October 3, 2023 • 39 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. A good friend is a connection
(01:09):
to life, a tie to the past, a road to
the future.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I have an.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Assistant that I actually went through this process of mentoring her.
She interned with me, and then she became my daughter's
babysitter when she was a teenager, and then she interned
again when I was on New York and to cover
and worked with me as a casting assistant associated casting
director for over twenty something years.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
And I met her when she was twelve.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
She just had a birthday last week and we were
just reminiscing over all the years that I've known her
and two marriages that she's been through with me, my
son Miles, my granddaughter Sarya, And one of the things
that I can honestly say about her and growing up
with her as well, is that when we have conversation
about the past, we know that there are no do overs,
(02:02):
and we know that we can't go back and change anything.
We really work on staying present and seeing how our
lives have evolved to this day and how the things
that we set up in the past are coming to
fruition now in the present, moving into the future. I
just want to say that it's always great to have
(02:23):
a surrounding of family friends who can just say to.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You, knock it off.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Sometimes we can get in a place where you know,
we need to time out and we just want to
fight the world, or fight COVID or fight monkey pucks.
And it's during that time where you have that one
or two people in your life can say, you know what,
you don't have it, and you're healthy and your family's good,
(02:50):
and then it just kind of roots you back into
reality and truth. Today, I will embrace the people that
embrace me and continue to be in my life. Before
we get started, I'd like to remind everyone to look
out for my new show, Inside the Black Box. I'll
(03:11):
be co hosting with the great Joe Morton. We'll be
on Crackle Network real soon. I'll keep you posted. Welcome
to The Spirited Act, your podcast with me Tracy Moore.
You guys are really really in for a treat. I
am so excited to have this guest on today. We
(03:31):
are going to talk about something that we've never talked
about on the show before, which is costume department costume
supervisor designer. She's also a director, writer, producer as well.
You guys, you know we're multi hyphenated these days. I
want you guys to please put your hands together for
Monique Younger.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Hey, good morning, so glad to be here with you.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Today, Monique.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Let me just say this, when else so set your
information to us. I kept looking at your IMDb dot
com because I was like, was she twelve when she
started the deal?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Here?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Then I realized that you were from Howard University HU,
and I said, Okay, I got it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's a work ethic, and it's a work pride.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Indeed, indeed, especially in looking at your earlier credits when
we were still in the independent world and you know,
borrowed here to do this in credit cards and all that.
So I want to start at the beginning, because again,
you look like twenty five. So I'm curious to know
(04:44):
how you have this phenomenal resume.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You guys, tell us where did it start?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
It started at Howard honestly when I got there. I
think maybe the second year I was there, or maybe
the third, maybe I was a junior. DEFTM came down
and they did a program with us, and then we
I had the Hip Hop Network and all that. So
I really, you know, I was into music. I thought
I wanted to be in the music business. I went
to every conference I can go to. I volunteered for
every fair, every conference, every everything, just so I could
(05:13):
have that experience and soak everything up. I wanted, like
all the knowledge and all that. I was better at
doing all those things than I was a class. Honestly,
I was not an a student, but you know, I
was always on the scene and always trying to, you know,
just network and do my thing, honestly, and I wasn't
really one hundred percent positive about what I wanted to do,
except I knew was something in music. And on graduation day,
(05:35):
I was sitting there on the field and I was thinking,
what am I gonna do tomorrow? Like I don't have
a job lined up. I don't know what's going on,
you know. But I went back home to New York
and I kept putting my resumes in everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I wasn't having any success at first.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And then some of my friends started getting jobs, like
just regular jobs, you know, just like at the gas
company and all that stuff. And I was like, I
got this degree, I'm about to do something in entertainment.
Sat down, maybe deal with my mom. Listen, I can't
go get a regular job. Please don't make me do that,
you know. So she floated me until I could get
my first job, and I was not taking anything if
(06:08):
it wasn't in entertainment. And literally I go out powder
Camden and do all kinds of interviews and stuff. And
I finally got my first job at CBS as a
page in the news department. And that's a year long
program and it's minimum wage. But you know, I learned
more in that year than I think I've ever learned
about entertainment ever, you know. And it was definitely about hustling.
(06:29):
And then what I would do is after work, I
had a friend who was in music, and so he
would do all kinds of videos and stuff like that,
and I would go over to his place after I
got off work, and I would literally work all night
over there, and then I would go to gym and
take a shower and then go to my go to
my real job, you know. And I was just always working,
always hustling from the very beginning.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And you know, I always encourage our listeners to read
IMDb dot com and to know.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
But you'd be surprised, like it's a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It really is, right, because there are casting directors who
have been with the same directors for over twenty five years.
So if you read the credits and understand who works
with who, it's to your benefit as an actor.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I have to explain it to people that I work with.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
You know, a lot of the customers, a lot of
the crew people that I work with, don't even know
to go to IMDb and make sure their credits are correct,
make sure that they're listing on IMDb.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
And I know people I've worked with for years.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
If you go to the IMDb page, it has nothing,
And I'm like, how are you not making sure that
you're getting the credit you deserve for all the work
that we do. I mean, it's great to get a
check every week. We get paid very nicely, and that's
a wonderful thing. But your resume needs to speak for itself, right,
So if somebody wants to know about me, and they
go in and put my name in Google, put my
(07:43):
name in IMDb, They're going to see all the work
that I've done. And I don't have to go out
and do interviews anymore. I don't have to call people
and look around for a job. People are calling me now,
and that's because you know, you get your name out there,
you get your resume out there, and you make sure
the stays updated. You make sure that you know your
credits are right, and keep doing that work.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You just said that you educate people yourself. Then you
start to sit back and say, Monique, not everybody has
my work ethic, Not everybody has my quote unquote hustle
or passion or drive. Because the challenges that I find
with actors is the work is doing the work, you
(08:23):
know what I mean. They'll read a scene for a
self tape, they'll break down the character, they'll understand, and
then they'll throw that away after it's done.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
It's not done. It's never done.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So when actors say I'm not doing anything, and then
the first thing they want is an agent, they don't understand.
Once you start playing with the agents, you're playing with
the real world and expectations are really super high.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yes, absolutely, you got to understand that. Like, once you
get an agent, that agent is working for you. So
now you have to make sure that you're doing the
work to keep them being able to get those jobs
for you know, it's not like I've got this agent
in this magic key and I can just sit back
and chill like, No, you can't do that.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
You've got to keep going out here.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Showing your worth in order for them to make it
easier for them to get to the job. And when
you get paid, they get paid, so hence they're your employee.
You have to do the work. You're in charge of
your own destiny. And really that's the bottom line of
it all exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Thank god we have you because you are reinforcing the
work ethic because you don't build a resume, you don't
build an IMDb dot com page like this on a
couple of credits and you know, hookups or whatever. I
know the work because as a casting director, our work
really ends when your job begins. However, as an acting coach,
(09:43):
I lived on the set with Buster and Eve and
a lot of these recording artists, and so I know
back in the day fourteen sixty and eighteen twenty hour days.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I know your day because.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Your mind is brilliant, because the way which you have
to vision days that are not in consistent order, consecutive
days and this and that. I want to break that
down because I know we have a lot of people
who are so interested in this field.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Well, I love puzzles. Puzzles are my thing. They always
have been since I was a little kid. My mom
used to sit me and my sister down. We would
spend hours doing jigsaw puzzles, you know, And really, I
think that's where it starts, is that I have to
have a picture in my mind. I have to be
able to hold these pictures in different places and know
how they fit together and where it needs to go right.
