BEHIND the SCENES with Michael Golab
Join international actor Michael Golab, as he interviews the people that make the acting industry, from globally renowned casting directors, to virtual reality innovators and Hollywood’s best visual-effects artists. Through their personal stories, you will hear about their industry journeys, what helped them overcome obstacles, and how they ‘made it’. Michael’s curiosity to listen to and learn from his peers’ stories inspired him to create ‘Behind the Scenes’ to share this collective wisdom, with the hope of inspiring others in the arts. Instagram: @michaeldgolab
Episodes
Nancy Bishop CSA, is an award -winning casting director, who works internationally from offices in London and Prague. She is a founding member and former President of the Casting Society of America’s (CSA) European branch. With over 100major feature film and television projects among her credits, Nancy has cast hundreds of actors throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Nancy has been retained as casting director by doze...
Gianna Kiehl (Twitter: @GiannaKiehl/ IG: @giannak401) is an American actor. She plays assassin Jules in Amazon’s ‘Hanna’. She directed and produced her first play ‘Persephone’ in 2021.
We talk about how crucial it is to define what exactly ‘success’ means to you, the importance of finding balance without succumbing to the ‘average’, the significance of playfulness and so much more.
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Content warning: this episode contains...
Ali Cook is an actor, comedian and magician. He has written and starred in the television series 'Now You See It' (BBC1), 'Penn And Teller: Fool Us' (ITV1), 'Dirty Tricks' (Channel 4) and 'Monkey Magic '(Five), both nominated for the British Comedy Awards & the Golden Rose of Montreux.
We talk about the immense power of practise, how if you want to become better at something you have to be...
Jonathan Harden (jonathanharden.com) is an actor, director and host of the immensely popular ‘The Honest Actor’s Podcast’.
We talk about the importance of ‘creating’ as much as you can, how to make the fear of ‘public humiliation’ work in your favour, the significance of always doing the ‘work’ and being prepared, the crucial skill of creating your own opportunities, the joy of competing with yourself and so much more.
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Shakyra Dowling (@shakyradowlingcasting) is a casting director specialising in independent British feature films and European coproductions alongside television and commercials- many of which have been internationally recognised and gone to be nominated for multiple awards including BAFTAs and BIFAs, and at festivals from Sundance to TIFF.
We talk about the importance of completely immersing yourself in your chosen subject...
Gordon Cowell is currently Casting Associate for TV Casting Director Kate Rhodes James, where he has worked since 2016. For nearly five years prior to this, he was Casting Associate for Theatre Casting Director Jill Green. Casting credits include ‘A Discovery of Witches’, ‘Bodyguard’, ‘Soulmates’ and ‘Sherlock' to name but a few.
We talk about the importance of playing to your strengths, the danger of playing it safe, the valu...
Luci Lenox (@luci_lenox) is an international casting director with casting offices in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. Her list of clients includes Netflix, Paramount, ABC, NBC, Disney and several independent producers in Spain. She has served on the board of CSA (Casting Society of America) Europe and also as head of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee in Europe.
We talk about common misconceptions of what casting director...
Joe Hall is the founder of Ghetto Film School – the award-winning nonprofit organisation works to foster talent within communities of colour, aiming to bring diversity to the notoriously white movie industry. We talk about the importance of community building, the significance of knowing ‘who you are’ and clarifying your motivation, the important skill of ‘learning how to learn’, the dangers of not having a clear mission/ vision s...
Patsy Rodenburg OBE is recognised as one of the world’s leading voice teachers and coaches and also as a renowned authority on Shakespeare. We talk about how storytelling has made us human, the immense power of saying ‘I don't know’, the importance of generosity, the significance of realising that you are more powerful than you think you are, the importance of working on yourself, how creating a ‘safe space’ boosts every...
Luc Chaudhary runs one of the UK’s leading talent agencies ‘International Artists Management’ with offices in London, LA and Central Europe representing high profile actors, producers, writers and directors. We talk about the importance of trust, the significance of self-discipline, advice on how to approach an agent, the importance of having a strong ‘why’, how having other interests can relax you, the non-linear trajectory of the...
David Lan is a theatre producer, writer and director. We talk about the importance of striving to fulfill your potential whatever field you are in, why theatre has to be more than just good entertainment, the importance of welcoming difficulties, the dark side of social anthropology, how good stories can broaden your mind and thus improve your decision making and so much more.
David was born in Cape Town and has lived in London sinc...
Mike Alfreds is a theatre director, adapter, translator and teacher. He talks about the role of the subconscious, the essence of good storytelling, what it means to be really ‘alive’ in a performance, what we can learn from film/ theatre ‘stars’, the danger of overconfidence, the importance of always being 100% ‘ready’ to work , the significance of curiosity and playfulness, the power of looking at a scene/ situation through someon...
Geoff Lindsey is a writer, director and pronunciation coach.
He talks about the crucial skill of reality testing your work on a live audience, the significance of reframing ‘bad’ events, the importance of not being too precious about your work, the significance of adaptability in any creative profession, the correlation between hard work and luck and so much more.
Geoff trained as a director at the Bournemouth Film Sch...
Ryan Metcalfe shares how having worked as a magician improved his approach to business and life, how challenging and destroying your own ideas can help you succeed, the power of combining seemingly unrelated disciplines, the importance of good relationships, when it pays off to be cheeky, the significance of taking a broader perspective and so much more.
Ryan started off as a magician, studied stage design at the Guildhall...
Chris Hardman shares how he started his career completely self-taught and became a visual effects artist and feature film producer. He has worked as a Visual Effects Head of Department on Hollywood films like Jurassic World 2, James Bond Spectre, Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar, Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, Ant-man, Jason Bourne, Kingsman, Assassin’s Creed and Star Wars Episode VII. He also has his own production company ‘Hardman P...
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