terms because I have
an outrageous handbag collection and I've always loved handbags, but
(16:17):
that kind of makes me an expert, Like since I
was thirteen years old, I've loved handbags, and there is
a collectibility to certain ones. But anyone who says that
their an investment is lying to themselves and to their
husbands or wives or friends. Because if you buy a
very expensive bag, and let's say it increases in value,
(16:38):
if you had to sell it, it would have to
be new inbox or excellent perfect condition, basically never worn
or never taken out of your house, and then you'd
have to use somebody or you'd have to use a
resale site, and they're going to take like thirty percent
so that bag would have to have increased in value
thirty five percent, which is very very rare, like doesn't
happen in order for you to get that money back.
(17:01):
So while they'll say on social media that Chanel purses
are thirty percent higher now than they were so many
years ago, you would have to find a way to
sell it, and you could sell it on eBay or something,
but it's not as easy as it sounds, and it
takes a really long time. So invest in real estate
and the stock market. But I'm becoming really irritated with
(17:24):
the flex, Like I see these big luxury brands and
people going into the stores and flying across the country
and opening up the boxes and I've done it myself
and talking about it, and it's just kind of a
vile flex. And I was recently in Canada and I
(17:47):
went to this version of like a TJ. Marshall's, and
I was looking at these bags that were so soft
in leather and you know, very modern and like black
on black hardware, and like I said, like leather and
some of them looking just like the high end brands
and almost knocking them off, and then some of them
just having their own original, beautiful design, and I found
(18:10):
myself saying, why do I keep these bags that have
these like you know, they're heavy, they're uncomfortable, and I
keep them in my closet almost as like a status
symbol because I did buy them, and I think like
I have to wear them now because I bought them,
And it becomes this weird responsibility and you're not like
treating them like just knock around, and then you're like
(18:30):
a you know, a prisoner to these luxury items and
it becomes really stupid. So in twenty twenty four, I'm
entering my reduction I'm gonna say reduction of luxury handbags era.
And I've always been that way with clothes and even shoes.
I don't buy shoes. I have really nice shoes for
(18:51):
years that I just keep, and I buy classic colors,
like I think they're Sergio Rossi or there are other
brands where I just buy every color. So I have
a dress, I'd match it. But I'm not like tricked
out with most shoes if there's an event. Sometimes, yeah,
boots I really love and I have a weakness for,
but by the same token, I have the same boots
from years ago, and many of them most of them
(19:14):
I've gotten on sale, so I do wear them forever
and I do buy well, so there's got to be
like a dance between it. But the sort of blatant
flexing of luxury bags is making me sick. And you
could almost have a home for what several of them costs.
So I am rethinking the insecurity of having to flex
(19:38):
the logo. There's a psychology to knowing that someone else
has told you a logo or a label is okay.
(19:59):
And there's definitely a show off And like I said,
flex a superficial flex when someone's wearing like a giant
brand name across their chest. And I'll always look at
Pa and say, like, I wonder who makes that shirt,
Like it's a Ballman or Balenciaga or Gucci, gigantic letters.
And like I said to Luan years ago when she
was wearing an Arimez belt and made fun of me
(20:19):
for driving a skinny girl car, I said, well, you're
wearing an Airmez belt and she said, yeah, well they're
not paying me. It's like exactly, they're not paying you,
So why are you in a billboard for a brand
with the logo? And so I guess I'm just realizing. Also,
I bought a bag at this store that had soft
butter leather and it looked exactly like a Chanel bag
(20:43):
with the weight of the chain and quilted, and it
was thirty nine dollars and it was excellent quality. In fact,
I've had Chanel bags that are not good quality. And
what it told me was, that's how much they're ripping
us off, because it costs the same to make this
bag as it does a Chanel bag. A thirty nine
dollars is being charged as a six to nine thousand
(21:05):
dollars bag, not even exaggeration. The markup is assounding. They
would die if we found out. And that's why they
can make these knockoff bags for like forty dollars, because
that's how much they actually cost to make. And Chanelle's
doing massive volumes, so they get a volume discount, and
that's how they have the flagship stores, and that's how
they're a multi billion dollar company. So I don't know
(21:25):
that I want to be fully part of that anymore.
