The Spirited Actor - Stephen Hill

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Episode Transcript

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

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

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

(01:08):
means you ain't doing nothing now. The last thing an
actor wants to do is waste time. Time is so
precious and the business because everyone has a timetable. A
casting director is under a great amount of pressure from
the production to find talent for a project. They don't

(01:28):
appreciate their time being wasted. It is imperative that you
respect other people's times so that they will respect yours.
Today I will be conscious of my time and how
I use it. Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with Me,
Tracy Moore and today's guests. I want you to put

(01:51):
your hands together for Magnum p I CBS TV. Magnum
p I s Stephen Hill. Yeah, listen, that's just one
of his credits and I before we start the show.

(02:12):
Welcome to the show, Stephen. Thank you for having me.
Of course, Stephen and I we have history. We go
back to I was trying to figure out the year today.
I'm not going, okay, two thousand and six. I probably
had one great hair much. Oh my god, you were

(02:34):
Prussian New York, Russian New York, and I just started
working with Terence and Roxy on one of six in
Park I met your girlfriend, who was a lawyer in Houston's,
the restaurant on Park Avenue, and she told me about you,
and I said tol him to come to my class

(02:56):
and he came to my class. Wow, remember that about that,
because when I met you, Stephen, and to this day,
I could say this when the first time I met you,
when you came to the class and I saw your work,
and I was like, no brainer, you had not only
were you talented, but you were groomed as um and

(03:18):
poised and a lot of times. And I say that
because work ethic matters, you know, training matters. And to me,
when I met you and in my conversation, you embodied
all of that. And I was like, Yeah, it's just
the opportunity, that's all. We're just waiting for the opportunity.
So tell us how you get started. Tell tell our

(03:40):
our our audience what your journey has been. So I
was always profoundly into movies and didn't know that I
wanted to be an actor. I thought I was gonna
be behind the camera. So I went to Hampton University
in two thousands. January two thousand, I got there, m
go to register for my class and I wanted to

(04:04):
study cinematography. So I go to register the classes and
they're like, oh, we don't have cinematography anymore. And I
was like what, And they were like yeah, yeah, we
haven't had that for six years. And I'm like, no,
it's right here in the catalog. What are you talking about?
And they were like they grabbed catalog. There was like, oh,

(04:25):
somebody sent you an old catalog, like, uh, come on,
so day one it was it was Shenanigan's right. But yeah,
so but Hampy University, if you've ever been there, is
probably one of the most beautiful campuses of an HBCU.
You know, um, it's surround about water on three sides.

(04:46):
It was, you know, sixteen seventeen women to every guy.
I was like, yeo, I'm not leaving this you black
utopia that I just found. Like it's no way go.
I was like, I gotta figure it out. And they
were like, well, you can take mass media and you
can study photography. So I did that. But while I

(05:09):
was in in in school, I started doing a bunch
of modeling. You know how black schools I like to
have a lot of fashion shows, especially because where you
bring your own clothes to the fashion show, it's really
just a popularity contest. I started doing a bunch of
those fashion shows, and uh, at the same time, I

(05:29):
was working at a Star, the store called in the
Zone and it was like a hip hop store, like
right outside the mall. And uh this was when like
you know, in Fat from Baby Fat wasn't even out yet.
It was like fat Farm and nietch Uh Mark Echo,
you know, like all PMB Nations, like all of those

(05:52):
clothing brands. But it was a guy based in Virginia
named Ralph Reynolds and he had company called RP fifty
five at the time, and so he would come in
and because he was right in Virginia, he would bring
for all his clothes and I would be like, put
me in your ass, because you know, I would just
sit there all day and look at five and the
source or whatever, right, And he was like yeah, alright,

(06:16):
alright whatever whatever right. And then one day I was
doing a fashion show and we had a bunch of
his clothes. So he came to the fashion show. He
was like, yo, this dude, you got such a crazy
response from the audience. I was like, yea, I told
you I'll do these fashion shows, right, That's what I do. Yeah,
that's what I do. I told you. So I just

