Why Talented Actors Sabotage Their Own Careers—The Psychology Behind Success & Failure

What drives talented actors to sabotage career-changing opportunities? How does the psychology of performing artists shape their success or failure? Talent agent and psychologist Albert Bramante pulls back the curtain on these questions and more in this fascinating deep dive into the entertainment industry's hidden dynamics.

As the "white sheep" in a family of athletes, Bramante found his true calling not in sports but among creative people. His journey from aspiring actor to founding his own talent agency provides a unique window into Hollywood's inner workings. With his dual expertise, Bramante bridges the gap between the business and psychological aspects of performing careers, a perspective that led to his book "Rise Above the Script."

The conversation explores the shifting landscape of entertainment, where character actors like Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Coolidge now find themselves increasingly in demand. Yet the industry faces unprecedented challenges – from the lingering effects of the 2023 strikes to the looming threat of AI replacing voiceover artists and background performers. The sobering reality? Only about 3% of Screen Actors Guild members work regularly enough to qualify for health insurance.

For aspiring performers, Bramante offers valuable insights on breaking into the business, explaining the crucial difference between agents and managers, the importance of building credits through student films, and why persistent relationship-building matters more than ever in a rapidly evolving industry. His practical advice on overcoming psychological barriers through techniques like hypnosis provides a roadmap for anyone struggling with self-doubt.

Whether you're a performer, industry professional, or simply fascinated by the psychology behind creative careers, this episode delivers an honest, unfiltered look at what it really takes to succeed in today's entertainment world. Subscribe now and join the conversation about the challenges and opportunities facing performers in Hollywood and beyond.

Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.

Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth


DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.

Episode Transcript

Carmen Lezeth (00:04):
Hi everyone.
Welcome to All About the Joy Inthe house is Cynthia Ruiz Lopez
, rick Costa and our wonderfulguest, albert.
I'm going to say your namewrong, so let me just see if I
did it right.
Okay, albert Bramante.

Albert Bramante (00:20):
Bramante.

Carmen Lezeth (00:22):
Bramante.
I'm so sorry.
Albert Bramante, it's so niceto meet you.
I always tell people where Imeet them so that our audience
knows.
I've never met you, your peopleor you reached out to me on an
email.
I kind of did a little Googlesearch and I was like, oh,
here's a Hollywood insider,let's have him on the show.
So we're not big Hollywoodpeople.

(00:43):
I work here in the industry.
Rick and Cynthia are fans.
Is that fair?

Albert Bramante (00:49):
enough guys.

Carmen Lezeth (00:49):
I think that's fair, yeah, and we criticize
every movie and television showthat comes out.
So there's that, okay.
I really want to talk to youfirst about why you found your
way to Hollywood, why talentmanager and why psychologist.
So let's first talk with whyHollywood.

Albert Bramante (01:09):
Well, I was always interested in creativity.
I don't like to use the wordblack sheep, but I'm the white
sheep of the family.
So I was, uh, I'm the youngestof five, so I have three

(01:29):
brothers, one sister, andeveryone in my family my father,
my cousin, my uncle, mysiblings were all athletes.
You know that wasn't morefootball coaches, baseball
coaches.
I had zero athletic prowess,ability or interest.
Okay, I loved books that was mysanctuary books, and so what

(01:56):
led me to.
But I was always interested increativity as well and sort of
performing, not necessarily as a, an actor, but I was interested
in just you know, the wholething about creativity.

Carmen Lezeth (02:10):
So in high school , so you enjoyed molding other
people, or you were also anactor when you were younger.

Albert Bramante (02:17):
Sort of I was an aspiring actor for when I was
younger.
Okay, I really wasn't afull-time actor, I loved being
around actors.
Now I was in high school, I wasin a drama club in college.
During my undergrad I majoredin psychology, modern
communications, and I took, youknow, three you know theater

(02:38):
classes as electives.
Two of them were actor-related,One was on the theater in
general and I really enjoyed it.
Those are like my favoriteclasses.
And then I went to grad schooland after that I found myself
working in New York City aroundthe time of 9-11.

(03:00):
And so I did some volunteer workwith some people.
I was working also in thesocial services nonprofit sector
, but I was also doing somevolunteer work and I found
myself working with some artists, foundations and artists groups
and advocacy groups and Ireally enjoy being in, you know,
being around them.
You know I remember what'salways should be an actor and I

(03:23):
I did it for two years.
I was in a couple ofcommercials, a couple short
films, okay, and but what Ifound was I really didn't enjoy
it, but I enjoyed being aroundactors.

Carmen Lezeth (03:36):
I totally understand I understand
creatives.

Albert Bramante (03:40):
It was just.
It was like this these are mypeople, this is my tribe, and
felt I feel comfortable withactors and creatives rather than
academics, because I did theacademic conference route for
years and I always found them tobe boring and snooty, elitist
Okay, which I'm not.

Carmen Lezeth (04:01):
Totally agree.
We don't want any emails.
You can send them all to albertwatching our show.

Albert Bramante (04:11):
It's all good yeah so and and I just I yeah, I
didn't feel I was a part ofthat, but I felt such at home
with these actors and and justeven creative people who like,
like filmmakers and and you know, and non-actors, but you know,
people that were in the industry, writers I just felt that you

(04:32):
know at home and so I wanted tostill work with them, but not
obviously not being an actormyself.
When I was also acting, I wouldmeet actors, you know, befriend
actors on set and I wouldactually be showing them casting
calls and saying that I thinkyou'd be right for this role oh

(04:55):
okay, so people in our audiencewho don't know what a casting
call is.

Carmen Lezeth (04:59):
I know it might sound very obvious to those of
us in the industry, butbasically it's a notice that you
get from the studios or fromwhoever's doing a film, or if
you know New York, you're in NewYork, right.
So it'd be like whateverCasting call would be a sheet
that comes out and says all ofthe shows that are available and
all the actors they're lookingfor and you should come in to

(05:20):
audition is pretty much the gistof it.
They want everyone who's abrunette five, six or above or
something like that and you knowif you can sing and tap, dance
or something like that andeveryone should do that.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (05:32):
They did that here in Boston when they
were looking for extras forWalking Dead.

Carmen Lezeth (05:38):
Yeah, so extras are a little bit different.
So casting calls can be both,but usually they're looking for
he's talking about, likeprincipal actors or people who
character actors, so peoplecoming in to do a role, probably
on a TV show, yeah, it was, andyou know none of them were not
open calls but you still hadlike were places.

Albert Bramante (05:57):
You had to submit your ad shot and resume
and then you were invited toaudition, if they thought that
you were a match.
But I was finding it was like,oh, you should submit for that,
you should submit for that.
And a couple of actors said,wow, you could be my unofficial
agent.
And that made my wheels startturning.
Okay, so, and then I startedhelping you know behind the

(06:19):
scenes.
I volunteered at a filmfestival.
I was part of the inauguralRebecca Bloom Festival in New
York.
I really just enjoyed it.
I was put together on actingpanels at different film
festivals.
Wow, I realized I love actors.
The natural question is whydon't I rep them?

(06:40):
This is 2004.
I started my first company.

Carmen Lezeth (06:46):
Was that Emerge Talent?

Albert Bramante (06:48):
Emerging Talent .

Carmen Lezeth (06:49):
Yes, emerging Talent Okay.

