The Spirited Actor - Craig Henry

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transition to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Thomas.
I audition every rapper from Biggie's Balls to Tupac, and

(00:24):
I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Ye from The
Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel

(00:45):
I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
that room. Now. I know. I know actors want to
get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
casting director that is powerful meditation of the day. Let's

(01:06):
get busy our senior hall. Do you know someone who
spends the majority of their time being critical about other
people's progress? They never seem to have anything positive to
say about anyone. They always tend to find something ion.
The van Zandt refers to them as value vampires. They

(01:29):
try to drain you of your energy and you need
to be aware of them. Your focus must remain on
your goals and you can't afford to have negative people
trying to zap your energy. I will spread my positive
energy to someone in need. Welcome to the Spirited Actor
Podcast with me Tracy Moore. Today is a very very

(01:53):
special day because I have the pleasure to introducing you
to one of my dearest friends. We've known each other,
I want to say both of us somewhat in the
emb real stages of our career. We were working and
we were doing well and growing. But this is truly
one of my dearest, dearest friends in this entertainment business.

(02:17):
And I'm really proud to say that he is my friend.
He was also my boss and several kids as well.
He was for some projects. But I'd like to introduce
to you put your hands together for award winning Director, Producer, Editor.
There's so many titles, Mr Craig Henry. It's true, It's true, Craig,

(02:47):
you are one of the nicest, genuinest people. I always
tell you that in the entertainment business, I don't know
how you maintain that, you know, I think that it's
the only thing that you if you don't like. Tried
to be the example. I wanted to see some speak
so if I didn't like the way I was being treated, overall,
I tried my best to treat other people well so

(03:08):
that it would at least i'd have a little advantage,
you know, at least I wasn't coming in there and
being known as being a jerk. I guess no, I mean,
I'm not gonna say that. In my experience, when I
met you, I had come across some very challenging personalities
in terms of directors and producers. And so when I
met you and I met you, you were editing. Do

(03:32):
you remember with Brett Radner. That's how That's when I said, yes,
you sure. It was a little sean. I was working
with um two two brothers and a white guy monterior Ivy.
Our office was right around the corner from the editing facility,

(03:55):
and I met Brett first, and then I met you,
and then we reconnected the video. Yeah, that's crazy. That
was That was That was you know, that was a
good test for me. You know, if if it doesn't
seem like it's gonna be fun, I try to look

(04:15):
at it as a challenge or a test. And what
was the test? Well, I knew that I knew that
first of all, it was public enemy. It was that
was public enemy, right was one. It was public enemy,
and they were huge. And it was a re edit
or a remake of a popular song louder than a

(04:37):
bomb that already had a lot of fouling when people
already knew the song, was familiar with it. Brett Ratner
was a filmmaker in the real sense of a filmmaker,
like a movie making guy, and he wasn't approaching it
in the typical way the other directors were producing approaching
music video. So it just happen to know where the
boundaries were for what was needed for me, you know,

(04:59):
not coming into with too much of my own preconceitid
what a music video should be like, not being by
the fact that it was Brett Rattner, and not being
intimidated by the fact that he was best friends with
le Or Cohen, not being intimidated by the fact that
the public enemy, you know, like let me just sort
of focus to the core of what my job is
supposed to be and just kind of stay in that vibe,

(05:22):
which is I think, well, I was gonna say, I
don't mean to cut you out. I don't know I
was gonna say that vibe. You know, I picked a
lot of that up from you when we well, you know,
I always used to tease you for being overly optimistic
and positive, and you were supportive, and I used to
be like, you know, I could use it. You. You know,
you could be a little more tough with me, don't

(05:43):
be so you know, you don't have to tell me
it's gonna be okay. I can take you, you know,
and you go there. You always would just like, listen,
just be true to what you're trying to do right,
and everything would go right. And that's not the most
difficult times. Well, and I was gonna say, that's so
funny you said that, because I always felt like you

(06:04):
with that person, never let them see you sweat, because
regardless of the chaos, you seem to be one of
the most balanced and calm ones in the room. Because
in filmmaking, my philosophy was always expect the unexpected. Anything
can happen in production, and just be prepared in that way,