(06:37):
so happened to have a photograph that that. Another one
of my photography class students photo of myself. So I
took it out of your pocket. It was like wrinkled
up and everything. I put my number on the back
and I gave it to him. Two weeks later, he
gives me a call. He was like, YO, you're ready,
has a booming voice but out friend of Yo, you're ready. Yo,

(06:59):
We're gonna shoot this weekend. And I'm like, oh, So
we go shooting. And a couple of months later, I'm
in the Vibe the source double XL magazine ads right
like literally in the first ten pages of the magazine,
wool adds to myself and I was like, yo, you

(07:20):
know what I mean. You know, I didn't get paid.
You know, I think he paid mends something, but we
had a hundred dollars. Yeah, yeah, yeah, your exposure was
crazy exactly. But really what that did was that just
sent my confidence through the roof. I felt like I
could do anything. And then I graduated and started doing

(07:44):
your modeling in New York. Came back to New York.
Um in two thousands. You know, So now I'm in
New York and I'm trying to make it and the
modeling is not popping off like that. I think I
did a couple of little shoots, a little runway here,
and I did a little cany on Mary J. Bliss
family a fair video and then I was like, this

(08:05):
is not cool. And I reached out to my friend Binkie.
She's a prolific choreographer, right, so she was like, you
stay some acting classes and I was like, oh man,
how do I do that? And she was like, uh,
I heard about this class the school called Black Nexus.
You should try it, okay, And I found black Necks.
They didn't advertise, so I found them. M I've been

(08:29):
at it ever since, which is now Black Nexus is
uh Susan Bathford Studios to say, for those I have
been doing it ever since and then I think I've
met you maybe three years after that, and uh, you
know that was that was the journey. That was the beginning.
I flipped it from modeling tack. But you know, I

(08:51):
always say because I've worked with models before, um I've
worked with Tyson Bedford and um Cynthia Bailey, and with
modeling you have no words, but you're saying something because
we're gonna go out and buy that shirt or we're
gonna get that perfume. So when you transition which seems

(09:12):
like a normal transition to me into acting. Now we're
giving you words because you do go into some sort
of character in selling whatever it is. Just you know,
at the HBC use modeling gigs, you had to sell
the clothes that you were already wearing on campus, so
you know, you really had the chips was stacked against

(09:35):
you from you had to do something. That's why we
gotta do all of them turns and twirls at the
end of the that's on a show, you know what
I mean? Well, I mean it's great that you were
able to have that type of transition and then when
you started because I UM, a lot of us in

(09:57):
the industry coin you as like the Independent Short Film
Award winning like you are that actor. I think I
counted was it forty short films? Probably? Yeah, Like I
barely turned anything down when it came to people get

(10:21):
mad too. I got that's their filmmakers. That's still don't
talk to me because I was like, no, I don't
want to get shot in the head in your in
your short Wow, already in the game for ten years.
Any want you to play a role where I look
up and say and get shot in the head and
I'm like and then they'll talk, you know more. Yeah,
So what was your journey? I love you said, you know,

(10:42):
I didn't. It's about to work and not turning it down.
But what attracted you to short films because it really
became a staple in your career early on. You know,
you just out there looking for work, right, you just
taking classes And I was taking a lot of classes, right,
And that's why I always tell people. You know, some
people can afford to have a private, right, but when

(11:07):
you're in a class setting, you start to develop this
family and somebody's like, yo, they need somebody over here
to shoot this, and you know something heard of if
you were just taking a private So I would hear
about things in class. You know. I had a step
brother that was kind of like like further along in
the game than I was, and he kind of beat

(11:30):
me the game on doing student films. And the thing
with the student films is you do one everybody, the
diet is going to get you water today, the film
next week. So if you like doing a good job
and you're like easy to get along with, not on
speaking ship, they'll call you and say, hey, man, um, yeah,

(11:51):
you did a good job last week. Um yeah, I
was the guy who got your muffin in the morning. Um,
I'm shooting my film in two weeks and I got
this role and think you will be perfect for you
know what I'm saying. If you know, you roll right
out of one film into another film, and you were
in that community, that m y U Columbia community, you
were in there. So I did n y U Film

(12:12):
Columbia film. And then after that you get to the
film festivals, yes, and the film festivals you start to network,
you know, and then you get in another short because
you were at this film festival or whatever. So I
always stress on the show and to our listeners the
importance of training, you know, because I have a lot

