Your Creative Journey

Kevin Gregg & Paul Carganilla discuss creativity and inspiration with this week's special guest: Bonnie Utley.

Bonnie Utley is the founder-owner of Blossom of Snow, creator of The Dream Retreat, and a certified professional coach specializing in personal and professional leadership development.  Her current focus is collaborating with Christian business owners, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and executives who deeply desire to unceasingly become the best versions of the unique leaders God created them to be, starting with their own personal dreams, goals, and relationships, and infusing lots of creativity, fun, and adventure along the way.

Watch full video of the show here

Kevin Gregg & Paul Carganilla discuss creativity and inspiration with this week's special guest: Paul Rubin.

Paul Rubin is a  flying sequence choreographer and designer who has designed some of the most memorable flying sequences from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Wicked to Cathy Rigby’s Tony-nominated Peter Pan. Paul is a proud member of The Academy of Magical Arts (The Magic Castle) and I.A.T.S.E. Local 720.

Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning Frozen, The Pirate Queen, Saturday Night Fever, Dance of the Vampires, Doctor Zhivago, The Green Bird directed by Julie Taymor,

Some television credits include Kevin Can Wait, Entertainment Tonight, The Tony Awards, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, CNN, and A&E’s Emmy-winning Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby.

Some of the talented performers Paul has given wings to include: Kevin James, John Rhys-Davis, Adam Lambert, Michael Crawford, John Turturro, Neil Patrick Harris, Tony Danza, Howie Mandel, and David Hyde Pierce

This week Kevin and Paul are joined by Eric Close.
 Eric is an actor, director, and writer. He has had the privilege of starring in a number of series for television and MOW’s during his 30-year career including hits Without A Trace, Nashville, and Suits. 
 
 Highlights from the show:

• Eric realized that pre-med was not going to be the direction for his life
• How he wanted to get involved in the film business in some capacity. Finding a mentor who helped him navigate the business of acting.
• Always wanted to do the thing that he was told to not try
• Taking a chance with Tom Cruise on the backlot
• Taking a last-minute chance with acting teacher Howard Fine in front of an entire class
• The contrast between seeing a billboard of himself in Times Square to a year later being soaked to the bone in the rain running late for an audition
• Creating a friendship with Clint Eastwood starting at a brief encounter encourage by Eric’s wife at The Golden Globes
• Directing lessons learned while observing Clint Eastwood on set
• Don’t be afraid to initiate conversations when the opportunity presents itself. They’re people just like you and me
• A cool story about Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut
• Eric’s experience breaking into directing by working on a second unit for the television show McKenna
• How he broke through to direct on Without a Trace by persistently showing his authentic interest to learn. It took 5 seasons before he got the chance to do it.

John Sovec is a therapist/coach in private practice in Pasadena California who works with clients on career transitions, goal setting, and motivation. He is the clinical consultant for The Life Group LA , adjunct faculty at Phillips Graduate Institute and guest lecturer at Alliant University and USC School of Social Work.

John has designed professional training models and seminars for the Walt Disney Company, Paramount Studios, Pandemic Studios, Electronic Arts, and Washington Mutual.

His work has been featured on The Riki Lake Show, OWN, Bravo, FOX, The Advocate, KTLA, ABC, LA Talk Radio, The Washington Post and columns for Huffington Post and Good Therapy.

Highlights from the show:

• Paul survives his COVID quarantine by putting on more shows via Vaudacity Network
• Kevin celebrates Kate’s writing milestone with Dana Middleton. He also recommends “In and Of Itself”
• John talks about the peaceful joy found in his gardening and how his tomatoes are going gangbusters
• Creatives are reaching into their vulnerable side and that can require a lot mentally and physically
• The simple act of breathing to calm yourself.
• John describes exactly what happens with the mind in a "fight or flight" situation. He describes the  "freeze" that happens when we are in an anxiety-producing situation
• Doing an actual reality check. Lack of safety usually comes from something you are imagining. “I’m safe, I’m OK and I’m loved.”
• Seeing the courage, strength, and discipline that a creative possesses when putting their art and putting themselves out into the world.
• The work of the creative isn’t the end result, it’s the process and falling in love with the act of creating
• Getting into a beginner’s mindset
• We weren’t trained to survive a pandemic. John’s example of shooting for 100% when you’re under duress. Work within the parameters that you are operating.
• Learning to navigate that season where you may not be able to do your creative work as your main income source. Finding that "sweet time" to feed your creative soul.

johnsovec.com
@johnsovectherapy
facebook.com/JohnSovecTherapy/

This week, Kevin & Paul are joined by actor RC Ormond! 

