Acting Business Boot Camp

About Annie:

Annie Tippe is a director and creator of new work, film, and music theater. Recent: Premiere of Dave Malloy's OCTET at the Signature Theatre (Lucille Lortel Award for Best Direction, SDC Callaway Award Finalist) and GHOST QUARTET (Premiere, The Bushwick Starr, etc...), Leslye Headland's CULT OF LOVE (Premiere, IAMA Theatre Company), Bess Wohl's CONTINUITY (Goodman Theatre), Molly Beach Murphy + Jeanna Phillips' COWBOY BOB (Village Theatre; New York Stage + Film), James + Jerome's INK (w. Rachel Chavkin, Under the Radar/Met Museum) and THE CONVERSATIONALISTS (Bushwick Starr). Former Ars Nova Director-in-Residence, Drama League Directing Fellow, Williamstown Directing Corps.

Upcoming: OCTET (Berkeley Rep, April 22); LIFE AFTER (Goodman Theatre, June 22). www.annietippe.com

Pursue people who inspire you.

Follow good taste.

The power of saying no: You cannot take things that do not excite you.

You have to say no in order to open up the possibility of something better will come that you can say yes to.

You have to know your value.

See something surprising.

Energy Vampires= people who take away valuable energy you need to push past the things that are standing in the way of your dreams.

Level 10 energy

Who to watch out for: People who zap your energy.

How do we protect ourselves?

• Put on an imaginary bubble suit.
• Their stuff does not need to affect you.
• You have the opportunity to arrive late and leave early.

Other kinds of Vampires

• Other Actors on set.
  • No is a complete sentence.
• People preying on the actors in the Industry.
• Family who is not supportive.

Tips and tools:

• Get the focus off of you
• No is a complete sentence
• Don't cosign on someone else's drama
• Ask yourself, is this going to be a healthy thing to be involved in or unhealthy?
• Your life depends on deflecting the energy suckers
• Don't treat someone like a priority who treats you like an option

Be kind to these people, if they could be doing better they would.

About Ryan:

RYAN ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM (she/her) is a queer writer/director and Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer who recently launched the development company Running Woman with the goal of telling stories that haven't been heard before.

She represented the TV projects THE FUGITIVE GAME (2018), TRANSMANIA (2019), and MARY (2020) in the IFP (now The Gotham) Project Forum. Ryan is very passionate about promoting equality, women's issues, LGBTQ+ stories, and neurodiversity in her work.

She's EP/Director on the standup special ILANA GLAZER: THE PLANET IS BURNING (Amazon), the docuseries EXPECTING AMY (HBO Max), and an upcoming Pride special for Showtime. Select TV producer credits include BROAD CITY and INSIDE AMY SCHUMER (Comedy Central), SEARCH PARTY and THE LAST O.G. (TBS); LOUIE (FX); STRANGERS (Facebook); THE SHIVERING TRUTH (Adult Swim); HORACE AND PETE (Hulu); THE ELECTRIC COMPANY (PBS), as well as several prominent stand-up specials for Netflix and HBO, including Executive Producing AMY SCHUMER GROWING for Netflix.

Film producing credits include Rachel Israel's feature KEEP THE CHANGE, starring the first leading cast of actors on the autism spectrum and winner of Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca Film Festival 2017; BECKS, winner of the LA Film Festival 2017; and the ill-fated I LOVE YOU, DADDY, directed by Louis C.K., which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

She has also co-owned the NYC-based post house Running Man for the last decade. She lives in Brooklyn with her 10-year-old daughter who is on the autism spectrum and likes to build large art installations in various places around their apartment. Ryan is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and co-chair of the RISD Fund, as well as working as an adjunct professor for the film department.

Focus on the job, not the ego.

What did I learn? What can I take forward with me?

Comedy is the ultimate puzzle.

Qualities:

• Utter commitment
• Inside and outside of art

Up your game:

• Time management
• Hire the right people
• Delegation
• Television is fast
• You need a team you can trust

Actors creating your own work: Work in an outline form before you start scripting.

• Learn to pitch.
• A pitch makes them want to know more.
• Record yourself doing it and watch it back!

The best actors LISTEN!

If you're not open to notes, you're not going to have a strong performance.

Be able to identify what's working, what's not working, and have suggestions to make it work better.

Learn how to take critique.

Fantasy can become a liability.

It can become a crutch, "one day I'll ______"

You keep pushing to the future and you don't deal with the reality of what needs to happen NOW.

Spiral it out to get to the seed of what you really want.

• Why do you want to become an actor?
• Well, why do you love acting?
• Continue to break down the reason.
• Continue asking why.
• Then what is the reality for me around this want?

