Optimize Your Casting Profile and Get Booked with Casting Director Virginia Anello & Casting Network's Jason Teresi

Submit a question!

A casting profile is like a 24/7 audition—even when you’re not in the room.

In this insightful conversation, Casting Director Virginia Anello and Casting Networks’ Jason Teresi join host Robert Peterpaul to break down what makes a standout casting profile.

In this episode, they cover:
•The #1 thing that impresses casting directors
•How to appear in the right casting searches
•What to update every 4–6 months to stay competitive

Virginia Anello, CSA, is a Casting Director and Partner at O’Connor Casting Company with 17 years of experience. A Columbia College Chicago grad, she champions Chicago talent and loves helping actors thrive—plus quoting movies and embracing all things nerdy.

Jason Teresi is Casting Networks’ Client Success Manager and a former actor. With over 24 years in the industry, he brings deep insight into actor profiles and works closely with casting professionals worldwide. He’s a proud dad, Chicago theater alum, and industry veteran.

This is - How We Role. Get cast today at castingnetworks.com.

Follow Host, Actor and Producer Robert Peterpaul (Amazon's Sitting in Bars with Cake, The Art of Kindness podcast) on Instagram @robpeterpaul and learn more at robertpeterpaul.com.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
When it comes to working in entertainment,
there's a lot of hows, and theyall boil down to how we navigate
this wild industry.
While how we follow our dreamsis uncertain, how we roll along
the way is in our hands.
Welcome to how we Roll apodcast for actors by Casting
Networks.
How we Roll a podcast foractors by Casting Networks.

(00:28):
Hello, fellow actors, Thank youfor tuning back in.
This is your friend, Robert,Peter Paul, and you've caught me
in the midst of spring cleaningDust dust.
Yes, I think it's a great timeto take a look at my materials,
specifically online castingprofiles, and do a little actor

(00:48):
spritz.
Whether you're just creating aprofile or looking to optimize
your online presence, thisconversation aims to take your
casting profile to the nextlevel and hopefully multiply
your audition opportunities.
Joining me on the mic are twowonderful leaders on this very

(01:10):
subject.
First, we have former actor andcurrent casting network's very
own client success manager,Jason Teresi.
Jason works with countlesscasting directors around the
world and is extremelyknowledgeable about the ins and
outs of creating actor profiles.
When I mentioned this episodetopic to him, he immediately

(01:30):
recommended I reach out tolongtime casting director
Virginia Anello and, lucky forus, she said yes.
A partner of the O'ConnorCasting Company.
Virginia has an admirable goal,which is to provide talent with
as many employmentopportunities as possible, and
likes nothing better than seeingworking actors making a solid

(01:51):
living doing what they love.
Oh, Speaking of love, I had alovely time chatting with this
delightful duo and I hope youenjoy it just as much as I did.
I also want to shout outCasting Network's user at
DuchessAnnaCurve, who submitteda wonderful question about
social media that you'll hearanswered throughout this

(02:12):
conversation.
Stay tuned to the CastingNetwork's social media pages for
a chance to submit your ownquestions and be featured in an
upcoming episode.
Now, without further ado.
This is how we roll withCasting Profiles featuring
Virginia and Jason.
Well, hello, friends.

(02:38):
Today we're talking all thingsCasting Profiles.
We have the lovely Virginia andJason here with us.
Can you both please just startby introducing yourselves so we
can get used to your separatevoices, In a nutshell, what you
do, who you are on the castingend of things.
That would be great.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Do you want me to go first, Jason?

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Absolutely Of course.
How polite, how polite.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
I'm Virginia.
I'm with the O'Connor CastingCompany.
I've been with O'Connor forabout 17 years, been doing
casting that whole time.
So I've been a casting directora lot of that time.
I started as an intern backwhen I was just, you know, like
10 years old, like a baby, justlike a baby, and I worked my way

(03:22):
through there.
Before that I did production inall kinds of things Production.
I also painted.
I did some, some paintings,some sports collectibles
painting for a bit.
So that was weird.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Wow, I've done that.
That's amazing.
Oh, my goodness, any fanfavorite things you've painted
in that regard.
I just feel the need to ask.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, I know I liked it when I got like an
official game ball.
I got like an official gameball.
I got an official game ball.
Occasionally I get to paintthat oh that's cool.
When I had to paint like BrettFavre stuff.
I was not a fan, so and we allunderstand.
So basically, I decided Ineeded some stable work and I
was like acting and not actingagents, or not acting you

(04:00):
quickly, definitely not acting.
It wasn't that.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
But like, did I want to be an agent or did I?

Speaker 2 (04:11):
want to go into casting and uh, just ended up
being casting, so really happy.
17 years congratulations,that's amazing, thank you.
It is, uh, it is a long time,uh, I think, in the business,
but there's so many people outthere, so many casting directors
who've done it so much longer,like they're just legends, um,
and they've been around forever,so and slowly, casting is
getting what it's due.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
In regards to recognition, I'm very excited to
see things changing a bit soyeah, that's very exciting after
all this time.
Jason, my friend, would youmind introducing yourself and I
will, you know, call you out andjust say you had a fake
mustache on a second ago.
You took it off.
I miss it.
Nobody can see it.
That's listening, but I've justpainted that picture.
I didn't paint Brett, but I didpaint that.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
You know, virginia, I just learned so many new things
about you.
That was incredible.
My name is Jason Teresi and Icurrently work at Casting
Networks on the Client SuccessTeam.
I have been in the business fora long time, just doing other
things sometimes.
I went to DePaul Theater School, columbia Theater School.

(05:10):
I was an actor until I realizedwhat a bad actor I was and
needed to go into.
I wanted to stay in thebusiness, so I started working
at a company that was acquiredby our competitor in the
industry, and I worked there for22 years or thereabouts, and
now I've been at CastingNetworks for about four.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
That's amazing.
Also, I do think it takes a lotof bravery to pivot.
I mean, both of you kind ofhave explained how you pivoted
over the years and especially tokind of say hey either, like I
mean, I don't know if you were abad actor, but you just didn't
feel good about what you weredoing and so you changed the
narrative, which I think isgreat and a good lesson in
itself, and we're about to getinto many more lessons as we

(05:54):
break down casting profiles here.
So to start, I just would loveto know either of you can answer
both of you, everybody in theroom, all personalities how do
you each think an actor shouldapproach making their profile?
Is there like a certain mindsetor overall guidance you would
recommend we go in with, becauseit can be slightly intimidating

(06:15):
.
You hear different things fromdifferent people.
There's all these differentfeatures, you know.
But what's just your generaladvice there?

Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'm going to just really quick say in my opinion
it's simple Be thorough, behonest and complete everything
you possibly can.
You don't want to not fill outyour entire profile.