I don't want to pay their rent. I want to
have a nice, functional, good looking piece, but not feel
like a fucking schmuck, which is kind of where I've
gotten with it. So more on this and I hope
I really stick to it or really can show how
amazing I can look without spending money. I did a
review on a Bataga bag last year that was went viral,
(21:49):
and it was a six thousand dollars bag that they
were saying was the new IT bag, and Kylie Jenner
said it was the new it bag, and it felt
like people were being paid to say it was the
new IT bag. And I bought it and it felt
like a cheap, leather nothing bag. It wasn't substantial, it
didn't feel soft. I was I went crazy. I was
so frustrated by it was trash. And I found something
(22:10):
at Winners in Canada, which is like their TJ Max,
that was forty nine dollars that was better quality. And
I know I will not tell you the amount of
money I have in bags, or that I've spent on
bags that has been gifted to me in bags by
people I've been in relationships with. I won't even because
it would be disgusting, But I will tell you that
(22:32):
because of that, I know I intimately know the makings
of a Chanel bag. Airmez does make elite bags there
made very well, but Arimez will charge fifty thousand dollars
for a bag, or twenty thousand or fifteen thousand dollars
for a bag, so like it better fucking be nice.
I mean, let's just say that'll last you for the
(22:53):
rest of your life. But there are bags that you
would get from TJ Max, Coach, Tory Birch or on
the street that would last you for the rest of
your life too, so that's a bit of a scam too.
So anyway, let's talk more about this because I think
it's an interesting discussion.
I guess I've entered my actress era. This manager called me.
He had asked my publicist who represents me, and she said,
she doesn't really have an active agent. She's never really
had an agent. She has different agencies that she has
good relationships with that will send her opportunities and that
make her money, and she makes them money, but she
doesn't have an agent. And he said, well, let's not
(00:35):
get sticky about it, but would you let me call
her and possibly represent her? And Jill said sure, so
we spoke on the phone. He was like, we don't
need to have a contract, we need to get entangled
with anything. Just let me, you know, work with you.
I said sure, And the following week he called me
and said, I have this acting opportunity. It's a movie
for two weeks in Vancouver, and I was like, what
(00:56):
the hell? And I said what my rate is, which
was way less than what I get paid for other things.
But I did a much lower rate because it was
something new, and it was still at least double to
triple with the trappings what they're used to paying. And
(01:17):
I wasn't going to do it if I wasn't going
to get paid because I don't like to resent anything.
I don't like to get anything in life for less
than what the value is, because then I'm going to
be negative. Like if you hire, if you get paid
less than what you deserve, you're going to resent the
person taking that service from you. And you just got
(01:38):
to set up the dynamics right. So anyway, I got
paid what I deserve, but a lot less than what
I normally would get paid. And everyone was slightly uncomfortable
but also very happy, which is how every business deal
should be done. And I happily went to Vancouver for
two weeks, which I never do. I never leave for
two weeks to go anywhere. I'm not going to Australia
for two weeks, and I don't ever leave my doll.
(02:00):
So I left for two weeks, left my daughter, left
my comfort zone, went to do a movie Love Vancouver,
Love Canada, have loved Canada in the past, Love Montreal,
Love Vancouver. Love the outlier areas of Vancouver. The people
said I wouldn't like because I think they thought it
was like it's sort of near farmland, but there's also
(02:21):
a lot of commerce and like malls and strip malls
and food and things like that. And I don't think
people really know me. I think everyone thinks I need
to like be in Sant Tropez by air mez in
my life, and it's the opposite of the case. So
I decided to do a movie. And I kept laughing
(02:42):
at myself, like what are we talking about? What am
I doing a movie? Like I'm not an actress and
I'm going to Vancouver to do a movie. And I
say it every five minutes because I can't believe it's true.
Like I'm laughing and I'm looking at the director and
the producers and saying, like, what the hell were you
guys thinking? Because it wasn't like I went to go
(03:03):
do a movie and I have two lines. I'm like
one of the stars of the movie, like full on,
massive amounts of dialogue, pages and pages, and like emotion
and like emotion. I don't want to tell you what
it's about because I'll get in trouble, but like full
fledged emotion, full fledged bulky dialogue and scenes and interaction.
(03:29):
Oh my god. The memorization, the memorization of being an
actress is not discussed nearly enough. In order to be
a good actress, you must be a great memorizer and
everybody has different ways that they do it. Someone and
makeup told me that they know an actress or an
actor that like remembers the first letter of each word
(03:50):
of a scene. Other people know the whole thing and
read it a million times and study it, and then
they show up and they don't look at it again.