(10:33):
And so when I'm supervising, I think a big part
of my job is being able to just predict the
future and prevent problems that I see coming down the road,
you know what I'm saying. So it's like I get
a schedule of things that are supposed to happen and
when it's supposed to happen, and I have to know that, Okay,
I need to be prepared to fit these actors because
they're coming in on these days. And then also we
have a move that you know, the truck is going
(10:54):
to be moving from here to here, So what do
I need to do to be prepared for that thing?
And then maybe if customer comes to me and they're like, oh,
I'm not feeling well or I have to have surgery
or something's going on personal in my life and I
can't be here and I have to have a roster
people I can call to replace this person for the
day or whatever. Maybe this actor can't come in for
fitting at this time. When can we change it? How
long do you need them for? And don't forget that
(11:15):
the designer needs to be on set to establish at
this time, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
So it's like you have all of these things that
you have to hold.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I'm getting older now, so maybe not holding it in
my head is not the thing. But I've learned that
taking notes, like just always writing stuff down is definitely
the answer. Look, I'm human and I will forget stuff.
And with this job, it really is like five jobs.
I'm doing human resources, I'm doing scheduling, logistics, I'm doing
budgeting and planning. You know, I'm forecasting. So I'm doing
(11:43):
a whole lot of things. And if I don't write
stuff down, it's over, you know. But that's something that
you also learn when you're doing the job. But going
back a little bit, just a little bit to the
work ethic thing. When I started out, my first movie
was atl That's my first feature here in Atlanta was
atl And I came in the door with the resume
of stuff that I had done in New York. I
had a whole other career in New York before I
(12:05):
even moved down here to Atlanta. You know, everything was
all production. And when I came in the door, you know,
I had my resume. They hired me on the spot.
It was great. You know, I was just coming in
as a PA and they threw me in a costume department.
I knew nothing about clothes. I barely dressed well, you know,
I was like I was a tomboy. It was always
some boots and jeans and T shirts, you know, just whatever.
But costumes is a hard department and we always work
(12:28):
our butt off. I mean it's a lot of people
think it's glamorous and you're like, oh, I'm dressing people
up and it's fun though. No, no, no, our job is dirty.
It's work. We are maids for the actors. You know,
we're nurse maids, we're nannies, we're cleaning ladies, you know,
out all the things. You'd getting down your knees to
help people with their shoes and stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Like.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
It's not cute or glamorous. It's a lot of work,
and we have to keep.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Track of people's costumes and what is going to happen
with their costumes throughout the day. You know, if you
are putting an actor in something, do you have to
think about like is it an action scene? Do we
need multiples? Are things happening with the clothes? How long
are they wearing it for? Are they in it for
the whole movie? Are they in it for just a
couple of scenes? When do they change?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Like do they take off a jacket? Do they have
a purse? I mean all these things that you have
to think about, right. But when I first started in this,
a lot of the other people that I start with
were in it because they thought this is fun, this
is glamorous, this is you know whatever. And I didn't
care Going to Howard, we had celebrities walking around campus
all day all the time. I didn't care about like,
otis here. So what, It's a job and we got
(13:28):
to get this job done. I was really serious about
my job. And I think that a lot of people
when they come in they think, oh, this is super
fun and all the stuff, and they're ready to party
with actors. And you could do that too, but that
just wasn't my mindset. And so when I started here,
there had been an industry here.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
For a while.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
I mean they were shooting like the heat of a
night here and things been happening. But starting around the
time of atl and all that stuff, when we were
shooting Roll Bounce and atl and all these movies here
Stomp the Yard, all of the supervisors that were coming in,
all the people in charge were all people from la
and from New York. There was no homegrown Atlanta talent
here like in terms of crew, And so I just
(14:03):
kept going from one show the other, just really busting
my hump, just really doing what needed to be done.
And I didn't have to keep promoting myself and talking
about it. People just saw it and they kept hiring me.
And then when it came time, BT was doing a
lot of stuff here, a lot of television shows, and
so I was working on a movie at the time.
In the UPM and I had become friends, and so
another UPM called her and was looking for a recommendation
(14:24):
for a local supervisor.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And literally they.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Were only two in town, and so you know, they
were like, oh, well, I know this girl, and she's
not a supervisor, but I think she could do the job.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
And she had no idea. She didn't tell me about
her anything.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
This woman called me out of the blue, was talking about, oh,
well this UPM told me about you, and I was like, really,
I said, but I've never done this before. She was like,
but she thinks that you can do it. She thinks
that you're you know, that should be you'd be great
at it. And I was like, okay, okay, I'll give
it a try. And that show was second generation Waynes
with the Waynes voice, and so I came on and
(14:59):
started doing that show and literally got there in the
first day. And I had been working as a customer
for a while and I was like, oh my god,
I don't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So every day when I'm getting.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Into my office, I would call a supervisor I had
worked with previously and I would be like, okay, so
I got the job and I don't know what to do.
Like and I was not afraid to go call somebody
and say I don't know what to do, Please help me,
you know, And they were gracious enough to really because
I busted my behind for them. They were gracious enough
to answer my call to give me advice, to tell
(15:29):
me what to do, you know. And I just kept
doing that until I finally started getting the hang of it.
From show after show, I'd be like, I'm in this position.
I don't know what what should I do next? You know,
and they always helped me. So it's that work ethic.
If people sees that, and you know.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You could feel your heart too, you know, like you
could feel your heart the sincerity, like I would help too.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
What do you need?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
You know, you definitely feel that. There were two things
that I wanted to say. One when you were talking
about before you said multiples, I was going to say
is like, especially I did Cheff with Buster and the
scene with Jeffrey Wright where he's like, you know, you
should have killed me and he's stabbing himself with the
ice pick and the squids are going off in blood.
(16:11):
You know, they had like thirty white shirts in the wardrobe.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Ready to say this is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
But that's why I give kudos to the director producers,
the DPS. However, my favorite department in costumes because when
everything is in sync and the conversation with the directors
in sync and the actors meaning actors, you have a
wardrobe fitting. When actors I always tell that when you
know your characters so well, you should be able to
go a wardrobe fitting and say, no, miss younger, this
(16:41):
doesn't work for me because my character would never wear
skinny jeans because they're blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
You understand that communication, right.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yes, yes, that is so important.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
I mean what you said that is so key because
a lot of times actors will come in and think, oh,
I just want to wear lubatons. I want to, you know,
like I see this fancy stuff. I want to be
able to put on this label, in that label. And no,
but you have to understand who your character is. Like,
if you're coming in here and you're playing somebody who's struggling,
you're not going to be wearing palm angel jeans. Like
it's just not you know, you could not afford. I
(17:14):
was watching The Shy and I think at this point
this season, the character Trigg he becomes Victor and he's
like now trying to be respectable on the politician and
he's not dealing anymore. And so there was a scene
where he was in front of a crowd and he
was talking and they have been struggling, and he's wearing
this rich fresh suit and I look at the suit,
and I'm like that suit, like literally, because we got
one on the show that we're working on now. It's
(17:36):
like eight thousand dollars, and I'm like, this character can't
afford this suit. And maybe most people who were watching
the show wouldn't even know this, but because this is
my job, like I'm looking at this like this is
so incongruent. He's supposed to be struggling and poor right
now and he's wearing the suit that's like literally at
least eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
And I also love how I don't know the conversations
other than at production meetings. I'm used to being in
production meeting and you know, go in department by department. However,
I would think that the cinematographer may or may not
be involved because there are so many times where I
love how there's a scene I can't remember this movie,
(18:15):
I have to find it, but there's a scene where
it's like four white women. The camera is from the
person who opens the doors point of view.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So when the door.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Opens, you see these four white women standing next to
each other comfortably. And it's a period piece, like let's
say the forties. Behind them, we can tell that it's
fall autumn because the trees have changed. And then when
you come up to really look at the women the
way that the costume designer created it, they all have
(18:46):
a different hue of fall where it doesn't blend into
the background but almost makes it feel three d ish.
