December 31, 2024 • 48 mins
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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 transitioned to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls 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 Yee 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. And now it's time for
meditation of the day. Whatever the present moment contains, accepted
(01:10):
as if you had chosen Eckhart toole, I learned a powerful,
powerful lesson that I always talk about sometimes in my classes. However,
I learned what being present meant right before my dad passed.
(01:31):
And when my dad found out that he had cancer,
he called myself and my two brothers on a conference
call and he said, I need to tell you guys
something right now. My two brothers knew I didn't know that,
but they were calling to tell me, and so my
dad explained what was going on, and I just lost it.
(01:54):
I started crying. I was boohooed, I was hyper vitilated,
and I could hear my dad say to my brothers,
just give her a minute, Just give her a minute. Right. Finally,
when I pulled it together, my dad said, Tracy, I'm
not dead yet. And every single moment after that, I
(02:17):
was one hundred and fifty percent present in our conversation.
If we were together, I was one hundred percent present
in his presence. I understood that, yes, I was sad,
and yes, the possibility of thinking of losing my dad
(02:39):
just broke my heart. However, I was already cremating my
dad in the conversation of him telling me about cancer.
But when I bought it back to the present day,
I enjoyed every single minute of my dad's last ten
months on this earth. Stay present, Enjoy the present, Enjoy
(03:03):
the moments, Enjoy just being here in this moment right now.
Nothing more, nothing less, just grateful. Before we get started,
i'd like to remind everyone to look out for my
new show, Inside the Black Box. I'll be co hosting
(03:24):
with the great Joe Morton. We'll be on Crackle Network
real soon. I'll keep you posted. Welcome to the Spirited
Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I am excited for
my next guest. I thought maybe my producer, mister funny
Man's Bruce Henry would do the intro, but I'll do
(03:47):
it myself. Today's guest is me, you guys. I'm here
to teach you, guys, some things that came up yesterday
when I was talking to a group of my dynamic, spiritual, amazing,
phenomenal casting director friends. So this inspired this class today
(04:14):
for you. I want to talk about boundaries because I
need to reiterate them. I want to talk about the
things that casting directors don't like you to do, and
I also want to say I don't want to go
(04:37):
into a lot of detail about it, and let's start
off here. So welcome me, Tracy Moore to the Spirited
Actor Podcast. And today's show is just don't do it. Okay,
just don't do it. Trust me. I have a resume,
you can google me. Trust me on this. When we
(05:00):
as casting directors suggest, highly, recommend big and plead for
you guys not to do something, you might want to
just take heat to that. Okay. So yesterday I had
the most dynamic conversation with Like, I got emotional on
(05:21):
this phone because one of the casting directors was Winsome.
Sinclair and whins worked on Juice, and you know, we
were as a collective. We were talking about how important
Juice was at the time and what that movie meant
to us, and I just got this feeling that the
three of us when some Sinclair, you, Lissen Stererero, and
(05:44):
Wendy Mackenzie, all of us combined, wins said, we have
over a hundred years experience as casting directors, right. So
what hit me is that when we grew up as
casting directors in this industry, we didn't have the Internet.
(06:05):
We did not even have iPhones or mac books. I
remember word processors and the screen was green and the
words were green like anyway. The point is is that
we really did the heavy lifting. When some brought up
a point that we used to have messengers, I totally forgot.
(06:28):
That's how we got scripts out. We would have messengers
come to our office and they would take the scripts
to different agencies or management companies for the actors. Right
today bing email, one button, boom, script is there. I
remember standing at the fax machine on the TV show
(06:51):
New York Undercover and faxing sixty six pages of an
episode two agents, and I had an intern and that
was her job was Her job was to open pictures
and resumes and to fact sides and scripts. Today she
(07:12):
is the casting director for American Idol and CBS Big
Brother Asia Loup. So we did a lot of heavy lifting.
There's not a there's some heavy lifting, but we did legwork.
New Jersey Drive Nick Gomes, director, He was like, Tracy,
(07:34):
I want authentic actors, but I want like authentic people
of these characters. I was on my feet on the
path train to Newark, New Jersey, which looks totally different today.
In nineteen ninety three, when I went and we went
(07:56):
to shows, I saw a Broadway show The Seagull If
you've never read any of chekhov by you know, it's
a part of American classic theater. And The New York
Times was at that time raving about Anthony Mackie, and
(08:19):
my friend knew him, and he was like, Tasey, you
got to come see this guy. Well the play and
not just coming from me. I mean it was very,
very painful to watch, and half the audience left. However,
there was some shining stars in the cast, and as
much as I wanted to leave too, I stayed because
(08:41):
of those people. There's a lot of things that back
in the early nineties, late eighties, early nineties as casting
directors that we did because we don't have the technology
that we have today. So there's a different work ethic
that we have as well. Right being on time, not
(09:02):
if your audition is at two fifteen, you don't want
to get there at two fifteen. You want to get
there like around one, so you can go in the restroom,
adjust yourself, take a breath, breathe, settle yourself, revisit the sides,
whatever you need to do. You don't want to just
get to the audition and go straight in that room.
You need a minute. So those things that we did
(09:29):
without a mac pro or air. Those things help us,
I believe, and all of us on this collective phone
yesterday believe that made us who we are today. And
so the imbalance that a lot of casting directors are
(09:50):
seeing is that the actors are not matching up to
that they're not matching up to a work ethic. One
of the casting directors, Wendy, talked about the work. I
love how Wendy talked about the work of an actor
and how you know you have to work on your craft.
(10:11):
It's like it's not just regurgitating these lines, spitting out
these lines, or I love when people talk louder like
that's creating something, you know, or yelling. Find other ways
to be angry, to be upset, to be happy. Don't
come into the room doing the obvious, or don't send
(10:33):
your submission tape in doing what everybody else is going
to be expected to do. Find something in the character,
Find something in the moment, Find something that can give
you a different perception and perspective of what the scene
is about, but still staying within the integrity of what
(10:54):
that scene is about and who that character is. Don't
go too far so I know, I kind of rambled. However,
I do have some points, So I want to start
first with boundaries because this is really important. So I
(11:14):
told this story right, because for me, it's not about
being humble in this business. For me, it's about knowing
what your purpose is for me not for me. I
know clearly my purpose to help people to pursue their
dreams and achieve their dreams, because dreams do come true.
(11:35):
I've witnessed my own journey, continue to witness my journey
and grateful for my journey. Spruce is the part of
my journey. And Spruce is sitting next to Dad, who
I love, So he's a part of my journey. That's
why I'm here. So you have to not only be
(11:58):
great talent, stunning talent, but just human beings, right, And
this is just starting with common courtesy. A couple of
weeks ago, someone called me up, and an actor called
me up and asked me if I would come to
a showcase. I love supporting actors and showcases and monologue slams.
(12:23):
I just did a not Go Tuesday monologue slam with
Mitchell and so when he approached me, he texted me
and so I said, listen, you know, send me the
information and how much do you know about me and
(12:43):
what I do? And so he hit me back and
he said, I know you do like a podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Mm hm.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So I hid him back and said, I'm going to
affward you my resume. I'm for you forward you my
because it's important that you do your due diligence when
you approach people of my value and my credit in
this entertainment business credits. There's a way in which you
approach people and understanding what their value is going to
(13:18):
bring to you. And I'm not talking a monetary here.
