Acting Business Boot Camp

New Voiceover Masterclass!

About Spencer:

Spencer Robinson is a literary and talent manager at Art/Work Entertainment who's been in the industry for over 20 years. He represents writers, actors, producers, and also a full book publishing company. Spencer's writer clients have been on the writing staff of shows for Netflix, Amazon, Max, HBO, Comedy Central, and many more. He's also sold clients' features to studios as well as brought in financing for independent projects.

Spencer's actor clients have been in films with directors Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Gore Verbinski, Jeff Nichols, and more. In the TV world, his clients have been regular cast members on shows for Netflix, HBO MAX, Amazon, Disney+, HULU, The CW, NBC, FX, Starz, Nickelodeon, EPIX, and more. Spencer's clients have also recurred on series for Peacock, Netflix, Freeform, TNT, AMC, Showtime and many more.

I'm a manager.

I'm a talent and lit manager. So I manage actors, writers, producers, and I actually also represent a fully functioning publishing company for all of their IP.

How the heck did you get there?

It was almost by accident actually, kind of accident when I was growing up I was a musician and I'm still a musician, but I played music And I love movies and television and I knew I wanted to do one of those two things. So I went to film school for exactly one year.

I grew up in Los Angeles and I went to San Francisco, stayed for one year. And I was sitting in a class where they were teaching us how a camera works. And I was like, I don't care about this at all. Don't care. I was really bored. And I realized I don't want to actually shoot things myself. I don't want to, be the person that does that.

And I don't really need to know how a camera works. So I actually ended up dropping out of school. And came back to LA and I'd realized at that point too, that I left Los Angeles to work in the film industry, which was probably pretty dumb. So I came back and I had no actual real connections to the film industry, even though I grew up here.

My mom's an elementary school teacher. So I asked her, I said any of the parents at the school you work at, do they do any television or film? And she goes, one of them does commercials. I said, great. Can I have her phone number? It was okay. I called and I introduced myself and I said, please, will you give me a chance as a PA? Can you give me one day? And she said, okay. And it was a 23 and a half hour day on a car commercial. And it was very long.

But it was cool. It was like, I'd actually never been on a set before. So for me, it was really cool to see, crane shots and very serious people doing very serious things and craft service and all that kind of fun stuff.

And I liked it. And then for the next year and a half to two years, she hired me and everything she did. So I got, a lot of commercial work, a lot of independent film work. And I did anything that I could to pay the bills at that point.

I think I worked in a costuming house for a couple of weeks. I just, whatever I could possibly do.

And I realized after about two years that I did not want to be on set for the rest of my life. I actually wanted to learn how Television and movies were put together. So I wanted to get into an office.

And I knew that like you could be an office PA or a mailroom person. I knew that was a thing that existed. So I entered an ad in the reporter, the Hollywood Reporter back when it was still a magazine, and it was a million years ago. And it was an ad in the back that said, looking for a mailroom employee at a management company.

And I was like, I don't know what that is, but I'm going to go try. And because I've been a PA for a couple of years at that point, I've been delivering packages and then on set, I was actually qualified to sort mail and deliver packages. So I got a job at a management company called MBST, which is not around anymore.

But at the time, they were a cool place to work. They had Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, they managed the Beatles affairs, and they had a development deal with Disney. So it was a great company to learn at for me.

Just because I got a chance to see how it all worked. And the owners had produced a bunch of movies, and they represented all these very big people in their careers.

It was really cool, and I learned what management was and I delivered packages all day and I build it at people's desks and did all the things that you do when you're the bottom of the wrung. And after being there for a couple of years, one of the partners broke away and started his own company and asked me to go with him.

He liked me and he said, you do a really good job. I want to put you on a desk working for two mags X and I said, great. So I worked, I got put on a desk at that company working for a talent manager and a lit manager. So I was watching somebody pitch actors all day and watching people take out scripts and do the whole thing and give notes and it was really cool.

And after being at that company for about a year and a half, they started getting more into doing film distribution, which I did not care about actually like management and I wanted to stay in it.

And one of the actors left that company to go to a company called Howard entertainment and refer me to his new manager and said, "Hey, if you need an assistant, this guy's good."

And I was really good. I was good at everything except for filing. I never filed anything. I had a big stack of papers. I just sat on my desk and I refused to file them, but everything else I was very good at. I read scripts and I, yeah. Was aware of what was going on and all that kind of stuff. And when I went to the interview for that job, I gave the worst interview of my life and got hired anyway.

But the upside was that, this person that I went to, that I went to interview for who eventually became my mentor she represented a lot of comedians and comedic writers.

And I knew all of them. I was a comedy nerd and I knew all of her clients, I knew her business really well. So she was like, Oh yeah, I'll hire you. Like you already know what I'm doing.

Ask questions, sit in my office, and answer them.

Yeah. And I did that every day for two years, two and a half years. I read every contract, I asked every question, I sat in her office, like at her desk next to her and watched her work and learned as much as I possibly could. And it was a great, really amazing experience that I still have today, and really great relationship.

And after being there for two and a half years with her, the head of that company said to me, "Hey, I'm never going to promote you just so you know." I was like, cool. That's really great. So I talked to Cindy and I was like, look I'm never going to get ahead here. She goes, I know she'll look, I'm probably not going to be here much longer either.

So you should probably leave and we'll figure something out.

And I said, okay I'm going to quit then. So I quit and I didn't really know what to do with myself at that point because I'd been, an assistant at a lot of companies. I didn't want to go start somewhere else. And I was a little bit burnt out on the idea of trying and never being able to actually get that job as a manager.

So I took a break. And I joined a band and I went on the road. I joined a band that I was a fan of the band had one record out like on an independent label, but pretty quickly after the band was called the Lords of Altamont. Still around not in the band anymore, but they are still around.

And pretty quickly we got a French record deal. So we started doing European tours, like three times a year, every year. And I did five years of going to Europe three times a year and then doing some shows in the U S and we would play for a couple hundred people in LA and maybe, eight or nine people in the middle of the country.

And then we go to Switzerland and pay for 40,000 people. And I played with the Pixies and the Who and Depeche Mode and all these really cool bands all over Europe and made a little bit of money doing that, not a lot.

So when I was back in the US, I played professional blackjack for a living to pay the bills.

So if you've seen the movie 21, the MIT blackjack team movie with Kevin Spacey, I was on an offshoot of that team.

At the time, we were the biggest blackjack team in the country. There was 40 of us. And the team was started by some attorneys and some people that were tired of practicing law and wanted to make some money a different way. Started driving around the country and counting cards and winning money, and they built it into this massive enterprise.

And I joined, and we were, we had a million dollar bankroll for a weekend in Vegas, and we had smaller bankrolls for these little trips in the South and the Midwest, and I would go to Las Vegas for a weekend, make a bunch of money, and then I'd go on tour for six weeks and make very little money, and I'd come back and do it all again, and basically, or I'd go to Biloxi, Mississippi or, Gulfport, Mississippi or Tunica or whatever, somewhere in the South and play river boats and wear disguises and get kicked out of casinos and go next door and do it all again.

And for three years I was on that team and I loved it. It was really great and exciting. And, we would mostly win, lose sometimes, but mostly win money because you're, you're playing with the edge, of course, that's how counting cards works, but you don't win every time. But it was a really cool experience.

And I met a bunch of very smart people that are very good at math.

And after being on the team for three years, we actually ended up folding the blackjack team, not because you weren't winning.

It's because the wins weren't as big as they had been because people were getting better at catching card counters.

There'd been a lot of movies that came out and television shows and books and. Everybody was talking about card counting, so they just got better at catching us. And we could still win, but the wins were getting smaller, and we no longer needed a team of that size to go in full force, because we were going into Vegas and we couldn't go back for months, because they knew us and they threw us out.

I started walking into casinos and they'd be like, "Spencer, no," before I even sat down. So it was like, oh my god! Yeah, and if you can't play, then you can't win, right? So it got to the point that we couldn't go in this big full force with, and heat up the entire state of Nevada at once. We had to pare it back.

So I needed a job. And Cindy had left Howard Entertainment and started her own company. And I went back to her and I said, can I please have a job?

And she goes, okay, yeah, you can come back and work for me. You can still go on tour with your band, be my assistant, and I'll get a temp when you're gone.

And finally she said to me, look I wanna promote you. I want you to be a manager of my company, but you have to be here. You can't be gone half the year. So if you wanna stop touring. The job's yours. And I thought about what I wanted to do with the next, 20, 30 years of my life. And the band that I was in, I love, and I could keep doing those same tours, but I was always going to be scrounging for money when I got back.

And I love music. I love playing, but I also wanted to, be in one place for a while and actually have a little bit of financial security. And I really love management. I wanted to do it already. I just got stopped at one point. So I said, okay, let's do it. And I left the band that I was in on very good terms.

I'm still very friendly with the guys. I saw some of them last night, and took a job. And I said to Cindy, when I first when I first got promoted, I said, look, I want to work with writers. I love writers. I love giving notes. That's my thing. And she was like, cool, you're starting with actors.

And I go, but I said, writer, she goes, I know. And the reason why she said that is because. Calling a casting director, and at that time we used to call casting directors because they were in their office. And they didn't know who I am, they didn't know my clients, and getting them to actually stop and listen to a pitch, and give auditions to this person they don't know, to actors that they didn't know yet.

Cindy was like, if you can do that, you can do literally anything. And she was really right. And it took me about six months to get really good at that.