So do you have conversations with the director about colors
and textures of clothes.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yes, so I'm mostly supervised. I do design on occasion.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I'm mostly supervised, but I am in on the conversations
that the designer will have with the cinematographer, with the director.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I mean, so on a lot of the shows I
work on.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
What I'll do is I'll set up a meeting with
the director to just sit down and talk about like
what their vision is for a character where they see
things going, what is their economic level, you know, what
is the background and say like, okay, I want to
make sure that nobody has on anything pattern, you know,
so that way they're kind of just blending into the background.
And so it's really just you know, I want them
in hues of brown or gray or whatever, so that
(19:36):
way they can really just be background fodder and not
distract from the main characters. And with the colors like
what you're talking about. You have to have a very
you have to have a very close relationship with the
production designer to know what colors are you using and
will these colors then work with what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I think in costumes.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
What's really great is that it's helped me in production
in general, because I have to be talking to everybody.
You know, my department really touches every single department. We
need to talk to the lighting directors to see, you know, okay,
what are we doing for lighting for these characters. So
for example, the show I'm on right now, I'm on
a Will Packer project called Praise This, and we have
(20:13):
a lot of stage performances, and so you know, we
have to talk to the production designer and the lighting
director about what they're trying to do, what mood they're
trying to create, so we can know what to put
these characters in who are going to be performing on stage,
you know, So that way it's not clashing that if
they're having bright white lights that you know, maybe we're
not going to have our team in bright white because
it's going to be too much of an explosion for
(20:34):
the camera, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
So it's different things like that.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
And when you're talking about period pieces, a lot of
dps don't like us to put black people in white
on a period piece because there's too much of a
contrast on the skin tone versus the clothes. So they
like they prefer cream colors instead of a bright, stark white.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
So it's a lot of different things that you have
to talk about and bring together.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
And one of the things that as a costume supervisor,
how do you suggest in terms of actors finding like
you kind of deal with two people, right, you deal
with the actor the person that you deal with a character,
but you work with a lot of celebrities and you
work with the main characters. I want you guys to
(21:16):
know this, She's not dressing extras. I just want to
be very very specific here. You spend a lot of
time in thought and imagination and connecting the dots. But
as a person, because these people go to premieres, do
you also end up consulting them on maybe what to
wear on the red carpet? Are there suggestions that you
(21:37):
may have for the actor the person just to you know,
keep their style together.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
So usually what will happen, especially with celebrities, is that
they have their own personal stylists that they work with.
Sometimes for a certain show, we'll have actors who will
be like, oh, I'm going to a comunities.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We can can I borrow something?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
You know, And so we might help them out by
lending them a piece of wardrobe or something that they
have in their closet.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Generally, well, we never.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
We never give them anything that they would wear on camera,
but we may have pieces in their closet. And when
I say closet, you know, just like we have a
range of clothes for them to fit and try on
to see where it might work in a scene. And
so it might be something that we have that isn't
necessarily something that we've said Okay, this is going to
work in the scene or that scene. So it might
be an extra piece of clothes. So we'll call that
the closet. And they may ask like, oh, I've got
(22:23):
a premiere this weekend, can I borrow something from my closet?
And we might you know, lend them out something like that.
But generally, most of the bigger name actors have stylists
that they work with, and we'll provide something. You know,
a lot of times we'll have a relationship with their stylists.
Like I usually call the actors before we even get
started to schedule their fittings and things like that, you know.
And so some of the more a talent they might
(22:43):
have me just call their stylist or you know, call
supervisor or designer they've worked with on a past show
to get their sizes, because a lot of times they
don't even know there's like call my agent or my
manager or whatever. But I'll talk to somebody about like
what sizes they wear, what kind of things to look
good in, what cut, what brand? Whatever? Do you think
you know really works with us, And it just helps
(23:05):
us to know their body type and what works for them.
And so that way when they come in for the fitting,
we won't have things that are just random that you know,
waste our time in fitting. We really want to be
efficient and have what we need in order to fit them.
So the fitting is not three hours long and we've
only got one piece of clothing, one outfit for them
to wear. We want to have like as much as
we can done in our first fittings.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Oh, I got talk to you all day, mummy, seriously,
Like you know, I'm looking at some of the Texas
or the chats here, and I know the actors that
are on right now are learning, but I just want
a big, big, big super time you up.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I want to super super big you up.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Because I don't really believe that people know how intricate
your role is.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
They don't.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
I don't even think that the upms that I work
with understand what I do, honestly. Like sometimes I was
talking about this the other day, I was like, I
really feel like, you know what happens in our department
is the designer because the designer's out front gets like,
oh this alid and it's you know, things go great.
Then it's like, oh the designer's amazing, and things go wrong.
Thepm's call on my phone like what is going on
(24:10):
in your department?
Speaker 3 (24:10):
How come this? How come that?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Blah blah, And I'm like, oh, it's great. Like so
I get all of the flack and she or he
gets all of the praise.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
That's like me moodique Like, as a casting director, we
find the talent or we recommend somebody, the director, the producer.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
If a camera falls on set.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
When I was on New York kin to cover, I
swear to god, they would call it blame us for it,
Like got blame for so much stuff, and it's like, Yo, Cassie,
you know, but I want a big blup. I do
because one of my I spend a lot of time
with the costume supervisor on New York Undercover and learn
(24:54):
so much randomly, Like it wasn't like I wanted to.
It was just like I loved him. His name was
Rich and I used to just go on the truck.
And then as I started to coach celebrities, I would
go to their wardrobe fitting and they would ask me
to go and then they, you know, just be trying
on clothes sometimes just to try them. One I'm like,
your character would never wear that, you know, or I
(25:17):
guess you know, you should ask for blah blah blah
blah blah.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
And then you're in a position to have that conversation
because you can't. Everybody is not going to have this
once again, extras people that are day players, even day
players do have fittings, but there's a conversation that's so
different when you really have done the work on your
character that you can really have with Monique, and when
you've done your due diligence and so I just want
(25:42):
to say, big ups woman, throwing roses at you. I'm
giving you all your acculate elbow yuga, And I know
that everything I know other people appreciate loving your work too,
because that's how you work.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I appreciate that. I really I love my job. So thankful.
I'm so thankful, I really am.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
It's great to be able to go to work and
do something that you absolutely love, you know. And we
have hard days like everybody else, you know, we struggle
about different things, but honestly, like I'm so I thank
god that I found this because I just don't know
what else I would do if I wasn't in production,
you know. And like I've done some surprising for a
(26:26):
long time now, and I want to move into other directions.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I'm writing a lot more.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I feel like when I found I found my voice
and now it's like it just won't.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Shut up, which that's a faunimal thing.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I love that, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I love what you say. I tell stories, I watch people.