(06:24):
you know, because the camera could fall God forbid. But yeah,
you know, I kind of like, um, I don't know
where I don't really know where it came from. You
might say a little bit of a little bit of
this came from Malik and Drop Squad and those guys.
But at the very least, be decisive. I always felt

(06:45):
like everyone, it's everyone gets overwhelmed, and I watched so
many productions just sort of falter and crumble and just
get progressively worse because the people in charge, the leadership,
not so much that they didn't know what to do,
they were afraid to make it the decision, and things
just got worse and worse. So I always thought, you know,
the least I gotta do is be able to be
decisive so that people can continue to work, you know,

(07:08):
and keep their workflow going. Interrupting their workflow has going
to draw more attention to problems. So just be prepared
to should be this color of that color, it should
be that color, should be this size of this person,
this person, that person. That's what you're kind of paid
to do. That's your job. I always and so I
don't know if it was calmness as much as it
was sort of like, you know, just tackling each you know,

(07:30):
infantry man as it came one at the time. You
know a lot of the next problem, next problem, next problem.
So as you transition or what what made you transition
from editing to directing. I used to be a d J.
I grew up in Queens and Jamaica, and I always

(07:51):
wanted to, you know, be a big New York DJ,
which I never was. I was at DJ in my
local neighborhood and stuff like that. When music videos really
started popping off, my parents got me a super VHS
camera which I used to shoot like my own music
videos like I would I would like remake like my philosophy,
you know. I actually the camera had the ability to

(08:11):
record something different on the audio than you did on
the video, which is a really big deal. Then so
I can lay down my philosophy and just take pictures
and put that on top of it. So the whole
concept of like manipulating music and then being able to
manipulate pictures really appealed to me and being a DJ.
So when I got to college, I just started like
focusing on editing and trying to learn that aspect and

(08:33):
kind of came naturally from there. I love the fact
that I know a lot of directors who are editors,
and I feel like that's helped so much in the process.
And you know, in terms of directing, has had helped
you as well. Wow, Okay, so I know, I know
this is I don't know how long the show is.
I won't even put that, of course, Well, we can

(08:53):
always call you back, all right. Well, for number I'm
trying to net it out. For a number of different reasons,
it's a great Number One, it makes it easy for
you to know what you've got. You don't have to overshoot,
you don't have to do take after take after take,
affter take, because you kind of know I'm really only
gonna wind up using four point two seconds of this
to make my point. So it was easy for me

(09:16):
to sort of keep things moving along and give the
impression of getting a lot from my money. You know,
anything also teaches you sort of like you see the
results of all the hard work that people are putting in.
So it gives you an appreciation and for what it
takes to, you know, to go from an idea to
actually having it on the screen. It takes a lot.

(09:36):
So you you have some respect for the material and
you try to be creative and how you put it
together knowing that they were limited, you know, words to
the editor can do is like well did you shoot
such and such and such And they say, no, we
don't have time to get that. Well, I don't know
how we're gonna do this. It's like that's the telling
them the editor, yeah, you gotter work at what you're
given and They's a great part about editing in general,

(09:58):
like anything in this business, is it's good to have
a fallback, you know, some sort of skill that you
can use, um when you're not doing ideally what you
want to do. It's something that you can use to
sort of lure another potential employer in. We're just doing
something for them. It could be writing and could be editing.
It could be shooting video, it could be taking photographs,
whatever it is. Once they know that you're a double threat,

(10:20):
that you can kind of bring two skills to the
table like that kind of lifts you a little bit
out of the pack a bit, and that's what you
want to keep doing. It's kind of I um, sort
of like making yourself more and more unique against the
rest of the competition you're facing. So, you know, during
this time where we have all been in the house,
um quarantining and um, what what do you suggest for

(10:43):
actors at this time to continue to nurture their craft
and and not be stale and you know, keep that
muscle alive. What do you suggest they do? I would
recommend obviously as much table reading as you could do,
sort of like get friends together with scripts maybe that
you respect, that you like, and try to sort of