And then she was like, okay, now manage whoever you want. So I've always stuck now. And I actually really, as much as I wanted to work with writers, I love working with actors too.

And I didn't, I wouldn't have known that I had to not forced me to do that, which is really good. So I've always represented actors and writers. And about two and a half years ago, I took on producers and a publishing company. And I've just been doing all that ever since. And she merged with Artwork about 14 years ago, and I came along with her.

And when we merged with them, they were all lit. And we had actors, writers, and comics. And we were a little more comedy focused, they were a little more drama focused. So it was a really good marriage of the two companies. And now it's great. There's four managers there. It's a boutique company, and we all work as a team for all the clients.

And me and one of the other managers run the talent department.

And then I have a bunch of lit clients and some producer clients.

You never know where anything is going to lead you to. And another thing that I am a big one on when talking to actors we're talking to anyone is just ask. Yeah. Just freaking ask. You'll survive the no.

And the funny thing about doing my job is I hear no all day for my clients. I hear, I pitch actors. No, I pitch writers. No. A thousand times. And then you get the one. Yes. And it's okay, then the last thousand knows are worth it because now someone got a great opportunity or a great audition or a great job, or someone's willing to read their script, whatever it is, that you go through a lot of nos, but.

At some point they start, they stop really hurting, the nos. It's okay, another no, fine. They're wrong.

I remember when I think it was the Golden Globes or I think it was golden globes or maybe the Emmys or Mike White won for White Lotus. And he was like, we went to everyone and you guys all passed on this, and pointed to the room.

And I love that. Cause it's true. It's like people pass out a bunch of really good things until somebody doesn't. And they pass in giving actors auditions until somebody doesn't, and I love that you have to just keep trying.

What would you say is your biggest piece of advice to actors?

I think, obviously always be training in some kind, always be in some kind of class, learning to do something, always working that muscle.

That's a really important piece. And this is the fun thing is be aware of the industry, watch TV, watch movies, know what's out there.

If you, when you get an audition and you only have a day and a half to do it, if you've already seen the show, you've now saved yourself two hours of having to go watch that show to learn the tone.

You know what I mean? It's those kind of little things.

And always be off book when you're doing an audition.

Make sure that your self tape stuff is in the top shade that it's ready to go at all times.

Most of the actors that I know have their self tape corner set up at all times and they don't have to worry about setting it up.

And it becomes a time management thing.

Always have someone to read with you.

All of those things that they sound like they're obvious, but all of those things together make for really great auditions.

And I do think too, and I have a client of mine that is an acting client that for me is the best actor I've ever seen.

He's phenomenal. He works nonstop. He's somebody that the biggest problem we have with him is that we get more offers than he can actually take in because there's not three of him, and he started doing self tapes. I started, I pulled him out of the room eight years ago from auditions because he wanted to self tape and he was always somewhere else in the world anyway.

But he, what I've seen for him is he's somebody that when that tape starts, he's already 110 percent in character and he always is.

And what I mean by that is. Some actors, when they're doing self tapes, you can see them waiting to speak. You can see their eyes go dead when they're not talking.

You know what I mean? And it's you have to really, when we're having a conversation right now, we're both engaged with each other. And that's the way it should be when you're acting too. It's really to have, to be in it 110 percent all the time. Even when you're just reacting and you're not the one speaking.

Any interesting success actor stories that you'd like to share?

That client I mentioned his name is Damon Harriman.

He's an Australian actor. He already had a career when I signed him, he had a great career in Australia and he was just starting to have a career here in the U.S. but he was recurring on a show on FX, which was great.

And I met him and he's a phenomenal actor. And we said, look, we're coming in. We're new people coming into this company. And he was deciding if we wanted to stay there or not, because they really weren't repping actors before.

And I said, "look, give me a chance." I said, "what do you want out of your career?"

And he goes, "I really want to do features. I've only done television here in the U.S. and I really want to do movies."

I said, "cool, give me six months."

And within, four months I had him in a Clint Eastwood film.

And from then on, he's just been working on some ever since doing television and movies. And it's not just because of me, it's because he's so damn talented, but it was just a matter of, he needed somebody to just champion him and make sure that every casting director and producer in town knew how talented he was, and now they do.

So now it's a matter of him, just doing one thing after the other in Australia and America.

And like I said before, it's just the biggest problem we have is that there's not enough of him to go around.

Talk to me about actors and content creation in terms of actors becoming multi hyphenates.

I think it's great. I love when actors are also writers. But I also, cause I represent writers too, right? So I love when someone wants to take it on, I take writing very seriously. I think structure is really important and learning all of those things.

So when somebody wants to take it on. Like actually learn it, learn how to do it, learn the proper way to write a script, learn what the structure is, learn how to do it, learn the formatting, all of those things, and do it properly. So I think it's a great idea to do, but I think you got to be smart about it.

I think if you want to write a script for yourself to be in that's fine, but write a couple of other roles that are also big size roles to cast some more well known actors if you're not well known.

As because we all know we have to get financing for your movie, right? And that's going to take some people like that, things like that.

I think it's really important. I think it's a great thing to do. I think that it's really smart. And on top of that, if you're an actor, that's still building your reel and you haven't booked a lot of jobs yet and you're new and that's great. You can write a short film for yourself, write a sketch, whatever it is, all that stuff, as long as it looks good, it can go on your reel.

So besides just being someone that wants to sell scripts or write a movie for yourself. Write a sketch and use it on your reel, write a short film or whatever it is and use that as a calling card for yourself too.

So that kind of content creation also comes in really handy.

How the heck does a manager represent a producer?

It's a good question. And it ends up being a very kind of wide ranging job because these producer clients that I have had their own slates of projects, they'll be like, Hey, here's the 20 scripts that I found that I liked. And one of them will be in the first draft. One of them will be 10 drafts in one of them maybe has an actor attached.

One doesn't, whatever it is. And we go through their slates and we go, okay, we feel like this one's ready to go out. So now I'm going to help them take out that, that television show and sell it. Or I'm going to help them take out that movie and find financing for it. Or I'm going to help them attach a showrunner to this show.

It also means that I'm reading all the scripts and giving notes on all the scripts. And that means I'm giving notes to the producer I rep, so they can give it to their, to the writer.

Or we're all meeting and giving it to the writers together.

Yesterday morning, I read three features before work.

So I've read about, about 15 scripts a week, the last few weeks.

When you're on the top, you're working at such a high level in terms of, yeah, I'm reading three scripts before I even start my day. That's just mind boggling.

You know what we always say to like we have, cause we get paid 10%. That's what a manager makes, but what our clients make, which, that's fine. That's the job. And that's what we do. And that's cool. So that means, look, we have a 10 percent commitment in your career. You should have a 90 percent commitment in your career.

So what does that mean? That means be on top of your game, keep yourself healthy. So keep yourself energetic so that you have the energy to do all the things you need to do. Get yourself tapes in on time. And all, if you're a writer, finish those scripts, meet your deadlines, all those kinds of things.

I can't make a client do that. I just love when they do that because it makes my job easier.

I had a client once that a really good actor and he turned in a self tape and he was kept looking down while he was acting. And I was like, picking a swap because I watch all the cell tapes before we send them in.

And I was like, Is he not off book? And finally I saw the paper come into the screen. And I was like, so I called him. And he said a couple days before it was due. And I'm like, hey I noticed you weren't off book. I think you should do it again. I think that you should, you could actually, because other actors are going to be off book.

And he started yelling at me. Yelling at me and he was like, how dare you? How dare you tell me what to do? And I'm like, okay I'm not representing you anymore. And not because of the off book thing, because you yelled at me. It's Yeah, like I would never yell at you. I don't yell at people, right?

So that's not cool. I'm calling because I want you to get a job and you're making it harder on yourself by not taking the extra time to learn the material.

So I just think that you have to do the work. You just got to.

In this new negotiation, they are not requiring you to be memorized. And I hate what I'm about to say. You can not be memorized and you can also not get the job. Yeah, I know. And I think, I absolutely despise That I am saying that.

Yeah, but if you think back to, like, where acting started on stage, right?

You didn't get a chance to stop on stage and grab your script. You had to actually know the material, and that's the entertainment. I know we're lucky today that everything isn't live, you can do things different, but that commitment has been there for, a very long time. We're talking hundreds of years, right?

And I don't know why all of a sudden people don't need to be committed anymore.

We have a client of ours who's an actress who's been on a million things.

She's been around for a long time. It's phenomenal. But when she, you should go in the room now when she sells tapes for stuff, she makes really bold choices every time.

Now what that means is sometimes it's the wrong choice, right? She makes really strong, bold I'm gonna really go for her choices, right?

So sometimes, it's way wrong for the role. So she doesn't get everything she auditioned for by any means. No one does. But she, she, half the time it's really very off. But everyone loves her. Because they always go, oh wow, that's different. You know what I mean? And if they want something different, they'll bring her in.

I've seen her go in for roles where she was so against type, but they're like, we want to see what she's going to do. And then she'll book the role and they'll rewrite it for her.

Because she goes in there every time and she's I'm going to do something that's so out there that no one else will have thought of this.

And it's still, she's doing a great job acting and doing all the right things, but it's making a really cool, strong, different choice and doing it at 110 percent so that people will either give her the job or they'll love her and remember her so that the next time there's a role they'll bring in for that.

Let's talk about your screenplay coaching. What do you offer actors who want to write?

So basically if somebody is just starting getting writing and they want to learn how to write a pilot or a screenplay, I can work with somebody from idea.