I root for the underdog. I am the underdog, like
I love that. And I came to New York in
eighty three. So when you talk about how is Queen's
my daughter's dad, my ex husband manage road manage on DMC.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
So you to be back.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
When I first read your bio, I was like, oh
my god, but she looks.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Like thirty, So like, what are we talking here?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
You know, you look great, You're have an amazing plethora
of work and we're so proud of you. Hold tight
because when we come back, we're going to do class
and session and we're gonna we're gonna get some more
insight from Monique. Okay, we'll be back to Spirited Actor
Podcast with me Tracy Moore, and we're going to.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Do class in session.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
You are still blessed to be in the presidence of
Monique Younger. Hey y, hey y, Costume Supervisor Extraordinaire. Please
check out her IMDb dot com. It's ridiculous, Okay, ridiculous.
(27:57):
So we are going to go right into class and session.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I'mited.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I'm gonna turn it over right now to el Silathan,
who is our casie director on deck. She's gonna bring
in some spirit actor ogs that are going to do
a scene for you.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
Hello Elsa, Hello, Hello everyone. How Are you welcome, Monique.
It's a great interview. So today on Classroom Session, we
have two of our Spirited Actors. Of course we have
now og miss Monat Charis and our first time are
(28:31):
on the Spirited Actor podcast Miss Amaya Holly.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Okay islay breaking.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
Today's scene is the sales Floor, written by Dana Keel.
Interior retail clothing store michaela late thirties folds haberdatary and
other men's clothing items.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
When Amina mid twenties approaches.
Speaker 7 (28:57):
Hi, Okayla, right, yep, what's up? Before the store opens?
I was wondering if I get some tips on working
with customers.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Didn't you go through the training?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I did? But it's just what's your name?
Speaker 8 (29:14):
Amina?
Speaker 9 (29:15):
And I was just wondering.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
You know, I'm Meana. Listen.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
I am a sales associate, not a manager.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I don't really train.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
The job's not hard. Just pay attention to be nice
to people and you'll be grateful.
Speaker 9 (29:33):
You are a senior associate with lots of experience, and
I just thought.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I thought I had time to retrain you.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
Sometimes I get a little nervous talking to strangers and it's.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
Not that, but you know, so you thought.
Speaker 10 (29:50):
You should take a job in retail. You may want
to rethink that. I mean, come on, it's ridiculous this job.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
I'm a student teacher right now, which really only pays
enough for the rent but nothing else.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
All right, and pH these shirts?
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (30:17):
Just just watch me.
Speaker 10 (30:20):
Okay, you're gonna right hold it up, and now you're
gonna folk one side in and then the other right.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
You're gonna drop that neck down my bed. I think
I got it.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
This is my first real job and my parents are
divorcing and things are really tough right now.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
My mom, no, listen, I understand.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
Just do your best and you'll always when I promise,
and not bad on the folding.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Taylor finally cracks a gentle smile.
Speaker 8 (31:15):
I've been on my own for a while.
Speaker 11 (31:18):
I had a great, great stepdad, but he passed away
and it's been tough for me and my mom for
a while. I've been doing this job and saving ups
so it can help me go to community college.
Speaker 9 (31:35):
Okayla, my last name is King.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Mina pulls out of print. Help cool.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
My last name is Brooks. My stepdad adopted me when
I was young. I have his name.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
They both continue to fold shirts.
Speaker 9 (32:02):
Tayla, your last name was King before you were adopted.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
How do you know that?
Speaker 6 (32:11):
Amina shows Michaela the print out, she becomes emotional.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
Us or sisters. We have the same father.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
My mom said he left for the militaria and never
came back.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
She she told me he was she was pregnant, but he.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Never never.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
I took this job because I found out about you
and I wanted to find you.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Amina hugs Michaela hard and sobs Akela surrenders and returns
the hug.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
See all right, I'm gonna throw it to you, Monique.
So whatever feedback you want to give them, they're open
to it.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Okay, great, great job. I really enjoyed that I could
feel the emotion towards the end. I want to know
at what point I feel like there was a supposed
to be a switch in Money's attitude, but the motivation
for the switch, I felt like it came from the
(33:32):
script and didn't necessarily feel like it came from a Mina.
And you know what I'm saying, So like I feel
like there had to be something there in your emotion
and your word that made her attitude switch. And I
didn't feel that. I felt like her attitude just switched,
but it wasn't motivated by I mean as words.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I agree that that actually was going to be one
of my notes. I think that in understanding the full scene,
now I seeing Amaya, your choices as this character are
not to get this job. Your choice is to regnite
with your sibling, your family. So it's a different motivation
(34:21):
and desperation of you needing to get this job, not
because you need this job, but you know why you're here.
Always say this, Monette Monique. I always say this that
if we don't have the luxury Monique Younger of waking
up and looking at your nightstand and grabbing Monique Younger's
(34:43):
day and going through Oh I'm going to have this dialogue,
Oh I'm going to talk to these we don't have that,
but your characters do. And so because of that, you
guys read these scenes from beginning to end, so at
the end we know the scene is not about her
getting a job.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
It's about this recon mention here.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
So I'm saying, Amaya, you need to change your motivation,
and that's going to help and I think I'm so
behind you Monee. There is there that transition, there's a
shift I didn't I was trying to figure.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Out did I miss an action? But that that needs
there needs to be clarity there.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
And I apologize Amaya, I said your name wrong, but yes.
Speaker 12 (35:28):
I appreciate it. I definitely definitely makes sense though what
you were saying. There definitely has to be more uh
intent behind right.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yeah, once I understood it. Once we once you guys
got to the end.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
But at that point, I was like, I was trying
to figure out where it was going and I couldn't,
you know, I just couldn't figure out where the story
was going was heading to. But I definitely felt like,
you know, the transition in emotion. It needed to be
motivated by something other than just your words. But I
had to feel something there. A great job otherwise, excellent.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Thank you so much you guys, Gonay Maya, and ladies
and gentlemen, once again, please put your hands together for
Monique Younger.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Yay, thank you for having me. Thank you so much,
you just have.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
You can come on anytime.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Seriously, when we come back, ladies and gentlemen, I am
going to give you some love on the Spirited Actor
podcast with me Tracy Moore, and now it's time to
give love.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I don't have to explain myself.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
My frequency is very common and is open to anybody
to tune in. We just recently wrapped another successful season
of Inside the Black Box with my co host Joe
Morton and some of my friends that came on the
show as guests. We're shaming me on reading the telepropter.
(37:02):
Shame made me and two of my really dear friends
who I will not mention their name. They were like, Tracy,
Joe is such a pro and they were like, Tracy,
this teleproctor, Like how you feeling about it? Or come on, Tracy,
you're an acting coach. When I tell you the pressure
(37:25):
that these two people put on me, and then I
thought about it, right, I was talking to my showrunner,
this guy Andrew Lombardi, right, and I said, Andrew, I'm
being shamed by the guest. Who are my friends with
the telepropter? And he said, Tracy, that's what the telepropter
(37:45):
is for. And it was at that moment that I
no longer heard the shame that some of my friends
were trying to put me through. I actually felt very
proud of myself that this is not my area of
expertise of being in front of the camera. However, I
(38:06):
was working at mastering that quality, that skill, and I
felt blessed to be in the presence of someone like
an Emmy Award winning Joe Morton to be able to
study from. So don't allow people to judge or shame you.
Go inside and reinforce who you are to yourself. For yourself,
(38:33):
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 with me Tracy Moore. I look
(38:55):
forward to our next Spirited podcast.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
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. A good friend is a connection
(01:09):
to life, a tie to the past, a road to
the future.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I have an.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Assistant that I actually went through this process of mentoring her.