(12:35):
of casting directors my friends that come on the show
and talk about and give insight and tips, and they
really talk about the work of character development. And that's
the thing that I love about your work is that
all of your work stands in its own right because
you've taken the time to really create that character and

(12:55):
it's not Stephen Hill. It's like, oh God, Stephen Hill
did a great job. I forgot it was, you know.
So what is your approach towards these characters. Well really
for me, it's it's kind of like, what's that movie
is like the highest grossing movie of all time? Avatar
mm hm, So you know, an avatar when he gets

(13:16):
into the to that make that avatar matrix or whatever,
and the tale goes into like the Tale of the
you know, I don't know, flying Horse, but they had
to be a connection, right in order for them to
actually use whatever that horse was or whatever, they had

(13:36):
to actually have like a synaptic connection. And for me,
that's kind of like what you have to do when
you're building a character. It's not necessarily becoming someone else.
Is you have to find your connections to that character,
you know what I mean, And you just got to
find more of yourself. So if you know, I hear

(14:01):
a lot of actors say, like, yo, I'm becoming someone else,
But the reality is you don't really become someone else.
You become more of yourself and you unlock levels or
pieces of yourself that you may not normally you know,
show to the world or even to yourself. Right, So

(14:22):
like it that's you know, do you play a villain?
You know on my show? Even as you know I
played the good guy. They say I'm the moral cos
I'm the moral compass of the show kill people. You know,
I'm still like you know, I'm still killed the guy,
you know what I mean? A couple of people and
pail one guy with like a like a board with
with some nails in it, you know. Um, But so

(14:44):
how do you how do you do that? Right? I've
never killed anybody in real life, you know what I mean?
But you have to find whatever that connection is that
allowed that your character to do it, you know what?
And you would have would have allowed you to do
that as well. Mmm, so you have never killed someone,

(15:05):
however you were able to find where do you go? How?
What is that process for an actor who doesn't have
the experience of their character. Well, one is the context, right,
you have a lot of contexts Um, why is this happening?
You know? And we are actually very desensitized to certain things,

(15:26):
you know. It's the the entire package of the film
leads the audience. Right, in one particular film, you can
kill one person and if the package that it comes
in is justusful to care about this guy that you
killed now saying oh we killed them, Oh my god,
I can't believe like you care about the other guys

(15:48):
that you know about him, you know backstory, you know that, right.
But then and another thing, you can walk through a lot,
you're shooting up a hundred guys and you don't care
about none of those guys, right, So I was just
you know, it's just like the matrix, You're just trying
to get up, go to go rescue Morpheus, Like, who
cares about all of the rest of these little dudes
that you're killing? So it's, uh, it's really a lot

(16:11):
of it is the story. You know, In my opinion,
I think it's you know, it's story. I like when
you were saying desensitized, I find that and working with
not all women, but a lot of women. And I
have this discussion with Mrs Jelisa, who's on there. They
are so strong. Society grooms them to be so strong.

(16:33):
So when you are teaching, when you're working on a
scene that requires vulnerability, just sort of chiseling through that
strength that they have to that persona they have to
have going outside in the world. It's a big adjustment,
you know, it's a big adjustment. And so when you

(16:54):
say desensitized, I just think, like, you know, sometimes I
feel like women not all women, female actors, but there's
something going on where there's a detachment. And I feel
like in teachings that I'm really tapping into the vulnerability
and and and getting actors to understand what vulnerability is.

(17:19):
You know, you have to be president at the moment,
but I just feel like you, as an actor, you've
always been vulnerable. Your work has always come from place
of truth. It's always come from a place of you
just show up. You know, you know, uh intimacy, right,
you can always Susan always calls it the into me sye.