(06:43):
If a casting director cansearch our database of actors
and you speak a language and youdidn't put down on your profile
that you do speak that language, and the casting director is
looking for someone who speaksthat language, they're not going
to find you.
So the more you have on there,the more thorough you are.
Fill everything out and don'tdon't lie.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
I think Virginia can weigh in there, maybe on the
lies that you've seen over theyears and how that's worked out.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
No one lies, come on, nobody lies, but like.
I do believe in being honest.
Yeah that's the difference.
That's the difference.
No, yeah, you can't.
I've seen a lot of people justcheck every box on skills and
stuff like that.
You don't want to do that.
You got to just be real aboutyou know.
Yes, I speak Spanish, but I'm,you know, conversational or

(07:38):
whatever it is.
Don't say you're an expert atanything unless you are an
expert at that level of stuff.
Yeah, I've just seen so manyprofiles where either nothing's
checked off or everything'schecked off, and that's not true
.
It's obviously not true.
Either way, you have someskills you check off and you
don't have all the skills,obviously.

(08:04):
But you know, you can be like oh, I can put up so much media, or
you know so many photos, somuch media, but like that's not
needed necessarily.
Like more isn't better for meusually, and I just obviously
I'm just speaking for me.
I don't know I can't speak forevery casting director out there
, but for me it's like I needlike a few photos, different

(08:25):
ones, and I and if you have areal, if it's good, if you have
some good stuff on it, fine.
If you don't and you just wantto upload like a nice little
slate or something like thatwhere I just see you talk to
camera and introduce yourself,that's nice for me to see you on
camera if I don't know you.
And you know I look at resumes,obviously.

(08:46):
I look at photos and if I getto it I get to a reel.
Like usually there's not awhole lot of time to spend on
any one profile in general, butlike if I'm looking for
something specific I'll go asdeep as I need to go, but like
uploading 20 photos when they'reall the same doesn't do
anything for me.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
We're going to get into that.
We're going to get into allthat.
Also, my cat agrees.
I don't know if you hear my cat.
My cat's like, yeah, I justdon't have a lot of photos.
Well, she has a lot of photos.
Anyway, before we sort of diveinto the nitty gritty of it,
what are the basic details thatyou think people should have at
like a bare minimum, to createtheir profile?
It's all laid out there for usand I would like everybody to

(09:29):
use them all.
There's a ton of features oncasting networks especially.
But what would you say is likeokay, get this up right away.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Photo photo, the main photo, the headshot, usually a
vertical one so that it presentsitself in the box the nice way
like it frames itself correctlyfor casting networks.
If you're using that and aresume like that's what's the
basics, that's the minimum Ithink you need.
I've seen people up there withjust a photo and no resume and I

(10:00):
I can't do much with that.
Um, I usually can't do anythingwith that If I'm being generous
.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
No, no, I like that Usually can't do anything On a
resume, I am going to throw intheir contact information.
If you're going to get hired orsomeone wants to go further,
give you a call back.
How are they going to get intouch with you?
And I think the size card ispretty important.
I've certainly been onauditions where they say you

(10:27):
need to be under six feet.
You cannot be over six feet oryou have to wear these specific
size pants.
Yeah, kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
So yeah, casting people for costumes sometimes is
real.
Just coming from the theater, Iknow it's.
I mean, obviously you want thetalent too, but then it's like,
well, this person fits in thecostume, so we're going to go
with them.
So that's an important note.
Casting networks allows you tohave many profiles.
So I would just love if youcould speak to that for a second
, either of you, I think, for me.
I understand it, but I couldsee maybe people being confused

(10:59):
on sort of how many profilesthey need.
Many profiles they need.
I know you want one fordifferent agents, you know.
So what would you recommend?

Speaker 3 (11:07):
to start, let's say no one has representation, you
need one profile.
Okay, it's your personalprofile.
Robert, if you become my agent,you send me an invite to join
your roster and I get an emailas an actor saying hey, Jason
Robert at so-and-so talentagency has invited you to join
their roster.
If you've never used CastingNetworks before and you don't

(11:28):
have a profile, click here.
If you have and you do have aprofile, we'll copy that profile
onto your agent's roster andall the information will be
copied over.
Click here.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Link it in.
Yeah, that's it.
I love that.
I'm glad you brought that up,because I do have paperwork for
me to represent you that willsign up for this.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
But don't get me wrong.
There's actors who who willcreate four different profiles
and that's probably not a goodthing.
I would always suggest to theactor calling in or emailing
into support and saying hey,I've got two or three profiles,
I would like them mergedtogether.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
And that is possible?
Yeah, because sometimes youknow you're supposed to have
that commercial resume, thetheater-driven resume, the film,
and they might all be sort ofthe same with different pictures
, but it's like the ranking ofcredits changes.
So I was wondering if you'veseen people use it that way.
But you know that in mind Ithink Virginia, you can probably
speak to this, and Jason aswell, from your work with

(12:25):
casting directors when a castinggoes to look on their, on that
submissions, what is usually thefirst impression, like what's
the first thing you're seeing ofan actor's profile?

Speaker 2 (12:35):
That photo, that photo, that's it.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Like a lot of little thumbnails, a lot of thumbnails.
It's a lot of thumbnails.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
So, like I said, like usually you want a vertical
8x10 because that fits in thebox, the best way that fits in
the framing.
If you had a horizontal photo,casting Networks will crop it or
make it farther away so that itfits in there.
It does something to them, soyour photo is automatically
going to look different fromeverybody else.
Either it's going to be croppedweird or it's going to be
smaller.
So I always recommend like avertical eight by 10 for that.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
And you actually can change your thumbnail.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, yeah.
And so like, if you're likegoing for a dramatic role,
you're you or your agent rightCan can switch your photo.
So it's not the smileycommercial one, it's the serious
one with the leather jacketright.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, absolutely right.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Every time an agent submits you or an actor submits
themselves.
You have the ability tocustomize.
I'm going to choose thispicture.
I'm going to choose this clipor reel to go along with it,
because this reel and picturematch the tone of what I'm going
to be auditioning for.
If I'm auditioning for aone-hour drama, why do I want to

(13:47):
send my comedy stuff and so on?
Virginia, I was reallysurprised when we first started.
You had said that you look atresumes, and I appreciate that
as a former actor.
But I never thought that anyonelooked at a resume.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, okay, here's the thing.
This is true.
I look at resumes.
If I don't know you like if Iknow you, I don't have to click
on anything else except thebutton to get you on my job Like
if I know you and you're rightfor it, I don't have to go
further.
But if I haven't met you thisis all assuming you know, these
are new to me people and if Isee a photo I'm like this looks
right to me, I go on to the, Iclick on the photo and the

(14:28):
easiest thing is when peoplefill out the casting networks
resume section because theirresume is the first, is the
thing I see first.
If people upload a pdf resumeinstead, then I have to click
further into it to get to thatresume.
So it's already taking up somuch more of my time.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
I know I apologize.
That sounds really stupid tosay no it's good because as
actors, we're sort of like oh, Ihave my resume that I've been
making, it's formatted, now Ihave to add it into this
platform.
But think about that times amillion, times a million, like I
had to go through a job If youhad to do that.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I had to go through 1,400 submissions for
like one role and it just wasn'tgoing to happen, like I wasn't
going to be able to deep diveonto people.
So if I clicked on your thing,at all cool, you win already.
And then if I have to like godeep, it's like, oh my gosh, how