Albert Bramante (06:51):
So I did that up until about 2020 during the
pandemic, and at that time Istarted partnering with another
agent and we combined companiesand became Bonafide Emerging
Artists which I had for threeyears after that.

Carmen Lezeth (07:09):
So I'm going to interrupt a little bit, because
can you tell people what atalent agent does?
Because I think people getconfused by talent agent and
manager.

Albert Bramante (07:17):
Sure, they you know the lines have blurred a
little bit over the years.
But agent is does day-to-daywork, so like we'll find that
the you know breakdowns, likethe casting calls or
professional things to film tv,theater, commercial projects.
Basically they're filming inthe new york area or that are

(07:38):
casting out of new york and thenwe we match our actors for
those roles.
Now, a manager is someone who'smore hands-on, so they're the
ones that would be theconsigliere of the actor the
confidant, the one that helpsthem with choose classes, choose

(08:00):
headshots, branding materialsand all of that stuff.

Carmen Lezeth (08:07):
They do more big picture career stuff.
The agent actually hustles toget you the actual job and
audition.
So you would be like Carmen,you need to go.
This is, you know StevenSpielberg, blah, blah, blah,
whatever.
And you would send that out andI would go to that audition.
A manager would be like wedon't know if you want to work
with Steven Spielberg, blah,blah, blah, whatever.
And you would send that out andI would go to that audition.
A manager would be like wedon't know if you want to work

(08:27):
with Steven Spielberg, which inthat moment I would fire the
manager, because who would itwork with?

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (08:33):
Look ahead, albert, yeah, or?

Albert Bramante (08:36):
they would at least say, okay, they would work
with you and say, okay, youwant to work with Steven
Spielberg?
Here's what you need to do,right, here's the steps you need
, here's the portfolio you need,here's the materials you would
need.
It's more of a, like you said,the big picture, and they
sometimes will communicate withthe agent, whereas myself, I

(08:56):
mean, we do a little bit, we doa lot of career consulting.
Not as much because, again, myfocus primarily is to find work,
right, right and which for theactor right.
So if I had conversations allthe time and did more of the
handholding, I wouldn't haveenough time to be an agent,

(09:18):
which would then take away thebottom line right, right, which
makes total sense.

Carmen Lezeth (09:24):
So I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure because
you know I didn't want this tobecome just all about acting.
I really want you to get intohow you got into becoming a phd
in psychology.

Albert Bramante (09:34):
But I digress, I'll let you keep going so it
was like, kind of like, becausemy partner had modified artists,
I, then you.
We merged together for threeyears.
We did that and then, you know,there were a couple of other
reasons besides.
I just wanted to change.
So that was during the writer'sstrike and the screen actor's
strike of 23.

(09:55):
I decided to rebrand my agency,go back on my own and I started
Bramante Artists, which wasfounded January 1st 2024.
And I did that to be a littleprofessional, because while the
emerging umbrella worked for mefor many years, that was not the

(10:15):
message.
Anymore I'm not working withestablished artists and most
agencies operate out of theirname, the names of the owners.
So that's why I was like thatwas my decision to, you know,
change it to Vermont Artists.
You know, for many years Iworked with emerging talent and
most of the people now that areon my roster are not new actors.

(10:37):
They look like character actors.

Carmen Lezeth (10:40):
It seems like you have a proficiency to work with
up and coming talent andcharacter actors.

Albert Bramante (10:46):
Yes, yeah, I work with all types, I mean, but
I would say 80% of my rosterare character actors, right,
however, the character actorsaren't more in demand now.

Carmen Lezeth (10:58):
Oh, of course they are, I mean, but maybe we
have to and, albert, I'm sosorry.
I just really like to make sureour audience, who doesn't
really know, this is not to actlike my audience is dumb because
they're not.
Our audience is amazing.
No, they're not, I'm also justtrying to get a refresher for
myself.
I'm just using the audience asan excuse.

Albert Bramante (11:19):
I work too.

Carmen Lezeth (11:21):
So can we just distinguish between what a
leading actor would be and acharacter actor and why those
two are so important?

Albert Bramante (11:28):
and what you mean by the character actor is
probably more in demand now BobSchell, or even the attractive
brunette, or the leading man,you know the attractives.
Brad Pitt, you know, you know,like Tom Cruise, you know those

(11:54):
types would be consideredleading or Hollywood actors.

Carmen Lezeth (11:57):
Leading actors are tend to be someone who
supposedly can carry a film or aTV show on their own.
Yes, they tend to be someonewho, like, is a Denzel
Washington, right, or you know,he's older but still kind of
that whole they can carry a filmand a TV show on their own.
You probably know their name,you know.

(12:19):
So that's a leading actor, sogo ahead, albert.
Character actors.

Albert Bramante (12:21):
Yeah, now, character actors are those that
are, you know, maybe offbeat,quirky.
You know, average can beoverweight, average can be
everyday people.
Everyday people, but they'rebecoming more and more in demand
, and an example that I thinkyour audience can relate to is
Steve Buscemi.

Carmen Lezeth (12:41):
Yep.

Albert Bramante (12:42):
Steve Buscemi.
If you look at him, he's adefinite character actor.
Very specific, very niche typeof actor or George.

Carmen Lezeth (12:52):
Wentz, who we just lost from Cheers.
He was absolutely a characteractor.

Albert Bramante (12:59):
Not only that, but Farley, for instance, would
be a character actor, and it'sthose types of actors that are
starting to become more indemand.
Like you know, steve Buscemi isnot a character actor, he's a
leading actor.
He carried, you know, tv shows.

Carmen Lezeth (13:17):
Or how about Jennifer Coolidge?
She's you know she's acharacter actress who now is
kind of in demand ridiculously.

Albert Bramante (13:27):
Yeah, and there was like an expose I forget
which publication, but she wassaying she found much more
success in later life than shedid in her earlier years.
So it's really aboutcapitalizing on that.
So I like working with alltypes.
So if you look at my roster, Ihave every ethnicity covered.

(13:50):
I have, you know, from kids toyou know, performers over 80.

Carmen Lezeth (13:56):
I saw your roster .
I went on IMDb, I did myresearch.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (14:04):
I have a quick.
I have a quick question.
So do you only look for talentfor movies and TV or do you also
work for like Broadway, or isthat separate?

Albert Bramante (14:13):
no, I do.
Broadway national tours, cruiseship entertainment,
entertainers.
A lot of times there's Broadwayshows that are on cruises as
entertainment.
I book some of those.
I currently have two clientsright now.
One is on a tour of the Addedto Family musical, another was

(14:35):
on tour of Annie the musical, anational tour.

Carmen Lezeth (14:39):
That's really fun that you're doing that.
I mean, the way you're talkingabout being a talent agent makes
it actually kind of fun,because usually in this town
I'll just let you know, in thistown we don't love our agents
Because we're always like whyaren't they getting us to work
Well?

Albert Bramante (14:56):
you know I get a lot of that.
I'm not going to lie, but Ithink you know.
The one thing now is theindustry has changed yes, you
know, drastically In the past 10years and five years completely
, yeah, to a point where it'stotally different than what it

(15:20):
was five years ago.

Carmen Lezeth (15:21):
Right.