If they look at it right before, they'll get messed up.
I am the opposite. I need exactly only my scenes
the day before, like the day before the big scene
or the multiple scenes I need. It's how I write
a book, I do it in little pieces, or how
(04:11):
I learned to snowboard years ago. I don't get overwhelmed.
I take on what I can. So, like if I
have a scene tomorrow, I ask them if they can
just deliver my pages only, like stapled, separately highlighted, so
I know exactly my scene only. So let's say it's
called scene one oh four. I tonight will read it
three four times. The tomorrow morning, I'll get serious. Then
(04:33):
in makeup, I'll get really serious. Then in the trailer
before the scene, I'll get really serious. Like that's when
you're just pacing and memorizing. And then on set, because
it's a lot of hurry up and wait when you're
waiting for them to light things. Then I've got the
piece of paper in my pocket and I'm like pacing
and really memorizing, and then bam, you get there and
you know it cold and you can be emotional about
it because you know it so and then I come
back in the trailer and repeat the process all day.
(04:56):
But it's so unweldy and so much dialogue and it's overwhelming,
Like you're like, I have homework. It's full homework. So
props to people that are actors because it takes so
much memorization. But then it's so much waiting around. Like
you'll leave your house at seven o'clock in the morning,
you'll go to a trailer and it's a lot of
interacting and transacting. Knock on the door, yes, can we come,
(05:18):
have wardrobe come in? Knock on the door. Did you
know what you want for lunch? Knock on the door.
You're gonna be ready to go here, knock on the door.
Like so I was like, can you guys just text me,
cause it just felt like every second I was like
yelling out yes, they couldn't hear me. You're outside a trailer.
Door side notes, someone needs to invent a process for
trailers where there's like an intercom or something because people
can't hear each other. I've seen this a million times,
(05:40):
and people are screaming at all times, so or it's
someone knocking, and then the person has to come every
time and get up and open the door. So that's
a that's some inside actor content. And then you'll maybe
be shooting that scene that you got there for seven
o'clock at seven o'clock am, and you'll go do makeup
at eight o'clock to nine o'clock, and then you may
(06:02):
shoot that scene at two o'clock. So you've got to
be bringing a book, reading, entertaining yourself. You're gonna get bored,
you're gonna feel gross, you're gonna need like, you know,
a change of clothes, like you're just gonna feel stale,
and then you're gonna go out and you're gonna do
a scene. It's gonna be cold, and you're gonna be
waiting around. They set, they reset like you know a
lot of repeat tedious. This thing that I'll tell you
(06:23):
about later. I've loved I've loved the crew. They move fast.
I did Royal pains years ago, and like that is
a different way of shooting, Like we shoot this side,
we shoot the other, shot side, we shoot the sideways,
we shoot this person, that person. It's like, very tedious,
this is what I'm doing. Which most times that I've
been in a situation like this, it has not been
(06:44):
like that. It's been like they just get it done.
It's amazing. So I love the crew, I love the director.
I didn't realize that this company had been trying to
work with me for a long time, or wanted to
work with me for a long time. But this agent
that I mentioned or this manager just happened to call
them or respond to them, because I don't know exactly
(07:04):
how it went down, but that just shows you too,
like you have to be teed up for success. I
have never said, like for years, I haven't said I
want to be an actress. I used to want to
be an actress so badly, and so like, if you
want something, you need to set yourself up for it.
But the reason I decided to do it also, and
(07:25):
I was a little nervous in the beginning, just for
the experience, just going to a different country two weeks.
It was weird. It was like eerie for me. Another
reason I decided to do it was I didn't want
to I don't like to look fate and look chance
and look at gift Horse. When I was little, I
wanted to be an actress so badly, and I'd know
one in my house that would help me or take
me to auditions or like nurture that whatsoever. So I
(07:47):
just dreamed about it. I thought about it. I would
look in the phone book and be like, how do
I be an actress? Or were auditions? And I just
felt exasperated. It was like this inside club that no
one could get access to. And when I was older
and I moved to LA and I graduated without my diploma,
I just I just didn't even walk with the class.
I just wanted to get to LA and be an actress.