She interned with me, and then she became my daughter's
babysitter when she was a teenager, and then she interned
again when I was on New York and to cover
and worked with me as a casting assistant associated casting
director for over twenty something years.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
And I met her when she was twelve.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
She just had a birthday last week and we were
just reminiscing over all the years that I've known her
and two marriages that she's been through with me, my
son Miles, my granddaughter Sarya, And one of the things
that I can honestly say about her and growing up
with her as well, is that when we have conversation
about the past, we know that there are no do overs,
(02:02):
and we know that we can't go back and change anything.
We really work on staying present and seeing how our
lives have evolved to this day and how the things
that we set up in the past are coming to
fruition now in the present, moving into the future. I
just want to say that it's always great to have
(02:23):
a surrounding of family friends who can just say to.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You, knock it off.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Sometimes we can get in a place where you know,
we need to time out and we just want to
fight the world, or fight COVID or fight monkey pucks.
And it's during that time where you have that one
or two people in your life can say, you know what,
you don't have it, and you're healthy and your family's good,
(02:50):
and then it just kind of roots you back into
reality and truth. Today, I will embrace the people that
embrace me and continue to be in my life. Before
we get started, I'd like to remind everyone to look
out for my new show, Inside the Black Box. I'll
(03:11):
be co hosting with the great Joe Morton. We'll be
on Crackle Network real soon. I'll keep you posted. Welcome
to The Spirited Act, your podcast with me Tracy Moore.
You guys are really really in for a treat. I
am so excited to have this guest on today. We
(03:31):
are going to talk about something that we've never talked
about on the show before, which is costume department costume
supervisor designer. She's also a director, writer, producer as well.
You guys, you know we're multi hyphenated these days. I
want you guys to please put your hands together for
Monique Younger.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Hey, good morning, so glad to be here with you.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Today, Monique.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Let me just say this, when else so set your
information to us. I kept looking at your IMDb dot
com because I was like, was she twelve when she
started the deal?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Here?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Then I realized that you were from Howard University HU,
and I said, Okay, I got it.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's a work ethic, and it's a work pride.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Indeed, indeed, especially in looking at your earlier credits when
we were still in the independent world and you know,
borrowed here to do this in credit cards and all that.
So I want to start at the beginning, because again,
you look like twenty five. So I'm curious to know
(04:44):
how you have this phenomenal resume.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You guys, tell us where did it start?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
It started at Howard honestly when I got there. I
think maybe the second year I was there, or maybe
the third, maybe I was a junior. DEFTM came down
and they did a program with us, and then we
I had the Hip Hop Network and all that. So
I really, you know, I was into music. I thought
I wanted to be in the music business. I went
to every conference I can go to. I volunteered for
every fair, every conference, every everything, just so I could
(05:13):
have that experience and soak everything up. I wanted, like
all the knowledge and all that. I was better at
doing all those things than I was a class. Honestly,
I was not an a student, but you know, I
was always on the scene and always trying to, you know,
just network and do my thing, honestly, and I wasn't
really one hundred percent positive about what I wanted to do,
except I knew was something in music. And on graduation day,
(05:35):
I was sitting there on the field and I was thinking,
what am I gonna do tomorrow? Like I don't have
a job lined up. I don't know what's going on,
you know. But I went back home to New York
and I kept putting my resumes in everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I wasn't having any success at first.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And then some of my friends started getting jobs, like
just regular jobs, you know, just like at the gas
company and all that stuff. And I was like, I
got this degree, I'm about to do something in entertainment.
Sat down, maybe deal with my mom. Listen, I can't
go get a regular job. Please don't make me do that,
you know. So she floated me until I could get
my first job, and I was not taking anything if
(06:08):
it wasn't in entertainment. And literally I go out powder
Camden and do all kinds of interviews and stuff. And
I finally got my first job at CBS as a
page in the news department. And that's a year long
program and it's minimum wage. But you know, I learned
more in that year than I think I've ever learned
about entertainment ever, you know. And it was definitely about hustling.
(06:29):
And then what I would do is after work, I
had a friend who was in music, and so he
would do all kinds of videos and stuff like that,
and I would go over to his place after I
got off work, and I would literally work all night
over there, and then I would go to gym and
take a shower and then go to my go to
my real job, you know. And I was just always working,
always hustling from the very beginning.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And you know, I always encourage our listeners to read
IMDb dot com and to know.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
But you'd be surprised, like it's a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It really is, right, because there are casting directors who
have been with the same directors for over twenty five years.
So if you read the credits and understand who works
with who, it's to your benefit as an actor.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I have to explain it to people that I work with.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
You know, a lot of the customers, a lot of
the crew people that I work with, don't even know
to go to IMDb and make sure their credits are correct,
make sure that they're listing on IMDb.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
And I know people I've worked with for years.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
If you go to the IMDb page, it has nothing,
And I'm like, how are you not making sure that
you're getting the credit you deserve for all the work
that we do. I mean, it's great to get a
check every week. We get paid very nicely, and that's
a wonderful thing. But your resume needs to speak for itself, right,
So if somebody wants to know about me, and they
go in and put my name in Google, put my
(07:43):
name in IMDb, They're going to see all the work
that I've done. And I don't have to go out
and do interviews anymore. I don't have to call people
and look around for a job. People are calling me now,
and that's because you know, you get your name out there,
you get your resume out there, and you make sure
the stays updated. You make sure that you know your
credits are right, and keep doing that work.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You just said that you educate people yourself. Then you
start to sit back and say, Monique, not everybody has
my work ethic, Not everybody has my quote unquote hustle
or passion or drive. Because the challenges that I find
with actors is the work is doing the work, you
(08:23):
know what I mean. They'll read a scene for a
self tape, they'll break down the character, they'll understand, and
then they'll throw that away after it's done.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
It's not done. It's never done.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So when actors say I'm not doing anything, and then
the first thing they want is an agent, they don't understand.
Once you start playing with the agents, you're playing with
the real world and expectations are really super high.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yes, absolutely, you got to understand that. Like, once you
get an agent, that agent is working for you. So
now you have to make sure that you're doing the
work to keep them being able to get those jobs
for you know, it's not like I've got this agent
in this magic key and I can just sit back
and chill like, No, you can't do that.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
You've got to keep going out here.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Showing your worth in order for them to make it
easier for them to get to the job. And when
you get paid, they get paid, so hence they're your employee.
You have to do the work. You're in charge of
your own destiny. And really that's the bottom line of
it all exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Thank god we have you because you are reinforcing the
work ethic because you don't build a resume, you don't
build an IMDb dot com page like this on a
couple of credits and you know, hookups or whatever. I
know the work because as a casting director, our work
really ends when your job begins. However, as an acting coach,
(09:43):
I lived on the set with Buster and Eve and
a lot of these recording artists, and so I know
back in the day fourteen sixty and eighteen twenty hour days.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I know your day because.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Your mind is brilliant, because the way which you have
to vision days that are not in consistent order, consecutive
days and this and that. I want to break that
down because I know we have a lot of people
who are so interested in this field.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Well, I love puzzles. Puzzles are my thing. They always
have been since I was a little kid. My mom
used to sit me and my sister down. We would
spend hours doing jigsaw puzzles, you know, And really, I
think that's where it starts, is that I have to
have a picture in my mind. I have to be
able to hold these pictures in different places and know
how they fit together and where it needs to go right.