Into a finished piece, books, book time to talk about how you start doing it, talk about structure and all those kinds of things. I teach classes on structure anyway, and I love, I'm a total structure nerd. So I think it's very important, like to know when things are supposed to happen and you can play with it and bend it, look, an hour long television show follows the Shakespearean play structure.

Like I didn't make it up. It's been around for a long time. You know what I mean? So it's like. Following it is important and movies with reacts and that's the way that it is. And all those kinds of things. So I work with people to actually teach them how to start and get going into writing and what you do in what order.

And then it's the kind of thing that once you know how to do that, you can do the same thing every time.

You only need to learn it once you just do that same process every time for each different piece. And it works great.

Once you have a piece and you want notes on it, I can read somebody's script and then I'll set a set of zoom and go over with them and basically.

I give really detailed, actionable notes. And without being, too braggy, I think that my notes are as good if not better than anyone else I've ever seen.

And I mean that in the sense that I really do try to help somebody make the script better by not letting them know what's wrong with it, by saying, "hey, I bumped into a thing here, let's talk about why, let's talk about what you're trying to do, and let's figure out a way to make it better."

I'm not going to rewrite it for somebody, but yeah, it's, and I always give broad thoughts first, hey, Act 1's a little too long, it'd be better if you could make it end here, Act 2 starts a little late, whatever it is, and then go through the script page by page. And really point out, hey, on page 22, I bumped into this thing.

Let's talk about what you were trying to do here and figure out a better way that this can actually work.

I think that being an actor and a writer, being a storyteller of some kind is maybe the greatest job you can have.

And the reason why I think that it's not just because you can make a lot of money doing something that's seemingly fun, right? And something that you love to do. It's just because being able to elicit a reaction from somebody, a laughter, a cry, a feeling, whatever it is, make somebody's day brighter, what, make somebody feel something that they didn't feel before.

I think it's really powerful and I think it's really important.

And on top of that, I think being able to get ideas across to people like, I've been rewatching the show will and grace.

And you think about how, when that show came out, how maybe the middle of the country didn't have a lot of people in their life that were gay or, part of the LGBT community and how that show made it feel more normal to people, and I think, so being able to hide the peas in the mashed potatoes like that, to get across an important social message is also a really cool thing you can do.

So I think being a part of that is just amazing. And I feel like it's something that's worth striving for. And with as much content as there is out now for both actors and writers, why not you? Someone's going to get that job.

So why not you?

So yeah, I just think that it's a really great way to think about it. And just don't give up. Keep trying and just be smart about the way you do things.

What's Standing in the Way of Your Voiceover Career? Masterclass

About Mandy Fisher:

Mandy Fisher is a NYC-based full-time voiceover actor with over 15 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with brands like Crayola, Disney, Peloton, Coke, Walmart, and Kohls to name a few.

Her passion for voiceover and genuine love of helping people inspire her to work with actors of all stages of their career.

With a theater background, she brings her training to guide copy analysis and character creation. As an industry vet of 15 years, she has witnessed the changes and understands the ebbs and flows of the business.

Mandy created her own voiceover business from the ground up and has a successful and replicable model to help actors build their own successful businesses.

All of this adds up to a coach who can provide audition and career advice while helping actors become the best they can be!

I am a professional voiceover actor, and I've been in the industry for a little over 15 years doing lots of different things across the industry.

And I wanted to share with you some things that have happened to me in my voiceover career that maybe you can learn from so that you don't make the same mistakes that I did.

The number one thing I think that I wish if I could go back tomorrow, right, if, if I could start my career all over again, the number one thing I would tell myself is to not rush the learning phase.

You only have one opportunity in your career to be a beginner, to be a newbie, to be fresh into the industry.

You have this one golden sweet spot of time where you don't know the answers. You don't have the training. You don't have the experience. You are a fresh baby bird, and it is a little intimidating sometimes to not know, to not understand, to not have the answers and to not know how to move forward.

But that sweet spot of being able to learn and grow and ask questions and figure it out is so important.

And I rushed that.

I was always rushing from one thing to the next. I graduated high school early, I graduated college early. I was always just trying to move on to the next thing, and I wish I would've taken more time to just breathe in these moments of learning, breathe in these moments of not knowing and, and getting the opportunity to have different perspectives.

Because also when I was first starting in voiceover, there was nothing, there was literally no resource, no people teaching voiceover, definitely no people on the internet teaching, no forums, no nothing.

And nothing for anybody, but especially nothing for a child. So we were scraping, trying to figure out how to make this a business.

And it was very, very difficult.

And now you are exposed to more information than ever. There is so much information out there, a lot of free information out there, right?

I always point people to www.Iwanttobeavoiceactor.com by D Bradley Baker.

It is a fabulous resource. There's so much information there, but it can also be very overwhelming because there's so much information there.

And while you can definitely read it over and over and immerse yourself in from the starting from zero point to checking out all of the myths, tips, and tricks and ways that you're going to be able to set up your business, it's not comprehensive enough because it's just from one person, you need to expose yourself to multiple people, to people who say things that maybe you don't agree with, to people who have only been in the business for X amount of time, for people who have been in the business for 10 times that amount of time, the new people, the older people, the vets, the people who are just breaking in.

There's so many perspectives. There's so many people writing blogs, showing off TikTOK, showing their experiences in different ways because technology has evolved and the landscape of the industry has evolved.

And it is so important for you to take this time to absorb all of that information.

I've been doing voiceover for a really long time, for over 15 years. And guess what? I still, to this day, I will still take beginner voiceover classes. And you may be thinking, why would you waste your time?

Why would you waste your money? Don't you know all of the things? Don't you have more important things to do? Hell, you're teaching voiceover. Don't you know what you're talking about, Mandy?

Yes, I do. But the point is, the reason why I do that is because I need to keep my ear to the ground to understand what these teachers are teaching new actors.

I want to know what the new trends are. I want to hear what an agent is going to say to new voiceover actors. I want to hear what a casting director is going to say to new voiceover actors.

I want to hear what other actors are saying to new voiceover actors.

I want to understand how the industry has changed from their perspective and, and adapt that, as it makes sense, to my business, to my craft, to how I am not only teaching, but how I am performing.

So taking beginner voiceover classes, even if you are an established voiceover actor is a very good idea.

It's going to keep you in the know. It's going to keep you relevant. It's going to keep you understanding, but it's also going to keep you in that growing phase.

Like I said, doing this a long time, 15 years. You never have too much knowledge, you're never gonna say, "Oh, well, I've learned enough and I'm all done.

I don't need to grow anymore. I don't need to change my business model. I don't need to do this. I don't need to do that."

That's [00:07:00] that's just not how this works. That's not how you're going to grow and scale. You need to constantly be absorbing information.

And if you establish that as your foundation right out of the gate, you're never going to lose that zest and yearn for more information.

If you only do a couple of classes, maybe coach with one person, it's not going to be ingrained in your creative DNA to seek out those new knowledges and seek out those new teachers and, and try new things.

You might get stuck in a pattern. You might get stuck in quote unquote, traditional ways of running your business, and that is not going to help you scale.

It's not going to help you adapt and evolve and change and grow.

And that's what the entertainment industry is all about. learning, adapting, changing, growing, scaling, and being sustainable.

So one thing that I just want to encourage you to do, even if you feel like you have reached the epitome of your knowledge is maybe take a step back.

Maybe, you know, you've taken advanced commercial classes and advanced interactive. And you've taken workshops, four week workshops with casting directors, and you're about to take an amazing business voiceover program with this woman named Mandy Fisher. Maybe you're doing all of these things, right?

But take a step back.

Let's examine how you feel about your confidence.

Let's examine how you feel about your approach to your craft, to your business, because there's two sides, right?

There's your performance side and there's your business side. And the marriage between those is how you're going to keep your business sustainable and financially sensible.

So I want you to take a breath in. Relax into this time where you are allowed to be in the unknown and to gather the information to ask the questions.

Look, you can always ask questions, right?

But at a certain point in your trajectory, it's always okay to be inexperienced, right? You're always going to have all of the bookings and all of the experience in at certain points in your career.

It's okay to be inexperienced. What's not okay is to be uneducated.

You have more opportunity than ever to get the education for free for paying classes. There's so many opportunities to learn.

So it's okay to be inexperienced. It's not okay to be uneducated.

And take it from me, from somebody who has lived those moments of rushing the eagerness to work and to book and to make the connections without having the education behind me, I got experience, but it wasn't formed in education.

And that made my booking ratios plummet.

I got lucky in some instances. Yes, I was in the right place at the right time. I met the right people at the right time. I sounded a certain way that someone needed at the right time. But because I didn't have all of the other tools in my arsenal to sustain that, to keep that going, to build a business behind, I ended up walking away.

I knew that I couldn't keep myself afloat that way, so I ended up stepping away from voiceover for a while.

And in that time I trained, I met with coaches, I took classes. I wish I would have taken more business classes because there's so much about owning your own business that I never knew.

And I wish I would have had that foundation because once you decide to be a voiceover actor, you are a business owner and there's so many hats that come along with that.

You're the CEO, you're the CFO, you're the head of sales, you're the head of marketing, you're also the janitor, you're all of these different things. And I just wish I would have understood that in a different way to keep my business growing instead of having to stop and start all over again. So take that with you.

I sincerely hope that I will see you in my free masterclass coming up. And if you feel inclined to join a voiceover gym, I would love to work with you. If you feel inclined to join the voiceover actor road map, I would love to work with you, but my door is always open. So if I can help in any way. Please shoot me an email at [email protected].