(17:40):
So it's really you know, we study something call a
private moment that is designed to allow you to to
learn to be private and public right, And the reason
why you do that is when you get on set,
you know these intimate moments that for the audience it's

(18:01):
two people, you know. We just last week's show, I
got a nice little love scene and a little love
scenes actually, and both of them seem like it's just
me and my love interest. Right. One one where like
overlooking the Pacific Ocean. No, you know, they do a

(18:21):
long aerial shot. There's no one in sight, there's no cars, no,
nothing like one of my secret spots on the island
right and the other, and we stand there and it
looks like we're alone, but in reality, there's a guy
with the boom mic that's like really kind of hitting
on my nerves because it looks like, you know, out
of periphery, the peripheral vision, I see like it looks

(18:44):
like a cat is down there messing around on my feet,
you know. And then you got uh, somebody over here,
you know, making a little bit of noise, and then
you get somebody phone go. You know, all of these
things are going on, and it's like, how do you
create this intimate moment all those things going on? And
so that's where the training comes in. And even the

(19:07):
training doesn't really fully prepare you for being on because
you do it in class where you know your coach.
You have this great rapport and your coaches like, hey,
how are you. Your coach is giving you sprinkled up,
you know what I mean, and you getting all this
love and you feel so warm. It's like you go

(19:30):
to your grandma house. You're gonna you know what I mean,
You just feel warm there, right, and your your classmates
are chairing you on because they just scared that they
gotta go next, you know what I mean. And they're
just like, oh, you gotta do your thing, you know
what I mean. And you feel great, But when you
get to set, it's a director that you just met
in an actress. Actually, we did the kissing scene from

(19:54):
last week. I had to kiss this woman two hours
after I met her. M you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah,
But everybody's like, you guys have so much chemistry, chemistry, right,
we were just good actors because I had just met
her two hours before, and so you guys didn't have
any rehearsal. Now, there was no, there were no. I've

(20:16):
never had a kissing rehearsal. I've had rehearsal. Right, Typically,
at least for TV, the pace is very fast. So yeah,
you know we're on location. We're going a lot. Let's
talk about CBS. Let's talk about CBS Bangna p I
because it's a classic. I grew up with Magna PI,
So so happy you were casting that show and you

(20:39):
shoot in Hawaii. That must be rough. It can be.
It can be. Sometimes we do a lot of splinter
units where like so on this show, I'm four in
the call sheet, so there's Magnus one. Obviously Higgins to
uh Rick character is three and for right. And so

(21:03):
there's a little something toy called I learned this when
I got here. I didn't really know. But there's the
a story and its right. Um, if they wanted to,
this could just be the Magnum Show and we just
are his cast of characters that he pulls some plucks
from whenever he needs. But um, the way the writers

(21:23):
are writing this story is, you know, there's a brotherhood
amongst Magnum and Rake and TC. Dope played by Dominic
Glabon Doozie, you know that comes in and flashbacks. So
we have this brotherhood. So these characters have are being
fleshed out. Lucky me, they're being fleshed out so that

(21:47):
you care about them more, which also you care more
about Magnet, you know. So it's just like you know again,
it's the story, is the package and the way these
characters are developed that makes you care about it. All right.
So yeah, we're out here and we shoot on locations
some some sets, and it takes us about seven or

(22:08):
eight days to shoot an episode. How long after you know,
don't you don't count the hours? You know, like you know,
because one the island that we're on is thirty miles
one way and forty miles the other one, so not
a big item, you know. So when you're not working,
it's like, Okay, I'm going home. I'm I'm homeless right
across the street, you know what I mean. It's weird.

(22:30):
It's like you never really go home. It's like summer
camp for something, so you might want to. You know,
one of my castmates, Zack Night and he um surfs,
so he always just you know, surfers just always want
to be in the water. They can't help himself, you
know what. So he sometimes it's itching. You know, it's

(22:51):
as amazing as if that's how you know surfers or surfers,
because it's amazing as the opportunity we have. Sometimes he's like, damn,
I just wanted to surf right now, you know. So
he might count the hours because he wants to wait.
But for the most part, man, you just kind of
you know, and I guess because I don't have like
a family to come home to him, not not gonna
have like a baby at home. He just had a baby,

(23:13):
so I would count the hours. Then most part I
could put into a fourteen hour day easy and not
even Yeah, I love that. I love those type of sets.
There's you know, some rigorous uh stunts that go on there.
Are you a part of all the stunts? Do you
do all of yourself? You know, I'm six to two