(10:33):
And so when I'm supervising, I think a big part
of my job is being able to just predict the
future and prevent problems that I see coming down the road,
you know what I'm saying. So it's like I get
a schedule of things that are supposed to happen and
when it's supposed to happen, and I have to know that, Okay,
I need to be prepared to fit these actors because
they're coming in on these days. And then also we
have a move that you know, the truck is going
(10:54):
to be moving from here to here, So what do
I need to do to be prepared for that thing?
And then maybe if customer comes to me and they're like, oh,
I'm not feeling well or I have to have surgery
or something's going on personal in my life and I
can't be here and I have to have a roster
people I can call to replace this person for the
day or whatever. Maybe this actor can't come in for
fitting at this time. When can we change it? How
long do you need them for? And don't forget that
(11:15):
the designer needs to be on set to establish at
this time, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
So it's like you have all of these things that
you have to hold.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I'm getting older now, so maybe not holding it in
my head is not the thing. But I've learned that
taking notes, like just always writing stuff down is definitely
the answer. Look, I'm human and I will forget stuff.
And with this job, it really is like five jobs.
I'm doing human resources, I'm doing scheduling, logistics, I'm doing
budgeting and planning. You know, I'm forecasting. So I'm doing
(11:43):
a whole lot of things. And if I don't write
stuff down, it's over, you know. But that's something that
you also learn when you're doing the job. But going
back a little bit, just a little bit to the
work ethic thing. When I started out, my first movie
was atl That's my first feature here in Atlanta was
atl And I came in the door with the resume
of stuff that I had done in New York. I
had a whole other career in New York before I
(12:05):
even moved down here to Atlanta. You know, everything was
all production. And when I came in the door, you know,
I had my resume. They hired me on the spot.
It was great. You know, I was just coming in
as a PA and they threw me in a costume department.
I knew nothing about clothes. I barely dressed well, you know,
I was like I was a tomboy. It was always
some boots and jeans and T shirts, you know, just whatever.
But costumes is a hard department and we always work
(12:28):
our butt off. I mean it's a lot of people
think it's glamorous and you're like, oh, I'm dressing people
up and it's fun though. No, no, no, our job is dirty.
It's work. We are maids for the actors. You know,
we're nurse maids, we're nannies, we're cleaning ladies, you know,
out all the things. You'd getting down your knees to
help people with their shoes and stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Like.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
It's not cute or glamorous. It's a lot of work,
and we have to keep.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Track of people's costumes and what is going to happen
with their costumes throughout the day. You know, if you
are putting an actor in something, do you have to
think about like is it an action scene? Do we
need multiples? Are things happening with the clothes? How long
are they wearing it for? Are they in it for
the whole movie? Are they in it for just a
couple of scenes? When do they change?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Like do they take off a jacket? Do they have
a purse? I mean all these things that you have
to think about, right. But when I first started in this,
a lot of the other people that I start with
were in it because they thought this is fun, this
is glamorous, this is you know whatever. And I didn't
care Going to Howard, we had celebrities walking around campus
all day all the time. I didn't care about like,
otis here. So what, It's a job and we got
(13:28):
to get this job done. I was really serious about
my job. And I think that a lot of people
when they come in they think, oh, this is super
fun and all the stuff, and they're ready to party
with actors. And you could do that too, but that
just wasn't my mindset. And so when I started here,
there had been an industry here.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
For a while.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
I mean they were shooting like the heat of a
night here and things been happening. But starting around the
time of atl and all that stuff, when we were
shooting Roll Bounce and atl and all these movies here
Stomp the Yard, all of the supervisors that were coming in,
all the people in charge were all people from la
and from New York. There was no homegrown Atlanta talent
here like in terms of crew, And so I just
(14:03):
kept going from one show the other, just really busting
my hump, just really doing what needed to be done.
And I didn't have to keep promoting myself and talking
about it. People just saw it and they kept hiring me.
And then when it came time, BT was doing a
lot of stuff here, a lot of television shows, and
so I was working on a movie at the time.
In the UPM and I had become friends, and so
another UPM called her and was looking for a recommendation
(14:24):
for a local supervisor.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And literally they.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Were only two in town, and so you know, they
were like, oh, well, I know this girl, and she's
not a supervisor, but I think she could do the job.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
And she had no idea. She didn't tell me about
her anything.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
This woman called me out of the blue, was talking about, oh,
well this UPM told me about you, and I was like, really,
I said, but I've never done this before. She was like,
but she thinks that you can do it. She thinks
that you're you know, that should be you'd be great
at it. And I was like, okay, okay, I'll give
it a try. And that show was second generation Waynes
with the Waynes voice, and so I came on and
(14:59):
started doing that show and literally got there in the
first day. And I had been working as a customer
for a while and I was like, oh my god,
I don't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So every day when I'm getting.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Into my office, I would call a supervisor I had
worked with previously and I would be like, okay, so
I got the job and I don't know what to do.
Like and I was not afraid to go call somebody
and say I don't know what to do, Please help me,
you know, And they were gracious enough to really because
I busted my behind for them. They were gracious enough
to answer my call to give me advice, to tell
(15:29):
me what to do, you know. And I just kept
doing that until I finally started getting the hang of it.
From show after show, I'd be like, I'm in this position.
I don't know what what should I do next? You know,
and they always helped me. So it's that work ethic.
If people sees that, and you know.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You could feel your heart too, you know, like you
could feel your heart the sincerity, like I would help too.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
What do you need?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
You know, you definitely feel that. There were two things
that I wanted to say. One when you were talking
about before you said multiples, I was going to say
is like, especially I did Cheff with Buster and the
scene with Jeffrey Wright where he's like, you know, you
should have killed me and he's stabbing himself with the
ice pick and the squids are going off in blood.
(16:11):
You know, they had like thirty white shirts in the wardrobe.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Ready to say this is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
But that's why I give kudos to the director producers,
the DPS. However, my favorite department in costumes because when
everything is in sync and the conversation with the directors
in sync and the actors meaning actors, you have a
wardrobe fitting. When actors I always tell that when you
know your characters so well, you should be able to
go a wardrobe fitting and say, no, miss younger, this
(16:41):
doesn't work for me because my character would never wear
skinny jeans because they're blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
You understand that communication, right.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yes, yes, that is so important.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
I mean what you said that is so key because
a lot of times actors will come in and think, oh,
I just want to wear lubatons. I want to, you know,
like I see this fancy stuff. I want to be
able to put on this label, in that label. And no,
but you have to understand who your character is. Like,
if you're coming in here and you're playing somebody who's struggling,
you're not going to be wearing palm angel jeans. Like
it's just not you know, you could not afford. I
(17:14):
was watching The Shy and I think at this point
this season, the character Trigg he becomes Victor and he's
like now trying to be respectable on the politician and
he's not dealing anymore. And so there was a scene
where he was in front of a crowd and he
was talking and they have been struggling, and he's wearing
this rich fresh suit and I look at the suit,
and I'm like that suit, like literally, because we got
one on the show that we're working on now. It's
(17:36):
like eight thousand dollars, and I'm like, this character can't
afford this suit. And maybe most people who were watching
the show wouldn't even know this, but because this is
my job, like I'm looking at this like this is
so incongruent. He's supposed to be struggling and poor right
now and he's wearing the suit that's like literally at
least eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
And I also love how I don't know the conversations
other than at production meetings. I'm used to being in
production meeting and you know, go in department by department. However,
I would think that the cinematographer may or may not
be involved because there are so many times where I
love how there's a scene I can't remember this movie,
(18:15):
I have to find it, but there's a scene where
it's like four white women. The camera is from the
person who opens the doors point of view.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So when the door.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Opens, you see these four white women standing next to
each other comfortably. And it's a period piece, like let's
say the forties. Behind them, we can tell that it's
fall autumn because the trees have changed. And then when
you come up to really look at the women the
way that the costume designer created it, they all have
(18:46):
a different hue of fall where it doesn't blend into
the background but almost makes it feel three d ish.