Managing Anxiety for the New Year.

Sometimes when I have something really large looming in front of me, like an entire year, I get anxious.

I think, "How am I going to do this? How am I going to handle this? This seems like too big of a thing to tackle."

And there's that wonderful phrase that says, "Anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time."

And that's what I like to help actors with, not only helping you in the business, in the basics, because I have this theory that really the business is something that can be learned.

The problem is it's taught so poorly in so many places, and I have a tried true system that really works. And once you get on that system, it just chugs along in the background. It's like it works and it chugs along so that you can focus on the two other things that I think are the most important things, which is the ability to do your job, which is acting.

So to become a better actor. Possibly, more importantly, what we're talking a bit about today, which is core work, which is the work on yourself.

Because the more you know how you tick, the more you'll be able to apply that to a character.

So the more you become emotionally mature and the more emotional intelligence that you have, the better you'll be able to translate that into a character.

For today, talking about managing New Year's anxiety, or managing anxiety with an entire year in front of you.

You will never be given more than you can handle, but you will be given more than you can control.

And why is that? Because control is not your business. Handling is. That's also where that phrase, "Take the action, let go of the result," comes in.

It's my job to show up and do the absolute very best I can.

My job is to suit up and to show up and to be the very best I can be in every single moment.

"I can handle this." It's something I say to myself quite often, especially when faced with such a big thing in front of me.

Also, asking myself the question, "when the anxiety comes up, what do I think I can't handle?"

The other thing that I find, and this is just magical, is once I take responsibility for doing something in the area that I have that anxiety in, the anxiety does start to dissipate.

It starts to disappear. Why? Because I've taken responsibility.

There's something else about fear and anxiety that I want to point out,fear is your anecdote to success.

Let me say that again. Fear is your anecdote to success.

It is a bridge. If you can, slowly, methodically, quietly, stealth fully, do those things that you are frightened of, you'll start to build real confidence, a real understanding of you.

And that confidence that will carry you to the success that you want in your life.

It becomes the road more traveled.

That when that thing that comes up that you're frightened of, you do that.

It's very important to stop, take that step back, and observe.

And at the beginning of this year, I so recommend you taking that moment, sitting down and doing a lot more planning and organizing.

And then, of course, doing that very difficult thing of following through.

I want to be responding as much as I can to 2024 and not reacting.

When I react, I go by my first thought, and my first thought generally is not healthy for me.

But my second thought is, because my second thought is more of a response.

And a response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it.

So today, we are going to talk about goals for the first quarter of 2024.

January through March 31st is the first quarter of the year.

We are setting 3 to 5 goals for the first quarter of 2024.

Now, the other thing is that if you do the full yearly goals, you could break that down a little bit, baby-stepping into that first quarter.

But what I want you to be thinking of is the first of the year through March 31st.

That's where I want your focus to be because it's a much more bite-sized piece to apply your goals to and your positive thoughts and actions towards.

I want to give you some questions to think about:

The first question is, with these goals that you have, where do you feel you are at in achieving them?

Talk about what you've done in the past and where that has brought you.

And then the next thing I want you to ask yourself is, looking at where you are at in achieving them and what you've done in the past, how has that made you feel?

What are your emotions around it?

If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you will change.

Now, the reason why I asked you where are you at in achieving them and how does that make you feel because if you did write something down, "I feel like I've let myself down, I feel like I just keep procrastinating, I feel like I'm such a loser…"

I want you right now to feel that pain. I want you to feel it.

I want you to get uncomfortable. I want you to recognize all of those things that you just said. Why? Not because I'm some masochist. No, but because I want to get you to change. If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you'll change.

And then I was hoping you could write this: Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

There's that wonderful phrase "Do something today that yourself in year from now will thank you for."

Use your mind to govern your brain.

Perfectionism leads to procrastination leads to paralysis.

Now, I have one more journal question for you:

How do you feel when you do not do what you said you were going to do?

When you have a thought, that thought leads to an emotion and then to an action. Which then goes back to reiterating that initial thought.

I want you now to make three columns.

I want you to put one of your goals in the first column.

So you're going to put down one of your goals.

And then, in the second column, I want you to write down some thoughts that support that goal.

So, if my goal is to be a working actor, the thought or thoughts that you would want to write in that second column are I am a successful working actor.

I go from success to success in my acting career.

I love myself, and I approve of myself.

So some good positive affirmations around that goal. Because your thoughts need to back up that goal.

What else needs to back up that goal? Your actions.

So, I want you to take a look at whatever that goal is, and I want you to think of one to three small actions that you can take towards that goal.

What's your goal?

What are the thoughts that support the goal?

What are the baby actions that you can take towards supporting that goal?

And that is the secret to success.

It's your thoughts, and your actions must back up what you want.

I want you to go back now and look at your goals, and I want you to put next to them, whether they are a habit goal or an achievement goal.

So let's say I want to take a vacation in 2024, a two-week vacation in 2024. You need to save up for that. That's an achievement goal.

But let's say you want to practice your voice five times a week for half an hour each one of those times. That is a habit goal.

So take a moment and review all the goals you have written down and write down if they are habits or achievement.

I want you to look at each one of your goals, and I want you to ask yourself, is it a goal that is actually achievable or attainable by the end of the quarter?

Or is it a quarter/year project?

It should make you just a little uncomfortable.

If you babystep your goals enough so that those baby steps are something that you eagerly put yourself forward to do that help you to move in that direction, that is something that is great.

Again, that is great because it builds self-esteem. It builds confidence.

Now, I want you to look at your goals and I want you to ask yourself questions about them.

What is my motive for making my first goal, second goal, third goal happen for me?

What will I get out of making it happen? What is my motive?

We do things because there is something in it for us. And it's okay to be selfish.

When you get to those times when you really do not feel like doing the action step for your goal, you can remind yourself what your motive is.

And that's when you can really start asking yourself. How bad do I want it?

I consider that question to be the secret ingredient.

I operate like this all the time because not every single day do I feel like doing things towards my goals.

But when I remind myself what my motive is, I remind myself how it's going to feel when I achieve it. Ooh, baby, that lights a fire under my ass.

Special Rate Life Coaching

This is one of my favorite episodes of the year. Why? Because I recap the entire year, and it's like a play-by-play of all the podcast episodes.

So, over 52 episodes, you can get a quick little like burst of what it's about and write it down and say, "Oh, I wanna listen to episode 210."

What's so incredible is that we have over 160 episodes for you to listen to all free content. And it's a great little way to celebrate the holidays by just marking down which ones you want to listen to while you do that dreaded holiday travel.

Money Mastery for Actors

It's important to encourage yourself.

What do you get your reps for the holidays, especially this year?

Because it is this year, the year of two strikes, after, let's see, a global pandemic, and a heck of a lot of other things going on in the world, I think we can be assured that it doesn't have to be some momentous gift.

So let's say you had a Killer year, maybe in theatrical at the beginning of the year, or you had a killer print year, or a killer modeling year, or a killer commercial or voiceover year, again Wahoo!

I want to hear about it because that sounds fabulous.

If you did, you can be more generous in what I'm going to suggest.

This year, I would go for a card.

A card that says something sincere in it about how much you appreciate them sticking by you or how much you appreciate their sense of humor or something genuine.

Now, that is if it is a very lean year for you.

If it's not been a lean year and you really want to do a little something, I go to my old standard of Amazon gift cards and Starbucks gift cards.

I know that's not that imaginative, but honestly, from the casting director's point of view, it's just a token.

If you want to take it one step further, then do a little investigating. When you were there, What were they eating? Was it Chipotle? Was it Sweetgreen? Was it McDonald's? Whatever it was, they have a little thing.

Maybe you know that they love VR games.

If they do, then get them a gift card that's appropriate for that.

If you know they love going to movies, get them a movie gift card to a movie theater near their work or their home.

You can be imaginative with this.

The other thing I recommend is A charity.

You can say, listen, in light of this being a crappy year for a lot of people, I wanted to give a little donation to a charity of your choice.

Ask them.

ASPCA and Women for Women International are the two charities of Acting Business Boot Camp. We give a portion of our proceeds every month to those two charities.

Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS, that's always a great one for the industry.

The Actors Fund is another charity that's fantastic for the industry.

You can do stuff like that, too.

I always feel these things are better than alcohol or cookies because then they get to choose and they get to have something that's special for them.

And I also love those gifts where somebody gave it a little more thought.

Do some homework on this.

Think about it. What would your reps really like?

And honestly, if it's just a card with something nice, that's perfect.

Just take that moment. Stop and take that moment and think about what you most appreciate them.

Thank you for noticing me.

Thank you for seeing me, seeing my talent, and believing in me.

Radio Imaging Class with Mandy

About Mandy Fisher:

Mandy Fisher is a NYC-based full-time voiceover actor with over 15 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with brands like Crayola, Disney, Peloton, Coke, Walmart, and Kohls to name a few.

Her passion for voiceover and genuine love of helping people inspire her to work with actors of all stages of their career.

With a theater background, she brings her training to guide copy analysis and character creation. As an industry vet of 15 years, she has witnessed the changes and understands the ebbs and flows of the business.

Mandy created her own voiceover business from the ground up and has a successful and replicable model to help actors build their own successful businesses.

All of this adds up to a coach who can provide audition and career advice while helping actors become the best they can be!

The first thing is, what the hell is radio imaging?