I'm just saying, if you are going to reach out
and ask me to do this courtesy and I would
love to do it, at least know what I do
and who I am in this industry like everybody else
you approach. So he read my bio. He called me
(13:39):
back and he said, oh my god, miss Tracy. I apologized,
I didn't know that you've been in the industry this long,
blah blah, and I said, let this be a teachable moment.
Let this be a teachable moment because now you will
do your due diligence in approaching people and researching people
(14:00):
to know because I'm not standing on your shoulders, you're
standing on mine. And I know, going back in my
casting experience, there was a time when casting only consisted
of black, white, Asian and other. Now we are in
(14:26):
the terms of ethnically ambiguous, which broadens and opens it
up more. Right, So I've I've fought for actors. I've
cried over the fact that an actor that I championed
didn't get cast and then you know they went on
(14:49):
to do other things. The director hates himself or whatever,
like so many different scenarios in the casting world. But
it is so so important that not only do you
treat this like a business, but people like to work
with people they like. I am not saying create a
(15:10):
personality that is something that we all should have, especially
being in an entertainment world. I'm just saying being conscious,
being considerate of people's time, being aware that you don't
(15:31):
want to waste people's time. Because I don't want to
waste people's time at all. So where does this human
part come in submissions in a zoom right, because that's
a whirlwind. You guys don't have live auditions anymore. Well,
(15:52):
I always highly recommend to you guys that we need
to see bits of your personality, because we don't just
hire the talent, we also hire the person So we
want to like you, at least like you because you know,
we could be on the set for months or weeks.
We want to like you in yourself tapes. When you slate,
(16:16):
that's where you infuse your personality. Do you like your name?
Say it like you like it? Do you like where
you live? Are you happy with your height? These the
way in which you say it gives us insight into
who you are. So if you're happy and you know
you don't have to be over the top, but just
(16:38):
be yourself, let us in just a little bit into
who you are and a little bit of your personality.
Put it in your slate, Okay. When you get callbacks,
that's where you engage with the director, producer, maybe writer.
The casting director, the casting director's assistant or associate is
(16:58):
always your alibi the room because technically, we found you. Okay,
so we found I'm only saying technically because when you
get into like, you know, the shooting and then the
premiere's gret you know, the credit always goes to the director.
The director, So that's cool because I still love my gig.
(17:21):
I have so much fun. However, when you get into
that callback situation, that's where they're going to ask questions
and start to peel some of those layers up, you know,
apart as to who you are. And then this is
(17:43):
where the director gets a chance to see if you
follow direction, how you follow direction, and their mind starts
percolating on you know, how you would be with this actor,
and are you a great fit and all this other stuff, right,
so we don't we not only get a chance to
(18:04):
see you as a person, but we see you know
U as working in this environment as well, and you
want to, you know, like, thank you please. You know
that's common courtesy. If you don't understand something, ask someone
to elaborate or give you an example, so you don't
(18:26):
look like you either don't know how to follow direction
or you don't understand direction. So you want to make
sure there's clarity on that after. And know this because
one of the things that I do stress in my
classes is that actors need to read aloud every single day.
(18:46):
The point of that is not everybody writes how you speak,
so you have to get used to other people's words
in your mouth and comfortable hearing them and owning them
as if they're yours. So that happens is when you
read every single day, you can be able to pick
anything up and breathe life into it. That matters because
(19:09):
you are probably ninety nine point nine percent sure that
you are going to get new sides in a collback
so that we can see your process. Right, So if
you're being called back before a character, then we'll give
(19:31):
you a scene that we didn't give you in the reading,
I mean in the submissions, and see how you craft
that character in that scene. Right, Or we will give you,
because of the work, a bigger scene, right. And in
(19:54):
giving you a bigger scene and another character, then we're
we get the opportunity to watch you morph into a
third character, right, because I look at it as well.
Let me say two characters I look at as in
an audition. The slate is your personality, and then you
(20:15):
morph into the character that you're auditioning for. So I
like to see that process and other casting directions as well,
and see how you do that. So in the callback,
you know we were there. We're watching you or seeing
a cale read and seeing how you bring it to life.
A callback is also we like you, but we want
to make sure we like you. And that also is
(20:37):
where the director comes in and gets an opportunity to
play with you. So la and probably once the strike
is over, they've been doing a lot of live auditions
and live callbacks. We're still, you know, moving along. I
(20:57):
do know that there are some auditions or to the
strike that were happening live. So that's a great thing.
I personally like live. I feel like there's an energy
that you can feel and and just resonate with when
you are in the presence of actors and just get
a real sensibility of who they are and how they
are to work with. So that's how I grew up
(21:21):
as a casting director, and that's just my preference. However,
I live with the zooms. I live with the zooms.
Not mad that we have that platform. However, we're going
to talk about that second. Okay. I want to finish
up on boundaries because the other thing that we were
(21:44):
talking about is, you know there is casting directors don't
have time to call you and tell you you did
not get the role. We call you when you got
the role. Okay. We also don't call you with any
information and tell you, well, you know, you didn't get
the role because you're too short, or you didn't get
the role because you didn't emphasize. These words are what
(22:06):
we don't do that we don't have time. You get
a call when you are cast cist, not cisped, it's
cast period. So technically, in years ago, like late eighties,
early eighties, nineties, they had this book called the Ross Report,
(22:29):
and the Ross Report had a list of agents managers
all across like New York, LA, Chicago, not so much
Atlanta at the time, and so in bold print and
like twenty four bold it would say do not call
when you read like casting directors and agents at the bottom,
(22:50):
do not call. So I would suggest you not call
casting directors. I sug yes, you don't get comfortable with
casting directors like you know, most casting directors in my experience,
we've had some experience in theater or acting and we played,
but it wasn't something for me personally that I took
(23:11):
serious enough and said I want to be an actress.
I took it serious and said I want to direct.
That's really where I was coming from and continue to
come from. So I would not suggest that you call
ever casting directors unless they called you left their number
and asked you to call them by all means return
(23:33):
that call. Not show up in any casting director or
agent's office. Hey looking forward an agent. Nope, don't do that.
And one of my experiences when I was working at
pH one, I don't know how these actors got my
home address, but I would come home and there would
(23:54):
be Manila envelopes in my doorway, So that was a
little sketchy them. Don't be desperate. Kat Williams talks about that.
You know, desperation doesn't read well. When you let things
go and trust in the universe and trust in divine timing,
whatever your religious belief is. The outcome is spectacular. It's spectacular.
(24:21):
The key is letting it go. And a lot of
times actors hold on to a lot of things. You know,
they hold on to the audition after they submitted it.
I should have did I shouldn't. No, let it go.
You did what you did. And the most important thing
is to do your best work. That's the most important
thing that you need to do. So we're gonna move
(24:45):
out about don't get comfortable just again. Casting directors, most
of them have great, great, great personalities and fun people,
but they don't like you to call them at eight
o'clock in the morning, two o'clock in the morning on
the weekend. It's not cool. You know what to do,
(25:09):
don't do it, Okay. So I'm going to move to
self taste because one of my really really sister friends,
Kim Williams, is working on a film that before the strike,
they were able to get a waiver, and so they're
moving into production. And there are some roles that back
(25:31):
in the day it was considered bit parts where actors
had lines, but they weren't considered starring or co starring
a little above extra, right, this is in film, and
they in the nineties they got rid of that, and
(25:51):
so these characters do have lines. And there were a
couple of roles that you know, she so graciously threw
at me. And of course I always think about the
spirited actors. So Kim Williams had put out the breakdowns.