(15:30):
much time do I have to like godeep?
It's like, oh my gosh, how muchtime do I have I have to get
through this um.
So, yeah, usually the bestthing is to have the casting
networks resume um filled out.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
I will go into the pdf resume if it's not there um
it's kind.
So yeah and I don't.
That's a great reminder to thewin.
In this oversaturated self-tapeera it's like to have that many
submissions just to get clickedon.
Yes is a win.
So, have that thumbnail to begolden.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Just to be submitted is a win because already, like,
your agent thinks you're rightfor it.
Right, your agent thinks you'reright for it.
If I click on you, I think youmight be right for it.
If I audition you, two peoplereally think you're right for it
.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
You know A couple of things.
I wanted to touch on A couplethings I wanted to touch on.
An actor doesn't realize it'syour job as an actor and it's
your agent's job as your agentto make the casting director's
job as easy as possible.
You don't want to send themlinks that they have to click on

(16:20):
that take them outside of thesystem that they're using.
Oh, click on this link and goto YouTube and watch this.
No, they want to stay inclusivein the platform so they can do
their jobs.
You spoke about resumes earlier.
We do have the option.
You can upload a PDF or you cantype it all in.

(16:41):
If it's typed in, it's asearchable field for casting.
If it's not typed in, they haveto, like Virginia said, click
on another link, go somewhereelse, see your stuff.
This is your vocation, this isyour livelihood.
Why wouldn't you take the timeas an actor, 10 minutes, to type

(17:01):
everything in and get it theway you want it?

Speaker 1 (17:04):
and have it look really good, and I'm glad you
brought up resumes because Ihave this whole structured thing
here, as yesterday I wentthrough my own profile and be
right back.
Let me go change my resume now.
No, I actually I had a goodtime.
This was a great conversationto have coming because it forced
me to sort of go in there andcheck out my own stuff, and I
heard a great quote once that Iwould love both of your thoughts
on, if possible, which was agreat resume should show casting

(17:27):
where you're going, not whereyou've been, and so I wonder
your thoughts on formatting aresume.
I think a lot of us think wehave these digital options now,
so we're going to have that aslike a log and a history of
everything we've ever done andjust keep adding it.
But would you say it's betterin the sense to have like less
is more, sort of have thecredits that?

Speaker 2 (17:49):
fit the parts you want to play?
Yes, yes, I think the answer isyes to that.
Okay, because, um, I mean toomuch stuff on a resume I'm not
going to, I'm not going to, myeyes aren't going to focus, it's
going to be like.
It's going to be like, oh,there's tons of stuff Great, and
I'll have, and I'm searchingfor stuff which is not bad.
It's just, it's just what it is.

(18:11):
But if you had just like somelike I've seen people come back
from LA to Chicago and I gettheir resumes and it's like I,
obviously I know what you'redoing immediately, I don't need
a deep dive.
I know there's a million thingsthat are not on this resume.
Um, so yeah, like, if you'renot looking to do whatever kind

(18:32):
of work say you know industrialwork or whatever, or that then
don't put it on your resume.
You know you don't have to.
I believe you, if you want to,if you're into film and TV, this
time that's what you want to do, then that's, that's what's
your resume should be.
I guess Commercials I almostnever see anything commercial on
a resume.
It's always, you know,conflicts available upon request

(18:52):
.
But, like, make sure you havethose if I do request that.
I've hardly ever done that, butsure yeah.
So I don't really even see likesomething tailored to
commercial work really ever.
It's just usually their filmand TV work.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
former actor.
I always put list availableupon request If I've got a
Coca-Cola commercial running.
I don't want anyone to knowthat that I'm about to go
audition, for they might say ohwell, shoot man, this is for
Pepsi products.
He's already got a Cokecommercial running.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
I don't want to even use him or see him, so it might
hinder me um when it but even ifit was like five years old, if
your, if your coke was 10 yearsago, five years ago, just
showing that is kind of bad,like, even though you're free
and clear of that conflict forpepsi, like yeah, they're just

(19:52):
gonna be like uh okay, this isblowing my mind because I think
on some level I knew that, but Ithought thought having that is
like, oh my gosh, he was in aT-Mobile commercial I did.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
That was like 10 years ago.
It's like that's expired, butit's like having that on there,
oh, that's cool.
So just having that full listis a better option You're both
in agreement on which.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
Absolutely.
If I played the paper boy inour town when I was nine years
old, I don't need that on myresume.
That doesn't matter.
You know why?
Because unfortunately, this isa what have you done for me
lately business, not what didyou do for me 10 years ago
business.

(20:33):
They want to know what you'reworking on now.
Like you said, where am I going?
And the only way you can showthat is if you update your
resume all the time.
Everything you do, you shouldput your newest stuff at the top
.
Here's where I'm going.
Where I've been isn't asimportant for sure.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Okay, now I really got to go.
We mentioned media headshotsand reels.
We've kind of touched on a bit.
I wonder, virginia, what kindsof headshots really are the ones
that stand out to you in thegrid?

Speaker 2 (21:05):
Okay, okay, okay, this is my favorite.
This is my favorite.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Oh, yeah, let's do it .
Can't wait.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I can't no, like I said, I just speak for me, so
it's just me and I'm a humanbeing.
So spoiler alert heads up.
Everybody, like, I'm not superpicky about, like, what you're
wearing, um, what angle you'retaking, I just want to see your
face.
I want to see your face as itusually appears as you would

(21:34):
walk onto set, um, as you wouldwalk into my studio, um, like,
what can you do?
What?
What is?
What is your normal kind oflook, something you can achieve,
you know, for any type of shoot, not, you know, not some crazy
thing that you know, like a bigbeard that you can't, can't get
anymore because you shaved it.
Um, I like, obviously, I likeit lit well, and I, like, you

(21:57):
know, I don't want it to be likeyou in a black turtleneck with
a black background, like youknow and a skull just that's
kind of cool.
Actually, I might be into thatoh, okay, that might make me
pick you, um, no, but if it'sjust like floating head and like
your elbows, like like you know, like I mean like pop yourself
from the background a little bit, maybe separate yourself.

(22:20):
But in general I like a closeup shot.
And you know there could be acouple different kinds of close
up shots.
You know women could have theirhair different in a close.
In two different close up shotsyou can have an open mouth
smile, closed mouth smile, nosmile, just different kind of
facial kind of looks.
As you know vary those thoseslightly.
And then I like a full bodyshot for some jobs.

(22:42):
There's a lot of work incommercial world where I need to
kind of see what you look like,full body.
So if you have one of those,great.
What I was saying earlier wasyou know, I've gone to people's
profiles and it's like 20 photosand they're all the same
framing and they've like justchanged their shirt.
It's's like the same angle, thesame smile.
I can't see their teeth ever inanything.