Albert Bramante (15:22):
So there's a you know, kind of a recession
right now we're in, and I thinkthat's where a lot of actors are
getting frustrated with theiragents and their managers
because we're struggling tooRight, right now, right.

Carmen Lezeth (15:38):
Right.
Well, you have no idea aboutthis because you don't know me,
but now we're going to be bestfriends.
I work for a lot of productionhouses, right?
So a lot of my clients own theproduction houses, so we don't
have a lot of work.
The work we're working on iswork we booked a while back,
because one place ispost-production, so you start to

(15:58):
see the dwindling when you'renot seeing the work coming in
because the movie's finished,right Cause we're at the back
end of things.
So it's really fascinating tosee.
I mean, when you say we're in arecession, you're talking about
the film industry.
It's.
It's really on its legs.
It's like everyone's trying topivot, everyone's trying to do
something different becauseHollywood's changing.

Albert Bramante (16:20):
Yeah, it's changing, especially when we
yeah, it's changing, especiallywhen we have you know, for those
of you who don't, you knowagain, not in the industry 2023
we had two major strikes.
Yeah, we had the writers guildstrike and the screen actors
guild strike, right, and theylasted a lot longer than we
anticipated and they also thefact that they were together

(16:41):
made it even like kind of like adouble punch there, and also
there was a lot of talk when itwas, when it was coming down to
it, oh, there's going to be abunch of work because it's going
to be, everyone's going to opentheir doors, it's going to be.
You know, be prepared.

Carmen Lezeth (16:58):
And unfortunately I haven't seen that right, and
that there's a lot that happenedtoo.
So I'm SAG, so everyone.
I wore my shirt on the showevery other time, right.
I think we were protesting, butI think also so we came off of
COVID, right.
So the industry had a littlepainful, like every other

(17:20):
industry, during COVID.
Then we had the strikes thewriter strike, the actor strike
and all the other little strikesthat were happening along the
way, and then after that, aijumped in.

Albert Bramante (17:33):
Yes, yes, this is.
You know.
You mentioned AI and it'sinteresting because, especially
if they're voiceover, industry,that feel is really threatened
right here, because you now havecompanies that are doing
AI-generated audiobooks, right,and voice cloning, and where's

(17:58):
the legality behind that?

Carmen Lezeth (18:04):
It's a tough one.
Yeah, I just spoke to a friendof mine yesterday, rob who was
he actually had a different takeon AI and voiceover work.
He had mentioned that he's likewhat, if you are licensing your
voice and every time they'reusing it you're getting paid for
it, but you don't have to dothe work?

Albert Bramante (18:23):
I'm like, yeah, but we're not there yet, like
it's not actually what'shappening that would be in an
ideal world and that's where I'mkind of hoping that you know
that sag.
You know really they the end.
The union has to lobby this,otherwise they're going to get
out of control, right.

(18:44):
And now you know we're talking.
I'm hearing chatter about oh,you're going to make ai movies
although I'm doing it.

Carmen Lezeth (18:52):
I just saw a clip on it on tiktok, google has
just introduced I thinkyesterday, the ability to to
make.

Albert Bramante (18:59):
They're making shorts and movies already with
crowds and yeah, it's scary,sorry, I just saw that to me and
, and I think what's alsothreatened is, like you know, if
you're, if you're an extra, youknow a background actor,
because now they're talkingabout, well, you can just cgi,
crowd seats right and thereforeit's it saved the production

(19:25):
lots of money.

Carmen Lezeth (19:26):
Here's the argument I'm going to argue with
you because, again, I had thisconversation with Rob.
Here's what he said he's likethe movie Ben Hur is a great
example of how they didn't havethousands and thousands of
extras right?
We've been manipulating crowdscenes forever in movies.
Ai is just making it easier howdo I argue?

(19:48):
That.
How do I argue that with him?

Albert Bramante (19:50):
because well, it may be making it easier, but
at the same time, uh are they?
You know what is that?
Why are the studios using ai?
Are they doing it?
If they're doing it, the samemoney.
What you know and I'm not, I,you know, I, I don't really have
a stake in this because I don'twork with background actors you
know, so I can't but I what Iyou know, I am concerned about

(20:14):
that when I because I even heard, like you know, companies
saying that, oh, we don't reallyhave to hire background actors
anymore right, no, no, hey, I'mon team albert here.

Carmen Lezeth (20:23):
I agree with you.
I'm just saying I had thisconversation yesterday.
It was fascinating because, onthe one hand, I love AI Okay,
they've heard me on the showwith my AI.
I love AI, yeah.
On the other hand, we're in aplace where we don't know how
it's going to fit in and whereis creativity and how does that

(20:46):
work?
You know, how do we, as humanbeings who are creative artists,
still be creative artists inlieu of ai?
You know?

Albert Bramante (20:55):
yeah, and, and I my position is I love ai, but
we definitely need to have somesort of break, a little bit like
some breaks on on it orcontrols on it.
Or regulations there should be,regulations yeah, regulations
yeah.
Before it can get out ofcontrol.
That's not going to happen.

Carmen Lezeth (21:14):
Okay, wait, I want to shift back for a moment,
because we lost our way intoHollywood and we got a word from
Albert how did you get?
Into getting your PhD inpsychology and how does that
help you and your actors andwhat you're doing?

Albert Bramante (21:28):
today.
So you know I already had mymaster's by the time I, you know
, started with the whole actingworld.
And you know, even in highschool, I always wanted a PhD,
you know, and and that was likemy goal and so, and I think I
wanted to well, I mean, part ofmy motivation was to complete it

(21:50):
, you know, just for my own, myown, you know senses of the fact
, but also to kind of, I guess,please my family a bit, you know
, like, okay, I am notneglecting this.
And also, at the time I wasalso a college professor too,
okay, so I, you know I kind ofneeded that too.

(22:10):
So I was like maybe we'll justcomplete it.
I'm already like halfway there.

Carmen Lezeth (22:15):
Right.

Albert Bramante (22:15):
So I enrolled in an online program, walden
University, and this is back inin 2005 and initially was going
to go for a PhD in clinicalpsychology.
And then, you know, otherthings happened and I just
switched to straight psychology,educating more than educational
psychology.

(22:35):
Okay, so how I pitched it towas when I started my agency, I
was right around the same time Iwas starting the PhD process
and I kept running into an issuewith actors, and the issue that
I kept running into, or theconcern I was having, was money,

(22:57):
was self-sabotaging.

Carmen Lezeth (22:59):
Self-sabotaging.

Albert Bramante (23:00):
Okay, that's not just for actors though, but
yeah, go ahead.

Carmen Lezeth (23:02):
Right, we all self-sabotaging.
Okay, that's not just foractors, though but, yeah, go
ahead, Right.

Albert Bramante (23:05):
We all self-sabotage everyone you know
from all walks of life but I wasnoticing prevalently with
actors that somebody in themwere like blowing off auditions,
not showing up for auditions,Are you serious?
And I couldn't figure that outbecause I was like somebody acts
what kills for this audition,you just go off.
So I couldn't figure it out,but it was.