This was in July sometime, and so she I saw
(26:14):
some of the tapes that have been submitted to her.
And yesterday when I was on this collective with these
casting directors, there was there was a common denominator among
all of us that you must do the self tapes
properly right. And I don't know if you guys are
(26:35):
aware of this, but in the sag after a strike
there there is a disagreement that the actors have with
casting directors in terms of, like, you know, make sure
you pan and edit, and actors are complaining that they're
not editors and that you know, they have all this
work to do when they're So that's in the sag
(26:58):
after So maybe they're going to edit it a little
bit for you guys, or make it a little easier.
I don't know what that resolution is going to be,
but just know that that is a discussion during the stripe.
So this one particular gentleman had his camera on the
desk and he technically was looking like this, and then
(27:20):
when the reader would say the lines, he would look
up at the reader like this, under his glasses like this,
and then go back and look at me or the
director on his camera down heap. So I asked his
manager if she could ask him to resubmit, but to
get it on a tripad tripod and put it up
(27:42):
so that you know he's looking and engaging in the
camera and the camera on eye level. His background was
white and he had on a white shirt with black
pemp stripes. So the thing. The thing is is that
(28:05):
he looked like he was in prison. That's what he
looked like. He looked like he I can't anyway. What
I'm trying to say to you guys and articularly, is
that when you do your self tapes, you need to
either take a self tape class or you need to
(28:27):
learn the proper equipment. You need to get the education.
Don't assume. And then you know, I literally watched like
four or five tapes back to back. All of the
tapes did not follow traditionally like you know, blue green,
(28:48):
gray background, The camera was wrong, the lighting was off,
and it just screams to me in a way that
regardless of what we are asking, you're going to do
what you want want to do, and that's not right.
You need to adhere to whatever those directions are in
the breakdowns, whatever those directions are that your agent says
(29:09):
to you, it's imperative that you do that. I don't understand.
And this was another part of the collective why people
feel that acting is just saying lines. It's not that easy.
We also talked about parents and your support system. I
loved how Wendy said that, you know, all in her classes,
(29:32):
the parents are invited because they need to know what
she's doing. And in case she's not there to help
their child, they can step in and not miss a submission,
miss an audition, right So, and then in her experience
and my experience as well, that parents don't think their
kids need. My question was, what kind of job do
(29:54):
you push your children or your teenagers in and they
have no foundation or stability or understanding knowledge of the
verbiage or the protocol that's going to create anxiety and
stuff you don't want to do. So get the education,
do your due diligence, do your due diligence. IMDb dot com.
(30:15):
Anybody and everybody that you are in contact, you are
stepping in front of that is going to watch your
submission tape. When you guys get the breakdowns and your
agent sends that to you or you see the breakdowns,
you need to IMDb dot com, the executive producer, the writer,
the casting director, all of those names on there, because
that gives you a gauge as how you're growing and
(30:38):
the people that you are standing in front of and
who are seeing your work. So that's really really super important.
I had a pleasure talking to Tracy today. Thank you
so much, Tracy, thank you. So that's going to be
the end of just don't do It. That's today's show.
Just don't do it. Trust and understand that everybody. Everybody
(31:06):
gets a turn. Man, everybody gets a turn. So I'm
going to open it up right now because I get
to answer some questions from our spirit actor alumni. Folks. Hey, Elsa.
Elsa is going to introduce them.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Hello, Hello, thank you for those gyms, Tracy. As alway,
all of the actors are going to be listening intently
to those because they need to take heed.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yes, I'm sure our two guests today who are too
wonderful actresses don't have that issue.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yes, because one is the more represent that's right.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
So, ladies, you can come on camera today. We have
Miss Amber Miller Moore, missus Amber, and Miss Tisha Harrison. Welcome, ladies. Yay,
you can go first with your question.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Okay, Hey, miss Tracy nice, Hey you're doing It's good
to see you.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
So my question.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
You were talking about self tapes and of course you
know having them technically sound, but one thing actors do
is trying to have the perfect tape. Oh I feel
about like, say you've gone through most of the tape
and you do a little flub, but you make it
through and it's a good take, right, What is just like?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Do you retake it and try to get that perfect take?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Are you just going for giving it your best feeling
something and you've done your interpretation of the character?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Excellent care, excellent question. We are looking for potential, not perfection.
What happens when you go for perfection? You're doing five takes,
seven takes, ten takes. Robbie reads is only do the
amount of takes that you would get if you were
standing in that room. So we're not talking more than
(33:06):
three takes. If you go more than three takes, you're
over rehearsing, you're over, you're beating it, and you are
looking for that perfection. But there is no perfection because
if you give us perfection, where do we have room
to say? You know, I want to make that adjustment.
I think this would be a different choice. Let me
see if Leticia can do like. Because the director is
(33:29):
the one who's going to guide you through this and
direct you. They just need to know one you're directable,
you listen and follow direction and your talent shines. So
don't don't go for perfection, go for doing the best
that you can possibly do unless you know the casting, director, director, producer.
(33:51):
But do the best that you can do and then
blow sprinkle dust and let it go. Okay, thank you, Okay, Yeah,
you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Thank you. Leticia, and up next we have Amber Millan Moore.
What's your question? Amber?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Hey? Hello, my question?
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Hello? How are you everybody? It's funny what you spoke
about today because it's in the same vein as my question. Now,
obviously I had no idea what you were going to
speak on, and it's about the bunking myths. As actors,
we're in classes, we go to seminars, we go to workshops,
and we get so much advice, we get so much feedback,
(34:30):
we get so much input. Is there anything that you
hear from actors on a consistent basis that you're like,
let me debunk that myth or let me set the
record straight, let me get you on the right path
that we need to know.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Okay, Amber, Yes, another great question, Read the action. Read
the action. Yesterday among my collectives we were talking about
because what you Lissen Terra Love him forever, but wanting
(35:07):
to create even more opportunities for you actors, and brought
us all together to discuss what are those opportunities that
we can create to debunk all these things, right, but
the one that is the most me. You don't read
direction or when I'm doing in my sessions, and actors
(35:28):
over overreading, and I'm like, action is imperative to read
because it's most cases you and Leticia know this. It
will tell you how to react in order to get
a reaction from someone else. Or it might say that
you your eyes started to tear, so now you know
(35:51):
there's an emotional weight in that next line that you're
going to say that is causing you to tear up.
So action is a part of the script. It needs
to be read. It needs And what I heard was,
and it was on my spirited actor ig in a
(36:12):
conversation thread, this casting director said, no, I apologize. This
agent said that you casting directors are concerned about pacing,
so alleviate the action because that'll take up give you
a little more time and just focus on the dialogue.
I had to get on and dispel that. That is
(36:34):
that's tragic. You are getting paid to read everything on
those one hundred and twenty five white pages. When you
I'm saying, I'm talking about leading, supporting, co star, cameo words.
That's your job. So read everything. Even a slugline will
tell you inside, outside, location and time and day that's
(36:56):
important for your character.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Okay, you're welcome so much. Those for great questions. Thank
you Autition Amber, thank you Elsa. Once again, bring in
some great spirited actor. Oh jees on, And when we
come back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore,
we are going to do class and session and we
(37:22):
have a guest director, Rolando Hudson is going to be on.