(23:03):
It makes me wonder what's goingon in there.
So like I like some variation.
I don't need a whole lot.
It's not like quantity, it'slike quality, it's like what
kind of very different looks.
Can you show me in a headshot?
So, like I said, a close up,maybe in the close up, not like
super close.
Don't fill the frame with yourhead.
Give me a little space, back itup a little bit.

(23:25):
Shoulders, collarbone, um, andyes, I like, uh, I like to have
a full body available for atleast for commercial work.
Uh, I know it's annoying tohave, but that's that has helped
a lot If I'm trying to see whatsomeone looks like.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
That's okay to take on your phone.
Something like that, like anice full body shot, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
I mean, I'm super easy with that type of stuff.
It doesn't have to be like afull-on professional shoot for
that, but if you're going to getheadshots anyway and you can
get one of those great.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
And now I'm thinking of Moira Rose in the glittery
gown, walking with that gif.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
Have walking with that gif.
Have you seen that when she herhands are open, I miss?

Speaker 1 (24:06):
her.
Okay, that's super helpful.
So it's not like.
It's not like wardrobe changes.
For me it's like facial changesand framing changes, the acting
basics which is important.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
When I was a young actor andliving in los angeles, I went in
for an audition for a pilot andI walked in the room and it was
like the casting director, thedirector there were several
people in there and the directorsaid who are you?
And I said I'm.
I'm Jason Teresi, and he turnedmy own picture around that he

(24:32):
had in his hand to show me andhe said that's not you.
The person in this picture iswho I was expecting to walk in
the room.
How, how old are these barpictures?
It's just what he?

Speaker 1 (24:45):
said to me and I was like deadpool too are we getting
catfished like it's dead Ithink so I didn't have a bar
mitzvah well, that's importantto bring up too in this, in this
ai age.
You know you're gonna doyourself a disservice if you use
an AI service because it'sultimately not going to be the
real you and even if you get tothe point where you're on a live

(25:06):
Zoom with casting, it's goingto be revealed.
You know you can't really hidethat for too long.
So I think that's an importantthing to bring up.
I also and we don't have tospeak to this, I don't have to
speak to this, I don't know ifthere's too much to say, but I
think some people sleep on thearranging of the photos.
You know, like the primaryphoto is is easy to find, but
you can also arrange your photosand I think that's helpful

(25:28):
right to have, like the photothat's next to the primary be
different and then the onethat's next to that be different
, and sort of arrange them in away that very like oh, I mean
basically, you know, commercial,legit, dramatic, comedic, I
think.
I just want to point that out.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
I think it could help .
I think it could certainly help.
You're leading the castingdirector in a direction.
How do I want them to see mewith all of these pictures?
But the most important thing,in my opinion, is that it
represents who you are right now.
Like Virginia said earlier,who's walking into that room?
When they look at the pictureand they look at you, walk in

(26:06):
the room or into the virtualroom or whatever it is they want
to see.
They've called you in for anaudition based on your photo.
And if you, because they'relike hey, the person in this
photo that works for me.
This is what I want to see.
If the person who walks in thevirtual room or the real room
and doesn't look like thatpicture, they're like wait a

(26:28):
second, where's this person?

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Catfish.
Yeah, and to that point too, Iwonder, virginia and maybe Jason
, you've heard of this havethere been times I'm guessing
that probably have where you'vebooked someone just right off of
a photo and their media becauseit's like such a quick
turnaround?
Have you had that at all?

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Um, I don't do that.
I advise all my clients tobasically get a current selfie.
Um, so we don't.
We don't just because I I'm notgoing to get tricked.
I'm not going to get tricked byyou guys who don't look like
your photos anymore.
There's some people who lookexactly like their photos and if

(27:08):
I wanted to show them a pool ofpeople who I know look exactly
like their photos, I could do it.
But usually if I'm doing a fullcasting, it's like we're going
to get current selfies, currentfull body shots and, um, you
know, tape if you want tape.
But we usually don't let thembook off of.
But everybody's different and,like agents sometimes do that
too, probably have directbookings that they'll just book

(27:30):
off photos.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah, well, you know, speaking of tapes, I would say
I'm tempted.
I'm always tempted to like puta piece of tape on my face and
it's like a self-tape.
That's really dumb.
Anyway, I'm a corny person, isit?
Would you say it's better tohave maybe self-taped?
You're really proud.
I'm sorry about that wait, I'mnot sorry yeah, oh, yes, okay, I
, I am a dad already.
I don't have kids, but I makedad jokes.
Is it better to have you thinklike one polished real or do you

(27:55):
?
I know you're very chill.
Virginia, which is awesome, butawesome.
But do you appreciate seeingmultiple short clips?
Show different skill sets andtones in the different clips.
A nice self-tip you're proud ofIn the sense of video media
what's your advice?

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Thanks for calling me chill.
I told you to say that Honestly, in terms of timing and how
much time I have to go throughstuff, being a lazy person, I'm
also a lazy person.
I probably like to click on onething because, again, you think
of clicking on it, it coming upand loading, and then you know,

(28:35):
I scrub through it to find somebits of you.
That's probably all I'm goingto do.
I don't want to click on, Idon't want to close that window,
open another one.
I probably just like one.
You could have a comedic and adramatic and I would go to the
one I want to go to, but then Iwouldn't see any other stuff.

(28:55):
So you could take that with agrain of salt.
You could assume I'm cool withjust saying one.
But yeah, I probably am notgoing to click on more than one.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
So well, that's smart advice too and that always
reminds me of with even withvideo self-tapes.
I think most casting directorssay they're, if they're hooked
within 10 to 15 seconds, like dosomething in the beginning of
your tape that brings people in,they're going to keep watching.
And most casting is like I dowatch the whole thing or I try,
but like those first 15 secondsare super important.

(29:24):
I think the same is true for areel.
Right, you don't want to justthrow something up because
you're on camera you know, andyou look nice yeah, sometimes
reels start with um 20 secondsof other people.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, like I.
Who are you?
Where are you?
Who did I click on?
I can't remember who I clickedon.
Is this you?
And then I'm oh, no, this isthe guy I clicked on then you're
like oh wait, but I would bookthat other person I would I like
that other person not badyou're real, like you guys are
saying.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
I think they should be in clips and the clip should
start on you and it should endon you, because guess who the
star of the show is and whoyou're trying to sell is you.
If you were talking about time,oh, if they're hooked within
the first X amount of seconds, Ihave seen research that shows
that a casting director only hasa certain amount of time to

(30:15):
really watch what they're tryingto see you do, to really watch
what they're trying to see youdo.
So if you have a three-minutereel up and this is a comedy
thing you're going in for andall your comedy stuff is at the
end of that reel and all yourdramatic stuff is first, they
may not even get to your comedystuff.
You know, a clip is a niceshort, sweet way of matching

(30:39):
that clip to what type of roleyou're auditioning for.
I'm auditioning for somethingdramatic.
I'm going to throw up thisdramatic clip and they can see
me do my magic.
You know short clips, shortclips.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Think of the world we live in.
Think of even picking a TV show.
I mean, I guess that's not true, because Severance is like the
number one show and that takes alittle bit to get into, if I'm
being honest.
But anyway, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
In my head.
I always think of it.
Not that I'm on any of thesesites, but are you swiping left,
Are you swiping right, and howfast do you make that decision?