Radio imaging is when you are the voice of a radio station, not the DJ, but it's virtual branding for a radio station because they want people to when they turn on their dials to a specific radio station; they want that familiarity.

They don't want it to be confusing. They want to have that brand recognition. And that is what is done through your voice.

My next question is, how is one even hired for radio imaging?

My first kind of foray into it was by accident. And I didn't realize I was doing radio imaging as I was doing it. I didn't realize that's what it was. I started this several years ago when I was a struggling voiceover actor trying to figure my stuff out.

I was sending samples of my voice to different radio stations, like all over as many radio stations as I could look up and find on the internet. I would send them my voice and say, can I do anything for you on your radio station?

Do you need anything? Is there anything I could do? And they would say, Oh yeah. And they would throw me a couple of lines, and that was radio imaging at the time; I had no idea that's what that was.

But now you can still do that; by the way, you can still absolutely reach out to station managers and say, Hey, I like your radio station.

I'm a big fan. I think I could fit in with your other radio imagers.

So you can always absolutely reach out to a station manager, but I work with a specific manager, not an agent, a specific manager who handles my radio imaging career; that is definitely a way because he has all of these connections and has been in the business for a very long time. So, if you're really interested in forging a career in radio imaging, I would suggest trying to get a manager to do that because it's a close-knit group and tons of station managers know each other, and they've got this sort of radio world that they're in.

It feels very different than other verticals of voiceover.

So, if that's a passion, I would say try to get a radio imaging manager.

So, let's actually talk about the difference between a manager for voiceovers and an agent for voiceovers.

It's very similar to the theatrical world, where agents are in voiceover. You are almost expected to freelance with several agents in non-competing markets.

I don't know of any full-time voice actors who only have one agent.

And they're going to source auditions for you. They're going to help you in different verticals of voiceover, whichever kind of vertical you're interested in.

A lot of people have a commercial voiceover agent. And if that agency doesn't have an interactive department, they'll find an agent who specializes in interactive or audiobooks or radio imaging or whatever, but a manager is someone who will really handle the career aspect of your voice-over world.

So, very similar in theatrical where you have agents who source auditions for you and are less handholdy than, say, a manager who will craft some of the other things, help you with your pitches, help you with your demos, give you feedback, really be there to help you along your career.

Interactive is all things animation, video games, toys and games, things outside of commercials, audiobooks, long-form, e-learning, or anything else.

It is the umbrella of animation, video games, mobile, and that kind of world.

First, is there anything you want to say more about radio imaging?

Yeah, I would say, if you're interested in doing it, I wouldn't say it's necessarily hard to get into, but I would say if you don't have a lot of experience in voiceover, you should try to take like a promo class or a commercial class or improv class.

Because you do need to provide a lot of variety, and usually it's short little lines that they're going to cut into what's happening on the air alongside the DJ and other people, other guests, whatever on the show and songs and what you're listening to.

So they like to have a ton of variety.

That variety is going to help you book with more stations because they don't want the plain, boring, or the overly kind of sticky sound that was of long ago and is no longer popular these days.

But you wouldn't know if you didn't know that and taking classes like promo, commercial, and even radio imaging classes exist.

Before you start pitching yourself in that area, try to get a bit more knowledge so that you are prepared and can start getting radio stations under your belt.

I'm saying the same line over and over again, but it is in multiple different ways.

So anything else regarding radio imaging besides the fact that we're going to have you now tell us about these VO gyms that you've been doing for acting business boot camp that people are just freaking loving that people can either attend and participate or they can audit.

It's amazing for me. I love getting to work with actors. I love getting to, it's educational for me as well because I love seeing what people come up with because what I would do in copy is different than what someone else would do. So seeing that variety, getting that variety from everybody, is a gift to me.

But it is so much fun. Working with actors who are just eager to work, being a part of an environment where it is safe and fun, supportive, hopefully, it's educational, and people are learning from me. It is a blast.

Auditing classes, I think, is so valuable, especially if you don't know the teacher. If you don't know them sometimes taking a class and working in a class with someone you don't know can be very intimidating.

I understand how this person works and their sense of humor is how they are, and you can decide then, all right I feel comfortable working with them in the future, or maybe not. I got what I got from them, and I can move on.

If you see an opportunity to audit, obviously, you should participate first, in my opinion, but if you don't know the teacher, it's a great vetting tool. It usually is for less than the actual price of the class.

You're combining voiceover business skills and you're combining core work big. You're like one of my biggest fans on that one. So, can we talk about how amazing you are working with someone one on one building, teaching them how to build a six-figure voiceover career?

How do you do that?

Building a six-figure voiceover business is not easy, and it's hard to sustain. And I've definitely had years where it hasn't been six figures. I've definitely had years where it has been that and plus and that's all great, but it's.

For me to achieve that, it hasn't been about chasing the money, because if you're chasing the money, I think in any entertainment field, you're going to get burnt out. It's not a sustainable way. It's not a good way to look at your career from a holistic bird's eye point of view for the long term.

Sure, money is achievable in the entertainment field, but if that's what you're doing, especially in voiceover, you'll get burnt out very quickly. You're probably going to get depressed very quickly, and all of the investments you've made to get to where you are right now will feel heavier and will make you feel heavier and it will be harder for you to climb out of that.

So don't think about the money. Sometimes I get auditions that are like huge $50,000 for the job, $100,000 for the job. Of course, my heart quickens a little when I see jobs like that come through, but you have to treat every job the same way, the $250 jobs up to the $100,000 jobs, because it's not about getting the money.

It is about being remembered by the casting directors and the people that you are working with.

That's such a working actor mentality.

It's about being remembered.

It is about making choices in your audition and having the opportunity to perform for somebody.

Anytime you have an opportunity to use your skills for somebody, you have this opportunity to showcase your abilities, that's a gift right there and giving that to them for them to remember you is that's your goal, baby.

That is the goal, which is how you will build your business.

Any other words of wisdom before we go, Mandy, that you would like to impart?

Just know that voiceover is the long game.

If you are in it for a career, look; if you're in it as a hobby, God bless. There's plenty of hobbyist work out there that you can go and pursue and not have. The mindset of it being part of your business.

But if you're in it as a careerist, you need to think like a careerist.

You need to treat it as a business, not just something fun to do but something sustaining you both creatively and financially as part of your career.

Just remember, it's not about chasing that money. It's a long game, for sure.

AI.

AI has been around for a long time and has only recently reared its ugly head in the entertainment industry, specifically towards voiceover.

I haven't read the agreement yet, so it's hard to comment on everything.

But I do think I've had many a client this year, big clients. I have quote unquote lost them to AI and they said, "Sorry, we're no longer going to utilize your services. We're going to go the route of AI. And Thank you very much."

Months later, this was actually like at the beginning of the year.

And then they came back to me around June or July. And they said, "Hey, are you still available? Because we really don't like it. It's not for us. We tried it. It sounds okay, but we prefer working with a human being, and we prefer working with you."

So I've lost them, quote-unquote, and they have come back.

I think it's going to be a mixture.

It's just going to be a new learning curve of how we will work alongside it, not against it.

Free Month of Coaching

Heidi's YouTube Channel

About Heidi Dean:

Heidi Dean is known as the industry's top social media strategist for actors and the creator of Marketing4actors.com. She's a social media writer for Backstage Magazine and a frequent speaker at film festivals, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, conferences, podcasts and universities across the country. Her clients include Emmy Award-winners, Broadway stars, series regulars, directors, producers, casting directors, voice actors and audiobook narrators. Heidi turns social media rookies into ROCKSTARS!

How the heck did you get into doing social media with actors?

The tweetable version is well, I really got my start in social media marketing and I was actually running social for my husband who is a Broadway and television actor and now audiobook narrator.

And a lot of the things we were doing for him and promoting his album and everything, just started taking off. And of course, working actors know working actors, and I started running social for other people, for actors, producers, and casting directors.

What I started to realize is that I was not just running social media for them, I was acting like them, and the people interacting with me had no idea I was this person. They had no idea. So it was enlightening to me because I realized that actually, nobody was helping actors with their social media.

You had to be like an A-lister and have media training and social media training and really have someone running your social media to actually get that kind of education.

And so that's when I started my blog, Marketing for Actors, now 2015. And really just talking about the mistakes I was seeing every day, as people interacted with me when they thought I was this producer, this casting director, or this big actor, and that's when the blog just took off because no one was helping.

And there was a need that nobody was fulfilling unless you paid thousands of dollars every month to have someone run it for you.

How important is it for actors to be on social media?

It's important for so many reasons, and I feel like the conversation gets stuck on followers all the time.

I love that you're asking this because, like I said, I think this conversation of like, How important is it? Why is it important?

It tends to get stuck on this conversation about followers and I think it's the wrong way to approach it and it's not even the most important reason to be on social media.

So let me give you a couple of reasons why I think it's important and hopefully, that's going to help reframe some things for your listeners. Yeah.

First of all, it's like almost 2024. You may be listening to this in 2024 and social media is just part of the world. It's, and it's becoming part of your job, right?

Your next gig is probably going to have posting guidelines. They're gonna have some guidelines about when you can post, when not to post, what to post. There may even be posting requirements in your contract, which, just so you know, it's actually a powerful thing. If they require you to post, and you have any kind of audience, ask for more money.

This is powerful, okay?

So you may have guidelines, you may have requirements. Your next job could have an Instagram takeover or they could ask you to go live or do live tweeting.

These are all just reality.

So it's becoming part of your job.