So sit back, we'll see him in. Welcome back to
the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore, and we
have something special. I'm so excited because I want to
call him our residual resident director. Well we'll talk about
(37:45):
but lady Jevil, please put your hands together for the
sensational director. Rolando, what'son pleasure?
Speaker 6 (37:53):
Thank you, thank you so much, thank you for inviting
me here today. Look this for sure, I know that you.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Are looking for actors all the time. You're right right
about that, So I want you to meet some Spirited
Actor ogs it else Elated is going to give you
their names, okay, yes, introduction, Sure.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Hello Orlando, good to see.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
You, good, good to see you.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Welcome, Welcome. So today on the Spirited Today on class
and session, we have two of our Spirited after alumni.
We have Miss Amber Miller Moore Welcome Amber by nice,
and we have Miss Leticia Harrison Welcome Leticia Hie.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Hey, I'm excited. So I'm going to read the narration
and and then after that if you have the floor,
whatever you feel you want to give them, please Okay,
they will graciously accept them, all right, lady, you guys
ready okay. ELSA action marked up written by Leanne Almado.
(39:13):
Interior breakroom, Hospital afternoon in their scrubs, Crystal and Jazz
are in line, getting lunch and catching each other up
on their weekends. Mid conversation.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
That he did not take you there?
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yes he did, and I actually really enjoyed it. I mean,
I know I talk about all the time Hobby is
an old head, but the music is so good and
he's introduced to me to some new things.
Speaker 4 (39:43):
Well, I'm just glad that you final look at your
head out of press and up and went.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Crystal notices a deep mark on Jazz's neck.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Oh, it's just a hickey.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
A hickey from who?
Speaker 3 (40:04):
But I don't.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
I don't think that's a hickey. It's a little dark, Jazz.
Let me let me see.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Jazz trying to cover it up. But Crystal moves her
hand and hair. It's bad.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
That's a bruise. You've been with him? Are you seeing
him again? And please do not lie to me.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
First of all, it's a hickey, Okay, you know I
like it rough, and I'm not seeing him. We just
caught up.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
So you unblocked your number? Did you reverse the restraining order?
Does he have your new address?
Speaker 4 (40:42):
I don't have to answer all these questions. Okay, did
I see him?
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yes? Are things different?
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Yes, he's trying. He sent me a letter every day
since the last breakup.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Okay, So what does your therapist have to say about this?
Speaker 4 (41:07):
I haven't told her.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
H of course you haven't, Jazz, because you already know
what she's gonna say. It's a red flag. You've already
been through this. When you asked to see someone, see
how they make you feel, and you observe their actions,
you believe them and his actions girl, they have not changed.
In fact, they've gotten much worse.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
Her Crystal, It's fine, it's nothing, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Mm hmm, it's something I'm afraid that I'm gonna lose my.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Friend, see.
Speaker 6 (41:44):
Right, great, great, great, great performance. Definitely definitely both both Definitely.
I was drawing in in the beginning. It took me
a minute to get get what the story was about,
and I thought that was kind of interesting. But uh yeah,
once I got into the story, I started seeing the
(42:05):
relationship for sure. I would just I know, I mean,
I'm not the writer or anything, but I kind of
feel I found it like a kind of a not
that's so much judgmental, but I know it was a concern,
but it came to up it seems like it's just mental.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
On the person. And and I think, for.
Speaker 6 (42:28):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry for your name, but there needs
to be some kind of redeeming qualities about this guy,
even though he's he's rough, you know, for you to
be go there with him, there has to be something
redeeming in his character for you, you know what I mean.
And and I didn't see that come across as to
(42:52):
why you want to go through this abuse?
Speaker 1 (42:55):
You know, what I mean, in your what would you
give her in the scene in terms of direction to
change that around.
Speaker 6 (43:09):
I mean, I guess in an emotional state, you have
to go some kind of emotional situation where.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Someone you loved.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
So much betrayed you in some sort of way. I mean,
a father figure that comes back on the scene. The
lack of not having that person in your life. I
don't know, but it has a couple of an emotional thing,
you know, your choices, you know, yeah, so and and
(43:40):
And that's what I mean about sometimes being coming off
as being accusatory, you know what I mean, just you
you you kind of have to show that you are
a friend in that too. And and I think just
thinking of it, I'm not sure. I mean I'm not
I'm not an actor. I'm not. But just feeling that
(44:03):
and getting those emotions in you will convey to convey
the lines, That's what I think.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
So, yeah, you know what I mean. I agree. I
think that with Amber's line where she says the restraining
order a new address for me, that was so powerful
because it was like, oh my god, like it's one
thing you know that she has a restraining order and
then she had to move she has a whole new address.
(44:31):
She would risk all of that.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, dude.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
So at that point, for me, I felt like with
Amber's character, I would have just been like, well, I mean,
you can lead a horse to water, you know. But
I'm not being I'm not being you know, I'm not
being lighthearted about it. I'm just saying at that point
that dialogue was important for me that it was like,
there's nothing else you can do, Like, you just listed
(44:57):
three things.
Speaker 6 (44:57):
That are like, yeah, huge, exactly, So there has to
be something there that that someone would dv for you
to even be that vested, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
You know, yeah, so I was like you, Orlando, I
was drawn in as well.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
You know.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
If nothing, you guys, just to be able to create
an emotion from us over zoom. That's why you know,
when actors complain about callback zoom readings, I'm like, it works,
it does resonate. So you guys are an example that
it really does work. Exactly. Great, right, So you want
(45:39):
to give them a tip, You want to give them
one thing that they can take with them for the
rest of the day.
Speaker 6 (45:44):
Wow, I guess be true to yourself and try to
make it relatable to your experience in life, because that's
all we have. It's like these emotions that we I mean,
we're on a journey. We're all on a journey. We're
all experiencing different personalities, and you're trying as an actor.
You were experienced someone else every day as an actor,
(46:08):
that's your role. You you were going into somebody else's body,
somebody's mindset, but you're bringing your own experiences to that.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Amen, thank you so much, thank you giving around the applause.
Thank you, thank you so much for bringing I hope
that was some help. Definitely, thank you that was ladies.
Was that help? Did that help you? Yes?
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Very much, so thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Excellent.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
All right, thank you, Elsa. When we get back on
the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore, I'm going
to give you guys some love, and now it's time
to give love. What I've learned in my years on
this earth, and specifically through my granddaughter Soriah, is that
(46:58):
her generation very expressive and very brutally honest. When I
ask Soriah question, I expect honesty because that's who she is.
She's never not been honest on her feelings. I think
it's so important that we encourage young people to express themselves,
(47:22):
to understand what it's like to just stay in this
moment and be present so that they're not creating anxiety
and stress in their life. Because when we allow and
give ourselves permission to be who we truly are, we
start to get to a place of peace. We start
(47:44):
to get to a place of not caring what other
people have, what other people are doing in their lives.
We go more inward and we start to ask what
can I do and how can I be of service
out working, And that's where the true happiness is, and
being of service to others and accepting who you are
(48:09):
and where you are right now, don't forget to look
out for us on our new show, Inside the Black Box.
My co host will be Joe the Legend Morton. It's
going to be The Spirited Actor Podcast on Steroids. We'll
be streaming on the Crackle network. I'll keep you posted.