Speaker 1 (31:10):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
That's a great way to put it, you make a decision and
you know that's Instagram.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
YouTube, snapchat.
These are all like quickturnaround things.
People want to just oh hey,they're auditioning.
Great, they've got a comedyclip up here.
Let me just watch it real quick.
Oh, that was awesome.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Boom next yeah, people want to make a decision
which I think we forget.
Like you want to decide whatrestaurant to go to on Grubhub.
You don't want to be likehungrily sitting there for hours
deciding, you know.
So I think that's an importantreminder.
I wonder if you both couldclear up something on the back
end that I've heard rumors of,which is that a lot of these

(31:50):
digital casting sites actually,once it goes to casting, if you
have media, you're ranked higher, or if you have an agent, you
appear higher.
Like is there something to howyou're appearing to casting in
the submissions or is that justthe rumor mill?
Like is there an algorithmthere?
Jason, maybe you could.
On casting, networks.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
You bring up something very interesting On
casting networks.
The casting director has theycan timestamp it and see who
came in first.
They can alphabetize it or theycan have it in random order.
We don't want to give anyone aleg up because they've spent
more money than someone else,and I don't believe in that.

(32:34):
I want it to be random.
Hey, if I submitted myself fiveminutes ago and someone else
submitted an hour ago, theycould come before me.
It doesn't matter, it's allrandom.
I don't want to be stucksomewhere because I couldn't
afford to put up a reel.
That's not fair.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
No, that's nice to know.
I'm glad it's a little bit morefair in that regard, because we
hear things as actors and youdon't know until you're on the
other side.
So it's interesting becausethen you feel like you got to
keep doling out money and thejoke is kind of like actors
really, for the most part, don'thave the money to keep doing
this stuff.
So it's nice to know thatthat's taken into account.

(33:13):
I also wonder, as far as, likecoming up in searches, we
touched on special skills.
But how important would you saythey are when you're filtering
Virginia?
I guess it's project to projectdepending on the union and all
these things.
But yeah, how important wouldyou say special skills are?
Because I think we sleep onthem in the PDF version, but we

(33:34):
can do a lot more on CastingNetworks which is great.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, the Casting Network networks skills section
that is searchable is what wewould use.
Um, sometimes if an agent'sdoing the submission and I've
asked for like just people whoare, you know, wrestlers or
dancers or whatever it is, if,if, hopefully, they've given me

(33:57):
a submission, note like thisperson's been a wrestler for 20
years and I'm like cool, great.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
No.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
I don't need to see any more.
I trust you.
Or, or I'll go, like I said,I'll go to their resume and see
if there's a skill on there.
But if I'm doing the searchmyself, I'm just doing the
search.
I can't search your PDF resumes.
I can only search what you haveon casting networks.
So if, then, that applies toanything like languages, um,

(34:25):
sports, anything you know like,whatever I need uh is heights,
even like heights and weights,like I can only search what you
have on casting networks, so Ihave to type in the, the, the
search field and I have to typein if I want you, if I need you
to be like an expert level, orjust like a intermediate level,
or whatever, um, if I get toomany results, maybe I'll narrow

(34:47):
it to expert level, uh, you know.
So those are the things that Ineed, um to search for something
, and it is, you know, ithappens, you know not.
It's not rare that I need tosearch on stuff like that, but
sometimes a client will justcome to me and like Virginia, uh
, what's the Chicago market likefor, uh, samurai wrestlers?
And I'll be like cool, brah,hold on one second.

(35:09):
And I'll go to casting networksand I'll be like don't come
here.
Nobody has that.
Go to another market.
It's not going to be Chicago orwhatever.
So if you have it, it's got tobe searchable so that A we can
get the jobs and then B I canfind you.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
There's a couple of things I want to say about
special skills and resumes.
There's something that you cando on casting networks that you
can't do on other sites that I'maware of.
The first thing is, if I'vedone an episode of it's Always
Sunny in Philadelphia and I havea clip of that, I can attach
that clip directly to my resume.

(35:45):
Only if I type my resume in andI can take that clip, attach it
to the resume.
If Virginia's looking at myresume on Casting Networks
because my agent submitted meshe could see on the resume, oh,
it says it's Always Sunny inPhiladelphia, and then there'll
be a play button next to it andshe can actually click the play
button and watch my clip from it.
You can do the same thing inskills.

(36:07):
If I put down that I'm anexpert in yoga, I can do a quick
clip of me doing some yogamoves and attach that clip to my
special skills area.
And then, if Virginia's lookingthat up oh hey, we need a yoga
expert.
Oh, jason, it says he's anexpert.
He's got a clip here.
I can click on the clip andwatch him do some stuff.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
So, you have that ability, which is really great.
Yeah, I'm going to call my momand get my home video from when
I was the wise man.
I think I was wise man numberthree in preschool, in the
nativity and, fun fact, Iactually only got it because I
was the only one that could sayfrankincense, because my dad's
name was Frank.
So that's how casting works.
So anyway, okay, frank is mymiddle name.

(36:51):
Oh, jft, I love it.
I got an F middle name too RFB.
What about you?
Do you have a middle name,virginia, I do.
It's not any of your business.
Get out of here.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Let's go.
It's not, frank, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Okay, now I'm scared.
Jason, speaking of beingsearchable, do you have any tips
you can give our listeners forhow they can actually appear in
more searches?
As far as how tags and filterswork, on the back end We've kind
of covered it a bit, but isthere anything else you'd like
to add?

Speaker 3 (37:26):
I think it's just a matter of being thorough and
really filling everything outand using what you had talked.
Virginia talked about this alittle bit.
If I play piano and I'm abeginner or intermediate or an
expert, I need to rank thethings on how well I do them and
only write expert if you are anexpert.
But everything that you add,even things that you don't think

(37:51):
about, add an asset.
Oh, I have a GMC Sierra truck.
I'm going to put that down asan asset.
I own an animal.
This is the type of animal itis when you have more things you
have on your resume that arehonestly things you do, can do,
or you have the more you'regoing to come up in searches.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Yeah, I will say my cats own me.
I don't think I own them, butthat's definitely happened.
Thank you, that's true.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
They're just okay with you.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yeah, honestly, especially even like featured
background work, you know whenyou're starting out too and
people make a living that way.
You can book that because youhave a specific car like they
want your car and they want youthere.
So it is super important to addthese assets, like you're
saying.
I think people sleep on thatsometimes and I'm wondering if
there's other sections you boththink people kind of sleep on a

(38:43):
bit.
As far as on the castingprofiles Across the board, do
you wish actors paid a bit moreattention to a certain section
of their profile?