It's also part of your first impression. We know this business has gone virtual and people are looking you up all the time. It's a business of referrals and also, people, they need to know who you are.

So they're going straight to social, they're going to Google, and guess what pops up for a Google search for your name.

Your social media, your bio, you can read it right from a Google search.

So if you're using social media, I want to make sure it looks professional because it is part of your first impression.

Another reason I think it is so important is that it can help you get cast and this is not just about followers, but yes, whether you like it or not, having an actual, real live social media following can help you get cast.

But I don't want to sit on that idea. I've witnessed it over and over again, social media helping actors get cast in so many other ways, from my students sharing a post with their special skills.

Or creating a post that has a certain location hashtags or special skills hashtags and people went online and they were looking for an actor with that skill and now they're auditioning.

It happens all the time or even now that we've been gifted vertical videos like TikTok and reels and Youtube shorts you have all been given a virtual stage to perform and yes actors are getting cast all the time because of it so you know It can help you get cast beyond the followers reason, right?

Honestly, I think the biggest reason, it helps you build relationships and your relationships are your career.

I always say your network is your net worth as an actor and social media can help expand this network and you can actually put yourself in circles of the people you want to know.

But even more than that. It's the world's best tool for staying top of mind with the people you already know.

And I really believe it's the people who already know you and your work, that's the fastest way to booking new work because they already know and trust you, right?

For those four reasons alone I feel like social media is such a powerful thing for an actor.

If you're looking at it the right way.

Because one thing I would say is, I can tell you everything I just told you. I could give you a hundred more reasons, but it's not going to matter if you don't switch your mindset toward social media.

I've worked with thousands and thousands of actors on their social media and I can basically group them into two categories with how they approach their social media.

We've got, actor A and actor B, they're both looking at the same pathway of stones, and actor A sees these social media stones as stumbling blocks, something they have to do.

Why do I have to be on social media? It's a waste of time. I just want to act, that's actor A.

Now actor B sees the same path of stones as stepping stones for opportunity to, build their influence, to grow an audience for themselves, to meet more people in the business or as a virtual stage, for their talents, and you're never going to get good at something that you hate or you don't want to do.

So if actor A, the actor that looks at social media as a stumbling block, looks familiar, I want you to switch that mindset and start seeing social media as a stepping stone because you're never going to get good at it if you don't want to do it.

You've got to make that switch.

You're never going to get good at it if you don't want to do it.

We all want to be actor B.

Learn how to love auditioning because you're going to be auditioning for the rest of your life in some way or form, even if you're being offered stuff, you're still going to be auditioning, when you meet a new up-and-coming director, when you have those new opportunities in your life.

Can you quickly talk about know, like, trust factor?

In terms of relationships, this is a business of you will get more jobs from people who already know and trust you than just random auditions, right?

It's a business of referrals.

It's a business of who you know, and who knows you.

So the more people that can know and trust you know and trust your talents, know and trust your accountability and that you're consistent, you're going to show up and that you deliver in the room, the more opportunities you will have.

When I talk about relationships, I actually invite actors to first look at the people who already know them. Because, like I said, those are the people that know and trust them. If we can stay, the more they can stay in contact with them between that, the phone ringing, the email coming in for an audition, the more auditions they will get.

And that's what social media can do is it can, help you stay top of mind. It can help increase that know and trust factor.

And the reality is that meeting new people online, it can create a relationship and also build that know and trust factor online. So it actually ends up being an audition, being an actual new connection as well.

Your network is your net worth.

How you stay in touch with people that you know in this business is going to change the trajectory of your career.

Who do you know and how well are you staying in touch with these people?

It will change your career. Your network is your net worth.

What is a good social media following for an actor to aim for?

A following is not their goal. Like I actually when I work with my clients and students I would say, okay, let's figure out what your goal is.

Is it to share your talents? Is it to share your projects? Is it to build relationships? Is it to grow an audience? What is it? It might be a combination, but what are the main, what is your main goal? Because it doesn't have to be to grow a following at all. And that is completely fine.

What I want you to do is make sure you're growing your following with every job you book.

So whether it's fans of that project or people, the casting directors, the producers, the associates, everybody, fellow actors, you're always building your following with every job you book because you're getting these little fans, whether it's the fans of the project or the fans that, are working with you on the project.

So I do want to put that out there first because, in terms of numbers, this is impossible to answer really, because if you talk to people in the industry there are smaller projects that, having a hundred thousand followers, even having 10,000 followers and the other person up for the job has no social media.

That's a that's an advantage because you're a team player.

You have more people you can share it with.

But when we're talking like big blockbusters, we're talking millions of followers really turn, make it make a difference. And a lot of times it's just the tipping point.

At that point, both actors are right for the role. They both are funny and beautiful. They're both right. But one person has a larger audience. And a lot of times now, I really want people to hear this. We're in a different time in the past. This used to be an influencer. Now, you're getting [00:15:00] Juilliard trained.

Actors, you're getting NYU-trained actors. You're getting, conservatory-trained actors that are growing they're following. So it's not just, it's this person that's never had an acting class getting a job. It's actually trained actors that are taking control of their career and growing their following.

That's something I hear a lot too. It's people saying, oh, it shouldn't be about followers. I'm like these people are, they're taking control. And I do want everybody to hear this too. If you're becoming an actor in this career, it's hard to hear. This career has always been a popularity contest.

We have different metrics now with social media. So the job you got into in the first place, it's always been about putting butts in the seats, whether that's a movie theater or a theater, it's just the metrics are slightly different now, and we can complain about it, but that hasn't changed much.

The thing that has changed. Actor B. You can grow your audience. That's the thing that changed. And in the past, you couldn't control that. You can grow an audience now.

And I wanna say again, I'm putting in a plug to be actor B, a stepping stone.

The biggest mistakes I see actors make, and I think it comes out of this idea of, they're so set on hearing about followers, is that they treat their follower count like a number instead of a person.

Stop seeing numbers, start seeing the people behind that number. You're not just growing a number, you're growing an audience, you're growing a community, and I encourage all my students, all my clients, to not call it a following, but to call it an audience.

Number one, I don't know an actor out there who doesn't need an audience, performing for yourself, but you're growing an audience; these are actual people with actual struggles and hopes and dreams, just like every single one of you.

And I really want everyone tuning in, look at your follower count and I want you to think about it. If you have 400 to 500 followers, you filled a 747 airplane. If you have 3,500 followers, that's the audience at the Oscars. If you have 1,800 followers, you filled the Hollywood Bowl.

That's a whole lot of real people. I want you to think of these as people, not just numbers, and take five minutes, hop into the comments of your post, and have a conversation with some of your audience. Or click over some of your followers accounts and show them some love on their post.

Make a connection. Because when you make this switch, everything changes for your social media. And you start approaching followers in a whole different way.

And you're trying to get more and more numbers when you're not even honoring the followers that you have.

I'm going to share with you what I think is the biggest mistake that actors make in social media. "I'm having a really tough day today."

And they shoot that. Because what that makes me as a casting director go is, "Okay, that person's emotionally unstable."

That's rough to say, but I don't feel that's appropriate to share on social media. What I want to know is that the actor that I'm hiring, I need people who are emotionally stable, they are going to show up early, going to be prepared, they're not going to bring their shit into the room, and they're going to concentrate on what I consider the actor's most important thing to do, which is they're going to focus on the work and getting the job done.

Because honestly, once we get into a studio, once we get in on a set, the most important thing is the work.

I also realized that I might be having a generational thing here go on, but keep in mind that a lot of people from my generation are in, are watching it, and are going, my husband and I, who I do a lot of casting with, he goes, "Oh my God, did you see so and so's post?"

And that's not reflecting well on that actor.

Now, it's not that we don't have compassion. That person is having a bad day or, is going through a tough time and I'm not talking about I just put my animal down or my mom just died and sharing about that verbally.

I'm talking about, you're in the car, and you're just crying and sharing about whatever. I just find it, for me as a casting director, it does not reflect well on you.

Now, mind you, if I need that person for a particular job, of course, I'm going to hire them. I think it comes from a couple of places.

I think some of them are doing it for views and I immediately know when they're doing it for views, which makes me not like, know, and trust them anymore.

My trust in that the actor would be able to get onto a set the next day goes down.

I invite you to take the Insta out of your Instagram.

As an actor, you're a public figure. So number one, if you are a parent of a child actor, take the insta out of your Instagram. You should never be shooting at the Magic Kingdom when you are there.

Take the insta out of your Instagram for safety, for spoilers. Too many projects have been spoiled because you shot something thinking you weren't giving anything away but your location did or something did.

When we take the insta out of Instagram, we're able to take that second and really ask, put together a good post and should we be posting this?

And it directly relates to what you just talked about as well. If something just happened, I think it is a generational thing, some people just turn on the camera and go and, as your career goes, you need to take a pause.

And, either enjoy the moment or deal with a moment.

Really take the time to reflect on what you're going to say. It does not happen just because it happened right now doesn't mean you have to post about it right now.

And I feel like when you take that little bit of time, it does make us create a different post, usually a better post, and tell a better story with what's happening.

Even if you're hopping on video, it's going to help you make a better video for watch time, which more people will see, if you just take a second to think about what you're saying.

Stop, take a step back, observe. Is this healthy for me? Is this unhealthy for me? Respond.

A response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it.

And that's precisely what you're saying here. Just because it happened right now does not mean you have to post it right now.

What platform should actors be most active on in 2024.

It's hard for me just to give a blanket answer for everybody here because your social networks which you choose, should always be based on your goals, no matter if it's 2023, 2024, 2030, it always has to be on goals.