(23:26):
It was happening a couple moretimes the, the and I was like I
need to investigate this.
And the biggest one of the.
I think the one incident thathappened to me that had an
audition for somebody who had aserious regular role, for it was
one of the I think it wasnickelodeon, it was a series
regular role.
An hour before the audition Iget a phone call from her saying

(23:50):
I can't do this and she justhung up and I never heard from
her again and I I when I wasthen so fast forward to back to
the PhD when we started to play,we went to an in-person retreat
and we had to do ourdissertation like topic idea

(24:10):
because part of being a PhD, youhave to almost write a book.
Essentially, yeah, it's alarge-scale research study and
our advisor said you should doit from something that concerns
you, a question, and at thattime I was like what's wrong
with these actors?
That's great, I love it.
So I went into my advisor'soffice and I was like this is

(24:34):
going to go either two waysEither I'm going to get laughed
at or they're going to like it,yeah.
So I walked in there and theywere like this is great.

Carmen Lezeth (24:42):
Yeah.

Albert Bramante (24:44):
And that's where that was born.

Carmen Lezeth (24:46):
Is that where the book Rise Above the Script came
from?

Albert Bramante (24:50):
Yes, it was based on the outline and, you
know, on the dissertation.
I wanted to write a book foryears because you know, it was
like nine years after mydissertations when I published a
book.
So, as for you readers to know,dissertations are great but
they're not readable easily,Right?

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (25:11):
right right.

Albert Bramante (25:12):
You know my family and friends who were very
supportive of me.
You know like, oh, we wanted todo it.
I want to read it and I thinkthey were the first page and
they were done.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (25:19):
Like I can't .

Albert Bramante (25:23):
Understood, because to read it and I think
they were the first page andthey're done like I can't
understand because if you're notin the field that reads like
serio instructions, right muchit's like over your head.
So I was like okay, I want totake this in from the knowledge
that I got gained from it andput it in a readable format
right, so let me just also forthe audio.

Carmen Lezeth (25:40):
um, the name of the book is rise above the
script.
There's a subtitle to it,though, too, I didn't write it
down Albert.

Albert Bramante (25:46):
Sure it's confronting self-doubt and
mastering self-sabotage forperforming artists.

Carmen Lezeth (25:52):
Okay, so rise above the script and you can get
that on Amazon.
I have not read it yet, but Iam going to read it.
It has a lot of good reviews onAmazon, so I'm excited to check
that out.

Rick Costa (26:03):
I did read it.

Carmen Lezeth (26:05):
I have a question Wait wait.
You already read it.
Audiobook yeah, okay, go ahead.
Cynthia, you have a question?
Go ahead.
I'm sorry, wow.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (26:16):
So you speak about self-sabotage and you
know the psychology andeverything.
Sabotage and with you know thepsychology and everything.
So I know someone who will putexcuse me, put everyone else out
there and like, say this personis great, they should be in
this role, blah, blah, blah, butthey will not do it for
themselves.

(26:36):
Oh my god, you know what's soweird.

Carmen Lezeth (26:39):
I wonder why, the minute you started talking, I'm
like what I already knew whereyou were going.
You think I'm not going tofight with you on here because
we got a guest?
No, I'll just sit back on thepopcorn wait, wait she's

(26:59):
confused, albert.
I'll let Albert answer and thenI'm going to put it in my
because.
This is not about me, it's agood question.

Albert Bramante (27:05):
Here's the thing, though, and I think this
may be related to what you weretalking about we're very good at
promoting other people thanourselves, you know.
We're very good at tellingother people, you know the
accomplishments of other people,and it's like okay, now talk
about you and people freeze up.
That's one of the hardest stopinterview questions that usually
are asked is tell me aboutyourself right but wait, cynthia

(27:28):
, you think I freeze up.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (27:29):
That's what you think is happening with me I
don't think you freeze up but Idon't think you give yourself
the.
You know that whole like oomphthat you give other people yeah,
I, I think so, al.

Carmen Lezeth (27:43):
I just, I just feel like this is weird, but I'm
going to have this conversationright now.
We're going to do this.
Here's the thing I think youkeep you.
You keep confusing my um, notwanting to oversell something,
like you guys are such, you guyshype me up so much and I

(28:04):
appreciate it, but again, I'llsay it again those are
accomplishments that you thinkare accomplishments.
To me that's just been survival.
I have things on my list that Iwant to accomplish that I
haven't been able to accomplish.
So, albert, they get upset withme because I'm like I still
haven't done my you know sixthings on my list that I want to
do and they're like, oh, butyou've done all this, oh my God.

(28:27):
And it's like I'm not sayingall that stuff isn't valid.
I'm saying all that stuff iswhat you think is amazing and
great.
That's nothing that I went todo.
Does that make sense?
I feel like I'm about to get atherapy session.
Went to do?
Does that make sense?
I feel like I'm about to get atherapy session oh, my God yeah.

Albert Bramante (28:46):
I'm a little worried about the answer no, I'm
just like, because I'm like,I'm inclined to agree with them
actually.
Albert, it was nice to have youon the show.
But no, I think again, wedownplay the accomplishments too

(29:06):
, like, for example, even actorslike, oh, congratulations, you
booked the role.
And they're like yeah, I thinkthey just gave it to me.
No, you booked the role.
I see that happening a lot withlike, oh you know, you won this
award.
Well, they give an award out toeverybody.
No, you won an award.
Well, they give an award out toeverybody.
No, you won an award.
Take stock in that.
Now, there's nothing wrong withhaving a list of wanting to do

(29:27):
more you know and not settling.
I think that is definitelyvalid to talk about not settling
and having that list of six.

Carmen Lezeth (29:37):
You know six things, but do celebrate what
you do achieve and then say,okay, now I'm, now I'm going to
set up to do this on my listnext time.
Okay, great.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (29:49):
I want to know that this isn't his last
time.

Carmen Lezeth (29:52):
I'm just going to push back because it was.
It was, you know, towards me, Iknow, not you, albert, but I'm
just going to push back on mysituation just a little bit.
Just a little bit.
I think there's also adifference.
Right, living here in SantaMonica, I, I live here in
Hollywood.
I work in this town, right, not,I.
I am an actor, but I don't workas an actor.
I haven't done it for a longtime, okay, and as much as I

(30:13):
would love to still beperforming, there's a difference
between being the talent andthe business end of things.
And if you don't have the and,if you don't have the right
connections, if you don't havethe ability to, you know, go out
to audition three, four times aweek and, you know, have a roof
over your head.
Sometimes you got to make adecision, and that's a decision

(30:33):
I made was to work.
You know what I mean, the way Iwork.
So, in this town, because Iwork for so many high level
celebrity executive types, whatends up happening is you see the
actors that come in who are sopompous and so conceited, people
who walk like there's the otherextreme.
And and I have to tell you whatends up happening when, when

(30:56):
they leave the room, the castingoffice, when they walk out of
the office, whatever it is,people hate these people.
Like you hear the discussion,so it's a really fine line.
Like Cynthia, I know you wantme to walk around and be like
you know what.
Hey, hollywood, I got you Firstof all, not my style and

(31:17):
secondly, it's just because Icringe at the others, and you
see that more so than not.

Albert Bramante (31:23):
I mean, albert, you tell me what you think,
because maybe I'm wrong, but Ican see what you're saying there
and I think what that comes isyou know, there's a chapter in
the book where I talk abouttoxic high self-esteem, and
that's what I think.
What you're describing rightnow is the pompousness, theness,
the inauthentic.
That's why it's inauthentic,yeah, and it's fake and it's

(31:46):
phony and we can, anybody cansee right through that.
You know the fake and phony isand that's why it's not
attractive.
And and I the reason why I havea chapter in the book is
because I kind of correlate thatto self-sabotage oh okay, so,
cynthia, that's why I'm notdoing it.