(23:35):
hundred and seventy five pounds and there there's maybe five
black people in Hawaii, you know what I mean, there's
there's not we don't even get a percentage point, Like
there's not even a one percent black, Like we're a
slit with like just a line on the chart, you know,
not even like a piece of piece of pie or whatever.
So for them to find me as as a stunt

(24:00):
guy is kind of hard. So they fly a guy
in Zedric, my boy Zedric. He flies in from uh
l A when they want to, you know, do some
stunt work with me. But for the most part, my
stunt work is in the chopper. So they do all
these rigs and they film me as though I'm flying

(24:22):
u There are a couple of scenes where I'm actually
in it, and it looks like like in the opening
credits where you actually I was like Steven had helicopter lessons.
I didn't know, but I was like you fly really well.

(24:42):
So there's really a guy right next to me that's
really flying it, but it looks like I'm flying. Yeah,
you know. That particular day though, he did let me.
He was like here, you know, and I was just
like whoa, you know, like, uh, it's it's interesting. I was,
you know what, I was afraid. M I booked this
because I'm afraid of heights. Mm hm. So I was like,

(25:06):
I can't tell them I'm afraid of heights. They're gonna
fire me and get somebody else. There's no way, and
you're not gonna be in the hood. How mother do that?
But the funny thing is from start to finit that
whenever I'm in that helicopter, not afraid at all. Wow,
just and applied most of the time with no doors
on the helicopters. Yeah that's a little scary too. I'm

(25:29):
telling you every time, I couldn't watch it for a
minute because my heart was just it was too much fraid.
I can't take it. So again, these interviews fly by, yes,
I mean almost. I need some pearls from you. I
want you to you know, whatever you think is something

(25:51):
that these aspiring actors working actors out here listening. What
do you want to give them before you leave? Keep going,
just keep going. I've been putting up a little photos.
Like just the other day, I was watching Cadillac Records.
Yeah yeah, shout to Winston. Claire Winson called me one

(26:13):
day and she was like, hey, hey, um, why don't
you uh you have stunt experience. And I was like, uh,
I'll do whatever. You know, once the mine would beat
me up. Whatever, I'll do it. Whatever, and she was
like all she sent me two kind of being background
and uh me and Germany sample Who's you know? That

(26:36):
was one of his early credits. He actually referred me
to my um stunt guy and Jeremy is a great
friend of mine now. But we were beating up Adrian
Brodie and Cadillac Records. So I was watching it on
Netflix the other day and I paused it and you
literally you can see you can see the shadow of

(26:57):
me in the background, you know. And I remember being
so excited to go see that movie. I was like, oh, wait,
do you see competing up Adrian Brody? You know what
I mean, I'm doing my thing and then all you
see is the shadow of me, right, But I kept going,
so you know, these are all just cool stories that

(27:18):
you can tell later. And you know, after doing that,
you know there was some amazing actors in that film obviously,
but then and Darnelle was on the show. She's been
on the show. Yeah, but who knew. A couple of
years later, I would spend two weeks working with Jeffrey
right on The World Empire, you know, and because he
was in that film as well, So I would just say, literally,

(27:41):
keep going because it's not about the town, like, it's
just about the opportunity. And I got it. Oh, I
gotta say this because you know me, I'm a Black
Film Festival the fiction Ado, and you just know you
don't know where your blessing is gonna come from. Because
I just knew. I was convinced I was gonna it

(28:03):
was gonna be Spike Lee, it was gonna be John Singleton,
it was gonna be somebody a brother, was gonna be
like that dude that keeps coming back every year, every
standing ovation that's winning the war, that dude is gonna
you know what, dude, come on over here, you get
this little role that is that never happened in about

(28:25):
sixteen years of acting, and never I never got like help,
you know what I mean. Like I was like sitting
there like yo, I'm like the prize pumpkin, like pick
me up, Like what's going on? You know what I mean?
And it never happened, So I will say keep going
into to also just know that your blessing can come
from anywhere, anywhere. Yeah, well, I know for a fact

(28:50):
that you are our blessing today and I'm so grateful
to have you on the show and to know you
as a friend. I'm eternal, be grateful. Stephen is one
of those people that held me down when Miles got
hit by the cars. And that's when you know, you know,
because I was like, yeah, we're gonna we could always

(29:10):
work together. But Christmas Day you came to the hospital
because we had just arrived there, so that was really peace.
I'm gonna invite you back on the show because we
still have more to talk about. But I just want
to thank you, Stephen Hill. Give it up for Stephen Hill.