Thank you for joining us on the Spirited Actor Podcast
(48:31):
with me Tracy Moore. I look forward to our next
Spirited Podcast. Thank you
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 transitioned to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls 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 Yee 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. And now it's time for
meditation of the day. Whatever the present moment contains, accepted
(01:10):
as if you had chosen Eckhart toole, I learned a powerful,
powerful lesson that I always talk about sometimes in my classes. However,
I learned what being present meant right before my dad passed.
(01:31):
And when my dad found out that he had cancer,
he called myself and my two brothers on a conference
call and he said, I need to tell you guys
something right now. My two brothers knew I didn't know that,
but they were calling to tell me, and so my
dad explained what was going on, and I just lost it.
(01:54):
I started crying. I was boohooed, I was hyper vitilated,
and I could hear my dad say to my brothers,
just give her a minute, Just give her a minute. Right. Finally,
when I pulled it together, my dad said, Tracy, I'm
not dead yet. And every single moment after that, I
(02:17):
was one hundred and fifty percent present in our conversation.
If we were together, I was one hundred percent present
in his presence. I understood that, yes, I was sad,
and yes, the possibility of thinking of losing my dad
(02:39):
just broke my heart. However, I was already cremating my
dad in the conversation of him telling me about cancer.
But when I bought it back to the present day,
I enjoyed every single minute of my dad's last ten
months on this earth. Stay present, Enjoy the present, Enjoy
(03:03):
the moments, Enjoy just being here in this moment right now.
Nothing more, nothing less, just grateful. Before we get started,
i'd like to remind everyone to look out for my
new show, Inside the Black Box. I'll be co hosting
(03:24):
with the great Joe Morton. We'll be on Crackle Network
real soon. I'll keep you posted. Welcome to the Spirited
Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I am excited for
my next guest. I thought maybe my producer, mister funny
Man's Bruce Henry would do the intro, but I'll do
(03:47):
it myself. Today's guest is me, you guys. I'm here
to teach you, guys, some things that came up yesterday
when I was talking to a group of my dynamic, spiritual, amazing,
phenomenal casting director friends. So this inspired this class today
(04:14):
for you. I want to talk about boundaries because I
need to reiterate them. I want to talk about the
things that casting directors don't like you to do, and
I also want to say I don't want to go
(04:37):
into a lot of detail about it, and let's start
off here. So welcome me, Tracy Moore to the Spirited
Actor Podcast. And today's show is just don't do it. Okay,
just don't do it. Trust me. I have a resume,
you can google me. Trust me on this. When we
(05:00):
as casting directors suggest, highly, recommend big and plead for
you guys not to do something, you might want to
just take heat to that. Okay. So yesterday I had
the most dynamic conversation with Like, I got emotional on
(05:21):
this phone because one of the casting directors was Winsome.
Sinclair and whins worked on Juice, and you know, we
were as a collective. We were talking about how important
Juice was at the time and what that movie meant
to us, and I just got this feeling that the
three of us when some Sinclair, you, Lissen Stererero, and
(05:44):
Wendy Mackenzie, all of us combined, wins said, we have
over a hundred years experience as casting directors, right. So
what hit me is that when we grew up as
casting directors in this industry, we didn't have the Internet.
(06:05):
We did not even have iPhones or mac books. I
remember word processors and the screen was green and the
words were green like anyway. The point is is that
we really did the heavy lifting. When some brought up
a point that we used to have messengers, I totally forgot.
(06:28):
That's how we got scripts out. We would have messengers
come to our office and they would take the scripts
to different agencies or management companies for the actors. Right
today bing email, one button, boom, script is there. I
remember standing at the fax machine on the TV show
(06:51):
New York Undercover and faxing sixty six pages of an
episode two agents, and I had an intern and that
was her job was Her job was to open pictures
and resumes and to fact sides and scripts. Today she
(07:12):
is the casting director for American Idol and CBS Big
Brother Asia Loup. So we did a lot of heavy lifting.
There's not a there's some heavy lifting, but we did legwork.
New Jersey Drive Nick Gomes, director, He was like, Tracy,
(07:34):
I want authentic actors, but I want like authentic people
of these characters. I was on my feet on the
path train to Newark, New Jersey, which looks totally different today.
In nineteen ninety three, when I went and we went
(07:56):
to shows, I saw a Broadway show The Seagull If
you've never read any of chekhov by you know, it's
a part of American classic theater. And The New York
Times was at that time raving about Anthony Mackie, and
(08:19):
my friend knew him, and he was like, Tasey, you
got to come see this guy. Well the play and
not just coming from me. I mean it was very,
very painful to watch, and half the audience left. However,
there was some shining stars in the cast, and as
much as I wanted to leave too, I stayed because
(08:41):
of those people. There's a lot of things that back
in the early nineties, late eighties, early nineties as casting
directors that we did because we don't have the technology
that we have today. So there's a different work ethic
that we have as well. Right being on time, not
(09:02):
if your audition is at two fifteen, you don't want
to get there at two fifteen. You want to get
there like around one, so you can go in the restroom,
adjust yourself, take a breath, breathe, settle yourself, revisit the sides,
whatever you need to do. You don't want to just
get to the audition and go straight in that room.
You need a minute. So those things that we did
(09:29):
without a mac pro or air. Those things help us,
I believe, and all of us on this collective phone
yesterday believe that made us who we are today. And
so the imbalance that a lot of casting directors are
(09:50):
seeing is that the actors are not matching up to
that they're not matching up to a work ethic. One
of the casting directors, Wendy, talked about the work. I
love how Wendy talked about the work of an actor
and how you know you have to work on your craft.
(10:11):
It's like it's not just regurgitating these lines, spitting out
these lines, or I love when people talk louder like
that's creating something, you know, or yelling. Find other ways
to be angry, to be upset, to be happy. Don't
come into the room doing the obvious, or don't send
(10:33):
your submission tape in doing what everybody else is going
to be expected to do. Find something in the character,
Find something in the moment, Find something that can give
you a different perception and perspective of what the scene
is about, but still staying within the integrity of what
(10:54):
that scene is about and who that character is. Don't
go too far so I know, I kind of rambled. However,
I do have some points, So I want to start
first with boundaries because this is really important. So I
(11:14):
told this story right, because for me, it's not about
being humble in this business. For me, it's about knowing
what your purpose is for me not for me. I
know clearly my purpose to help people to pursue their
dreams and achieve their dreams, because dreams do come true.
(11:35):
I've witnessed my own journey, continue to witness my journey
and grateful for my journey. Spruce is the part of
my journey. And Spruce is sitting next to Dad, who
I love, So he's a part of my journey. That's
why I'm here. So you have to not only be
(11:58):
great talent, stunning talent, but just human beings, right, And
this is just starting with common courtesy. A couple of
weeks ago, someone called me up, and an actor called
me up and asked me if I would come to
a showcase. I love supporting actors and showcases and monologue slams.
(12:23):
I just did a not Go Tuesday monologue slam with
Mitchell and so when he approached me, he texted me
and so I said, listen, you know, send me the
information and how much do you know about me and
(12:43):
what I do? And so he hit me back and
he said, I know you do like a podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Mm hm.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So I hid him back and said, I'm going to
affward you my resume. I'm for you forward you my
because it's important that you do your due diligence when
you approach people of my value and my credit in
this entertainment business credits. There's a way in which you
approach people and understanding what their value is going to
(13:18):
bring to you. And I'm not talking a monetary here.