(08:09):
I didn't know how to do it, and I was
sort of embarrassed, and like I didn't know how to say, like,
I'm a hostess at La Scala, but I'm also an actress,
and so like I was just wandering around and like
there used to be these books where you'd try to
find agents. You'd send them headshots. No one would call
you back. Literally zero point zero people would call you back.
You would go spend two hundred dollars get headshots. You
(08:31):
couldn't afford it. They would look great. They would be
like one was you holding a tennis racket or one's
in a ponytail. I still have mine. I got a
show them to you one time, and like you'd send
them out, like it's almost like cold calling, and literally
no one would call you back. You just it's so
hard to even be an actor. But it's so hard
to get out there and like get in the room
to even try to act. And I wasn't even any good,
(08:53):
I'm sure, and I knew the producers that say by
the bell, and I got an audition to go in
and read for the new show, the California episodes, but
I sucked and I just like had no helper. I
said to myself when thinking about this, don't be spoiled,
like for years you wanted this and now you're older
and it just walked in the door, and you're so
(09:13):
grateful and you earned it because of the way you
meaning Beth anding me. I've put myself out there and
I'm on social media, and I've been on television and
I've proven myself in many ways. And and yes, if
they had sent an audition slides, I'm sure I would
have or sides, I'm sure I would have audition for it.
Auditioning is frightening, and it's insecure, makes you insecure, like
(09:35):
it's just it's bulky and it's tedious, and it's never
like the way it's going to really go the way
that you're gonna do it that day, and it's just
like strange. And now they all do self tape, so
you was like putting a phone somewhere and following their
instructions of what to wear and do you put makeup on?
And are you supposed to look like natural you? And
like you get in your head and it's just a
(09:56):
nightmare and it's scary. So I didn't have to do that.
I'm super grateful this company, you know, knows that I
can do it. I cannot believe that they cast me
in this without knowing if I could do it with
all these lines. But that's show business, baby, and they
just believed in the power and the magic. And I'm
sure they believe that I'll bring viewers in which I
(10:18):
hope many of you will watch to see this because
I'm shook that it's like so legitimate and so like
long of a role. I called actresses I knew. They
were like, you've got to do this. So here I am,
and I'm doing it and I'm excited and I think
it's good and it's fun and it's exciting and it's
a new chapter. So lo and behold. I'm in my
trailer yesterday and some assistant whose name I didn't know,
(10:38):
was like, Hey, we have this role in this massive
movie with this massive producer and director that you've heard
of and that you know of and that you would
die to have on this podcast that you've pitched to
be on this podcast. But this is such a megastar,
like major, major, major, famous person in filmmaking and TV
(10:59):
making and in humor wants you to read for a role.
So you have to do a self tape and here
are all the instructions. This is what you are supposed
to be like, sound like, look like maybe where the
background you're supposed to have? This is all the dialogue.
It's five pages of dialogue. So now I'm studying my
dialogue for my movie that I'm in, But now I'm
(11:21):
auditioning for another movie. What the fuck. I call the manager.
I was like, what is going on? Because now I'm
on his radar, and so if you do want to
do something, make sure you're on the radar. Like it's
those people were never thinking of me. They're just moving
papers through a desk. We got a fucking we're casting.
We need whoever's teed up and ready to go, not
like weirdo former reality star you know TikTok Instagram, famous
(11:46):
people now that are in their fifties that might want
to act in a movie. Like there have been millions
of roles I've missed over the years because I didn't
put myself in that arena. But it was not meant
to be, and it's meant to be now. And so like, yes,
I'm auditioning for another MO while I'm here, So I
might just ask the other actors or the director to
help me, like help me scotch tape this thing together
(12:06):
in my trailer. Yes, I have a major trailer. It
has a bathroom, it has a microwave, it has couches,
Like they really like they spent the ranch on me
to do it, but I'm giving them everything, like I'm
I'm invested. I think they would say, I'm easy to
work with, Like my rider, What did I want? I
asked for braw potatoes probably twenty nine cents apiece, and
(12:28):
kambucha and like ice coffee and creamer and some cashews.
That's my whole entire rider. But my trailer is amazing,
and like now my rider just got bigger. I'm gonna
ask I need the director and the extras and the
lighting crew and the producer to take, you know, to
give the crew a hiatus day, because we have to
practice for this other massive, massive movie, this blockbuster hit.