(11:05):
implement read through them with your own kind of take.
I'm a big fan of researching your own interests. So
what I mean by that is like, if you watch
films and there's something you like, you write down what
you like. You might not know why you like it
or what specifically it is, but if you just keep
taking note of what interests you, when you go back

(11:27):
and look through that material, it starts to kind of
embedding you and you start to sort of like shape
a style or um. You know, in the same way
a singer develops a style, you can develop a kind
of a an aesthetic that you like. So I would
say that anytime actors can read through scripts that they like.
It's gonna remind them of the performance that was given,

(11:48):
it's gonna reinforce certain things that they think they're good at. Um.
And so when they are acting in their roles are
kind of drawing on some of those things that they experienced,
and hopefully maybe if they write at some point, they'll
be able to also look at it from that perspective,
having read the raw scripts of other things and seeing
how the actor reinterpreted or interpreted you know, that script.

(12:11):
So I would say stuff like that, a lot of
reading and just trying to get a couple of people
to run through some scripts and stuff that's excellent. I mean,
I've now with the Zoom, I know a lot of
actors who are rehearsing and doing readings. So that is
something that's a great suggestion. What is it that you
look for when you're working on as a director and

(12:31):
even with your producer head, What are some of the
things that you look for with actors? Um, That's a
really good question. I think a positive attitude first. It
doesn't mean that they have to come up to me
and shake my hand really fast or anything like that,
just sort of like a general a general wanting to

(12:54):
be there, you know, yeah, you know. It could be
a low energy thing, it could be a high energy thing,
but just a positive reaction to the fact that we're
now all colleagues and we're working together, and we're here
to give you. We're here to make you the best
we can. UM. When I first meet an artist and
they kind of expect me to kind of work through

(13:15):
their process of letting their guard down, I prefer it
not to be that way. It just means I've got
to do a little more work making them comfortable and
trying to figure out a way to make them comfortable
with me. But if you want to, UM, if you
want to be pulled into that inner circle of thinking,
sort of like when I'm making a decision what this

(13:35):
person is gonna think of it, I need to note
you're on board and that you're happy to be there
and that you trust us. I mean, you said we're colleagues. Like,
that's different, Craig, because most, um, I know, I was
unique as a casting director and it was very important
for me that actors were comfortable or I tried to

(13:56):
make them comfortable to get the best out of them, right.
But most directors and I mean, yeah, directors and producers
when you get in that call back stage, they don't
look at actors as colleagues like there's um, your unique
in that because most directors are here and actors were
somewhere around here. So it's not on an even claim.

(14:22):
Um you know, I don't know if you remember we
should talk about this long time ago. So I um my,
in my in my mind, my perfect production company is
based on the concept of the stone soup story. Yeah,
share that with them. So the concept basically, and this
is a concept that repeats in most most of the

(14:42):
cultures around the world and to me is like one
of the clearest sort of allegories for how humanity is
supposed to behave in a way. So the basic idea
is just that a group of soldiers after the war
wandering through a town and they're starving, and they come
up upon this town and the guy says, what are
we gonna get to eat? He says, don't worry, I
have a soup stone. We're gonna be fine, and gets

(15:03):
in the middle of town and he's you know, he
pulls up a table dusted off and people start to
gather around and add, oh, who are you He's like, well,
we're coming here. We feed villages after the war, and
we're gonna feed you guys with our magic soup stone.
And he says, now, all I need is a kettle
and and some water from the well. We can get started.
And then somebody says, well, I've got a kettle you
can use, and I don't mind setting my son to

(15:23):
go get the water. They get the water, they fill it,
he said, he puts the stone in the water, So
now we gotta do his weight by the steat. We're
gonna all gonna be eating hardy. And then another person
comes and he says, it's the best of ever taste.
I don't think it can make it better. And we've
had a little bit of salt. He just throws some
salt in there, and that really brings out the lake.
For somebody says, well, I've got some salt, you know,
and in the cellar, I can bring that up, and said,

(15:43):
I brings up the salt and go on it. So
before you know, the people are bringing carrots and onions
and celery and meat, and they're hanging lanterns, and they're
bringing table cloths and blankets and their children and before
you know what. The whole village is just in a
festive mood and they're all eating the delicious soup that