(29:30):
I'm gonna start this new thing that whenever I have
a platform, even if i'm you know, they're not gonna
call me for that. They called Magnam for that. So
at some point I'll be on some talk show or whatever.
For my opinion, I'm gonna start shouting out unknowns or
people that deserve some praise. So so when we found out,

(29:52):
I'm gonna shout out to Lisa Kupri because she's a
dope actress. I've seen her work. She's super vulnerable. You know,
she got the water works, you know what I mean
going and you you want to go on a journey
with her when you see her acting, So I want

(30:13):
to shout her out. And there was one other guy
that I just watched his real last night and he's
dope and he knows how to spell Stephen correctly. So
I want to shout out Stephen Coldfield Jr. Okay, I'll
go back there, and I looked at his real last night,
so he's top of mind right now. I just want
to always shout out somebody that that's so fierce. Thank you, Stephen.

(30:37):
We appreciate love that. And when we come back, we
will have class in sessions. Stephen is going to stick
around and who'll have the opportunity to give some notes
to one of his favorite actresses. Our jist, So Capri,
thank you. Welcome to The Spirited Actor Podcast with Tracy Moore,

(31:01):
and we are blessed to have Stephen Hill is still
with us. Ladies and gentlemen, give him around the blaws. Yes, Steven.
So we are now doing class in session and we
have our Spirit Actor alumni lean A motto Hey and

(31:21):
Stephen Hill gave such a beautiful tribute to our Spirit
Act alumni, Miss Julissa capri Hey. Class in Session my
favorite segment. So what we're going to do is, ladies,
I'm going to read the slugline and the action. You

(31:42):
guys will read the dialogue, and then Stephen is going
to give you some insights, some points, and then you
guys will read it together again. Okay without without me? Okay,
here we go interior Kate's apartment night. Kate opens the
door to let Vicky in. Kate looks like she's been

(32:04):
through it. Oh my god, what's wrong? Oh it's not
a day? Well, what happened? What did happen? My car
broke down? I had to take a bus and rain
on my hair. I left the kid at school. But
I'm sure you saw the eviction dos on the door him.

(32:27):
That is a day? What stop go? You want me
to to talk? Right? Oh? So another time I don't
even worry about it, girl, just thrill it. As Kate
pours a big glass of wine for Vicky, here goes,
So do you remember that guy Derek you dated like once? Yeah,

(32:52):
but when I got to wear got away. Yeah it
was one day. Yeah, but I'm the king she immediately.
I mean it was so deep. M hm. Well do
you think he felt it too, since you never heard
back from him? Yeah, most definitely. I mean he was

(33:12):
just why I wanted to get it. Cat shrugs it off.
But she's all excited. Now why is he looking for me? Oh?
Is he? I mean when you brought him up? Oh,
it was like nothing, just I'll come on time. Uh well, um,

(33:35):
he like he asked me on a date. You Yeah,
I mean I'm just coming. Sure. It was okay since
we were like young back then. It was nine months ago. Damn,
oh it was. You know, it's fine, go me, don't

(34:01):
worry about me. I'll just be fine over here. Are
you sure? Yeah? But if you ask, I'm still in
a little spot. Cat wakes, grabs her glass and confidently

(34:22):
walks out of the room. See that's a cute scene,
you guys. Okay, I'm gonna hand it over to you,
Mr Hill, all right away. Hey, I was trying to
take notes, but then it's hard to do, you know,
like trying to watch and you know, so I really
didn't really take notes and just try to watch. MM,
what could I offer on that? Not a whole lot?