So do you have conversations with the director about colors
and textures of clothes.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yes, so I'm mostly supervised. I do design on occasion.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I'm mostly supervised, but I am in on the conversations
that the designer will have with the cinematographer, with the director.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I mean, so on a lot of the shows I
work on.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
What I'll do is I'll set up a meeting with
the director to just sit down and talk about like
what their vision is for a character where they see
things going, what is their economic level, you know, what
is the background and say like, okay, I want to
make sure that nobody has on anything pattern, you know,
so that way they're kind of just blending into the background.
And so it's really just you know, I want them
in hues of brown or gray or whatever, so that
(19:36):
way they can really just be background fodder and not
distract from the main characters. And with the colors like
what you're talking about. You have to have a very
you have to have a very close relationship with the
production designer to know what colors are you using and
will these colors then work with what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I think in costumes.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
What's really great is that it's helped me in production
in general, because I have to be talking to everybody.
You know, my department really touches every single department. We
need to talk to the lighting directors to see, you know, okay,
what are we doing for lighting for these characters. So
for example, the show I'm on right now, I'm on
a Will Packer project called Praise This, and we have
(20:13):
a lot of stage performances, and so you know, we
have to talk to the production designer and the lighting
director about what they're trying to do, what mood they're
trying to create, so we can know what to put
these characters in who are going to be performing on stage,
you know, So that way it's not clashing that if
they're having bright white lights that you know, maybe we're
not going to have our team in bright white because
it's going to be too much of an explosion for
(20:34):
the camera, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
So it's different things like that.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
And when you're talking about period pieces, a lot of
dps don't like us to put black people in white
on a period piece because there's too much of a
contrast on the skin tone versus the clothes. So they
like they prefer cream colors instead of a bright, stark white.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
So it's a lot of different things that you have
to talk about and bring together.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
And one of the things that as a costume supervisor,
how do you suggest in terms of actors finding like
you kind of deal with two people, right, you deal
with the actor the person that you deal with a character,
but you work with a lot of celebrities and you
work with the main characters. I want you guys to
(21:16):
know this, She's not dressing extras. I just want to
be very very specific here. You spend a lot of
time in thought and imagination and connecting the dots. But
as a person, because these people go to premieres, do
you also end up consulting them on maybe what to
wear on the red carpet? Are there suggestions that you
(21:37):
may have for the actor the person just to you know,
keep their style together.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
So usually what will happen, especially with celebrities, is that
they have their own personal stylists that they work with.
Sometimes for a certain show, we'll have actors who will
be like, oh, I'm going to a comunities.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We can can I borrow something?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
You know, And so we might help them out by
lending them a piece of wardrobe or something that they
have in their closet.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Generally, well, we never.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
We never give them anything that they would wear on camera,
but we may have pieces in their closet. And when
I say closet, you know, just like we have a
range of clothes for them to fit and try on
to see where it might work in a scene. And
so it might be something that we have that isn't
necessarily something that we've said Okay, this is going to
work in the scene or that scene. So it might
be an extra piece of clothes. So we'll call that
the closet. And they may ask like, oh, I've got
(22:23):
a premiere this weekend, can I borrow something from my closet?
And we might you know, lend them out something like that.
But generally, most of the bigger name actors have stylists
that they work with, and we'll provide something. You know,
a lot of times we'll have a relationship with their stylists.
Like I usually call the actors before we even get
started to schedule their fittings and things like that, you know.
And so some of the more a talent they might
(22:43):
have me just call their stylist or you know, call
supervisor or designer they've worked with on a past show
to get their sizes, because a lot of times they
don't even know there's like call my agent or my
manager or whatever. But I'll talk to somebody about like
what sizes they wear, what kind of things to look
good in, what cut, what brand? Whatever? Do you think
you know really works with us, And it just helps
(23:05):
us to know their body type and what works for them.
And so that way when they come in for the fitting,
we won't have things that are just random that you know,
waste our time in fitting. We really want to be
efficient and have what we need in order to fit them.
So the fitting is not three hours long and we've
only got one piece of clothing, one outfit for them
to wear. We want to have like as much as
we can done in our first fittings.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Oh, I got talk to you all day, mummy, seriously,
Like you know, I'm looking at some of the Texas
or the chats here, and I know the actors that
are on right now are learning, but I just want
a big, big, big super time you up.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I want to super super big you up.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Because I don't really believe that people know how intricate
your role is.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
They don't.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
I don't even think that the upms that I work
with understand what I do, honestly. Like sometimes I was
talking about this the other day, I was like, I
really feel like, you know what happens in our department
is the designer because the designer's out front gets like,
oh this alid and it's you know, things go great.
Then it's like, oh the designer's amazing, and things go wrong.
Thepm's call on my phone like what is going on
(24:10):
in your department?
Speaker 3 (24:10):
How come this? How come that?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Blah blah, And I'm like, oh, it's great. Like so
I get all of the flack and she or he
gets all of the praise.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
That's like me moodique Like, as a casting director, we
find the talent or we recommend somebody, the director, the producer.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
If a camera falls on set.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
When I was on New York kin to cover, I
swear to god, they would call it blame us for it,
Like got blame for so much stuff, and it's like, Yo, Cassie,
you know, but I want a big blup. I do
because one of my I spend a lot of time
with the costume supervisor on New York Undercover and learn
(24:54):
so much randomly, Like it wasn't like I wanted to.
It was just like I loved him. His name was
Rich and I used to just go on the truck.
And then as I started to coach celebrities, I would
go to their wardrobe fitting and they would ask me
to go and then they, you know, just be trying
on clothes sometimes just to try them. One I'm like,
your character would never wear that, you know, or I
(25:17):
guess you know, you should ask for blah blah blah
blah blah.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
And then you're in a position to have that conversation
because you can't. Everybody is not going to have this
once again, extras people that are day players, even day
players do have fittings, but there's a conversation that's so
different when you really have done the work on your
character that you can really have with Monique, and when
you've done your due diligence and so I just want
(25:42):
to say, big ups woman, throwing roses at you. I'm
giving you all your acculate elbow yuga, And I know
that everything I know other people appreciate loving your work too,
because that's how you work.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I appreciate that. I really I love my job. So thankful.
I'm so thankful, I really am.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
It's great to be able to go to work and
do something that you absolutely love, you know. And we
have hard days like everybody else, you know, we struggle
about different things, but honestly, like I'm so I thank
god that I found this because I just don't know
what else I would do if I wasn't in production,
you know. And like I've done some surprising for a
(26:26):
long time now, and I want to move into other directions.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I'm writing a lot more.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I feel like when I found I found my voice
and now it's like it just won't.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Shut up, which that's a faunimal thing.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I love that, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I love what you say. I tell stories, I watch people.
