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Unknown
Welcome to The Vermillion Podcast, a free audio library of business strategies, creative inspiration and industry knowledge for actors, filmmakers, writers and anyone looking to activate their creative potential. I'm Nisha Culver, a writer director who helps artists build the careers that they dream of. I really hope that this podcast inspires you in some way. Thanks for tuning in.
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Unknown
It's important to have confidence, because I do see in my years and years of coaching that confidence is the biggest hurdle to career progress. Not believing that your dreams are possible because of a lack of confidence is the thing that is most likely to prevent you from reaching your dreams. It's not the outer world.
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Unknown
It's not the size of your dreams or the unreachable, quote unquote. It's do you feel like they're possible for you?
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Unknown
evidence is really important for confidence because your brain needs it. Your brain wants to see it. Like Judge Judy, your brain needs evidence. Well, why should we feel confident? Oh, because I actually have done abcdefg I. How do I know? Because it's literally right here in front of me. The playbill from that performance, the finished script in my hand, the check that is in my bank account.
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Unknown
Oh, yeah. Oh, I did that. I did those things. Yeah. Got it. And your brain's like oh I see the receipts now. Okay. Well I guess I guess our value is significantly higher now. There is nothing wrong with evidence and your brain needing it in order to believe in you.
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Unknown
Start building that evidence. Start taking the action steps to actually physically in real time. Have proof that your self-worth is valid and merited.
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Unknown
Do you have footage? Do you have a real.
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Unknown
Do you have credits? If the answer isn't yes to all three of those, then you need to take unpaid work. Don't kid yourself in this market and in this climate and in the, you know, kind of slow collapse of traditional Hollywood, I don't think we can afford to turn down pro bono work if it's a good project that actually moves us forward in our career.
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Unknown
Have you heard the phrase that an audition begins when you walk in the room?
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Unknown
Well, if you are wanting to book blockbusters, the audition actually begins now.
00;02;54;26 - 00;03;09;00
Unknown
It begins when you decide to become the kind of artist that really takes responsibility for the entire process
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Unknown
and can hold other people as a leader.
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Unknown
This is going to increase your confidence, and this is going to make you have a bigger gravitational pull on camera,
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Unknown
because blockbusters require a lot of confidence, even if you're a smaller part. And they also require you to really hold more people, to hold more responsibility, more power.
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Unknown
most people want those bigger budget roles. And if you're not already there, you're probably not going to get there by doing more of what you're already doing and just drilling down more and more and more.
00;03;51;16 - 00;03;58;05
Unknown
You're going to need to do new things and to do them potentially in a different way than you have been.
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Unknown
Ask yourself, do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a star?
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Unknown
And some people are going to say actors. Some people are going to say star. Some people are going to say both.
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Unknown
So everyone's different. But actors are tasked with being believable under imaginary circumstances. So that is the role of an actor. Movie stars are tasked with being believable under imaginary circumstances. Carrying a film on screen, leadership on set and in public, and life in the public eye. So it's a very different set of job responsibilities for being a movie star versus just being an actor.
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Unknown
This is a mistake that I see people making, where they'll come in for a couple of lines and really eat up the scenery with it and try and make it just a different size of role than it really is.
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Unknown
That doesn't mean don't have fun with it and don't be specific about it, but understand. What purpose is this role serving in the in the bigger script?
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Unknown
So this is how to be a star. And this is how to prepare to be a star.
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Unknown
Don't get caught up in the pettiness. That is not star behavior. Be diplomatic. Be graceful. See different sides of things. And above all. Be visible. Be visible. Don't be afraid to be seen. Stars got to shine.
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Unknown
if you want a shortcut to Star Energy in one of your auditions, think of a moment or a time in your life when you have been at your peak leadership or your peak confidence.
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Unknown
And it could be like when you're, I don't know, teaching a kindergarten class or summer camp or, you know, maybe your whole family really looks up to you or I don't know. Bring that into your body and bring the memory in and embody that. And and remember what it was like to have everyone looking up to you and looking to you for guidance.
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Unknown
That is going to be the energy that you should start your audition with.
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Unknown
Acting is the new celebrity. It's. It's the new doctor. Lawyer. Like everyone wants to be a performer now. So because there's more supply than demand, I don't think you should give them any reason to turn you down. I think you're not entitled to a career as an actor. So, for God's sake, get off book, because the competition is too stiff to not be off.