(34:43):
You know. It's it's weird because we're not in like
a class setting. Yeah, this is like I really hope
that this is not the new world, like we gotta
do all this time stuff all the time. Well, I
hate you. We'll get right, the technology will get better.
Everybody is gonna have professional lighting and cameras and and

(35:04):
microphones and stuff. Right. Uh, But I would say back
when I was auditioning a lot, you don't you feel
like you only have a little bit of time. But
then when you're on set, right, Like so, like I said,
it takes us about eight days to shoot an episode.
We shoot twenty episodes, so we we basically do like

(35:28):
ten feature films a season, right, But in that you
you get more comfortable and you often know more about it,
your character than it directed us. Right. And the reality
is when you go in to see a casting director,
a lot of times you know more about that character

(35:48):
than the casting director does because you've already you probably
be been brought into the same type of characters several times,
so you may have already played a character like that
several times, so you have more experience with that character
than they do. So you can come in as though
you're the expert, not them, right, because they just got

(36:09):
a script and they probably read the script right. They
may have that one up on you that they actually
read the script as opposed to you reading your sides.
But take your time. The room is your time, so
you don't have to feel like, okay, she said her line,
I gotta say my line now, you know what I mean.
Like you can feel those lines before you even say

(36:29):
a word. I would say, Ja, Lisa, when you first
come in you had that day, it's like, man, you
know you you know you can take your time before
you even open your mouth, you know, but you're telling
the story. We know it's yes, something happening. You didn't

(36:51):
even said it yet, you know, but it's like, what
was that day? Like it's just like you know somebody,
you know, you feel that energy when they come in
that room. It's like, oh man, I'm in trouble now,
I don't know what's going on. It wasn't wasn't a
good day at work. You can tell by the way
smoke comes in. It's not the line, it's there there.
Their whole order. Their action when they first come in

(37:12):
to your moment before will help with that. But in
your line, it's talking about all those moments before. So
you come in and take your time because what happened
is on set. You can take your time with that
kind of stuff anyway, And if they want to take
air out of it, they'll take air out of it
when they edit me, you know what I mean. But

(37:33):
for you, your performance will be better because you're allowed
to breathe a little bit. So I would say, let
both of you guys, let them lines breathe a little bit.
Take your time with it. And in terms of the
technical aspect of it, I can't really show you because

(37:55):
the camera's on the computer, but I tried. When I'm
when I'm doing self take, always try to put my
script close like up and close to the camera like
right besides the so I make my script the reader,
you know what I mean. So it's like if I'm

(38:15):
reading the script, I'm still reading that script, but that
is also the person I'm talking to. So it keeps
me point from always looking down at right, but if
you do have to look down to the page when
you take that time, Yeah, that's how you look down

(38:36):
at it. It's like you make looking down at like yeah,
so what's going on? You know what I mean? So,
like you know, it's it doesn't it's it's not a
technical thing. It's you incorporate your reading it into performance
in a way. I don't know if that makes sense,
but no, that makes sense. It makes a lot. That's
a great point. That's a really great point. And still

(38:57):
being able to have the script there you guys, Yeah,
but I'm Stephen. Your vision must be like yeah, you know,
you don't know when I put that, you know, So
what I do. This is one of my little secrets
when I have a reader. I have my reader telepromise sometimes,

(39:17):
like if I don't have those lines, you want to
if you as much as you can, you want to
memorize your lines. But sometimes you might have you know,
if you're lucky enough, you might get three and four
auditions and one day and you got you know, I
don't have that talent. Some people have that talent. Yeah.
The hardest thing for me is to memorize lines. That's

(39:38):
the absolute hardest thing for me, because you know, the
the way I was taught is you gotta explore the
character and all of this stuff before you even look
at the lines. So, uh, just taking lines out of
context and I don't even really know what's going on
even understand the story. Sometimes you get it. You'll get
an audition and you're watching a movie or something. You're like,
this looks familiar for some reason. Oh don't you for this.