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Personally, I think they could be better about
current sizes.
That's probably my biggestissue, uh, with searchable stuff
.
I I can't even send size cardsto to producers, basically
because they're either not allfilled out or there's some
things missing or they're old.
So I have to always every jobkind of get um current sizes

(39:14):
from actors and just send ourown kind of size sheets to them.
So current sizes all filled outwould be fantastic because
those are pretty size cards.
When I can send them, yeah,that's nice and they're
searchable, like I need.
Like sometimes you can't be 6'5and stand next to this car
because you'll make the car looksmall, so I search that stuff

(39:36):
out.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
sometimes it happens, yeah and that's nice too,
because it reminds you it's notpersonal.
Sometimes if you're not cast,it's like you're just too tall
for the car.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
You're too tall, you can't make the car look small.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Every four to six months?
Why don't you take a look atyour profile on casting networks
or wherever and say is thiscurrent?
Are my sizes current?
Is my resume current?
How current is everything?

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Am I helping myself?
Yeah, get work, that's a greatidea.
I'm gonna, when we hang up, I'mgonna set a reminder in my
phone for that, a recurring sixmonth reminder.
I think everybody should dothat, because then your agent
won't hunt you down and youwon't get into trouble and
suddenly being a callbackwhether, like play the tuba,
it's on your resume and you'relike well, I haven't played that
since preschool, if you're, andyou whip If you're a woman and
you're pregnant and that issomething that you have going on

(40:23):
for months and there are a lotof times, a lot of real people
casting.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
in a real castings.
Right now you might get bookedon something because they're
looking for someone who ispregnant right now.
So if you have that, you mightwant to update your resume
because they may need that.
Yeah that's really smart Isthat something you can search on
.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
I had no idea.
That's amazing you can list it.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
You can certainly list it on your resume area.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
If we could search on that, Jason, that'd be super
cool.
Oh, but I don't know, Like Idon't they keep it up to date.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
That's interesting.
I'm wondering too, like Iwanted to ask you both, about
features you think are goingmight change.
But, jason, are there anyfeatures that maybe we don't
know about that you think actorsalso aren't taking advantage of
the resume?
One you gave was great Playinga credit.
That's pretty genius Stuff,that's upcoming for actors.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
I'm not thinking, oh, one thing that we okay, this is
a good one, we just came outwith this.
Okay, okay, this is a good oneand we just we just came out
with this.
Okay, if you have a premiummembership, you can list your
social media, your social stuff.
So if, if you're on instagram,robert, and you have 500 000

(41:41):
followers, that will show upit's about 7, it's not 500, but
I did just connect it yesterday.
And I'm grateful for all 7,000.
Same thing.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
There's no difference between 7,000 and 500,000.
My mom created 7,000 profiles.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
Okay, sorry, keep going so you can put your social
media handles.
The first one we have isInstagram and we're working on
other ones.
So below the actor's pictureit'll say Instagram and the
amount of followers you have,and if you self-submit or your
agent submits you, the castingdirector can see that, and
that's important these days.
I talked to a casting directorone time who said, yeah, when we

(42:18):
get down to two to four people,we at that point and this was
theatrically they will look atyour social media.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
Would you say that's true for you, virginia, too?
I feel like I've been seeingactually coming in on the
commercial front a lot of socialmedia ad castings or you know
the want people that are activeon social and content creators
of that sort.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
But do you feel like to across the board?
It just could give you a leg up.
Yes, another.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
It can, it could give you a leg up, yes, another it
can, it can give you like evercould also be a bad thing
sometimes.
You know, sometimes you know, II see it a lot, you know, for,
like, stand-up comedians andperformers of that nature, where
they they have great, like,their stuff is funny, they're
all over instagram or tiktok orwhatever, and you know a brand.
If they're up for an audition,they're up because they're

(43:08):
really funny instagram or tiktokor whatever.
And you know a brand.
If they're up for an audition,they're up because they're
really funny people and they dogreat at improv.
And that's the type of personyou want and you can go and see
their stuff and see it onlineand and usually people these
days are kind of fine withwhatever people have up I would
say sometimes you can have upstuff that's maybe not good for
the brand and that could be adetriment.

(43:30):
Sometimes I've seen that happen.
Uh, yeah, so I, you know it'swhatever you want to put up on
there, it's out there, it's inthe world, as long as it's doing
what you want it to do for you,then live your life and do it,
you know be intentional, butlike just know that you might
not be the next spokesperson forlike the United States post
office or something you know,like that might be looking for

(43:52):
something certain people Dreamjob unlocked.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Your brand is you.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Do your thing.
Yeah agreed, do your thing.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
I love that.
That's very motivational.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
Your brand is not usually your political views,
your religious views.
I always suggest to actors, ifyou're going to put up your
whatever social link, you mightwant to have a Facebook page
that's dedicated or an Instagrampage that's dedicated to the
business and then have yourpersonal one where you can talk

(44:26):
about other things.
I have seen a casting directorsay oh well, yeah, we looked
into this guy and the crazystuff that they had up on their
Facebook page made us feel likewe couldn't hire them.
Their political views and allthis craziness they were talking
.
It just it rubbed us the wrongway and we were out.

(44:46):
So always have a separate onethat's business oriented and
you're not talking about a bunchof personal stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Yeah, that's smart, and I think too, I've, like over
the years, thought of it asalmost a digital business card
in an authentic way, and thenrecently I've begun to think of
it as you still want it to beauthentic to you.
So sprinkling in personalthings, I think, is also nice,
because then they can go thereand see OK, this person isn't
just trying to get a job,they're actually, you know, out
with their family, whatever itis.

(45:17):
I think showing the human inyou is also nice, because we
like humans.
We like humans, yeah, and welove casting profiles, and I
think this has been extremelyhelpful.
I would love, before we go toplay a surprise game it's called
Casting Keywords,da-da-da-da-da-da Insert little
theme song here that I'm goingto record after this.

(45:38):
It's a little bit of a flashround and so I'm going to throw
out some statements or topicsaround.
Well, we're keeping it specificto casting profiles-ish today
and you, both of you, whoeverbuzzes in first?
Maybe?
I've never done it with twopeople.
It's kind of fun.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
That's nice, here we go.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
Oh, here we go, let's roll Right.
You both just say the firstpiece of advice for actors, like
a tangible tip that comes intoyour head.
It's kind of like wordassociation, but it'll be like a
piece of advice.
So like a sentence or two.
Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (46:12):
yeah I'm gonna let virginia go first and then I'm
gonna say mine, or would you?
Would you rather have me do itthe other way?

Speaker 2 (46:20):
cheating, and I don't know that I want it any that
way, for sure well, what?

Speaker 1 (46:24):
what if we do?
Should we do a fake buzzer?
What do you feel comfortablewith?

Speaker 2 (46:29):
I mean, I think we'll just our faces will light up.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Why don't I alternate ?
I'm going to alternate betweenyou and then, if you feel
passionate, that you want to addsomething in, just do it.
Okay, because we all know Iprobably will do it too.
Okay, so, virginia, we'll startwith you.
The first one is self-tapes,just your overall tip this is
not going to be fast.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
There's so much self-tapes.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
Read the directions.
What's the number one?
Tip Read the directions.
Oh, that's a good one, becauseI think that probably makes all
the difference in miscasting alittle bit.
If you're not reading them.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
If you read and do the directions, you can't really
miss.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Same with file names, right?
Isn't that super important?