I'm just saying, if you are going to reach out
and ask me to do this courtesy and I would
love to do it, at least know what I do
and who I am in this industry like everybody else
you approach. So he read my bio. He called me
(13:39):
back and he said, oh my god, miss Tracy. I apologized,
I didn't know that you've been in the industry this long,
blah blah, and I said, let this be a teachable moment.
Let this be a teachable moment because now you will
do your due diligence in approaching people and researching people
(14:00):
to know because I'm not standing on your shoulders, you're
standing on mine. And I know, going back in my
casting experience, there was a time when casting only consisted
of black, white, Asian and other. Now we are in
(14:26):
the terms of ethnically ambiguous, which broadens and opens it
up more. Right, So I've I've fought for actors. I've
cried over the fact that an actor that I championed
didn't get cast and then you know they went on
(14:49):
to do other things. The director hates himself or whatever,
like so many different scenarios in the casting world. But
it is so so important that not only do you
treat this like a business, but people like to work
with people they like. I am not saying create a
(15:10):
personality that is something that we all should have, especially
being in an entertainment world. I'm just saying being conscious,
being considerate of people's time, being aware that you don't
(15:31):
want to waste people's time. Because I don't want to
waste people's time at all. So where does this human
part come in submissions in a zoom right, because that's
a whirlwind. You guys don't have live auditions anymore. Well,
(15:52):
I always highly recommend to you guys that we need
to see bits of your personality, because we don't just
hire the talent, we also hire the person So we
want to like you, at least like you because you know,
we could be on the set for months or weeks.
We want to like you in yourself tapes. When you slate,
(16:16):
that's where you infuse your personality. Do you like your name?
Say it like you like it? Do you like where
you live? Are you happy with your height? These the
way in which you say it gives us insight into
who you are. So if you're happy and you know
you don't have to be over the top, but just
(16:38):
be yourself, let us in just a little bit into
who you are and a little bit of your personality.
Put it in your slate, Okay. When you get callbacks,
that's where you engage with the director, producer, maybe writer.
The casting director, the casting director's assistant or associate is
(16:58):
always your alibi the room because technically, we found you. Okay,
so we found I'm only saying technically because when you
get into like, you know, the shooting and then the
premiere's gret you know, the credit always goes to the director.
The director, So that's cool because I still love my gig.
(17:21):
I have so much fun. However, when you get into
that callback situation, that's where they're going to ask questions
and start to peel some of those layers up, you know,
apart as to who you are. And then this is
(17:43):
where the director gets a chance to see if you
follow direction, how you follow direction, and their mind starts
percolating on you know, how you would be with this actor,
and are you a great fit and all this other stuff, right,
so we don't we not only get a chance to
(18:04):
see you as a person, but we see you know
U as working in this environment as well, and you
want to, you know, like, thank you please. You know
that's common courtesy. If you don't understand something, ask someone
to elaborate or give you an example, so you don't
(18:26):
look like you either don't know how to follow direction
or you don't understand direction. So you want to make
sure there's clarity on that after. And know this because
one of the things that I do stress in my
classes is that actors need to read aloud every single day.
(18:46):
The point of that is not everybody writes how you speak,
so you have to get used to other people's words
in your mouth and comfortable hearing them and owning them
as if they're yours. So that happens is when you
read every single day, you can be able to pick
anything up and breathe life into it. That matters because
(19:09):
you are probably ninety nine point nine percent sure that
you are going to get new sides in a collback
so that we can see your process. Right, So if
you're being called back before a character, then we'll give
(19:31):
you a scene that we didn't give you in the reading,
I mean in the submissions, and see how you craft
that character in that scene. Right, Or we will give you,
because of the work, a bigger scene, right. And in
(19:54):
giving you a bigger scene and another character, then we're
we get the opportunity to watch you morph into a
third character, right, because I look at it as well.
Let me say two characters I look at as in
an audition. The slate is your personality, and then you
(20:15):
morph into the character that you're auditioning for. So I
like to see that process and other casting directions as well,
and see how you do that. So in the callback,
you know we were there. We're watching you or seeing
a cale read and seeing how you bring it to life.
A callback is also we like you, but we want
to make sure we like you. And that also is
(20:37):
where the director comes in and gets an opportunity to
play with you. So la and probably once the strike
is over, they've been doing a lot of live auditions
and live callbacks. We're still, you know, moving along. I
(20:57):
do know that there are some auditions or to the
strike that were happening live. So that's a great thing.
I personally like live. I feel like there's an energy
that you can feel and and just resonate with when
you are in the presence of actors and just get
a real sensibility of who they are and how they
are to work with. So that's how I grew up
(21:21):
as a casting director, and that's just my preference. However,
I live with the zooms. I live with the zooms.
Not mad that we have that platform. However, we're going
to talk about that second. Okay. I want to finish
up on boundaries because the other thing that we were
(21:44):
talking about is, you know there is casting directors don't
have time to call you and tell you you did
not get the role. We call you when you got
the role. Okay. We also don't call you with any
information and tell you, well, you know, you didn't get
the role because you're too short, or you didn't get
the role because you didn't emphasize. These words are what
(22:06):
we don't do that we don't have time. You get
a call when you are cast cist, not cisped, it's
cast period. So technically, in years ago, like late eighties,
early eighties, nineties, they had this book called the Ross Report,
(22:29):
and the Ross Report had a list of agents managers
all across like New York, LA, Chicago, not so much
Atlanta at the time, and so in bold print and
like twenty four bold it would say do not call
when you read like casting directors and agents at the bottom,
(22:50):
do not call. So I would suggest you not call
casting directors. I sug yes, you don't get comfortable with
casting directors like you know, most casting directors in my experience,
we've had some experience in theater or acting and we played,
but it wasn't something for me personally that I took
(23:11):
serious enough and said I want to be an actress.
I took it serious and said I want to direct.
That's really where I was coming from and continue to
come from. So I would not suggest that you call
ever casting directors unless they called you left their number
and asked you to call them by all means return
(23:33):
that call. Not show up in any casting director or
agent's office. Hey looking forward an agent. Nope, don't do that.
And one of my experiences when I was working at
pH one, I don't know how these actors got my
home address, but I would come home and there would
(23:54):
be Manila envelopes in my doorway, So that was a
little sketchy them. Don't be desperate. Kat Williams talks about that.
You know, desperation doesn't read well. When you let things
go and trust in the universe and trust in divine timing,
whatever your religious belief is. The outcome is spectacular. It's spectacular.
(24:21):
The key is letting it go. And a lot of
times actors hold on to a lot of things. You know,
they hold on to the audition after they submitted it.
I should have did I shouldn't. No, let it go.
You did what you did. And the most important thing
is to do your best work. That's the most important
thing that you need to do. So we're gonna move
(24:45):
out about don't get comfortable just again. Casting directors, most
of them have great, great, great personalities and fun people,
but they don't like you to call them at eight
o'clock in the morning, two o'clock in the morning on
the weekend. It's not cool. You know what to do,
(25:09):
don't do it, Okay. So I'm going to move to
self taste because one of my really really sister friends,
Kim Williams, is working on a film that before the strike,
they were able to get a waiver, and so they're
moving into production. And there are some roles that back
(25:31):
in the day it was considered bit parts where actors
had lines, but they weren't considered starring or co starring
a little above extra, right, this is in film, and
they in the nineties they got rid of that, and
(25:51):
so these characters do have lines. And there were a
couple of roles that you know, she so graciously threw
at me. And of course I always think about the
spirited actors. So Kim Williams had put out the breakdowns.