(12:52):
Literally that I'm auditioning for. What the actual fuck. It's
so confusing, it makes no sense. But I'm loving the adventure.
And that's the thing too. I am the adventure. I
am the place of yes. And while I can be
bitchy and in a bad mood and no, I don't
want to do that, and no, I'm not accepting that
and know and no and no, my place of yes
(13:13):
is Yes. I'm getting out a plane, I'm going to Vancouver.
I'm starring in a movie for two weeks with tons
of dialogue. And I'm leaving my daughter, which I never do. Yes,
there's a script for a feature film that will be
like in I pick like theaters with like ten dollars
buckets of popcorn to buy and like snow caps. Am
I auditioning for that? Absolutely? Am? I gonna fucking figure
(13:34):
it out while I'm here and try to ask this
director and anybody who will listen and help me. Go
to the fucking lobby of the hotel that I'm also
staying in because they're actors everywhere. Yes, I'm gonna ask
them to help me to get this role, because that's
what life is about. Who gives a shit how you
get it, Just fucking get it. I'll deal with it
on the day that I get there being great at
I'll be great at it. If I get it, I'll
(13:55):
be great at it. But guess what, I gotta get
myself in there, so you know what, I'm gonna scotch
tape together the audition tape and sends it in and
set myself up for success. Don't half ascid, don't hodgepodge it,
don't bullshit it like this is Hollywood, baby, fake it
till you make it. I guess. Martha Stewart said, no.
We at Martha Stewart living on nimdia. She told me
(14:17):
on The Apprentice. We do not fake it till you
make it. Well, fucking guess what As an actress, Bethany
Frankel in Vancouver is faking it till she makes it.
Not when I'm standing there doing the scene. That was
all real, but my memorization process, my needing a potato,
and the trailer, my memorizing multiple scripts at the same time,
my being in Vancouver in the lobby with people asking me, oh,
(14:39):
are you an actress? Of fucking course I am. Got
through to customs in Vancouver, Hi, I need a workers permit.
They said it was one hundred and fifty dollars. What
the fuck are you an actress? Uh? I guess I
am doing a movie for two weeks. Yes, I am
a studying for a role. Bet your fucking titties. I
am so now I I'm entering my actress era twenty
(15:02):
twenty three, was entering my social media influencer era twenty
twenty four. Bethany Frankel, at fifty three years old, is
entering her actress era. What the actual fuck? Go with
God and come from a place of yes, I am
(15:28):
officially over the flexing and posing of luxury handbags more
than anything else, because we watch reality TV and my
best friend was saying to me that she was watching
the Housewives and that the purses are placed on a
pedestal like that it's like as important as the person,
(15:54):
meaning you're just showing the flex and in some cases
they give a underneath of how much the bag is
and the luxury brands are winning. And I've been thinking
about this for a really long time. Now. Please understand
that I am a contradiction in terms because I have
an outrageous handbag collection and I've always loved handbags, but
(16:17):
that kind of makes me an expert, Like since I
was thirteen years old, I've loved handbags, and there is
a collectibility to certain ones. But anyone who says that
their an investment is lying to themselves and to their
husbands or wives or friends. Because if you buy a
very expensive bag, and let's say it increases in value,
(16:38):
if you had to sell it, it would have to
be new inbox or excellent perfect condition, basically never worn
or never taken out of your house, and then you'd
have to use somebody or you'd have to use a
resale site, and they're going to take like thirty percent
so that bag would have to have increased in value
thirty five percent, which is very very rare, like doesn't
happen in order for you to get that money back.
(17:01):
So while they'll say on social media that Chanel purses
are thirty percent higher now than they were so many
years ago, you would have to find a way to
sell it, and you could sell it on eBay or something,
but it's not as easy as it sounds, and it
takes a really long time. So invest in real estate
and the stock market. But I'm becoming really irritated with
(17:24):
the flex, Like I see these big luxury brands and
people going into the stores and flying across the country
and opening up the boxes and I've done it myself
and talking about it, and it's just kind of a
vile flex. And I was recently in Canada and I
(17:47):
went to this version of like a TJ. Marshall's, and
I was looking at these bags that were so soft
in leather and you know, very modern and like black
on black hardware, and like I said, like leather and
some of them looking just like the high end brands
and almost knocking them off, and then some of them
just having their own original, beautiful design, and I found
(18:10):
myself saying, why do I keep these bags that have
these like you know, they're heavy, they're uncomfortable, and I
keep them in my closet almost as like a status
symbol because I did buy them, and I think like
I have to wear them now because I bought them,
And it becomes this weird responsibility and you're not like
treating them like just knock around, and then you're like
(18:30):
a you know, a prisoner to these luxury items and
it becomes really stupid. So in twenty twenty four, I'm
entering my reduction I'm gonna say reduction of luxury handbags era.