I root for the underdog. I am the underdog, like
I love that. And I came to New York in
eighty three. So when you talk about how is Queen's
my daughter's dad, my ex husband manage road manage on DMC.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
So you to be back.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
When I first read your bio, I was like, oh
my god, but she looks.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Like thirty, So like, what are we talking here?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
You know, you look great, You're have an amazing plethora
of work and we're so proud of you. Hold tight
because when we come back, we're going to do class
and session and we're gonna we're gonna get some more
insight from Monique. Okay, we'll be back to Spirited Actor
Podcast with me Tracy Moore, and we're going to.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Do class in session.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
You are still blessed to be in the presidence of
Monique Younger. Hey y, hey y, Costume Supervisor Extraordinaire. Please
check out her IMDb dot com. It's ridiculous, Okay, ridiculous.
(27:57):
So we are going to go right into class and session.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I'mited.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I'm gonna turn it over right now to el Silathan,
who is our casie director on deck. She's gonna bring
in some spirit actor ogs that are going to do
a scene for you.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
Hello Elsa, Hello, Hello everyone. How Are you welcome, Monique.
It's a great interview. So today on Classroom Session, we
have two of our Spirited Actors. Of course we have
now og miss Monat Charis and our first time are
(28:31):
on the Spirited Actor podcast Miss Amaya Holly.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Okay islay breaking.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
Today's scene is the sales Floor, written by Dana Keel.
Interior retail clothing store michaela late thirties folds haberdatary and
other men's clothing items.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
When Amina mid twenties approaches.
Speaker 7 (28:57):
Hi, Okayla, right, yep, what's up? Before the store opens?
I was wondering if I get some tips on working
with customers.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Didn't you go through the training?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I did? But it's just what's your name?
Speaker 8 (29:14):
Amina?
Speaker 9 (29:15):
And I was just wondering.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
You know, I'm Meana. Listen.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
I am a sales associate, not a manager.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I don't really train.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
The job's not hard. Just pay attention to be nice
to people and you'll be grateful.
Speaker 9 (29:33):
You are a senior associate with lots of experience, and
I just thought.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I thought I had time to retrain you.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
Sometimes I get a little nervous talking to strangers and it's.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
Not that, but you know, so you thought.
Speaker 10 (29:50):
You should take a job in retail. You may want
to rethink that. I mean, come on, it's ridiculous this job.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
I'm a student teacher right now, which really only pays
enough for the rent but nothing else.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
All right, and pH these shirts?
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 8 (30:17):
Just just watch me.
Speaker 10 (30:20):
Okay, you're gonna right hold it up, and now you're
gonna folk one side in and then the other right.
Speaker 8 (30:30):
You're gonna drop that neck down my bed. I think
I got it.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
This is my first real job and my parents are
divorcing and things are really tough right now.
Speaker 8 (30:55):
My mom, no, listen, I understand.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
Just do your best and you'll always when I promise,
and not bad on the folding.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Taylor finally cracks a gentle smile.
Speaker 8 (31:15):
I've been on my own for a while.
Speaker 11 (31:18):
I had a great, great stepdad, but he passed away
and it's been tough for me and my mom for
a while. I've been doing this job and saving ups
so it can help me go to community college.
Speaker 9 (31:35):
Okayla, my last name is King.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Mina pulls out of print. Help cool.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
My last name is Brooks. My stepdad adopted me when
I was young. I have his name.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
They both continue to fold shirts.
Speaker 9 (32:02):
Tayla, your last name was King before you were adopted.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
How do you know that?
Speaker 6 (32:11):
Amina shows Michaela the print out, she becomes emotional.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
Us or sisters. We have the same father.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
My mom said he left for the militaria and never
came back.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
She she told me he was she was pregnant, but he.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Never never.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (32:45):
I took this job because I found out about you
and I wanted to find you.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Amina hugs Michaela hard and sobs Akela surrenders and returns
the hug.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
See all right, I'm gonna throw it to you, Monique.
So whatever feedback you want to give them, they're open
to it.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Okay, great, great job. I really enjoyed that I could
feel the emotion towards the end. I want to know
at what point I feel like there was a supposed
to be a switch in Money's attitude, but the motivation
for the switch, I felt like it came from the
(33:32):
script and didn't necessarily feel like it came from a Mina.
And you know what I'm saying, So like I feel
like there had to be something there in your emotion
and your word that made her attitude switch. And I
didn't feel that. I felt like her attitude just switched,
but it wasn't motivated by I mean as words.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
I agree that that actually was going to be one
of my notes. I think that in understanding the full scene,
now I seeing Amaya, your choices as this character are
not to get this job. Your choice is to regnite
with your sibling, your family. So it's a different motivation
(34:21):
and desperation of you needing to get this job, not
because you need this job, but you know why you're here.
Always say this, Monette Monique. I always say this that
if we don't have the luxury Monique Younger of waking
up and looking at your nightstand and grabbing Monique Younger's
(34:43):
day and going through Oh I'm going to have this dialogue,
Oh I'm going to talk to these we don't have that,
but your characters do. And so because of that, you
guys read these scenes from beginning to end, so at
the end we know the scene is not about her
getting a job.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
It's about this recon mention here.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
So I'm saying, Amaya, you need to change your motivation,
and that's going to help and I think I'm so
behind you Monee. There is there that transition, there's a
shift I didn't I was trying to figure.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Out did I miss an action? But that that needs
there needs to be clarity there.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
And I apologize Amaya, I said your name wrong, but yes.
Speaker 12 (35:28):
I appreciate it. I definitely definitely makes sense though what
you were saying. There definitely has to be more uh
intent behind right.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yeah, once I understood it. Once we once you guys
got to the end.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
But at that point, I was like, I was trying
to figure out where it was going and I couldn't,
you know, I just couldn't figure out where the story
was going was heading to. But I definitely felt like,
you know, the transition in emotion. It needed to be
motivated by something other than just your words. But I
had to feel something there. A great job otherwise, excellent.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Thank you so much you guys, Gonay Maya, and ladies
and gentlemen, once again, please put your hands together for
Monique Younger.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Yay, thank you for having me. Thank you so much,
you just have.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
You can come on anytime.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Seriously, when we come back, ladies and gentlemen, I am
going to give you some love on the Spirited Actor
podcast with me Tracy Moore, and now it's time to
give love.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I don't have to explain myself.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
My frequency is very common and is open to anybody
to tune in. We just recently wrapped another successful season
of Inside the Black Box with my co host Joe
Morton and some of my friends that came on the
show as guests. We're shaming me on reading the telepropter.
(37:02):
Shame made me and two of my really dear friends
who I will not mention their name. They were like, Tracy,
Joe is such a pro and they were like, Tracy,
this teleproctor, Like how you feeling about it? Or come on, Tracy,
you're an acting coach. When I tell you the pressure
(37:25):
that these two people put on me, and then I
thought about it, right, I was talking to my showrunner,
this guy Andrew Lombardi, right, and I said, Andrew, I'm
being shamed by the guest. Who are my friends with
the telepropter? And he said, Tracy, that's what the telepropter
(37:45):
is for. And it was at that moment that I
no longer heard the shame that some of my friends
were trying to put me through. I actually felt very
proud of myself that this is not my area of
expertise of being in front of the camera. However, I
(38:06):
was working at mastering that quality, that skill, and I
felt blessed to be in the presence of someone like
an Emmy Award winning Joe Morton to be able to
study from. So don't allow people to judge or shame you.
Go inside and reinforce who you are to yourself. For yourself,
(38:33):
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 with me Tracy Moore. I look
(38:55):
forward to our next Spirited podcast.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Thank you.
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