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Yeah, you should probably, but the way casting
networks puts them up, for me Idon't care.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
It's okay, Jason.
Did you want to add in there as?

Speaker 3 (47:22):
I start listening to Little Mermaid.
I would say if you're going todo them, do them.
And I would say if you're goingto do them, do them and do it
by the deadline.
If you're not going to do it,tell a casting director that you
declined the audition and letthem know.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah, because that's probably annoying if someone
confirms and then they don't doit, or they don't confirm at all
and they just sit there pendingand I'm like, are you coming to
this party or not?
Are you serious?

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Well, speaking of that party submission notes, we
touched on it a bit Short andsweet.
She looks like she wants to addsomething.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
I don't get a whole lot of submission notes, to be
honest.
Only when I beg for them dosome agents give me submission
notes, so I love them.
I love a submission note.
It's got to be relevant,obviously.
But I love a submission note.
It's got to be relevant,obviously, but I love a
submission note.
That's relevant.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Okay, that's good to know.
Training section we didn'treally talk about education.
Let's start with JT, becausehe's got a man like a statuesque
pose.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
I wanted people to know.
I think it's important.
I wanted people to know that Ihad a theater background.
I went to depaul theater school.
I went to columbia theaterschool, uh, and that was
important to me.
So I would put things like thator if you've had training with,
you know, private actingclasses with denzel washington,
you might want to put that.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
It could help oh, he'd be all over my resume if I
did it.
He'd be like I met denzel eighttimes.
Right command f denzel um.
He's back on broadway.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Now, too, my grandma, command f, my grandma once was
walking in new york and she sawhim leaving at the stage door.
She didn't see the show, but mygrandma's just like the best,
most magical person and went upto him and I got a call and I
just hear this muffled voicegoing college first.
And I was like that was andwent up to him and I got a call
and I just hear this muffledvoice going college first and I
was like that was.
And then they hung up and I waslike that was weird and my
grandma had literally called me.

(49:14):
Put it up to denzel washington.
It was like my grandson's anactor, what's your advice?

Speaker 2 (49:18):
and that that's what his advice was that is adorable
education first yeah, education,yeah, well, I mean I want to
know if you've taken some improvtraining.
I mean that's a big thing inChicago If you've got the improv
, the sketch, any of that stuff,great On camera experience
Training is always good.
Well, you said.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Chicago.
So I'm going to say locationthat was the next keyword here
Because I think we live in anage where it's almost like you
can work as a local even thoughyou're not a local like a lot of
people are kind of fudging it,you can.
What are your thoughts?

Speaker 2 (49:49):
you can as long as you mean it, because you can't
say like, oh yeah, I'm on afirst, I can be on a first
refusal or hold for the wardrobedate and the shoot date and
then realize later that like thewardrobe was this week and then
the shoot was this week andlike I'm supposed to stay in
chicago that whole time, I'm notgoing to be there for the
wardrobe.
Then like you gotta like reallycommit to being a local if

(50:11):
you're gonna say it.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
So yeah, yeah and for things to change too, like like
you have to be there in casethe appointment times change and
all that yeah go where thebusiness is, if and and the
business that you want to do.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
if you want to be an actor on Broadway, why would you
move to LA?
You're not going to get a lotof Broadway shows in LA, so go
where the business is and wherethe business is that you want to
get into.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Yeah, and make it worth it for you to be
intentional, because I know Ibooked a role in a film and then
it turned out to have to be alocal, but it was worth it.
Enough for me to say, okay, ifI buy a hotel, I'll kind of eat
the money, but it's worth it tohave the credit, you know.
So I think it has to just be apersonal decision.
Oh, the next one that we have?
Wait, what is the next one thatwe have here?

(50:59):
Okay, resume categories, like Ithink we've covered.
I know this is a veryrudimentary basic thing, but for
people starting out, whatcategories do you like to see?

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I guess it's based off of the work you've done um,
yes, I personally don't need tosee like any extra work that
you've done.
I'm not looking for that, Idon't care.
Anyone can be an extra to me inmy mind, like, if you look like
the part, if you look like theperson who can be the extra,

(51:32):
then I'm usually basing extradecisions off of photos, uh, as
in terms of like on camera,principal type stuff.
That's that's what I like tosee on a resume, like you know
any.
You know any type of stuff thatmakes me feel like you're legit
and you've been on set.
You know, so the bigger stuff.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
You have put that stuff to the top yeah, I'm glad
you said that, because I thinksome people do add a lot of
extra work and then maybe theytry and fudge it and pretend it
was maybe a co-star or something, and I think it's just
important to learn that early onthat you shouldn't really do
that yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
So popped in my head film, tv, theater, commercial,
education if, for some reason,commercial list available upon
request.
That could be very, very simple.
Uh, definitely put stuff thatmatters.
When I was a young actor inchic, which is where I was born
and raised, my theater was firston top.

(52:30):
That was the most important tome.
When I moved to LA, theaterwent down, film and TV went to
the top, because that's what'smost important there.
So you can switch things around, but those are the main
categories.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
I love that.
And one more little categoryhere as we end this game Boop
boop, be-choo, coo-coo-coo-choo.
I don't know what that means.
Boop boop, be-doo.
I just saw Boop the Musical.
That's my one, boop be-doo.
It was really fun.
So breakdowns.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
The breakdown to me.
I don't know if there's thebusiness section to it and
there's the role section to it,like role descriptions.
So obviously, as an actor, youneed to know about the business
stuff of things.
You need to know what you'reagreeing to, what terms you're
agreeing to.
Conflicts it's holding, howlong is it running?
Do I have anything conflictingwith this currently running?

(53:24):
So you have to be aware of thebusiness side a little bit.
Hopefully your agent is also,you know, looking out for you,
but they rep a lot of people too.
So you have to do your job andknow your business.
Plus, you get on set.
If you see a contract thatdoesn't match what you thought
this was, then you you shouldn'tbe signing that and you should
be talking to your agent beforeyou sign anything.

(53:49):
But, like the role breakdown,like the character description,
some of that stuff is veryhelpful.
Some of that stuff is like,take it with a grain of salt.
Um, some of that stuff iswritten for us and we get it as
casting directors and we put itout because it's very clear.
It's here's, here's thecharacter.
It's super helpful.
Sometimes we're like making upstuff to help you out.
Sometimes it's not very helpful, um.

(54:10):
So understand that.
You know here's.
Here's what we think the roleis.
But we've picked you, so doyour thing.
Yeah, you might not fit this,but if I put you on it there's a
reason for it.
So, yeah, read the breakdown.
Read that.
You know there's sometimesthere's helpful stuff in there.
Um, but understand the businessend and the creative side of it

(54:30):
and then get that script inyour hands and sometimes you can
, yeah, show casting.
And the producers, maybe whatthey didn't know that they
wanted yeah, you know there's somany stories those things are
written a long time ago in theprocess yeah and things evolve
and you know they don't see it.
Until they see it, you knowthey work you in the room or

(54:52):
they see you do something on aself-tape and it's like, oh yeah
, that feels right, andsometimes they're really clearly
written and it's like I knowwho this is.
I don't even have to auditionanybody.
I know who's going to book thisbased on this super clear
description.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
Nice there's a reason why a casting director is doing
that, and it's because if theyput out a project where the
character description is I needsomeone who can breathe in and
out Great, that's just aboutanyone and everyone, but they
have to be specific.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Not with the allergies these days, jason, I
know Only when I take ClaritinI've got the asthma.