Once we unpack the fantasy, we can turn it into a reality

Fantasy can also destroy the good seed of why you want to do it.

It's your ego. It takes away the beauty.

Ask yourself: How does my fantasy about becoming a famous actor, corrode my love for the art of acting?

Reality:

Every day we need to be doing actions that move us closer to our goal.

It's hard work.

You need to focus on The Three Pillars:

1. Acting training
2. Business skills
   1. Core work

Send your picture and resume to me: [email protected]

About Colleen:

Colleen Labella is the Director of Development for Leslye Headland's company, Shoot to Midnight. She is a producer on the new Freeform hit series SINGLE DRUNK FEMALE. Colleen worked on Fox's ALMOST FAMILY and Showtime's BLACK MONDAY, and she currently has a number of projects in development under Shoot to Midnight with 20th Century Fox.

Colleen also directs theatre in the greater Los Angeles area. Credits include: fml: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life at the University of San Diego, Canyon for Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, and a journey through minimalism at the Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring the LA Philharmonic.

She holds her BFA in Acting from the University of Connecticut and trained at Tisch's Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU, as well as Shakespeare's Globe in England. Colleen focuses her work on women, collaborative storytelling, ensemble-based projects, and the LGBT experience.

Get good at asking for what you want.

I Am That Girl

"No is survivable"

Qualities of good auditions:

• When I was surprised
• Energy
• Who you are and what you brought to it
• Value in looking your best for that role
• Make the CD's job easier
• Energy matters in space
• It doesn't mean you're a bad actor if you don't book the role!
• Win the room!

A Life in Parts

The Power of Saying Thank You!

Listen to Episode 161: What Do You Want and How Do You Get it?

What you think, what you want, and what you do.

You need to train your brain to be more acute, more aware.

You want to handle your level 10 problems at level 10 energy.

How your Mindset works:

• What is the function of your thoughts?
• What is the function of your emotions?
• Of your actions?

"Here is a breakdown of how your mindset works."

We want a mindset that works 100% FOR us, not against us.

Excerpt from You Are a Badass at Making Money:

"Your beliefs are driving the bus. They take you where you're going whether you're paying attention or not.

Your thoughts are the tour guide, the person upfront with the microphone and the clipboard—she can lean over and yank the wheel, slam on the brakes, step on the gas, flip the bus—she can do whatever, whenever she wants. She usually works in harmony with your beliefs, but she has all the veto power.

Your words are the assistant to your thoughts and beliefs. Your words back them up, voice their opinions, anchor in the message, they keep it real.

Your emotions are the fuel. They are ignited by your thoughts and can change your beliefs and the direction of your life. Without emotions, you're going nowhere new and exciting.

Your actions build the road. They pave the path for your beliefs, but will reroute should thoughts and emotions make a change of plans and decide they want to stop at Dairy Queen or something.

When all these facets of your mind, body, and spirit are in alignment, focused on the same desire, singing "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall" as they merrily roll along, you can manifest all the riches yo desire. But if you're thinking about how much you'd love to make an extra five thousand dollars a month and how you have no idea how to do it, if you're feeling terrified and extremely doubtful, believing that people won't take you seriously (yourself included), if you're saying out loud, "I love money and it comes to me easily" every morning in the mirror, and if you're making one sales call per day after which you give up and crack open a beer, you aren't gonna get very far."

In order for me to put the left thumb on top, it takes conscious thought.

Your thoughts, words, and actions need to back up that want.

This business is so damn challenging, you want to have as much working FOR YOU!

That is going to get to you where you really want to go. You NEED a success mindset.

About Stacye:

After an illustrious career at Paradigm Talent Agency where Stacye Mayer has represented a diverse roster of actors she recently celebrated a successful year at Webb Sweeney Murphy talent (WSM).

Over the expanse of her career, she's been part of the discovery & accomplishments of many actors' careers. The list of numerous commercials she's booked is endless but know that she's collaborated creatively on many national campaigns, regional spots like state lotteries; as well as a long list of ads produced just for social/digital media. More recently she's giving those with a good mic and an in-home studio an opportunity in the VoiceOver space as well.

Stacye is constantly looking to expand her commercial roster and cultivate new talent to reach their fame in this industry!

It's the agent's job to introduce you to the Casting Director.

Once you make that connection, if you are doing callbacks, you are doing it right.

It's important that the casting directors know what they are getting when you walk in the room!

Stayce reads the resume from the bottom up.

Training is KEY!

Make sure your special skills are something you can do the next morning.

You have to be honest with your team! You saying no does not make me not want to work with you.

Union vs Non-Union-- 70% non-union these days.

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CONFLICTS.