Carmen Lezeth (32:05):
I don correlate that to self-sabotage.
Oh okay, so, cynthia, that'swhy I'm not doing it.
I don't want to self-sabotage,and that's her answer.
She's sticking to it.
I'm sticking to it.
We finally got there.
No, I'm just kidding.
How did this become about me?
Okay, let's move on tosomething.
Rick.
Don't you have a question forAlbert?
Don't you got something to say?

Rick Costa (32:27):
One thing I love about the book is that it's a
beautiful fusion of acting tipsand stuff and psychology stuff
and it puts it all together.
But also a lot of the stuffcould be applied to anybody like
, not just that Right.
Exactly, I think anybody couldbenefit from reading the book
and and that's why, even thoughI get written the book with

(32:47):
actors in mind, it was I wantedto put stuff in there that
really anybody can benefit fromyeah, and actually there was a
section, because we were justtalking about this I don't know
how many broadcasts ago aboutintroverts and extroverts and I
was like, oh, I'm listening tothis part because we just talked
about that and I was like yeah,well, I'm excited to read it
okay yeah, and the one you knowto kind of, uh, piggyback off

(33:11):
that.

Albert Bramante (33:11):
The one thing that I don't, I don't want to
say surprise me and I think kindof surprises people who are not
in the industry is howintroverted many actors are.
You know they can have thelarger-than-life personalities
on stage, on screen, but yetwhen the camera's not rolling,
they can be even shy andself-spoken, or even very

(33:33):
reserved.

Rick Costa (33:34):
Michael Jackson.

Albert Bramante (33:35):
Yeah, michael Jackson is like that, you know,
and a lot of singer-musiciansare like that too, where it's
just they when they're notperforming.
You know, they're, you know,very soft-spoken, very quiet,
and you may not see them at theparties and all that you know,

(33:55):
in the limelight.
They don't like to be in thelimelight, even though the
performers you know they'redoing it.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (34:01):
For why do you think that is, though, like,
why do you feel like whenthey're on stage or performing
they can technically bethemselves kind of, but once
those cameras are gone they'relike so reserved?

Albert Bramante (34:15):
Because they're performing, it's like being in
a state of flow.
We call this, in psychology, aflow state.
When you're in a state of likeeu, in psychology, a flow state,
when you're in a state of likeeuphoria, when you're doing
something you love.
So it's, you know, and there's,in this sense they're
performing or creating art, andfor them, that's what they love
doing.
So in their mind, they're allabout the creative process and

(34:39):
not so much about the audiencefeeding off the audience.
They're about really just doingwhat they love, which is
performing.
And when they're not performing, it's like they're not really
at home anymore.

Carmen Lezeth (34:51):
Okay, can I?
Just I have to.
So I was a dancer as a kid andI'm smiling because I was trying
not to talk, but we all knowit's going to happen.
I let you speak for a minute,albert.
But it's true, when you get onstage, it's like something takes

(35:12):
over you and you're just inthat mode of creativity.
You're not even thinking aboutit.
You know what I mean.
You have the butterfliesbeforehand, maybe thinking about
it because you're about to goon, but once you are there, it's
a whole other thing and it'smagical.
It's so magical like, as he'stalking, I was like, oh my god,
yes, I love it, I broadcastevery day and I broadcast right

(35:35):
after work and I take care of mymom who has dementia, so that's
a whole struggling of itself.

Rick Costa (35:41):
And here it is like about to go on and I've had a
horrible day.
But when that thing goes on,ding, now you're gonna get happy
rick, pleasant rick, um.
And it's not that I'm like, oh,you're being fake.
No, this is who I want to beand I'm trying to just drop the
other stuff and then it actuallyhelps me to become the happier

(36:02):
person.
I'm doing it, you know.
So it's not fake, but it's justsomething that, yes, I can just
turn it on.
But it's not because it's fake,it's just because, you know, I
can just set compartmentalize,like men love to do their
compartmentalize bad day, put itaside and then smile by the
camera, you know yeah, of courseit's.

Albert Bramante (36:20):
You're developing a persona.
It's like the musician is doinga persona, Acting is doing a
character.
You know a persona, but thereal you can just be.
You know, soft-spoken and quiet.

Carmen Lezeth (36:36):
Yeah, or crazy.
Rick is acting all demure andquiet today, don't know why.
Very interesting to see, allright.
Um, what is something aboutyour work that people
misunderstand?

Albert Bramante (36:53):
that's a very good question.
I think a lot of people eithertwo things, either think we're
jerks like we're all about themoney because you see, like the,
you know the ruthless agent, um, or that we, we go to parties
all the time and that word and Iwould say maybe I'll go to one
or two events a year.

(37:13):
The other time I'm working, youknow, 10, 12 hour days.
So, uh, I think that's the thebiggest misconception.
Misconception is how hard wework.

Carmen Lezeth (37:23):
Yeah, I think the other thing about agents, just
from my point of view, is likefirst of all, every actor that
comes to Los Angeles wants anagent and it's the hardest thing
to get an actual legit agent.
And a legit agent means someonewho actually knows the business
, can actually get you work anddoesn't charge you more than the
standard.

(37:44):
Isn't the standard 10 or 15percent?
10 for an agent and 15 managerfor manager.
Yes, right, but if you don'tknow, then you know.
People are scamming you and youknow, telling you all these
things and and and.
They're saying you need newheadshots.
You have to go to my friend thephotographer over here and get
the back end stuff so of courseyeah, so they kind of get the

(38:07):
sleazy reputation, but the factof the matter is you can't work
in this town without an agent.
You really really need one,unless you are, you know, the
daughter of steven spielberg orsomebody you actually really do
know somebody in this town.
You really need an agent.

Albert Bramante (38:22):
Um, so I think there's a bad reputation for
agents, but agents are actuallythe reason why you see a lot of
actors on television, the rightpeople and we are caring, and we
are working, and I think that'sprobably the biggest
misconception you know aboutthat is that we're called icy
people, you know, because yousee, like you know, like shows,

(38:44):
like entourage for instance,kind of demonize us a little bit
well, I think you are kind oficy.

Carmen Lezeth (38:51):
That's what I'm getting from this whole
conversation yeah, and thecruelty is just coming right I
know it's bothering me a littlebit, but you know we'll work
with it.
We'll work with it.
Um, what do you think is thebiggest challenge facing actors
today?

Albert Bramante (39:10):
I think what we just talked about the industry,
uh, the changing industry,changing landscape of the
industry, and just you know thethe instability of the
profession.
You, you know it's not anine-to-five job.
There's no guarantee ofemployment.
You know there's no.
You know we were working in thegig economy, from gig to gig in

(39:31):
a sense, so you're only as goodas your last gig.
So it's like you still have toaudition, keep auditioning, and
no matter how talented you areas an actor, you're going to
hear more no's and yes's yeah,every day, every day.

