We're going to exit stage right today and welcome Ben Gabler on the show! Ben is an accomplished founder in tech and currently CEO at Rocket.net, one of the world's fastest growing Wordpress website hosting platforms. Ben is also an old friend of Thomas', having grown up together in Jupiter, Florida. As Thomas and Ben split ways after high school, their careers and life experiences diverged, but also moved in a kind of tandem. Ben founded (and sold) several companies, rising to the top of the website hosting industry, while Thomas spent that time in marketing, advertising, and legal technology. Both founded their current companies in 2020, with Ben launching Rocket.net and Thomas launching Vinetegrate. Today, both companies are continuing to grow and mature, but neither success came quickly, easily, or without trials and tribulations that had to be overcome. So it's only fitting that today's discussion is all about failure, and Thomas and Ben both have a lot of it to share with you: how to think about failure differently, how failure builds character, and how you can handle failure gracefully, both on and off the stage.

About Ben: With over 20 years of experience and extensive knowledge in WordPress, CDN, WAF, Edge, and Hosting, Ben is passionate about sharing insights and expertise. Skilled at communicating with both technical and non-technical audiences, and he enjoys exploring topics that address real-world challenges and provide practical solutions. Prior to founding Rocket.net, Ben spent the last two decades working as the COO of HostGator, Godaddy, Help.com, and HostNine, one of his earlier companies. Ben can be found on X (@ben_gabler).

This episode is a treat for all the film, TV, and commercial directors out there! Step into the creative realm of directing through the lens of a producer with Emmy-Award winning producer Kris Eber! Kris talks with Thomas about his experiences working with directors of episodic comedy TV that he respects the most, how they operate on and off set, and what exactly he consistently sees in the best directors he's worked with over his twenty-plus year career. Thomas also talks about his experience with great directors, and what separates them from the rest. If you're an aspiring director, or a newbie director, or you're just interested in what makes director's tick, this is the episode of the season for you!

About Kris: Kris Eber is an Emmy-award winning short-format television producer with a stream of impressive credits over nearly 25 years in Hollywood, including most recently executive producing Dave for FX, The Muppets Mayhem for Apple TV, The Kids are Alright, The Mayor, and many more. Kris is a graduate of The Film School at Florida State University, after which he began his career with Industrial Light & Magic in 2000. Kris also happens to be the big brother of Big Break Pod host and creator, Thomas M. Copeland.

If you're an aspiring actor, or just recently bitten by the bug to perform, or if you have simply only given some thought to acting - think again and run away from the terrible idea as fast as you can. No! Just kidding! But you should listen to this episode. You're what Thomas and Wendy Alane Wright refer to as a "baby actor", and we love you for it - or, at least, Wendy really does. Wendy Alane Wright is an acting coach, talent manager, and performer herself with the world's largest online acting community called Talent Managers for Actors (TMFA) on Facebook with over 100,000 members strong, and there's nothing in this world she loves more than to work with, guide, and coach baby actors as you get exposed to this industry and this career choice. In this episode, Thomas talks to Wendy about where her love for baby actors originates from, and the most important tidbits of information you should know when thinking about taking acting classes, or getting on set for the very first time. And while you're listening, head on over to Amazon to pick up one of many books Wendy has written on acting - including her favorite, Secrets of a Hollywood Talent Manager (https://a.co/d/9AA7VEF). If you dream of being an actor, you simply CANNOT miss this episode!

About Wendy: Wendy Alane Wright is the founder of The Hollywood Winners Circle Academy, the #1 online business training for actors worldwide, and the Facebook group Talent Managers For Actors, which boasts 64,000 members. She has authored seven books in the Secrets of a Hollywood Talent Manager series and hosts the YouTube channel Secrets of a Hollywood Talent Manager, with 88,000 subscribers and 4 million views. Wendy teaches the business of acting at institutions nationwide, including Cleveland State University, Stage 32, Backstage.com, and many more. A recording artist, music producer, and actor, Wendy has a 360-degree perspective of the entertainment industry, making her a leading expert in helping new actors break into show business. As a Hollywood Talent Manager and president of WAW Entertainment, her clients have appeared in hit TV shows like Modern Family, Blackish, and American Horror Story and booked major commercials for brands like Shutterfly, Visa, and Mercedes. Wendy has also assisted high-profile managers and agents with careers of stars like Michael Jackson, Neil Patrick Harris, and Barbra Streisand. Regularly featured in podcasts, magazines, and talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wendy is passionate about empowering actors to succeed.