(16:05):
they all brought together. And you know, the guys because
what do you know, what what do you call the stuff? Is?
This is stone soup. So for me, that's what filmmaking is.
It's really about somebody setting up a camera in the
middle room saying, hey, I got this idea. You paint
this that way. We could do this if you dress
this way, if you act that way, if you light

(16:25):
it this way, if you trust me and use this
sound and do if everyone sort of does that, you
get this incredible, unique result. Very few things are made
the way films are made, you know. So that whole
concept of everybody in a colleague, that's why you can't
afford to lose any element to the suit. And and
it makes for a perfect suit right right, And you

(16:48):
have more appreciation for it because you to it. So
if you start treating people like they are somehow less valuable,
you know, Tracy, Yeah, the worst thing the Some people
consider the p a the lowest position on the crew.
I feel like that is the highest position on the
crew because if you don't have p a s everything
falls apart. Everything will fall apart from the top to

(17:12):
the bottom. You won't have sandwiches for the executives that
stop by. No, So if everybody appreciates everybody's roll, you know,
I'm firmly and that would be nice. In a perfect world,
we all know the production kind of and I always
feel like the director is the captain of the ship

(17:32):
and based on their energy and sensibility, that's how the
show is going to roll. So you know, they set
the tone and not everybody has that tone. But it's
refreshing for actors to know that there are directors out
there like you because I always am working with actors.
My thing is once you get on the set and

(17:53):
you're working, to be able to have conversation with the director,
right and not lengthy conversation. But when Buster and I
did Chaff, I took him. We were shooting in his
apartment for the first time, so I'm like, bus, let's
open up the refrigerator, let's look through the drawers. Because
the director, the set designer, props, they had a perception

(18:13):
of how you live and this is what they thought.
But based on the work that we did, Buster was like, uh, well,
I don't know if I would listen to those albums
they bought in all these to make. They got to
make an albums for him, you know. But that's the
conversation that I want actors to have. Or you know,
if the director says or you know, you're in wardrobe

(18:36):
fitting and you've got skinny jeans on, you're like, my
character would never wear skinny jeans because blah blah blah
blah blah. But what I like about that too, and
what an actors should consider and when we talk about
the way they present themselves is that you know embody
the professor and you expect I see an actors started
taking seriously, listen, I want to run this, run this
with you. Want to run some lines with you about

(18:56):
such and sus and set because I'm concerned that I
want to give your show takes on what you think
about this and to say yeah, yeah, man, I'll get
to you in a second. He's pulling you aside and
say listen, this is gonna help me do my job better.
So sometimes you can snap the director out of it.
They've got a lot of things going on at one time,
and sometimes they appreciate that you're sort of refocusing them,
you know, to to something that you need to accomplish,

(19:17):
and it will indicate that you really care about what
you're doing too. Yeah, and it makes them feel like
you care, you know. Sometimes I always say to actors
that a casting director is alaison between you and the director.
We try to marry the two of you together. And so,
you know, without actors, we don't have production either, who

(19:39):
really has? But when you venture out to certain places
like I work in l A, and l A has
a different casting directors are celebrities in l A producing
the celebrities in l A. So there's a different energy
out there as opposed to New York. Where do you
prefer to work? Oh boy, I think I prefer television

(20:00):
on the East Coast and and uh fiction workers really yeah,
because I feel like you have more access to more
toys out there, and I feel a few more you
have more per capita skilled craftsmen than you would on
the East Coast. But on the East Coast you have
a stakers. People are kind of gritty and really are passionate.
What would you suggest to actors in terms of you know,

(20:22):
we have You're gonna be working with two Spirit alumni
in class in session, and I'm I'm excited for them
to get your insight and constructive criticism. But give them
some some tips, some insights that you think are important
for them on their journey, whether they're aspiring actors or
working actors. Be aware of your voice, you know, be

(20:42):
aware that everything that you say has great value, So
choose a voice. Be be intentional about how you're performing something,
or how you're running a meeting or or or or auditioning.
Don't just approach it as if let me see if

