Mentors on the Mic: Your guide to pursuing a career in the Entertainment industry

As an actor, I face rejection ALL OF THE FREAKIN TIME

You don't even want to know how many auditions I've been on that I haven't booked. It's exhausting.

As any creative artist would tell you, it's important to come up with some tips to deal with rejection because sometimes, it's incredibly devastating. We need tactics and tools to pull us out of it.

With the help of Amy Koppelman (Season 3, Episode 1), I share my favorite tips for handling rejection including:

• write a thank you letter to your rejectors on why it was a favor that they rejected you (and never send it)

• allot time for a pity party

• don’t show your family + friends your work early, only show people your work who you feel like will be safe with it (constructive, yet safe)

• hold on to the good things and refer back to them as often as you need

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Larry Saperstein plays "Big Red" in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a reinvented take on the two-time Emmy Award-winning "High School Musical" franchise, for Disney+.

Saperstein can also be seen opposite Kiernan Shipka in the film "Fan Girl," directed by Paul Jarrett and as Timmy in the first season of BET+’s "First Wives Club."

Formally trained as a dancer and vocalist, Saperstein has starred in several regional musicals including "Oliver!," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Miracle on 34th Street.” He also starred as Rusty Griswold in the original workshop reading of Broadway Vacation, a musical adaptation of the 'National Lampoon’s Vacation' franchise, opposite Tony nominee Rob McClure and Kate Reinders.

In this episode, we talk about:

•  His first couple commercial bookings: Crayola, American Express, Goldfish puffs, Xfinity, Samsung

•  Audition process for High School Musical the Musical Series, including his chemistry read in LA with Joshua Bassett

• Getting a VIP ticket to Olivia Rodrigo and showing up in People magazine

•  His next goals in the entertainment industry

•  Shooting the third season of High School Musical the musical series in comparison to the second season before the vaccine

•  Why managers are better for kids than agents and how he got his manager that he is currently with

•  Going from having acting as a hobby to a career

•  Our recommendations on how to answer ‘tell me about yourself’ at an agent or manager meeting

•  His thoughts on LA vs NY

Guest:

IMDb Instagram Wikipedia Twitter Website

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

If you liked this episode, check out Actor/Director Tony Goldwyn (President Fitzgerald in Scandal)

Want 3 Tips to Calm your Nerves before any stressful situation? These tips are great before auditions, presentations, speeches, zoom calls, sales calls.

Excerpt from my interview on the GlobalVID podcast, with advice from Mentors including Grammy winning Producer Sandy Vee (Rihanna, David Guetta) and Emmy winning Casting Director Julie Tucker (The Following, The Equalizer, The Affair).

Recently, the Global VID Podcast sat down with NYC actor & communication coach, Michelle Simone Miller to talk about dealing with nerves & handling rejection during the pitching/auditioning process in TV & Film. This episode is meant to inspire up & coming producers, actors but there are so many great nuggets of advice on how to deal with performance anxiety, that this can apply to just about anyone who needs help with any kind of public presentation in sales meetings, in the boardroom or in the classroom.

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Global VID Season 2, Episode 10 is hosted/produced by Eric Y. Lapointe and And Now Global, a Vancouver based international content consulting company.

Youtube clip of Global Vid podcast with Michelle

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Working alongside Gayle Keller, Allison's projects include several hit series, films and indie features.

Allison's credits include: INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, GOTHAM (Season 1), LOUIE (Seasons 4 & 5), THE WHO WAS SHOW (Netflix), THE DETOUR, MAN SEEKING WOMAN, HOUSE OF CARDS (Season 1), CRASHING (Season 1, 2 & 3), the Woody Allen Feature IRRATIONAL MAN, & MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT, Indie features THE GOOD CATHOLIC and MS. WHITE LIGHT, the Judd Apatow feature THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND and the Amazon feature THE BIG SICK.

In this episode, we talk about:

•  Advice to actors for making strong choices in comedy

•  Casting differences between working on movies and tv shows

•  How I was cut from HBO's Crashing and whether asking for payment for the shoot date is frowned upon by Casting or production

•  Her process for casting a role (depending on the size of the role)

• The bigger the role, the more people they’ll see. About 15 people per co-star role

•  Question from Actor Nathaniel Levin: do you find it an obstacle for actors and casting that notes can’t be given in a live room? any advice for this?

•  Question from Actor Jenny Anne Hochberg: what if agents don’t have a relationship with you, how can actors get on castings radar?