I want you to write down these questions.

This is what I do with my students, my clients.

These questions will help you decide if the platforms you're using are right for you and your goals.

They're also really good to go through when there's a new platform that you're not sure if you should use.

Yeah, grab your name on that platform, but these questions will help you decide if you should play there.

So write these questions down.

Number one, will this platform help me reach my career goals?

Number two, does it help me with my networking?

Meaning do the industry pros I know and do the people I want to know spend any time there?

And then number three, after you have learned the 101 of that platform, do you actually enjoy it?

Use the networks that play to your strengths and talents. It's not the same for everyone. Like I said, you're never going to get good at something that you don't like to do.

Does it help you reach your career goals?

Does it help you with your networking?

And do you enjoy it?

And there's a bonus question, too, so I guess it's really four: if you're in a show, do the fans of the project spend time there?

And that's important because sometimes you like a certain platform, maybe you love Facebook, and you've been there forever, but the show you're on, all the fans are on X, or they're on Instagram, or maybe they're on TikTok.

Every job you do is an opportunity to gain a fan base.

And if the fans are on a different platform, you should be spending time there.

Now, I want to reframe this question a little bit instead of what platform for 2024. I want instead of what platforms I want to think about what features.

So many actors are afraid of vertical video: the vertical video thing, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts. Vertical video is the future, which is now; it was the future two years ago.

I have been preaching this. I've been preaching TikTok for a while, but I've been preaching Instagram Reels since the day it came out; I think it was August 5th; I know this because I was camping for my daughter's birthday in 2020.

That's how long Instagram reels have been out, and I know some of you have never made one.

Vertical video.

It does not mean dancing on TikTok. It doesn't have to be lip-syncing, pointing at things, or doing trends. It could be you sharing your talents with the world, with a video that is just shot vertically.

Vertical video is the best way to get more views on your talents. Vertical video is not going away. Video is not going away.

I want to challenge everyone listening today to lean into more video in 2024 and beyond.

Because it's so important, you're actors. We need to see you on video. It will change the game. Okay. So choose platforms based on your goals, but please lean into features that are going to help reach your goals and share your talents as well.

And I know this is scary for people. It's so funny because actors they're on camera, but it's scary for actors.

A great resource for you. Totally free.

My YouTube channel. I have a billion videos on Reels, TikTok, and all of those things. Plus, my recent videos how to be more confident in videos for social media.

That's going to be a good first step for you to push past and start using features that are going to help you.

Free Masterclass

About Maribeth Fox:

Maribeth Fox has worked with Laura Rosenthal Casting for fifteen years and has had the privilege of working alongside major talents like Todd Haynes, Paolo Sorrentino, Oren Moverman, Joachim Trier, Ed Burns, Mindy Kaling, Anton Corbijn, and Lisa Cholodenko as well as up and coming feature directors, Guy Nattiv, Olivia Newman, & Paul Downs Colaizzo.

Favorite credits include Olive Kitteridge and Mildred Pierce both for HBO, Jay-Z's music video for Smile, Wonderstruck with Todd Haynes, A Quiet Place, Modern Love for Amazon and Liz Garbus' narrative feature debut, Lost Girls.

Two of her three films at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival broke sales records, Late Night and Brittany Runs A Marathon.

Most recent credits include Sharper for Apple TV, directed by Benjamin Caron, Bottoms, produced by Elizabeth Banks, Murder Mystery 2 with Happy Madison, and the upcoming A Different Man from Killer Films and A24.

How did you become a casting director?

I learned how to work with actors, what they need you to tell them, and what they don't need you to tell them about ego. And I just decided to spend five to seven minutes with actors instead of a career with them.

So I switched to casting, and I worked for CBS primetime casting for two and a half years, which was a really good learning experience, but corporate wasn't for me.

I wanted to do more film, and I wanted to be freelance so my eight-week job with Laura turned into 16 years.

How does a casting director get a film job?

So oftentimes, we are one of the first people hired and production companies hire us, producers that know us, that know what The material is that we're drawn to.

Sometimes we're hired by our directors who you hope to get repeat business if you've worked with them before.

The first thing we'll do is read a script to make sure we're creatively aligned and feel like we strategically know how to cast the job. And then we're offered one of two situations.

The first situation is. Attach names to this to green-light the rest of the financing. So we do that side, and then sometimes people come attached to a film, which is wonderful news.

And they're like, "We just want you to cast this movie if you like it. And this is who's doing it."

So we're normally found by producers and directors, and we're one of the first hires.

So, just a question I have: if you are asked to attach a name talent, and let's say it's one part, let's make this real simple, Sure.

How long does it generally take to cast a film, would you say, to attach that kind of name talent if it's a good script?

It's a long time.

It's a long time, so much so that Laura has received producorial credit on quite a few of her features because of the time, attention, and effort it takes to get those attachments in place.

You think about somebody, let's say you're offering something to somebody like Julianne Moore. It could take a month for her to read it. Not because she doesn't read quickly but she's got a lot going on. And somebody of that ilk, their whole team, has to read it.

She has to read it. Everybody has to have an opinion. They have to have a discussion about it. And so we try our best to set respectful boundaries with agents and managers to say, "We really need this to be read by this time."

But if a creative team is invested in a certain person, oftentimes, that deadline will stretch.

So you could be with one actor for a month or more.

We try to get them sometimes to line up like their top three for each part if we're doing more than one part so that if there is a pass, it's not an utterly crushing situation.

The producers knew that a writer strike was imminent, and I was a little shocked to hear what you said, that you stopped getting calls about six months before.

Can you talk about that and what that was like?

It's helpful to know just in terms of our similarity to what actors go through that a lot of our business is independent film and that really continued. That was not a problem. We were still getting calls. We were still getting pings for that, but in terms of the book of business that would streamers and network, which is a lot of people's businesses, they anticipated the strike.

And normally, we have no shortage of things to read, think about, sign on to, or not sign on to.

And I think all casting directors experienced a similar shut-off. That was very different than the strike in 2008 where we were out of work for a little while, but no big deal.

But yes, like the work has been. It's been different this time around.

How has it been different, do you feel?

So I think a lot of people feel, there's a lot of feelings this time around. Where, as there should be, right? I obviously heartily support the actors and what they're going through, and it's, it's time, right?

It's time to do this and ensure everybody gets what they're owed fairly. And also, I think there is, within the SAG interim agreement, there's some stuff where I think we all need to work together in community to understand what everybody does and what everybody is going through and maybe have a little bit of empathy and open conversation and understanding because right now, it has felt a little bit of an angrier time and I understand it.

Also, It's hard to think about what life will be like after the strike ends, and I don't know.

I think a backlog of projects stopped right before the strike or started to shoot, not believing the strike would fully happen. And those are the things that are going to start to go first. And those things are already crewed up.

So, from my perspective, could it be an influx of new work? Maybe. I sure hope so. But also, we have to think about all the stuff that got interim agreements is stuff that mostly was already staffed.

And so I wonder how much the huge influx, or if it's just going to be figuring out what's actually going to shoot now and what's going to be put to the side.

The great news is that I think you're right about the flood. And actors will feel it. And start to work and self-tape again. And hopefully, it'll get back to business as usual.

And I think what's very important for actors to understand is it's not only you who is on strike, it's everybody.

I'm so proud to stand with the actors that I love and support in my day to day.

And absolutely, we are with you a thousand percent. And also, it's real, right? Many people have turned to survival jobs that they haven't had since they were 22.

Everybody's done. Employment is out. And you live in an industry town, so every business is thoroughly affected by the lack of availability of income for people.

The actors are the ones who are fighting and are going to get the benefits but do remember when you get on the set, there were a bunch of other people who were fighting right along with you, who are not going to get necessarily, the benefits that you were fighting for.

They were supporting you, but the hairdressers aren't going to get any more pay, or hair stylists, the grips aren't going to get anything.

I think that AI is an existential crisis for actors, and I don't think that is something I cannot give up my voice and my likeness and have you pay me once and that be okay, so I do think it's a worthy fight and as you said, it's a definite fight.

I also think it's in the forefront of what humanity will be dealing with. Bartenders will be dealing with it, taxi drivers will be dealing with it, it just has come. Not here first, but here.

We don't do any background casting, and I don't know what that life is.

But I do think about that entire loss of an industry. That will go first, right? And it already has started to go. They take your picture; they can pump you in if they need an arena full of people. I've had many family and friends during this time try to like talk in a fun way about chat GPT and those types of services.

And they're like, have you played around with it? I'm like, no, I don't want to help it get smarter.

And I think it will have real ramifications, and it already is having ramifications for our industry. No, I'm not going to hang out on that service, but thank you so much for asking.

What do you want actors to know [00:18:00] about self-tapes?

So many things. The first thing is it's a grocery store sample. If you're at Costco, yep, that's exactly right. If you're at Costco and the old woman is serving you pizza, you're not going to steal the whole pizza. You're going to take your sample of a square.

We do not expect a fully baked moment for a self-tape. I think artists are artists, and folks are getting bored. And so there's a lot of Heavy wardrobe, heavy movement choice the ability and the time to make almost like a short film.

It's not the job.

A self-tape should look different than how you would behave if you're on a set with a DP.

I think the other thing that I've noticed that I've started to see as self-taping goes on and on, as a public service announcement for actors, is... You're getting too good at them, and I'm going to explain more.