Congratulations - you've just found one of the most insightful interviews ever conducted between an actor and an accomplished casting director. In this episode, Thomas speaks with John Frank Levey, the legendary 4-time Emmy Award winning casting director behind some of television's biggest hits including E.R., The West Wing, Shameless, and many, many other productions! Thomas spends much of the episode talking to Frank not of his experiences as a casting director on those shows (you can read all about that in his fantastic book, Right for the Role), but rather, what a casting director looks for in a captivating audition from an invigorating, new actor. The pair talk about how actors he's cast breakthrough roles, like Jeremey Allen Wright evolving from his character in Shameless over the years into Carmy on The Bear, and why John's frank vulnerability in this book serves as such a sterling example of how we as actors can operate with vulnerability in our auditions and truly captivate our auditors (brownie points to those who caught that pun.) If there's one episode in this season that you absolutely cannot afford to miss, it's this one.

About John: For nearly four decades, John has been instrumental in casting some of the most revolutionary — and beloved — television shows of all time, including China Beach, ER, The West Wing, Third Watch, Southland, Animal Kingdom, and Shameless. A recipient of the Casting Society of America's prestigious Hoyt Bowers Award for Lifetime Achievement and four Primetime Emmy Awards, Levey hasn't just witnessed some of the world's greatest acting talents make it in Hollywood; in many cases, he's had a major hand in it. With a deep love of the craft of acting from childhood, legendary casting director and author John Frank Levey has an uncanny knack for knowing who's right for the role. And, thanks to incredible professional opportunities and collaborations, he discovered the role he was destined to play in television history — and life. So he put it in a book. Order from John's website to receive a signed copy of his book, Right for the Role, by visiting https://www.johnfranklevey.com.

Welcome to Season 1 of The Big Break Podcast. Hi, I'm Thomas M. Copeland. I'm an actor, entrepreneur, and writer. And I'm the creator and host of The Big Break podcast. Our episodes will take you behind the scenes and deep into the professional world of acting, filmmaking, writing, shooting, and directing film, TV, plays, short stories, and other creative passions. We'll talk about the industry's dirtiest words, the business of show business, including how to turn your creative passions and interest into a career, how to court interest and investment from stakeholders, and build a team around your vision that could lead to your next big break. We'll meet with artists who have made careers in show business and discover what was crucial for their success in an industry that's known for being fickle, unpredictable, and a maze of complexity to master in order to find any monocum of sustained success. We'll also explore what it means to be successful in your own creative endeavors, and why that's a fluid mark that's difficult to define much less hit. We'll speak to award -winning producers, writers, creators, and actors about how to operate and present as a professional on and off the set. We'll talk about success and failure. We'll talk about what a cast and director wants to see in you. We'll talk about how to avoid the many scams and waste that the industry spawns. And we'll talk about how creative projects go from being an idea, to a rough plan, to a tangible execution and release. But this show isn't just for actors. We branch out through the season to talk to other professionals, artists, and entrepreneurs about how they're parlaying their creative endeavors into paychecks, careers and beyond. If you're serious about acting, storytelling and creative careers, then join me as we discover the big break that's awaiting for you and me in the episodes ahead. The full season drops September 1st, 2024. In the meantime, I want to hear from you. What do you hope to learn by listening to this show? What are the burning questions you wish you could ask a fellow artist or actor, filmmaker, writer, producer, or casting director? Hit me up at Big BreakPod on Instagram or email Big Breakpot at gmail .com. We want to share your ideas and we want this to be a collaborative effort so that we can find our next Big Break together. Until then, have a creative and productive week.