(21:03):
the talents I have will allow them, you know, having
intent like I'm gonna be upbeat and crisp, or I'm
gonna almost come in here, like I don't care if
you're going, I'm just having intention, because that's the first
step that's starting to see that the person is working
out something. You know, And again I say, really just
I probably want the shortest cuts to understanding an idea

(21:25):
that someone has in their head is them being able
to give me an example of something that's closely relative
to what they want to do or or what they're
trying to communicate. And if there's a working example of it,
it makes it even more valuable because it's something I
can actually look at or evaluate how it's working in
the space currently, as opposed to just saying, you know,

(21:47):
if you're ever stuck with someone asking well, how do
you see playing this role or how do you see
yourself and as well, I don't know, I just think
maybe kind of lose kind of this. You know, it's
a short cut for the person to get where you
want to go, saying you know, there's one other little
thing that I always try to make mentioned when I'm
asked about that type of stuff is about taking notes,

(22:08):
you know, and when someone gives you a note. It's
hard to develop a thick skin that comes with, you know,
taking criticism for anything that you do. But when criticism
is that it's worse and you really don't agree with it,
just try to figure out how you can address the
note itself. So if someone says, you know, I hate
the clothes you're wearing. The colors just don't work for me,
and you feel like, well, I really like these colors.

(22:29):
I really like these clothes. This is not I totally disagree.
Perhaps there's some middle ground, you know, maybe it's changing
the color and trying to stay close to the style
you wanted, or maybe it's changing the style and and
and and trying to find access to indicate the color
that you want to bring in. A note should just
sort of guide you to a better result. It doesn't
mean you have to renovate your idea completely. And if

(22:50):
you look at it that way, you'll be a little
sensitive when people are shooting notes at you because they
trust you to deliver something. So take the note. See
what's what's making them think that way, See if you
can address it, and then move on. And I think
you'll find that when people see that you responded in
some small way to their suggestions, it goes a really
long way. That a great point. Those are really great.

(23:11):
Thank you, and I haven't heard those. I love be
aware of your voice. I love that that that's beautiful.
I want to ask you this. We live in this
world of self tape. Now, how do you see the
changes in the audition process. Are we moving away from
live auditions completely and moving into a zoom situation? Well?

(23:35):
I would, I mean, I think yes, I don't think
that that becomes the problem for the well, ultimately it
becomes the problem for the actor. But it's not the
actor's fault that if they're unable to convey what they're
trying to do through this medium, because it's a very
limiting medium, right, But I think the fault, the responsibility

(23:56):
lies on the casting directors and the producers to be
able to identify the skills that they think that person
has to to, you know, execute the role. You know,
it's it's almost like hiring somebody, you know, it's it's
your job to be able to pick through the applicants

(24:16):
to figure who has less skills that's gonna fit the situation.
That person is not gonna be able to may not
be able to wire you within the confines of what
they have. So if I were the actor, I wouldn't
get too caught up in the limitations of the medium.
I would just, you know, try to have the right presentation,
be likable, and then just do the best job you
can and hopefully the people you're working with have the

(24:37):
wisdom to appreciate, you know, what you're offering. Yeah, I mean,
I'm not casting like I used to cast before, and
I think I would have had a challenging transition moving
into the self tape because I was raised in the
live room and you can authentically touch them and make

(24:58):
those adjustments and things like that. So I knew that
this was gonna fly by, and this was the best.
And I'm going to extend another invitation because we still
have some other stuff to talk about. But I do
want to ask you this because I too believe that
we are moving out of live auditions or is there

(25:20):
anything specific that actors should be aware of when you're
watching that self tape that stands out because now that
it's self tape and it's opened up, you could have
a thousand people submit for one character. Yeah, that's that.
That is difficult. First of all, learn as much about

(25:43):
the medium that you're using, right you can zoom, Be
aware of how it works so that you can facilitate
an easy communication with people. Understand the things that you
can control, like the quality of the images that you're
sending it, making sure that's you're and you know, high
quality videos that aren't compressed, or maybe you're sending multiple

(26:04):
multiple versions, you're sending you know, movie files and MP
fours and such and such. In cases, I think, just
making it easy for you to be able to present
as well as possible. It wouldn't hurt to to start
to watch some videos about lightning. I studied life physics
and college among the other stuff that I did, and

(26:25):
the thing that they taught you was, I mean, this
is gonna sound really like in the weeks, but it's
called the angle of incidence equals the angler reflection. So
basically the angle is something bounces, that something is the
same angle it's gonna come at something. So you always
have to be aware of whether light is hitting you
and whether coming towards you. Whenever you don't feel like
light is hitting you, and when you look at yourself
and you really can't see details, you've got to change that.