This was in July sometime, and so she I saw
(26:14):
some of the tapes that have been submitted to her.
And yesterday when I was on this collective with these
casting directors, there was there was a common denominator among
all of us that you must do the self tapes
properly right. And I don't know if you guys are
(26:35):
aware of this, but in the sag after a strike
there there is a disagreement that the actors have with
casting directors in terms of, like, you know, make sure
you pan and edit, and actors are complaining that they're
not editors and that you know, they have all this
work to do when they're So that's in the sag
(26:58):
after So maybe they're going to edit it a little
bit for you guys, or make it a little easier.
I don't know what that resolution is going to be,
but just know that that is a discussion during the stripe.
So this one particular gentleman had his camera on the
desk and he technically was looking like this, and then
(27:20):
when the reader would say the lines, he would look
up at the reader like this, under his glasses like this,
and then go back and look at me or the
director on his camera down heap. So I asked his
manager if she could ask him to resubmit, but to
get it on a tripad tripod and put it up
(27:42):
so that you know he's looking and engaging in the
camera and the camera on eye level. His background was
white and he had on a white shirt with black
pemp stripes. So the thing. The thing is is that
(28:05):
he looked like he was in prison. That's what he
looked like. He looked like he I can't anyway. What
I'm trying to say to you guys and articularly, is
that when you do your self tapes, you need to
either take a self tape class or you need to
(28:27):
learn the proper equipment. You need to get the education.
Don't assume. And then you know, I literally watched like
four or five tapes back to back. All of the
tapes did not follow traditionally like you know, blue green,
(28:48):
gray background, The camera was wrong, the lighting was off,
and it just screams to me in a way that
regardless of what we are asking, you're going to do
what you want want to do, and that's not right.
You need to adhere to whatever those directions are in
the breakdowns, whatever those directions are that your agent says
(29:09):
to you, it's imperative that you do that. I don't understand.
And this was another part of the collective why people
feel that acting is just saying lines. It's not that easy.
We also talked about parents and your support system. I
loved how Wendy said that, you know, all in her classes,
(29:32):
the parents are invited because they need to know what
she's doing. And in case she's not there to help
their child, they can step in and not miss a submission,
miss an audition, right So, and then in her experience
and my experience as well, that parents don't think their
kids need. My question was, what kind of job do
(29:54):
you push your children or your teenagers in and they
have no foundation or stability or understanding knowledge of the
verbiage or the protocol that's going to create anxiety and
stuff you don't want to do. So get the education,
do your due diligence, do your due diligence. IMDb dot com.
(30:15):
Anybody and everybody that you are in contact, you are
stepping in front of that is going to watch your
submission tape. When you guys get the breakdowns and your
agent sends that to you or you see the breakdowns,
you need to IMDb dot com, the executive producer, the writer,
the casting director, all of those names on there, because
that gives you a gauge as how you're growing and
(30:38):
the people that you are standing in front of and
who are seeing your work. So that's really really super important.
I had a pleasure talking to Tracy today. Thank you
so much, Tracy, thank you. So that's going to be
the end of just don't do It. That's today's show.
Just don't do it. Trust and understand that everybody. Everybody
(31:06):
gets a turn. Man, everybody gets a turn. So I'm
going to open it up right now because I get
to answer some questions from our spirit actor alumni. Folks. Hey, Elsa.
Elsa is going to introduce them.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Hello, Hello, thank you for those gyms, Tracy. As alway,
all of the actors are going to be listening intently
to those because they need to take heed.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yes, I'm sure our two guests today who are too
wonderful actresses don't have that issue.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yes, because one is the more represent that's right.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
So, ladies, you can come on camera today. We have
Miss Amber Miller Moore, missus Amber, and Miss Tisha Harrison. Welcome, ladies. Yay,
you can go first with your question.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Okay, Hey, miss Tracy nice, Hey you're doing It's good
to see you.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
So my question.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
You were talking about self tapes and of course you
know having them technically sound, but one thing actors do
is trying to have the perfect tape. Oh I feel
about like, say you've gone through most of the tape
and you do a little flub, but you make it
through and it's a good take, right, What is just like?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Do you retake it and try to get that perfect take?
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Are you just going for giving it your best feeling
something and you've done your interpretation of the character?
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Excellent care, excellent question. We are looking for potential, not perfection.
What happens when you go for perfection? You're doing five takes,
seven takes, ten takes. Robbie reads is only do the
amount of takes that you would get if you were
standing in that room. So we're not talking more than
(33:06):
three takes. If you go more than three takes, you're
over rehearsing, you're over, you're beating it, and you are
looking for that perfection. But there is no perfection because
if you give us perfection, where do we have room
to say? You know, I want to make that adjustment.
I think this would be a different choice. Let me
see if Leticia can do like. Because the director is
(33:29):
the one who's going to guide you through this and
direct you. They just need to know one you're directable,
you listen and follow direction and your talent shines. So
don't don't go for perfection, go for doing the best
that you can possibly do unless you know the casting, director, director, producer.
(33:51):
But do the best that you can do and then
blow sprinkle dust and let it go. Okay, thank you, Okay, Yeah,
you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Thank you. Leticia, and up next we have Amber Millan Moore.
What's your question? Amber?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Hey? Hello, my question?
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Hello? How are you everybody? It's funny what you spoke
about today because it's in the same vein as my question. Now,
obviously I had no idea what you were going to
speak on, and it's about the bunking myths. As actors,
we're in classes, we go to seminars, we go to workshops,
and we get so much advice, we get so much feedback,
(34:30):
we get so much input. Is there anything that you
hear from actors on a consistent basis that you're like,
let me debunk that myth or let me set the
record straight, let me get you on the right path
that we need to know.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Okay, Amber, Yes, another great question, Read the action. Read
the action. Yesterday among my collectives we were talking about
because what you Lissen Terra Love him forever, but wanting
(35:07):
to create even more opportunities for you actors, and brought
us all together to discuss what are those opportunities that
we can create to debunk all these things, right, but
the one that is the most me. You don't read
direction or when I'm doing in my sessions, and actors
(35:28):
over overreading, and I'm like, action is imperative to read
because it's most cases you and Leticia know this. It
will tell you how to react in order to get
a reaction from someone else. Or it might say that
you your eyes started to tear, so now you know
(35:51):
there's an emotional weight in that next line that you're
going to say that is causing you to tear up.
So action is a part of the script. It needs
to be read. It needs And what I heard was,
and it was on my spirited actor ig in a
(36:12):
conversation thread, this casting director said, no, I apologize. This
agent said that you casting directors are concerned about pacing,
so alleviate the action because that'll take up give you
a little more time and just focus on the dialogue.
I had to get on and dispel that. That is
(36:34):
that's tragic. You are getting paid to read everything on
those one hundred and twenty five white pages. When you
I'm saying, I'm talking about leading, supporting, co star, cameo words.
That's your job. So read everything. Even a slugline will
tell you inside, outside, location and time and day that's
(36:56):
important for your character.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Okay, you're welcome so much. Those for great questions. Thank
you Autition Amber, thank you Elsa. Once again, bring in
some great spirited actor. Oh jees on, And when we
come back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore,
we are going to do class and session and we
(37:22):
have a guest director, Rolando Hudson is going to be on.