RC Ormond is a Native Texan who moved to LA almost 25 years ago to pursue an acting career in TV/Film. When he’s not grinding on his TV/Film career or working two day jobs, he loves spending quality time with his amazing family of five. Some of his past credits are, “Transformers”, “Dodgeball: The Movie” and was recently seen in a recurring role on the new TV show THE FUGITIVE.

Highlights from this episode:

• Paul has COVID and is streaming the show from a hotel room
• RC gets a great call from his agent while delivering packages for Amazon
• Kevin and RC talk about doing whatever work you have to do fill in the gap when entertainment work isn’t available
• RC shares how he got involved with acting based on a bet back in high school
• The challenge of navigating stunt work and acting work
• Paul shares some lessons he learned working with RC on a Verizon commercial at Disney
• RC shares an outstanding experience that he had with a legendary director
• RC shares a frustrating experience he had with a television star on a show

To watch the full video of this episode click here

Kevin and Paul speak with actress Rebecca Staab who has an extensive and impressive career.

Rebecca's most recent work includes the Netflix comedy film "Love Hard" starring alongside Nina Dobrev. Rebecca also recently co-starred in the film "Breakthrough" alongside Chrissy Metz (This is Us), Topher Grace, Josh Lucas, and Mike Colter; as well as the film "The Miracle Season," alongside William Hurt and Helen Hunt.

Rebecca’s TV credits include "Somewhere Between" for ABC, "The Chronicle Mysteries”, several top-rated Hallmark Channel films, as well as the award-winning shows Masters of Sex, Dexter, Glee, Fairly Legal, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, CSI, CSI: NY, NCIS, and Nip/Tuck. Rebecca is also recognized from network classics Cheers, Seinfeld, Ellen, The Wonder Years, Columbo, Beverly Hills, 90210, and The Drew Carey Show, to name only a few.

Highlights from this episode:

• Kevin and Rebecca trade dental mishaps
• “The security of insecurity” - being prepared for the unexpected. Remaining neutrally sane no matter what comes your way.
• Kevin tells Rebecca continually throughout the episode how she is “the voice of God” to him that evening
• When little doors open, go through them. Taking advantage of the opportunities, no matter how small they are. The strength in being curious.
• “If I was going to do something, why wouldn’t I try to do it the best I could?”
• Having the mindset of being an ambassador for jobs she was hired on
• How she applied high school and college acting lessons to “create a picture and being visually interesting" in her professional work
• Rebecca talks about meeting Paul after seeing the “Guess Again” web series
• Booking her very first acting audition in the role of “Cecelia“ for the ABC Soap Opera “Loving”. She turned a role that was supposed to last only 6 episodes and turned it into a recurring character that remained on the show for 6 months
• She tells her story of being the original Sue Storm (The Invisible Girl) in the first feature film version of “The Fantastic Four” which was never released
• Her experiences working on Hallmark Christmas movies and The Chronicle Mysteries
• A balance of real life is a foundation for her career
• There’s no short way to do a creative career. It’s work, it’s dedication. Don’t take advantage of good things, because they end. 

Rebecca’s IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0820847/

Guess Again series https://www.youtube.com/user/GuessAgainSeries/videos

Former Quizno’s employee Grady Hutt has been in the entertainment industry for over 30 years. Like many well-adjusted people, he began his career as a child actor. While working professionally as a performer, he made his way into other areas of the entertainment industry; as a musician, toured the country in several different bands; stage management and technical direction in the AEA99 arena; stage technician at the Disneyland Resort; and is currently a Show Systems Integrator for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Highlights from this episode:

• Grady talks about how he began his career as an actor and the moment at he retired from acting at 19 after giving up an overseas backpacking trip for work that never happened.
• Developing his interest in technical theatre while working at Ray Bradbury’s Theatre and socializing with techs at Disneyland.
• The challenges and concerns after transferring into the technical department at Disneyland.
• Learning to shut your mouth, find the dirty job that people don’t want to do, and do the work
• Problem-solving in the art. Don’t wait for someone to tell you what to do
• “You can’t wait for someone to invite you to the table …there’s always a seat at the table but if you’re gonna elbow your way in, we will stop and look at you. So you better have something”
• Always try to anticipate what’s best for the group
• The phrase "It's always been that way" ALWAYS invites appraisal and evaluation.
• What’s in your way and how can I help so that you can excel at your job? What are the problems that people aren’t telling me? It’s a whole different skillset.
• Kevin derails the conversation talking about “Pen15” and the problems with signing people into Disneyland as an employee
• Grady discusses projects he’s working on with Disney Imagineering including the upcoming Spiderman Web Slinger attraction at Disney California Adventure and working on 1:1 models for attractions in different Disney Parks.
• How Grady’s love of theatre helps him feel fulfilled, no matter what aspect it is that he’s working on.
• How the phrase “Don’t date Grady” helped him get married.