(26:48):
So you always want to work on trying to provide
light so you can be seen better exactly forms better
when it can be you can see you know. Um,
you gotta take control the things that you can, I
think in a technical way that's important. UM. And then
just to be aware of be aware of what's in
the frame that's right. And I think that's great advice

(27:10):
just in general, that you know, just only what you
can control, that's where you should be concerned about. Everything
else is out of your control. And I think this
is definitely a time for actors to create that space
that self tape, get a green screen. You can buy
them on Amazon. Now do all of those things to
make it quality and be able to present their time.

(27:32):
Learn how to edit. Why not take some put some
music down, take a pictures you so and edit those pictures.
You will have completely different opinion of the next thing
you watch on television. You know, after you do something
like that, you have a completely different appreciation. I'm so
happy to see you. I've missed you man. We had
some good time. You sure did, and you had it always.

(27:55):
You know, your name comes up from time to time
around here, and as one of the most positive You're
You're like a gifter and you pull out people's latent abilities.
You you sparked their creativity and you encourage them to
be hopeful. I love that about you. Thank you. I
appreciate love that, and I love the fact that we're
still friends. That's all the yeah, and we'll be back

(28:17):
with class in session on the Spirited Actor Podcast with
me Tracy Moore. Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with
me Tracy Moore. And you are still blessed, still blessed
to have Mr Craig Henry here he is he has
joining us. Yes, put your hands together for Craig Gavity.

(28:38):
Thank you. They got mad love for you, Craig. So
we have our spirited actor alumni, lean A Motto hey,
and we have to Lisa Capri Hey. So we're going
to read a scene, um and uh the late I'm

(28:59):
gonna the action so that you can have the complete scene.
And this is written by Leon Um. This is called
masking it. And here we go, ready, ladies, Okay, interior
bathroom night. Kayla jumps as Kristen walks in on her

(29:20):
in the bathroom. She quickly adjusts her hair. Okay, yeah,
I'm just doing my hair. Ima. Kristin notices a small
ziplock bag with pills in it. She picks it up. Well,
what is this? Um for cramps? Kayleb pulls the back back,

(29:41):
but Kristen snatches it back, examining the pills. Okay, you
do mhm. Con for me? Okay, I can't stop thinking
about her man and they've been helping. You don't need these,

(30:03):
k like, I'm here and you're not only one, but
we like, we have got to deal with this. It's
not the same. What's not the same. You look around
here like like you're good. Now get you. I am

(30:24):
not good, okay, but I can't let myself drown in
this thing. So I'm fighting to get through it with
this k You don't not gonna that. I can't lose
somebody else. These are no joke. Look, I am so mad, okay.

(30:48):
I'm a single prayer answered. So maybe I don't want
to do it your way. It is not my way, okay,
but I don't know what else to do. Why can't
you just help? Please? Maybe I'm the one. Kristen puts

(31:11):
her hand out asking for the bag reluctant, but Kay
gives it to her. I'm so tired no Christian hugs
or as they both needed. See Okay, Craig, I'm gonna

(31:35):
throw it to you. Wow, you guys are so talented.
My goodness, I didn't have very many notes, so I
want to. I guess I'll focus first on ju Lisa.
I love when you move mm hm. When you're moving
is when to me is when you really grab my attention.

(31:56):
So when you're messing with your hair and I would
have I would have been her as you to like
arrange things on the counter or something that's not opening right.
You know you're trying to get the top off of something,
or I would just work through constantly trying to physically
do something that's it's obviously you don't want to talk.
Oh you're really It's taken a lot to pull you
out of whatever you're messing with from the counters. And

(32:19):
so the more gestures you do, the more powerful I
think it will be when you finally stop and when
you're shaking, you know, it's like your first time you
stop moving and you can tell you really get through,
really got she really got through to you. Lean. What
I love about you is you're so clear on everything.
When you speak, your emotions and everything comes across really clear.