Exercise:

On a piece of paper make three columns:

1. What you Want
2. What you Think
3. Action

Write it out as it is right now

Ex first column: I want to be a working actor

In the second column: What is the first thing you think?

• Be rigorously honest here
• Are you thinking I'm not good enough?
• Are you thinking I'm going to kill it?
• Use your mind to govern your brain

THIS IS JUST WHERE YOU ARE AT RIGHT NOW

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT WHERE YOU ARE DOES NOT MATTER, WHAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU ARE REALLY HONEST IN THIS STEP.

Now move to the third column

What you do:

• Do you only do actions for your acting career when you feel like it?
• Do you fantasize more than doing something about it?
• Do you stay or do you pivot when things aren't working?

What you do to support it MATTERS. WE ARE JUST TAKING STOCK.

This is not a time to beat up on yourself.

Just taking note of the current situation.

Now we shift to where we want to be:

Talk about again what it is we want. Ask yourself:

• Why do I want it?
• What is at stake for me if I don't get it?
• How would it feel if I got it?
• How would I reward myself if I got it?
• Get CRYSTAL CLEAR ABOUT WHAT WE WANT

Then we move to Thinking:

• What are the thoughts that I need to be thinking to create new synapses to create new stronger thoughts?
• Thoughts that work for my goals.
• Thoughts that work for my life.
• How do you get your thoughts working for you again?

Action:

• What are you doing?
• What are your actions?
• We need to be balanced in all Three Pillars
  • Acting Training
  • Your Business Tools
  • Core Work

What you want must be supported by what you think and what you do.

About Ken:

Ken Rea is Professor of Theatre at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and author of the bestseller, The Outstanding Actor, Seven Keys to Success.

He began as a professional actor and director in New Zealand, working with some of the country's leading theatres and on television as well as running his own company, The Living Theatre Troupe. Later, in the UK he was artistic director of Jet Theatre and Koru Theatre.

In addition to his work at Guildhall, he has taught in the national drama academies of China, Indonesia, India, Italy and New Zealand, as well as in Germany, Greece and Canada. He has also worked as a movement coach with many theatres including the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He has been a regular feature writer for The Times and was for 15 years a theatre critic for The Guardian. His book A Better Direction, examines the issues of director-training. His plays produced in Britain include The Brave Magicians of Mangalore and Voyagers. His adaptations performed in London include the Swedish classic, Pippi Longstocking and the Italian Renaissance comedy, The Deceived. In the corporate world Ken trains business leaders of global companies.

www.kenrea.co.uk

Excerpt from The Outstanding Actor: Seven Keys to Success:

"The conditions I've described are mostly outside of your control and you may beg thinking well I didn't have a troubled childhood, and I didn't have pushy mother, and I didn't go to Eaton, so all the cards are stacked against me. What's the point?

But those factors are not exclusive, they just show how some people seized the opportunity of an early advantage and went on through effort to prosper. The focus of this book is about what you can do now to make a difference.

And in the spirit of the growth mindset, there is a lot you can do. This book is about how you make the best of what you have. Your talent, your physicality, and your personality.

Because in the acting profession, there is always hope and there is always room for one more outstanding actor. So let's get started."

"To keep our faces towards change, and behave like a free spirit in the presence of fate, is strength undefeatable." Helen Keller

Be comfortable with risk.

Risk— trying something that might not work in order to lead you to a solution to a better one.

Heart of adventure and risk, and going in for it rather than running away.

"Make it about them, not about you"

Forget about yourself and think about the audience.

Focus on the work and getting better.

Effort trumps Talent

Mastery is 10 years of deliberate practice.

Real success is being open to change.

Enthusiasm is important because it's contagious.

We love to be surprised as an audience.

If you follow these practices, it can help you step up to the next level.

You need that sparkle.

7 Keys to Success:

1. Warmth
2. Generosity of Spirit
3. Enthusiasm
4. Grit
5. Danger
6. Presence
7. Charisma

Moment to moment — the more I was in the moment in my life the easier it was to be present in my work.

How can I be more present?

Sign up for David Cady's Commercial Class

Sign up for Katie Flahive's Script Analysis Class

When crazy times come up, I use these:

• This too shall pass
• Exercise
• Nice cups of tea or coffee
• Eat regularly
• Nice blanket
• Keeping close with the energy that knows best
• Inviting hat energy into my day
• Keeping as physically, mentally, spiritually fit as I can

It's not about doing it perfectly.

"Do not treat someone like a priority to treat you like an option."

"Anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time."

"Whatever I put before taking care of myself I am going to lose."

"If you're hysterical, it's historical."

Trace it, face it, erase it.