Carmen Lezeth (39:45):
I mean, I told these guys the reason why I
stopped pursuing acting.
First of all, for me, dancingand performing is very different
than acting, and so everybodywas like, oh, just go be an
actor.
And I was like, you know, it'snot like you just go and you
just start becoming an actor.
You know, know, but I did studyit, I did study with the best
of them or whatever.

(40:05):
But I think it's really hard toshine for me, like going into
an audition, like if you call meand you're like you have to go
to an audition and I have likean hour to get there and I'm in
traffic and then you get thereand all you do is you get these
sides being able to turn that on, that's a skill all in and of
itself.

Albert Bramante (40:24):
Sure is.

Carmen Lezeth (40:24):
That I don't have .
I admit it.
Right now I just don't.
You know what I mean.
But the places that I andCynthia I'm not saying it to
dismiss myself, it's just not myskill set.
I did it for so many years.
And the thing is, it's not therejection.
I grew up being rejected.
I'm good with that.
What I wasn't good with was notbeing able to be my best

(40:45):
because I didn't have thematerial for enough time, or not
being secure about it, becauseI'm not that fast with the
material.
But that's a whole other skillset.
But what's your thought processon that, Albert?
You?

Albert Bramante (40:58):
can yell at me.
Yeah, I mean, there issometimes a quick turnaround
time.
That was also part of SAGcontract.
The last round of negotiationswas to give the actors enough
time to prepare, but that wasjust recent.
Yeah, that was recent, but I'msaying it's because of that.
So that's definitely you know.

Carmen Lezeth (41:21):
I've had.

Albert Bramante (41:22):
Sometimes actors will get the same day
appointment and it would be likeeight pages of sides.

Carmen Lezeth (41:27):
Crazy, whoa, that's crazy so eight pages of
the script.
Cynthia, I don't know if youknow what sides are, but sides
are what you're given as anactor, um, to go into an
audition.
So they'll take eight, eightpages.
Well, they shouldn't do eightpages for like, if you only have
an hour.
Yeah, I mean, they can't doanymore but they used to do that

(41:48):
like you would get a call fromyour agent and they'd be like
carmen, you have an auditionlike in two hours.
Can you make it?
If not, can you go after workand wait, or you know they
because they want you to get in,because it might be, you know,
it might be a one line onfriends or seinfeld or whatever
it is.
You know what I mean.
Like so, but you would get theor a movie for me it was always

(42:09):
a movie and I'd end up get.
I'd be like sure I can make it.
I'd get there and they wouldhand me because, remember, we're
talking about hate to datemyself, but I'm about to, but
we're talking about when I gothere was like what, so we're
talking about?
When I got here, it was likewhat, so we're talking 96, 97,
98, you know what I mean 2000,whatever, it's very different
ball game.

(42:29):
So you would get your side, youdrive across town and then you
would have to deliver thisperformance without having any
background really on who theactor is.
You'd have to really be on yourtoes and I'm really one of those
people that loves to like getinto it, like I love the whole
best part of being an actor inthis town for me has been when I
have booked a role and then thewhole studying of the

(42:53):
background and who that personis, so that you can really do it
justice.
You know and find that part ofyourself, and for me it was the
theater performances that I didhere.
You know and find that part ofyourself, and for me it was the
theater performances that I didhere.
You know, I did the performanceof Nickel and Dined here at the
Hudson Theater and it was, youknow, I played eight different

(43:14):
characters and we had a hugecast and it was so much fun.
We're all still friends, thecast, we're all still friends.
But I had the ending monologue,standing ovation every night.
I'm still proud of that today,see, you see the thing I'm
giving myself up.

Albert Bramante (43:29):
There you go, there you go.

Carmen Lezeth (43:32):
But that's the difference To be an actor in any
town, but especially here in LA, you really have to have some
skills that I just don't havethose.

Rick Costa (43:42):
I don't have that skill, and I know that you know,
so as far as your business,forgive my ignorance, cause I
don't know, but is it morepeople seeking you out or are
you seeking them, or both?

Albert Bramante (43:59):
It's more of them seeking me.
You know as far as like.
You know as far as like.
You know as far as like,seeking talent, like getting
clients, usually actors arefinding the agents.
Um, as far as the, the jobs,there's a for agents and
managers, there's a servicecalled breakdowns that comes out
every day, you know, and thathas all the projects they're

(44:22):
casting, and then they have allthe roles that they're trying to
build.
So that comes out daily to us.
It's like a thing that wesubscribe to and it's on a
website.
We log in and we get theday-to-day breakdowns.

Rick Costa (44:37):
Do you ever have to refuse somebody that comes to
you?

Carmen Lezeth (44:41):
Yes, oh, they refuse.
A lot of people here's thething.

Albert Bramante (44:46):
It's not that we don't seek that out.
It's not like I'm trying torefuse.
I can only pick so many peopleon before, otherwise I'm not.
If I had thousands of people onthe roster, then all I'm doing
is saying well, there's a phone,speaking against the wall and
seeing what sticks, which is nota really good job of an agent

(45:08):
to do.
So we have to cultivate theroster and we also have to be
selective, that we don't want tohave five people looking like
each person, five of the sametype.

Carmen Lezeth (45:21):
That's going to be intercom the worst the worst
is going to an audition andseeing everybody who looks
exactly like you and thenrealizing that four of the
people there have we all havethe same agent.
You know what I mean?
It just feels, like becauseyour agent and you have a
relationship.
You know what I mean.
Like it's it's all aboutrelationships.
So, yeah, that does stink.

(45:42):
I hate that.

Albert Bramante (45:43):
Yeah, and, and it's again that that reminds me
about saying, throwing spaghettiinto a hole in that stick Cause
.
Then the agent is saying, well,I have one of the five book,
you know, and that's not a goodapproach to have.
So we have to be very selectiveand that, you know, and
typically, like for myself, Iget about a hundred, you know,

(46:06):
that are submitting forrepresentation and I might meet
with, like you know, five or tenof those out of that.
Maybe, you know, and then Imight sign one or two out of
that, you know.
If that so, it is unfortunatelyvery saturated.
You know industry, and it'seven more so in la than new york

(46:29):
, you know industry, and it'seven more so in LA than New York
.
Yeah, so we do have to,unfortunately, say no.
And you know, what I often sayis, like it may, it's never
really a no permanently, unlessof course you get on my bad side
, you know.
But other than that, it's neverreally a no permanently.
It may just be not right now,but you don't have enough
credits or I have again.

Carmen Lezeth (46:55):
I have too many people of your type and that may
change in a year, and alsothere are ways for people to get
auditions.
I mean, I got one of my biggestroles, the one that I was cut
out of after I filmed it.
But that was one of the mostdevastating blows of my life,
but I'm not bitter.
But my point is is I got thatrole on my own because actors
access is an offshoot ofbreakdowns, which is what he
gets as an agent.

(47:15):
So agents get breakdowns andthen actors access.
They send us the stuff theycouldn't book with an agent, or
stuff that doesn't matter orstuff that they're still looking
for, and then, if you have asubscription as an actor, you
will submit yourself and you cando that without an agent, you
know 100 and I did that and I Ibooked quite a few roles by

(47:37):
myself and then the agents come.

Albert Bramante (47:42):
That's a great position to be in.
You know like as an actor andand I do seek people out, though
sometimes what I'll seek peopleout is um, I'll go to a show
that a client is in a theatershow, and then there'll be a
couple other people that arelike oh, I really like this
person, right.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (47:58):
And.