And I've always been that way with clothes and even shoes.
I don't buy shoes. I have really nice shoes for
(18:51):
years that I just keep, and I buy classic colors,
like I think they're Sergio Rossi or there are other
brands where I just buy every color. So I have
a dress, I'd match it. But I'm not like tricked
out with most shoes if there's an event. Sometimes, yeah,
boots I really love and I have a weakness for,
but by the same token, I have the same boots
from years ago, and many of them most of them
(19:14):
I've gotten on sale, so I do wear them forever
and I do buy well, so there's got to be
like a dance between it. But the sort of blatant
flexing of luxury bags is making me sick. And you
could almost have a home for what several of them costs.
So I am rethinking the insecurity of having to flex
(19:38):
the logo. There's a psychology to knowing that someone else
has told you a logo or a label is okay.
(19:59):
And there's definitely a show off And like I said,
flex a superficial flex when someone's wearing like a giant
brand name across their chest. And I'll always look at
Pa and say, like, I wonder who makes that shirt,
Like it's a Ballman or Balenciaga or Gucci, gigantic letters.
And like I said to Luan years ago when she
was wearing an Arimez belt and made fun of me
(20:19):
for driving a skinny girl car, I said, well, you're
wearing an Airmez belt and she said, yeah, well they're
not paying me. It's like exactly, they're not paying you,
So why are you in a billboard for a brand
with the logo? And so I guess I'm just realizing. Also,
I bought a bag at this store that had soft
butter leather and it looked exactly like a Chanel bag
(20:43):
with the weight of the chain and quilted, and it
was thirty nine dollars and it was excellent quality. In fact,
I've had Chanel bags that are not good quality. And
what it told me was, that's how much they're ripping
us off, because it costs the same to make this
bag as it does a Chanel bag. A thirty nine
dollars is being charged as a six to nine thousand
(21:05):
dollars bag, not even exaggeration. The markup is assounding. They
would die if we found out. And that's why they
can make these knockoff bags for like forty dollars, because
that's how much they actually cost to make. And Chanelle's
doing massive volumes, so they get a volume discount, and
that's how they have the flagship stores, and that's how
they're a multi billion dollar company. So I don't know
(21:25):
that I want to be fully part of that anymore.
I don't want to pay their rent. I want to
have a nice, functional, good looking piece, but not feel
like a fucking schmuck, which is kind of where I've
gotten with it. So more on this and I hope
I really stick to it or really can show how
amazing I can look without spending money. I did a
review on a Bataga bag last year that was went viral,
(21:49):
and it was a six thousand dollars bag that they
were saying was the new IT bag, and Kylie Jenner
said it was the new it bag, and it felt
like people were being paid to say it was the
new IT bag. And I bought it and it felt
like a cheap, leather nothing bag. It wasn't substantial, it
didn't feel soft. I was I went crazy. I was
so frustrated by it was trash. And I found something
(22:10):
at Winners in Canada, which is like their TJ Max,
that was forty nine dollars that was better quality. And
I know I will not tell you the amount of
money I have in bags, or that I've spent on
bags that has been gifted to me in bags by
people I've been in relationships with. I won't even because
it would be disgusting, But I will tell you that
(22:32):
because of that, I know I intimately know the makings
of a Chanel bag. Airmez does make elite bags there
made very well, but Arimez will charge fifty thousand dollars
for a bag, or twenty thousand or fifteen thousand dollars
for a bag, so like it better fucking be nice.
I mean, let's just say that'll last you for the
(22:53):
rest of your life. But there are bags that you
would get from TJ Max, Coach, Tory Birch or on
the street that would last you for the rest of
your life too, so that's a bit of a scam too.
So anyway, let's talk more about this because I think
it's an interesting discussion.
Host
Bethenny Frankel
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