So sit back, we'll see him in. Welcome back to
the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore, and we
have something special. I'm so excited because I want to
call him our residual resident director. Well we'll talk about
(37:45):
but lady Jevil, please put your hands together for the
sensational director. Rolando, what'son pleasure?
Speaker 6 (37:53):
Thank you, thank you so much, thank you for inviting
me here today. Look this for sure, I know that you.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Are looking for actors all the time. You're right right
about that, So I want you to meet some Spirited
Actor ogs it else Elated is going to give you
their names, okay, yes, introduction, Sure.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Hello Orlando, good to see.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
You, good, good to see you.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Welcome, Welcome. So today on the Spirited Today on class
and session, we have two of our Spirited after alumni.
We have Miss Amber Miller Moore Welcome Amber by nice,
and we have Miss Leticia Harrison Welcome Leticia Hie.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Hey, I'm excited. So I'm going to read the narration
and and then after that if you have the floor,
whatever you feel you want to give them, please Okay,
they will graciously accept them, all right, lady, you guys
ready okay. ELSA action marked up written by Leanne Almado.
(39:13):
Interior breakroom, Hospital afternoon in their scrubs, Crystal and Jazz
are in line, getting lunch and catching each other up
on their weekends. Mid conversation.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
That he did not take you there?
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yes he did, and I actually really enjoyed it. I mean,
I know I talk about all the time Hobby is
an old head, but the music is so good and
he's introduced to me to some new things.
Speaker 4 (39:43):
Well, I'm just glad that you final look at your
head out of press and up and went.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Crystal notices a deep mark on Jazz's neck.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Oh, it's just a hickey.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
A hickey from who?
Speaker 3 (40:04):
But I don't.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
I don't think that's a hickey. It's a little dark, Jazz.
Let me let me see.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Jazz trying to cover it up. But Crystal moves her
hand and hair. It's bad.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
That's a bruise. You've been with him? Are you seeing
him again? And please do not lie to me.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
First of all, it's a hickey, Okay, you know I
like it rough, and I'm not seeing him. We just
caught up.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
So you unblocked your number? Did you reverse the restraining order?
Does he have your new address?
Speaker 4 (40:42):
I don't have to answer all these questions. Okay, did
I see him?
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yes? Are things different?
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Yes, he's trying. He sent me a letter every day
since the last breakup.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
Okay, So what does your therapist have to say about this?
Speaker 4 (41:07):
I haven't told her.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
H of course you haven't, Jazz, because you already know
what she's gonna say. It's a red flag. You've already
been through this. When you asked to see someone, see
how they make you feel, and you observe their actions,
you believe them and his actions girl, they have not changed.
In fact, they've gotten much worse.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
Her Crystal, It's fine, it's nothing, okay.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Mm hmm, it's something I'm afraid that I'm gonna lose my.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Friend, see.
Speaker 6 (41:44):
Right, great, great, great, great performance. Definitely definitely both both Definitely.
I was drawing in in the beginning. It took me
a minute to get get what the story was about,
and I thought that was kind of interesting. But uh yeah,
once I got into the story, I started seeing the
(42:05):
relationship for sure. I would just I know, I mean,
I'm not the writer or anything, but I kind of
feel I found it like a kind of a not
that's so much judgmental, but I know it was a concern,
but it came to up it seems like it's just mental.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
On the person. And and I think, for.
Speaker 6 (42:28):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry for your name, but there needs
to be some kind of redeeming qualities about this guy,
even though he's he's rough, you know, for you to
be go there with him, there has to be something
redeeming in his character for you, you know what I mean.
And and I didn't see that come across as to
(42:52):
why you want to go through this abuse?
Speaker 1 (42:55):
You know, what I mean, in your what would you
give her in the scene in terms of direction to
change that around.
Speaker 6 (43:09):
I mean, I guess in an emotional state, you have
to go some kind of emotional situation where.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Someone you loved.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
So much betrayed you in some sort of way. I mean,
a father figure that comes back on the scene. The
lack of not having that person in your life. I
don't know, but it has a couple of an emotional thing,
you know, your choices, you know, yeah, so and and
(43:40):
And that's what I mean about sometimes being coming off
as being accusatory, you know what I mean, just you
you you kind of have to show that you are
a friend in that too. And and I think just
thinking of it, I'm not sure. I mean I'm not
I'm not an actor. I'm not. But just feeling that
(44:03):
and getting those emotions in you will convey to convey
the lines, That's what I think.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
So, yeah, you know what I mean. I agree. I
think that with Amber's line where she says the restraining
order a new address for me, that was so powerful
because it was like, oh my god, like it's one
thing you know that she has a restraining order and
then she had to move she has a whole new address.
(44:31):
She would risk all of that.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, dude.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
So at that point, for me, I felt like with
Amber's character, I would have just been like, well, I mean,
you can lead a horse to water, you know. But
I'm not being I'm not being you know, I'm not
being lighthearted about it. I'm just saying at that point
that dialogue was important for me that it was like,
there's nothing else you can do, Like, you just listed
(44:57):
three things.
Speaker 6 (44:57):
That are like, yeah, huge, exactly, So there has to
be something there that that someone would dv for you
to even be that vested, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
You know, yeah, so I was like you, Orlando, I
was drawn in as well.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
You know.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
If nothing, you guys, just to be able to create
an emotion from us over zoom. That's why you know,
when actors complain about callback zoom readings, I'm like, it works,
it does resonate. So you guys are an example that
it really does work. Exactly. Great, right, So you want
(45:39):
to give them a tip, You want to give them
one thing that they can take with them for the
rest of the day.
Speaker 6 (45:44):
Wow, I guess be true to yourself and try to
make it relatable to your experience in life, because that's
all we have. It's like these emotions that we I mean,
we're on a journey. We're all on a journey. We're
all experiencing different personalities, and you're trying as an actor.
You were experienced someone else every day as an actor,
(46:08):
that's your role. You you were going into somebody else's body,
somebody's mindset, but you're bringing your own experiences to that.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Amen, thank you so much, thank you giving around the applause.
Thank you, thank you so much for bringing I hope
that was some help. Definitely, thank you that was ladies.
Was that help? Did that help you? Yes?
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Very much, so thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 3 (46:36):
Excellent.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
All right, thank you, Elsa. When we get back on
the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore, I'm going
to give you guys some love, and now it's time
to give love. What I've learned in my years on
this earth, and specifically through my granddaughter Soriah, is that
(46:58):
her generation very expressive and very brutally honest. When I
ask Soriah question, I expect honesty because that's who she is.
She's never not been honest on her feelings. I think
it's so important that we encourage young people to express themselves,
(47:22):
to understand what it's like to just stay in this
moment and be present so that they're not creating anxiety
and stress in their life. Because when we allow and
give ourselves permission to be who we truly are, we
start to get to a place of peace. We start
(47:44):
to get to a place of not caring what other
people have, what other people are doing in their lives.
We go more inward and we start to ask what
can I do and how can I be of service
out working, And that's where the true happiness is, and
being of service to others and accepting who you are
(48:09):
and where you are right now, don't forget to look
out for us on our new show, Inside the Black Box.
My co host will be Joe the Legend Morton. It's
going to be The Spirited Actor Podcast on Steroids. We'll
be streaming on the Crackle network. I'll keep you posted.
Thank you for joining us on the Spirited Actor Podcast
(48:31):
with me Tracy Moore. I look forward to our next
Spirited Podcast. Thank you
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