Albert Bramante (47:58):
I'll ask my client do you know if this
person's wrapped and if not, canyou make an introduction Right?

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (48:04):
Yeah, you mentioned credits.
What do you mean by credits?

Albert Bramante (48:07):
They didn't have any experience.
What I mean by credits ishaving experience, speaking
roles in film and TV.
Even if they're little filmsthat no one would ever see, it's
still a speaking role that yougot from auditioning or stage,
even if it was a Blackhawktheater.
The fact that you have creditsor experience, you know

(48:29):
experience on the resume, thatyou're not just handing me a
blank resume.
Or another thing that I getsometimes, unfortunately, with
union members is I'll get youknow a union member who has like
20, you know 200 credits.
I'm not joking, somebodyactually had 200 credits, but
they're all background.

Carmen Lezeth (48:49):
Right, there's nothing wrong with background, I
just want to be nothing wrong alot of people who make a really
good living being backgroundactors.
But when you're submitting toan agent and when you're showing
someone your resume, you wantto show them that you've done
work at actually speaking andacting in a more viable way than

(49:11):
a background actor does so it'sjust like a like a regular job
interview, like you didn't getthe job because you don't have
enough experience.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (49:20):
But if I don't work in that, how am I
going to gain the experience?
That is the trick and that is.

Albert Bramante (49:26):
That is definitely a paradox.
I'm'm not going to lie, but myanswer to that would be okay.
Then that's when you do thesestudent films, these short films
, these web series, these, youknow, black box theater things.
They may not be glamorous andthey may not, they're not going
to make you rich but at the sametime, they're going to get you
that experience and thoseconnections that you're going to

(49:49):
need and sometimes, most times,they don't even pay.

Carmen Lezeth (49:52):
It's not like they're not going to make you
rich.

Albert Bramante (49:56):
Yeah, I mean, that's the truth.

Carmen Lezeth (49:58):
Yeah, look, I came out here.
I had no credits, I had neverdone any acting.
I performed on stage you knowwhat I mean as a dancer and
whatever, but I had never doneany acting.
But I set up a little resumeand I started applying to, you
know, usc, afi, which is theAmerican Film Institute, you
know, like all of the studentfilms, and that's how I started.

(50:19):
And here's the thing thatpeople don't, people forget this
stuff.
All of the students at theAmerican Film Institute or
anybody studying film at UCLA orUSC, those are the directors of
tomorrow.
You know what I mean.
100%.
Treat them like gold, becausethey're the ones who are going
to come back and call you, whichhas happened to me twice.

(50:40):
Carmen, I'm doing a feature.
You were in my student film.
Will you be in this?
Yes, no problem, you know, whatI mean.
That's how it just takes a longtime and I say this I know
you're going to cringe, I'mnobody in this.
Yes, no problem, you know.
That's how it just takes a longtime and I'm I say this I know
you're gonna cringe, I'm nobodyin this town, nobody, and I have
credits, you know.
I mean, I have decent credits,you know.
So, um, and I, I haven't workedin a long time this time, but

(51:04):
you see what I'm saying.
Yeah, there.

Albert Bramante (51:07):
There was a um an article that just came out.
I forget the site of it, butthere was someone who was a
recurring guest star in severalcable and NBC shows who her last
job was February of 2023.
She hasn't worked since, so itreally is affecting a lot of

(51:29):
people, the down tick andnormally it's hard, like
normally for an actor normaltimes before the strikes, before
all this, it was hard anywaysto get work right.

Carmen Lezeth (51:41):
I think the statistic is what 3% of SAG
actors are working on a regularbasis 3%.
So that means most actors arenot making a livable wage to get
health insurance.
I think you have to make Ithink it's $26,000 a year on SAG
to get health insurance.
So most actors are not evenmaking that kind of money to get

(52:04):
health insurance.
So they all have second jobslike waiters and whatever
bookkeeping, whatever it isright.
Second jobs like waiters andwhatever bookkeeping, whatever
it is Right.
So it's it's.
It's a hard business, buthere's the thing If you love it,
you figure it out.

Albert Bramante (52:16):
You will figure it out and you will, and you
will keep doing it and you'llmake it work.
I think that that's withanything If you really love it,
you know nothing can stop you.

Carmen Lezeth (52:27):
The reason why we have this show is because I
love this town so much Like andI want to be a part of it.
But I had to figure out myskill set.
I had to figure out how I coulddo it because I didn't want to
be homeless.
You know what I mean.

Albert Bramante (52:41):
Again.

Carmen Lezeth (52:41):
Yeah.
So I was like, okay, I'm justgoing to.
But, like Albert, I have to saywe have this in common I love
being around creative people Ilove.
I mean sometimes I get jealousand upset.
I'm not going to be mad becauseI'm like I am so much better
than you are.
Why are you making all thismoney when I know I'd be better
at it?

(53:01):
But I do love being part ofthis town and so there is an
energy here.
So that's what I mean by youwill figure out where you fit or
where you want to be in it.
And because this industry ischanging, everyone is pivoting.
This is my talk show right here.
This is my Oprah talk showright here that I've always

(53:22):
dreamed of doing.
Go ahead, rick.

Rick Costa (53:25):
Here's a random left field question.
Have you ever had to deal witha child actor whose parents were
nightmares?
A random left field question.
Have you ever had to deal?

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (53:31):
with a child actor whose parents were
nightmares.

Albert Bramante (53:32):
I don't work with too many child actors.
You know I won't.
You know that's the case.

Rick Costa (53:39):
I won't.

Albert Bramante (53:40):
And I can kind of tell it like even in the
first meeting.
You know, usually the problemsI run into with parents is they
sometimes want it more than thechild does and I'm like you know
.
I can almost tell the childdoesn't want to be here, right,
and I won't work with anybodylike that because I can't find

(54:01):
myself doing that.
But I do have a handful ofchildren in my roster not a lot,
you know.
But a handful uh, and you knowit's beautiful because it's the
parents that have been gettingaway.

Rick Costa (54:13):
I was just listening to Will Wheaton and he was like
I didn't really want to do this.
My mother especially pushed meto do this.
He was like I was miserable.
He did it, he did the best hecould, but he didn't really want
to do it.

Carmen Lezeth (54:26):
This is about parenting.
At this point, If you don'tknow what your child wants to do
and you're exploiting them.
I don't care if you call itHollywood and paying for their
college, you're still exploitingthem.

Albert Bramante (54:35):
Of course, and a lot of times, these parents
that are doing this are livingout their own dream, not their
child's dream.

Carmen Lezeth (54:42):
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Okay, looking back on yourcareer, what is the most
valuable lesson that you havelearned?

Albert Bramante (54:54):
That's a very good question.
I would say persistence is thekey, that is so important.
I mean very persistent in doingwhat it is you do and have the
tenacity to do it.
Because even as an agent, youknow it's very tough, you know,
for us, and it took me a lot ofyears to make some of the
connections that I did withGatsby and I could easily say

(55:15):
after one or two years I'm notgoing to do this anymore and I
think most people would haveunderstood me walking away.
But I didn't do it, I just keptbeing persistent and it started
paying off.
It took a while, didn't do.
I just kept being persistentand it, you know, started paying
off, took a while and I'm still, you know, working hard to this
day and you know, and trying toget my clients, you know, day

(55:36):
to day.
So I think the biggest lesson Iwould say is persistence,
persistent.
Do you see things changing forthe better or for the worse in?
the next three to five years.
I can see kind of both.
You know there's part of methat's saying, okay, it can get
worse because of the whole AIthreat.