I think actors are really great at self-taping now, and it can almost feel robotic at times. Because they've gotten so good at knowing and thinking about, their mentality has shifted from what I want to put forward as an artist that's unique to how can I get this job by thinking about what they might want.

And so then they know what pace to do. They know what tone it is. They've done their research and all of those brave, bold choices start to get ironed out and it's safe acting work.

It's still beautiful work, but it's safe because they're so good at it.

They know exactly what they might want instead of infusing their own artistic uniqueness in the mix.

And I think casting directors hear the plight of actors, and I think something great that's going to come out of the strike is, I think there's going to be more options offered.

So some actors love the self-tape process and bless, please, if that's how you feel comfortable, wonderful. I will still take time to adjust you via Zoom. If you need an adjustment, if I get your self-tape and there's something close to there, I will still take time for you on Zoom and say, hey, and we'll workshop it together.

But then there's, we really do hear actors that they want more of us again.

I do think that in-person chem reads and callbacks will start to come back.

In the meantime, I think casting directors are far more open to reopening Zoom rooms, to make sure that we're available in some tech-helpful live way so that we can make better connections with actors.

I still get lovely, vibrant self-tapes on everything that I do. But generally, I think, there's a mindset that I've been thinking a lot about that actors carry that is, I think trained into a lot of people that it's just a scarcity mindset.

And so you come out of school and you're told that your job is so hard. There are so many people competing. You're in constant competition. There's not a ton to go around. SAG releases their statistics that only 3 percent of actors are working. And it creates this mindset that can be helpfully hungry and eager.

And it can also really destroy the artistic spirit of what an artist has to offer.

I think within that scarcity mindset, the goal of this is how I feed my family. This is how I gain health insurance, pension, and welfare. And I can't make that brave, bold choice because we don't have a casting director anymore.

You don't have us in the room to be like, "Okay, let's just do that a little bit faster here. I know the director wants this. Let's just clip it up."

Or give you a simple redirect that could really change your performance.

Now, a lot of us are doing that. We are adjusting people who give great self-tapes.

Actors feel like I've got one shot at this. I'm sending it off into the void. It better be exactly what I think they want.

The one thing that I have always stood by is that it's one audition in a lifetime of auditions.

I am going to get the opportunity to audition again, and there is enough work for everyone.

What's important for me is what's going on in the work.

People ask me, "what do you look for in an actor?"

And I'm like I'm looking for the actor who shows up a bit early, not too early. Knows they are, knows themselves. They are good at their job and I'm also looking for someone who when the work starts, they're focused on the work and not what I think of their work.

Actors do have it tough in the sense that, it's the only art form where you have nothing to stand behind.

You're not painting a picture to show me. You're not singing a song, which is separate from your acting. You're not doing a dance, which is your body and your emotions. But it's just you; it's just your subjective raw emotion.

And I think what a lot of actors specifically, I love my New York actors in our market, they've all been to school. They're all crafty, great actors.

And I think that a lot of actors think, "Gosh, I must be doing something wrong."

And so much of film and television is just subjective look-based. If you're in an audition with me, you're probably a well-trained, good actor.

And so it's not about someone being such a better actor than you are. It's about the dinner party atmosphere we're trying to create. And somebody was a better fit. So we invited that person to the dinner party and not you this time. And that's hard.

You can be the most talented actor in the world.

You get the opportunity, but ultimately it does come down to who doesn't blink at the end.

And I also feel that it's the person who knows they are good at their job.

And what I want to give actors the perspective of is, you know what? Maybe you're doing everything right.

Maybe you're doing everything right. And you just need to keep doing that.

Because a lot of times, it's about what's being written. Are there roles for you right now that really fit your marketing package and your type?

Do you fit the world? With our eyeballs. And so that has nothing to do with your craft a lot of the time.

You do have to think about this as a business. And so you think about putting somebody on set, and when we get to cast somebody and it's their first job on a set like that's a great day.

There is like buoyancy and adaptability that we're looking for in people to be able in that callback setting to turn something on their head if needed, to be able to take direction quickly. And if they're not understanding what we mean or what the director means, ask a question. Nobody's going to think you're stupid.

Nobody's going to think you can't hear it well, or like that you don't agree.

It's okay.

We all have days when we're not that great at our jobs.

If I give an actor a direction that's not clear, I don't want them to yes to me and nod their head. I want them to ask me a question and follow it up. If you're not understanding, then the two takes are going to look exactly the same.

Read the directions out loud.

I think it's really important that when you get a breakdown and, they say, submit it this way and, specifically, do your slate at the end.

One of the things that I encourage the actors I work with is to really, read the directions out loud, then you know you've heard it, and highlight anything that's specific.

Speaking of breakdowns, I think. A lot of times, people's focus on the breakdown will be the small adjective-filled description that we write instead of knowing that if you've got the audition, the breakdown has already done its job, that part of your job has already been done, your agent or manager or you submitted yourself based on the breakdown.

I saw your headshot. I selected you. Now it's done.

So you briefly look at the breakdown and ensure you're in the realm, but actors often get old breakdowns. And it's not because we're lazy. It's because we don't want to resubmit a breakdown with a subtle change to hundreds of agents and managers.

So if an actor gets a breakdown and they're 55, the breakdown says 30 to 40, they freak out or they think their manager or agent isn't doing a good job.

It's you just got an old breakdown; you don't have to worry about that anymore.

Focus on the work.

Private Coaching

Today, I am going to talk about what is honestly sometimes a very painful thing to talk about, which is going home for the holidays.

Because actually going home for the holidays for me is a joyous thing now.

But when I was younger, it was harder. And it wasn't necessarily because of my parents, but it was things that triggered me, like the cold, like it being darker. And those kinds of things would bring up a lot of anxiety with me.

One of the things I will be talking about is triggers and how to take care of yourself around triggers.

So, what do I mean by a trigger?

A trigger for me is it gets darker earlier.

If you listen to my podcast episode 102, you'll hear that when it started to get dark when I was a child, that's when my anxiety would kick up.

Guess what happens now? It gets darker earlier.

Now, I will be honest with you: it still reminds me every year, but I also have come so far that it doesn't bother me anymore.

But I'm not going to tell you that if I get emotionally ruffled, it's not going to get kicked up again, and that's what I want you to look out for this holiday season.

Exercise:

Either on your phone, while you're listening to this or pen and paper, I want you to think of three to five things that could potentially trigger you this holiday season.

So for me, it's that it gets dark earlier. The other thing is that my family lives on the East Coast. And guess what? It's cold on the East Coast. It's freezing. That's why I live part of the year in Los Angeles because it's nice and toasty here.

Those are things that immediately crop up for me.

My parents also live in the country. And for some reason, even though in L. A. I'm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of L.A., and I, for some reason, get very triggered by the cold and the night and being isolated.

So those are the three things that trigger me. And I want to ask yourself what your things are.

Is it a family member who says, "Oh, wow, that strike? Hey, are you even going to still have a career?"

Whatever Uncle, whoever Aunt, your mom, your dad, that older brother.

I recently heard from a dear friend of mine that his older brother used to put him down a bit. And although time has passed, it's still a trigger.

So, write down your three to five triggers. If you have more, that's fine.

Then, what I want you to do is I want you to think of a contrary thought or an alternate thought that you can say to yourself if you start to get triggered.

One of them, which is the ultimate Truth, is this too shall pass.

Or reminding yourself, is there something soothing you can do for yourself?

One of the things I like to do is have these special peppermints. My mom gave me them. They're Dutch peppermints. I like to have them in my pocket. It's just a little thing that comforts me.

Also, sometimes, putting my hand on a particular area of my shoulder comforts me.

So it's things that I can think of and things that I can do.

You want to think of an alternate thought and an alternate action.

With an alternate thought, as I said, "This too shall pass," but also, a good thought would be, "It's going to be okay. I got you. It's going to be okay."

Reminding yourself that the Universe is on your side.

One of the things that I do is light a candle that makes me feel safe because it reminds me of the presence of the Universe and that I'm not alone, that this too shall pass, that I'm going to be okay and that I love myself.

I approve of myself and that I've got myself emotionally during that time.

The thing is, and Melody Beattie talks about it in Language of Letting Go, for some people, it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever you celebrate; it's that time of year.

And for some people, it's like the worst trifecta in the world, which is Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, or Thanksgiving, winter holidays, and New Year's, and they're like, "Oh God, I just want to get through."

How can you take care of yourself this holiday season?

One of the ways you can is to write down those potential triggers and create a plan.

Create a plan of positive thoughts. Create a plan of positive actions that are going to help you.

What are you going to do if you get triggered?

Are you bringing a pet with you? Is there a pet where you're going that you can go to?

Is there a relative who you know you're safe with?

What can you do to take care of yourself?

Remember, you also have this podcast. There are so many core messages. In this podcast, I've done over a hundred of them.

Bring it with you. Bring me with you on your holidays.

I'm more than happy to be your companion.

Write to me if you get scared. I'm here. [email protected]

The thing is, have your own back. Have a plan. If you need to, go a little late and leave a little early.

And also remember, you can just listen.

That's one of the best things somebody told me about triggering situations. When you're in a triggering situation, start asking the person about how they're doing. What's going on in their life? You don't have to prove anything to anybody.

Do you know what you need to do this holiday season?

You need to love yourself and take care of yourself.

And how do you do that? Write down those potential pitfalls, those potential triggers, and then write out your thought plan and write out your action plan of how you are going to get yourself through.

Because you know what? You can do it. You are capable.

You can manage this holiday season.