(40:02):
I had no idea. I know why I didn't get
it now because I didn't understand this story, you know
what I mean. So I would say, you know, when
I have someone telephonem, I blow it up. You know,
not that my eyes are great. I have them like
blow it up, and I have them, you know, and
I control the pace. I might be like, yeah, go
a little faster, you know, you know, we kind of

(40:23):
you know, hurry up to the next page or whatever,
and they'll read. They'll be off camera reading. That's how
I have to make the page what I'm talking to,
you know what I mean, because the actor I can't
connect with the actor that's reading. Most of the times,
you gotta get anybody to read for you anyway. They're terrible,

(40:46):
you know what I mean. They're not an actor anyway,
so you you might not be able to get a
connection with them in the first place. So you know,
and it's just like when you get on set, you know,
the other actor when it's your coverage. I mean, we
at care of each other like that. Sometimes they'll have
to stand in do it or you know, you know,

(41:08):
sometimes just because the camera can't get into a place
or something, you might have to They have some of
the cameramen they have um little velcrow uh pictures of
the other cast and they'll put like so it'll be
a little tiny little Jay on the side of the

(41:29):
camera so that you know that you're talking to Jay,
and like where on the camera to look right? Well,
Jay might be over here reading the line, you know
what I mean, or standing might be reading the line
over here. So um, you kind of gotta get used
to those weird technical things anyway, you have to do
it more set Um. The only time you're free from

(41:50):
that is when you're on stage. So you know, the
technical stuff is it is what it is. You just
gotta get better at it. Catcha so because Stephen gave
us such amazing critique and tips were not able to
read it again. However, No, no, no, no, no, you didn't.

(42:15):
It's like no, like when we when you are giving
what I say are diamond and pearls and emeralds, then
I just want to let you go with that, because
that's the important stuff actors to actors. They need that information.
And one of the things that I think is lacking
in classes is teaching you how to work on set,

(42:38):
teaching you the verbiage, teaching you the relationship between um.
I was talking to her actors the other day and
I said, you know, I know the costume designer chose
those that wardrobe for you because that was their perception
in reading those size. But what if you say, no,
my character wouldn't wear skinny jeans because I have a

(42:58):
problem with you know whatever, whatever. But you've taken the
time to develop that with your character, not your costume designer.
But you definitely have the right to say no, that's great,
but my character wouldn't wear skinny jeans unless the director
forced you to wear the skinny jeans. You know, But
the more you do your work, the more you have

(43:19):
conversation about these characters. So I just want to thank
you Stephen Hill, from the depths of my soul. I'm
so happy to see your face and see you good man.
You gotta know I'm out here. I'm by myself, so
I've kind of always quarantined a little bit. You know.
It's like it's a weird world I'm in. I'm in

(43:41):
the twilight Zone where I'm on to show that's watched
by a whole lot of people. And but my like,
my tribe, my world, I don't see you guys, you know,
I know, Well, we gotta do something you guys to
like reach out to Stephen Hill, you know, will get
some Dorian messics and son and zoom or something doing

(44:04):
hit me up the other recently, don't you hit me up?
So okay, alright, so alright, see the energy I'm thinking
of the right people in you up so and and
get a melon address so that we can send you
some letters. It's something man like. Yeah, soon as time.
But thank you so much, Steven. I really appreciate that.

(44:25):
I appreciate love you getting up and giving us some wonderful, wonderful,
valuable information that the actors can take and and really
take to heart because you're an example. You are an
example of a true working, successful actor, Stephen Hill. Ladies
and gentlemen, thank you, and we'll be back with the

(44:50):
Spirited Actors Podcast with me Tracy Moore. Forgive love, and
now it's time forgive love. I know I have said
this before and you will hear me say it again
as long as I have a platform. My producers, Spruce
Henry says, you gotta get your mind right. I love

(45:14):
when he says that because the brain is the most
powerful instrument that we have as human beings. And if
we work every single day holding a vision that we're
going to get through this and we're gonna be better people.
We have time to nurture our relationships, to catch up
on reading, to paint, to enjoy time with our family.

(45:38):
And the biggest thing right now for me is really
enjoying my time. My time to do my own hair.
I have to do my own face, you know, prepare
myself for my show. But it feels good to take
care of yourself. It really feels good to like focus

(45:58):
on you know what. I'm going to give myself a
facial tonight, Like it feels good. So we need to
make sure your mind is seeing something positive at the
end of this tunnel, and you're seeing the light. It's
important for us to every single day get your mind right,

(46:18):
and I would keep telling you all that those are
the wise words of Mr Spruce Henry. Thank you for
joining us on the Spirited Actor podcast with me Tracy Moore.
I look forward to our next Spirited podcast. Thank you