•  More information about the two projects that she’s working on now (including one with Judd Apatow)

Guest:

IMDb Linkedin

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

If you like this episode, check out Julie Schubert (who Allison worked for on House of Cards)

6 Tips to help you memorize your next audition, presentation, or speech

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Bethany Rooney has directed more than two hundred thirty episodes of prime-time network television, most recently Law & Order: Organized Crime, Chicago PD and Station 19.  Her credits include many critically-acclaimed series such as Desperate Housewives, Ally McBeal and Brothers & Sisters, and the American long-running classics NCIS and Criminal Minds. For two seasons, she was the Producing Director of the CBS drama Bull, following her earlier stint in that position on the CW drama The Originals. She serves on numerous committees at the Directors Guild of America (DGA), including co-chairing the Diversity Committee, which implemented the first Directors Development Initiative in 2016, including a mentorship program for rising directors.  Bethany’s enthusiasm for the craft has also fueled her long-term dedication to teaching the intensive Warner Brothers Directing Workshop. Her book (co-authored with Mary Lou Belli) “Directors Tell the Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing” is the preeminent authority at multiple studio and network diversity programs, and in directing classes on many university campuses.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What an acting class taught her about directing: understanding what they go through and the vocabulary actors use

• Tips for actors to make better self tapes

• Advice for actors in auditioning and the process in which she is involved in casting

• Being in the Dick Wolf family and working on shows like Law & Order, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, etc. and which one is her favorite

• How advocating for herself led to her being let go from her first job, but how it all worked out

• How she started working with her first agent

• Her process for directing an episode of an already established show: read at least 5 previous scripts, every script needs to be fully understood, blocked and shot listed by Day 1

• Wrote a book Directors Tell This Story

• Why she loves directing TV: She gets to shoot more, she is energized from hopping around from show to show, she gets to elevate scripts and tell different kinds of stories

• Directing 8 episodes of primetime network 1 hour shows in this season alone

• How it’s exciting to get a C script and elevate it to a B+ episode

• What happens if a showrunner has a different select for a role than a director

Guest:

IMDb Wikipedia Twitter

Website & Blog

Book - Directors Tell This Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Here's an actor story for you. The time I was fired by my Headshot Photographer.

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Celebrity Memoir Book Club is a podcast hosted by NYC based comedians Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton. Every week they read a celebrity memoir so that you don't have to. Come for the gossip and stay for the banter between two best friends!

In this episode, we talk about:

•  The birth of the ‘Celebrity Memoir Book Club’ podcast

•  Their Tik Tok marketing strategy and how they grow to 237k followers

•  Why We Are the best thing she’s ever worked on and how she didn’t hold back at all

•  Incorporating a patreon, live shows, and merch

•  Our thoughts on Josh Peck’s “Happy People are Annoying”

•  How they split responsibilities as co-hosts of their podcast

•  What Celebrity Memoirs they recommend to look up to as Mentors

• Whether the podcast has been increasing their audience in stand up shows, as well as live shows

•  Celebrity Memoirs discussed:

Guest:

Apple Podcasts Podcast Instagram

Ashley’s Instagram

Claire’s Instagram

Tik Tok

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

On Camera Presence - 10 Tips for How to Look and Feel your Best On Camera

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to SUCCESS." - Alexander Graham Bell

A. Be Technically Prepared

1. Well Lit Space

B. Be Mentally Prepared

4. Ground and Activate

C. Be Physically Prepared

8. Be Mindful of Hand Gestures

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Jenny Halper is EVP of Film at Maven Screen Media, where her credits include THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, DRIVEWAYS, AMERICAN HONEY, SKIN, and A MOUTHFUL OF AIR. As a screenwriter her scripts have placed three times on the Black List, on the Athena List, received grants from Film Independent and the Tribeca Film Institute, and been selected for New York Stage and Film’s Workshop (in association with Powerhouse Theater). She is currently developing an anthology series with Freida Pinto and Emily Verellen Strom's Freebird Films and Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi's Significant Productions, a limited series with Michael Dinner's Rooney McP Productions, and adapting a non-fiction book for Social Construct Films (THE MAURITANIAN).

In this episode, we talk about:

•  Her first “real” job at Plum Pictures led her directly to where she is now developing at Mandalay Vision

•  How working at a small indie production company allowed for her a lot of responsibilities very quickly•  Why We Are the best thing she’s ever worked on and how she didn’t hold back at all

•  Why she only looked at companies that made movies that she loved

•  Working on The Kindergarden Teacher with Maggie Gyllenhaal

•  How often do you need the actors attached

•  Why you can’t have everything in one basket in development because some things never cross the finish line

•  Maven finds financing for some projects and for some, they provide financing

•  What advice she would give people to who are attached to making only projects

•  Taking on A Mouthful of Air with Amanda Seyfried, Paul Giamatti, and Finn Wittrock. Written and directed by Mentor Amy Koppelman and produced by Michael Harrop (Showtime’s Billions)

•  Would you rather have a big director or big actor attached?

•  Which cds she loves working with

•  Some things she looks for in deciding to develop projects

Guest:

IMDb Linkedin Instagram Maven Screen Media

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Favorite Quotes from the Episode:

“To get a movie made, there’s a lot of different stumbling blocks along the way. And a lot of it is who you know and who you can get into the hands of that is going to help you reach the next hurdle.”

“That’s the thing that I think is great about creating is… you can do it and no one has to give you permission.”

Resources:

To sign up for classes with Jenny, visit (www.stowestorylabs.org) or (www.stowestorylabs.org/writers-room)