(32:40):
What I would advise you to do is very your
energy output. You know, sometimes a mumble is more powerful
than you know it's a straight delivery of a line.
So you know, when we talk to each other, you know,
sometimes we go like this and sometimes you say breath.
You know, sometimes we speak it. Some times we you

(33:01):
do not understand me. I just I think if I
had a little bit more variance from you, it would
have major character seem even you can you can define
that character in there, you know, either being um exasperated
or um you've dealt with this for a long time.
You tied her line to you, like, some of that

(33:23):
stuff will come out and build that into when you're
not sure what to do with the character or how
to say it, feel that sort of stuff to frustration,
you're trying not to embarrass her. Uh, you know, stuff
like that. So um, my favorite author, Tavia Butler. I
have her stuff written all over my office and one

(33:45):
of the things she wrote had written down is use
detail to build suspense and to regulate pacing. So basically,
when you're not sure what to do, give someone a detail,
or if you don't believe in what you're saying or
something like that, work on doing something weird, you know,
give a detail for them to lock onto, and that
will help kind of bridge you through stuff that's really good,

(34:07):
that is really great, really great. You guys got some
really good stuff to you know, bite your teeth into Craig,
I can't even begin to thank you, Like, seriously, you
guys are great. Seeing again to the note, I wouldn't
want to see Leanne turned into a you know, Robin Williams.

(34:28):
You know, I don't. I wouldn't want that. I think
that just that little various will start to make a
more powerful moments, really powerful. Yeah. This is just like
there's something about your physicality that just really works really well. Yeah,
I love that. I told you, guys, I told you
he was the Baptist. I told him before you gave way,

(34:50):
Yeah you were. You really just confirmed. Um. We had
Sadique Thunderson like two weeks ago and he talked about um,
Octavia Butler and that book he recommended. So it was
just like a confirmation to hear you you know, mentioned
that and it was a great, great like adjustment. You know,
what's mind blowing about Octavia is that she's so simple

(35:12):
in her prose, but it could be so much complex
emotion and what she's saying. And He's able to convey
a lot of different dynamics with very simple sentences. And
that's that's what we'll get you. You You realize that sometimes
the power is and what is what you don't say, right,
That's what I always say. I just want to thank

(35:35):
the fabulous, amazing, genuine and lovable spirit that we had
on today, Mr Craig Henry, director, producer, editor, Extraordinary than
you and nice meeting you guys. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

(35:58):
funny you are released Greg alright, thank you, all right,
thank you, and we'll be back on the Spirited Actor
Podcast with being Tracy Moore with give Love and now
it's time forgive love. Stop judging other people, to stop

(36:18):
like I spent a lot of time really practicing this,
and instead of me talking about people in a negative way,
I will say in my observation, and I will be
conscious of being critical to whatever decision they made, whatever

(36:40):
choice they made, because at the end of the day,
I don't want judgment on my life. I remember when
I was sixteen years old. I have my first boyfriend,
Derek Lott, and Derek said to me, because I used
to always call him every single day after school and
talk about other people, I would talk about their people

(37:01):
and one day and he was so patient and crazy
today he's a psychiatrist, but he was so patient with
me and one day he said, um. I said to him, like, so,
how are things with us? How are things going with us?
And he said, well, if you would focus on our
relationship and stuff being focused on other people's business and

(37:21):
maybe our relationship would be good. But it's not. And
that was such an awakening for me at sixteen, because
I felt like He's right. I never put any energy
into our relationship because I'm so busy talking about everybody else.
Stop it, Stop complaining, stop criticizing, stop judging. We need

(37:47):
to focus on being the best that we can be
and if we become examples of that and just make
a conscious decision to allow people to live their lives
the way they used to live their lives and trust
that in them living that life, that's for them. Stop complaining,

(38:09):
stop judging, stop criticizing, because you are wasting time and energy.
Thank you for joining us on the Spirited Actor podcast
with me Tracy Moore. I look forward to our next
Spirited podcast. Thank you,