In this episode Kevin and Paul talk with James Dorniff who  has been working in Visual Effects for the past 20 years, from the MATRIX movies to PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS; GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES to SERENITY; BATMAN VS SUPERMAN to GODZILLA VS KONG; PROJECT POWER to NEW MUTANTS, JOHN ADAMS to HEREAFTER; AVENGERS to JUSTICE LEAGUE.   
He's spent time on both the vendor side working through all stages of shot production to the client-side getting the raw materials for shot production.   VFX for him has been a love, a passion, and many times a place of frustration and feelings of solitary confinement. 
 He has traveled the world capturing amazing vistas and has also been locked up in dark spaces trying to get renders through to final shots.  It is one side of the industry where you get to make the magic happen from previz to final shot sequences seen on the big screen.  
You are sometimes there from conception (pre-production), to gestation (production), and to birth (post-production) of movies/tv projects.   It's a place you get to be a part of almost all aspects of film-making and still stay hidden in the shadows depending on the project.   It's a love-hate relationship but ever-evolving with new technology and old tricks.

Peter Atkins returns to Your Creative Journey!

We continue to explore some of Pete’s adventures as a writer in Hollywood as well as explore other creative topics that presented themselves as the evening proceeded

Always an incredible guest, and great conversation.

Peter is the author of the novels MORNINGSTAR, BIG THUNDER, and MOONTOWN, and the screenplays HELLRAISER II, HELLRAISER III, HELLRAISER IV, and WISHMASTER. His short fiction has appeared in such anthologies as THE MUSEUM OF HORRORS, DARK DELICACIES II, HELLBOUND HEARTS, and GHOSTS, and has been selected eight times for one or more of the various “Year’s Best” anthologies. His recent book, RUMORS OF THE MARVELOUS, a collection of his short fiction, was a finalist for the British Fantasy Award. 

He is the co-founder with Glen Hirshberg of The Rolling Darkness Revue, an annual folly they commit at whatever theatre will have them.

Highlights from the show:

• Kevin meets a deadline
• Paul got to do a live table read via Zoom for his latest script
• Paul’s been prepping for New Year’s Eve show live recording
• Pete talks about the recent Tom Cruise outburst on the set of Mission Impossible 7
• Pete talks about how he got to reconnect with Tony Randel and do some music
• Pete and Kevin talked about the history of swear words
• Change of cultural references
• Pete gives a nod to producer Christopher Figg who took a chance with him on Hellraiser II
• Pete talks about “being good in the room” to make people comfortable with what needs to get
• Pete talks about how he grew up with the auteur theory of directors 
• Good screenplays teach a writer three very important things: precision, clarity, and economy
• Rumors of the Marvelous book cover painting by Les Edwards

Links mentioned:

Tickets to Paul’s New Years Eve celebration

Flim Critic Andrew Sarris talking about Auteur Theory about Directors

http://www.lesedwards.com/

Pete's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/limeybastard55/

Paul and Kevin have a deep conversation  with Justin Arman - a professional drummer, business-owner, and family man.

Justin has toured the world & recorded with bands including Crisis & Single Bullet Theory. He's ALSO the Founder of the health & wellness company, Lindheimer. AND he's the President of an International Best Selling Brand, MY MAGIC MUD. On top of it all, he's a devoted husband and father of four beautiful children.

Highlights from this show include:

• Paul shares wonderful news about a new opportunity for his daughter
• Justin sharing an emotional and life changing experience he had while at a business lunch that helped him with the recent passing of his mother
• Paul talks deeply about acknowledging and embracing death and how that causes an appreciation of life
• Fascinating moment when Justin’s Mom convinced him not to go to college so he could pursue his dream of being a rockstar
• Getting away from a common mindset when it comes to artistic endeavors. Fully immersing yourself with no contingencies, no back-up plans. You are being who are meant to be.
• The moment Justin had a breakdown before a studio session and the importance of pushing through terror and fear.  Trusting you know how to get the job done  when it is “go time” Getting out of "monkey brain "thinking.
• The more transactional art becomes, the worse art gets
• Art is relational, selfless communication and experience of consciousness
• Play within the boundaries of what you can do. Fully embrace that you can make masterful art within those boundaries.
• How applying the marketing experiences from rock n’ roll helped to revolutionize the toothpaste industry