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Oh, born with it.
Maybe he's born with it.
Maybe it's asthma, maybe it'sasthma.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
The writer wrote a specific role and the casting
director is trying to findsomeone who fits it.
If you have an agent, they'resubmitting you hopefully on the
right stuff, because your agentknows who you are and what you
can do.
And if you're self-submitting,then be honest with yourself.
Like Virginia said, read thecharacter description.
Hey, I can do this or I can'tdo this.

(55:53):
I know that every actor thinksthey can play from two to 92
years old, anything.
I can do it all.
I'm versatile.
But you really have to know whoyou are and what you can and
can't do.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
Oh, I love that.
I think it's important toobecause you want to be happy as
a person.
You know, I'm preparing for anupcoming interview where this
person in an interview said thattheir agent was leading them
one way and telling them not totake certain roles and so the
roles they were going on theyweren't passionate about and
they weren't booking and thenthey just had nothing.
So it's like, kind of thinkabout what you want.
You can self-advocate in thisbusiness, even within your own

(56:29):
quote, unquote.
You know, team, it's okay and Ithink that's a great piece of
advice to end on.
But we always end with a gotand a give.
So the best piece of adviceyou've gotten in this industry
and the best piece you have togive and because I have two of
you and I know it's sort of likea big thing, I'm going to split
it up.
So let's say, jason, you do thegotten, since your, your acting

(56:53):
career is behind you, butyou're still knowledgeable in
that sense.
And Virginia, I'll give you alittle bit of time to think of
the best piece you have to give.
Just and it you know it canchange.
This is just what it is forthis little recorded time
capsule with this Muppet overhere, but you know it'll be
helpful, I think either way.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
When I was a young actor in Chicago, I had reached
this point.
My agent was Harice Davidsonphenomenal company, phenomenal
woman and I was working my buttoff.
I mean it was crazy how much Iwas booking and I wanted to go

(57:29):
to LA.
I was ready to go and she said,jason, don't go, I don't think
you're ready, I don't think thetime is right, don't go yet.
And I went anyway, and look atme now.
So I wish I had taken heradvice and not gone.
Maybe my career would haveended up somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Well, maybe it wouldn't be on this podcast, and
we're grateful you're here.
And this is magical, I'm sohappy to be here, but I know
what you mean.
It's important to kind of trustyour gut, but also really keep
asking yourself why.
And sometimes when you lookdeeper you're like, no, maybe
I'm just going because I justwant it now, but I know I'm not
ready in the back of my head.

(58:10):
And I think that's important toassess for all of us, because
if you're not ready and you'regiven the opportunity, you might
not get it because it's justyou know it's not your time, but
you're not ready to kind ofstep up to that plate.
You don't have the bat.
How many more metaphors can Iput in here, virginia?
I don't know, but maybe you'llgive us a metaphor with the best

(58:33):
piece of advice you have togive.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I don't, you know.
There's so much you can say,and some people are beginning

(58:56):
actors know it's not you.
You know most of the time ifyou don't book something, it's
not you.
If you do your best, you know Iwork in a commercial kind of
industry where it's a lot ofmarketing, so a lot of people
have to make decisions about youand agree on you and you have
to check some boxes sometimes.
So I would say you know the jobis auditioning, the acting job

(59:17):
is the auditions.
If you book things, that'sfucking great.
Like can I say that Is thatcool, that's fucking great.
If you book stuff.
But the job is auditioning.
So you just go to auditions.
I don't know how actors do it.
They're so focused and um, likeon top of their stuff, going to
multiple auditions a day or aweek, like that's amazing to me.

(59:39):
So, um, being focused and likedoing the job of auditions,
that's the key and you do.
You know, like be open to allkinds of stuff.
You know some people will tellme like I don't want to do
industrials and it's like I justwant you to make a living as an
actor.
Industrials pay a lot ofpeople's bills and I have done

(01:00:00):
some industrials lately.
I've done are the funniestscripted material I have ever
done.
Like I've seen some reallyfunny stuff in industrial.
So like not everything is dryand not everything is maybe your
cup of tea, but like don't beclosed off to doing anything.
You think your agent wants tohear that you don't want to do
something.
Like they just want you to likedo everything that they can

(01:00:22):
submit you on.
So if it's fun still for you,do the thing.
If you don't like auditioning,if that's not doing it for you,
if it's only about booking, thenlike I don't know if that's the
right way to take this job.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
I think that's phenomenal advice because it
also puts the emphasis on thefun and I've been reminded to
over the years, even if youdon't think you're going to get
something, which you know.
First of all, yeah, second ofall, it's another chance to be
seen and make a connection witha fellow human who happens to be
in casting that wanted to seeyou yeah so it's like it's
another chance.
It's a chance that maybe actorsare paying for.

(01:00:59):
Now, in all these workshops,you know why not just do it and
have fun with it and, honestly,usually those are the ones you
book, the ones you don't evencare about.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
And you just kind of are like if you just do it for
you and me, like if we just havea good time, I'll get you on
another job that's going to bookyou.
Yeah, you know you'll be abridesmaid for a few jobs, but
we'll get you a job and you'llget married.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Okay, throw me the flowers, virginia.
I love that metaphor.
That was a.
That was a worthy metaphor ofPaul Feig, of Melissa McCarthy,
kristen Wiig and all thosebridesmaids out there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
Robert, you're an actor.
You're an actor.
You know what it's like.
Thank you, jason.
You will go into an auditionand you will come out of there
going, oh my God, that was theworst audition I ever had and
you'll book it.
And then you'll go to anotheraudition and say oh my God, that
was the best audition I everhad and you don't get it.
You just never know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
You really never know .
So you just got to enjoy thejourney and have fun.
That's.
That's the hardest part, isthinking you're going to be
happy once you get that dreamjob.
But really the dream job iswhat you said, virginia, it's
it's just auditioning, it'sdoing this, it's being called in
, it's making friends, you know,and hopefully enjoying your
life.
And I've enjoyed this time withthe both of you.
I know I got to let you go, butto have a little transition

(01:02:07):
here, I just want to say I'm sograteful for your time.
I'm grateful for all you do foractors and I know, on behalf of
everyone listening, that thisis going to help so many people.
So, and that's what this is allabout, I really appreciate it
and I just hope you bothcontinue to shine in your own
regards.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
Oh, you too, Rob.
This was so nice.
Thanks for having us.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Thank you so much, love you.
I'll probably cut that out too.
Okay, I love you.
Bye, I'm sorry.