(55:58):
You know, because even if theunions say, okay, we need these
negotiations, we're going onstrike.
When I give AI, it's like, okay, well, where's the threat?
That's what concerns me there.
But also on the other sidethere's, you know, a lot of
people are making stuff on cellphones now.
There's a lot of studios thatare being built in new jersey

(56:18):
and new york even now, so maybethat'll be good.
More stuff can be made.
You know, on the lower cost now, the only downside with lower
cost means lower wages foractors.
Yeah, exactly, can you tell mea little?

Carmen Lezeth (56:30):
bit about your website.
Um, and again I'm gonna mess upyour cost.
Now.
The only downside with lowercost means lower wages for
actors.
Yeah, exactly, Can you tell mea little bit about your website?
And again I'm going to mess upyour name.
So I don't want to say it.
Albert, how do you say it?
Last name again.

Albert Bramante (56:38):
Bramantecom.

Carmen Lezeth (56:39):
So it's Albert Bramantecom I noticed there's a
lot of AI-generated images, butthis is more sound stuff.
What is your website?
These are recordings.

Albert Bramante (56:50):
So right now my website's under construction,
so you're only seeing maybe like30% or 40% of what's going to
be there.
So I have hypnosis recordingsfrom everything from about
anxiety to sports performance.
So these are like 15 to17-minute sound clips that when
you buy, you download them andyou can listen to them on a

(57:12):
daily basis.

Carmen Lezeth (57:14):
Can you?
I don't know anything abouthypnosis.
So what is hypnosis and whywould that work for an actor or
performer or anyone in general?

Albert Bramante (57:24):
Hypnosis works by targeting what we call your
subconscious mind, the part ofyou that really programs your
day-to-day life, your brain.
You know your actions and it'sstuff that you're not fully
aware of, but that's where allof your motivations come in.
So what we do is we kind of putyou in a flow state or a state

(57:45):
of light relaxation or lighttrance, and work in
reprogramming some of thebeliefs that you have, limiting
beliefs that you might have, sothat you can be a better
performer.
Now, it's not going to make youa better actor, it's not like,
because it doesn't replaceacting training.
Nothing will except actingtraining.

(58:06):
But what it will make you do isget you out of your head and
stop second-guessing yourself,so that you'll become a much
better you than you'll ever be,you know, than you ever were.
So I can guarantee you that'sgoing to help an actor book more

(58:27):
work.

Rick Costa (58:28):
Another thing in the book you talked about was
affirmations which, on mybroadcast, I literally do it
every single day.

Albert Bramante (58:34):
that's going to help an actor book more work.
Another thing in the book youtalked about was affirmations
which on my broadcast, Iliterally do it every single day
.
Yeah, and that's also anotherthing we do in trance is several
affirmations we'll putaffirmation on loop.

Carmen Lezeth (58:44):
I don't know how I feel about all that stuff.

Rick Costa (58:46):
I'm not into hypnosis.

Carmen Lezeth (58:48):
I think I'm a little bit afraid of it.
So that'll be.

Albert Bramante (58:51):
I will say this you know, and this is what I
tell a lot of people who areafraid of hypnosis.
You've already experienced athousand times already, so
that's going to be a writer.

Carmen Lezeth (59:00):
Wait, how?
How have I already experiencedit a thousand times?

Albert Bramante (59:03):
So let me ask you a question.
You do drive, so do you everget, sometimes when?
You start the car and then youget to your destination and
wonder where the time went.
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's whathypnosis is.
It's like a state of um, if youever get enthralled into a
movie where you get lost, stayin time.
Or you read a book and you getlost in the in the book or you

(59:26):
listen to music and you get.
you know you'd be transported toa memory.
That's what hypnosis is.
If you ever meditate, that'swhat hypnosis is Okay that's
fair.

Carmen Lezeth (59:39):
I've never heard it explained that way.

Albert Bramante (59:41):
That is and that's what you know saying to
people who say that they'rescared of them, like there's
nothing to be afraid of.
You already did it thousands oftimes already.

Carmen Lezeth (59:49):
Well, the reason why we're afraid is because
we've watched every ridiculousTV show where they hypnotize
people and then they do weirdbad stuff to them.
Yeah, yeah.

Albert Bramante (59:58):
Yeah, no, and I will definitely say a movie
reference that didn't reallyhelp us and that was Get Out
which I was like no oh.
That's definitely not it.
But you know it's that it is.
Your people are scared of itbecause of that, you know.
Oh my God, make you look like achicken.
And that's be fun to watch.

Carmen Lezeth (01:00:24):
But no, that's not what I'm going to do.

Rick Costa (01:00:26):
It's not what I'm going to do.
Yeah, yeah, I hypnotized at all, is it true?

Albert Bramante (01:00:31):
No, no, because , like I said, you hypnotize
every day.
Now what is true?
That you can't make someone behypnotizing in their will?
So if you're not willing tolike, if we're closed off at the
moment, it's not not gonna work.
It's what you're waiting?
Because the one thing is, wecannot change free will of
another person.

Rick Costa (01:00:52):
Something you would never ordinarily do.
You can't force somebody to do.

Albert Bramante (01:00:55):
Exactly.
We're morally opposed to doingit.
No, yeah, but usually thepeople that are seeking out of
services want to change theirlife.
You know they want to changesomething and sometimes they're
like the last resort.

Rick Costa (01:01:09):
Right.

Carmen Lezeth (01:01:11):
Interesting, all right, well.
Well, I'm going to close thisdown.
It has been an interestingconversation that was much more
fun than I thought.

Albert Bramante (01:01:21):
This has been one of the most interesting
podcasts I've been on.

Carmen Lezeth (01:01:25):
I'm sorry, rick, what did you say?

Rick Costa (01:01:26):
I said, I almost feel like this is part one.

Carmen Lezeth (01:01:28):
I feel like this is part one too.
You know what I mean I I almostfeel like this is part one.

Albert Bramante (01:01:31):
I feel like this is part one too.

Carmen Lezeth (01:01:37):
Well, I'm open to you know.
Whatever I feel like we shouldhave you come back, we'll do it
soon so we can have a part twoand kind of get more in depth.
Is that fair?

Albert Bramante (01:01:43):
That sounds great.
I'd love to.

Carmen Lezeth (01:01:45):
Okay, well, everyone, thank you so much.
Please remember that we haveour show on Friday nights.
At what time, rick, I alwaysforget 6 pm.
Pacific 9 pm Eastern.
And then, always on Sundays,our private lounges, air at 12
o'clock Pacific 3 pm Eastern.
And remember, at the end of theday, it really is all about the

(01:02:08):
joy, all about the joy,albert's going to be back, so we
ain't saying bye to him,forever Bye, and remember at the
end of the day.
it really is all about the joy,All about the joy.
Thank you, Albert.
Albert's going to be back, sowe ain't saying bye to him
forever Bye, thank you.
Thanks for stopping by.
All About the Joy Be better andstay beautiful.
Folks have a sweet day.