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Unknown
Book
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Unknown
you know where it fits into your total strategy. Because most people should be self submitting even if you have an agent or manager. I'm going to explain why.
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Unknown
Self submitting is not demeaning. Self submitting is marketing. You could self submit without even wanting the role because you just want to get your name out there. It's the equivalent of saying hi, hello, I exist. And showing them your picture.
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Unknown
It's basically like handing out business cards.
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Unknown
Is it tedious? Yeah. But we have a plan for that. I just want you to be introducing yourself and handing out business cards via self submissions to casting directors, directors and producers, and I want you to do it five days a week. Take the emotion out of it. Take the ego out of it as well.
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Unknown
Like stop thinking of it as either the only way that you're going to get work or something that only desperate actors do who can't get work. It's neither.
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Unknown
It's just marketing. And sometimes it will lead to an audition and sometimes it'll lead to a booking.
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Unknown
But that's not why we do it. We do it to get the word out there. Think of it as handing out business cards. As a result, the faster and more effective you can get at it, the better.
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Unknown
communication is so important when it comes to auditions.
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Unknown
when you're in contention for, a project or something comes up or, you know, you you're asked to audition for something. You have to be in communication. Because it could mean the difference between the job or not.
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Unknown
So I have this rule that I really like, which is if something comes into my email, I, I like to touch it once.
00;08;14;28 - 00;08;39;08
Unknown
And that means that as soon as I see it, I reply. And that does create a little more pressure on you. Like it can feel kind of intense. So that's okay, because you are going to be getting stuff done at a much faster rate. And that way you don't have to spend energy and time to think about the email again.
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Unknown
You just reply immediately and I'll do this even if it's from somebody kind of important. And they've just emailed me like five minutes ago. No chill. I will just reply as soon as I see it. So, I don't care if they think I'm like at my computer, you know, staring at my inbox. I probably am so busy people and and I find successful people, they either respond incredibly fast or they will not respond at all.
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Unknown
That's my experience. So respond to your emails. Another do of auditions is that you
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Unknown
really need to be positive. You need to be positive and eager about the role.
00;09;24;12 - 00;09;36;00
Unknown
you want to read the room and, like, read the context of the audition and if it seems like, you know, if it's months in advance and they're really like, it's a big budget thing.
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Unknown
Like, sure, do the whole studio set up with the great sound and the great camera and, you know, someone who's a reader that you really vibe with. But if it's a tight turnaround, maybe that stuff doesn't matter. And maybe they're just trying to see you as quickly as possible. And the deciding factor is actually time, your energy and time.
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Unknown
And those are the two things that are going to give you the job or not.
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Unknown
you know, if I'm giving you a lot of pages for an audition and you don't have time to memorize it, I don't need you to worry about being word perfect.
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Unknown
And I would rather you not use a teleprompter. Like, it's not about being word perfect. It's about actually memorizing what's happening in the scene
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Unknown
and memorizing the beats of the scene.
00;10;16;16 - 00;10;36;29
Unknown
I just think whether you're repped or not, whether you're doing indie films, no matter where you are, you can't afford to not be self submitting at this time. Take the ego out of it. It's just a way to get your name out and to show people that you exist, and also have a chance to show them your work.
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Unknown
A don't is to follow up to make sure that you're still in contention, or to to see if it's a yes or a no. I didn't hear back. I'm assuming that's a no.
00;10;47;11 - 00;11;11;18
Unknown
Please don't write that email. They're very busy. You will absolutely know if it's a yes. You will know. They will tell you. They will find you. They will hunt you down if it's a yes. And if it's a no, you're probably not going to hear back. Unfortunately, they're very busy. They're like tearing their hair out, putting out fires, losing their mind.
00;11;11;21 - 00;11;35;08
Unknown
So it's nothing personal. It's just that most of the time they don't have time to tell you if you did not get the part. Now you can ask for feedback on the tape and sometimes they'll give it to you. But I think it really is best if you have a rep to let the rep do that pushing and not yourself, because it can come off a little, just a little much from an actor.
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Unknown
Negativity and rejection can feel so hard and so impenetrable and heavy and like forever. And yet they are critical to your success.
00;11;52;07 - 00;12;22;17
Unknown
So some stories that I've heard frequently, casting directors just don't respond to me. I'm not good looking enough to be an actor. I don't have the look. Working in film is so hard, it's impossible to break through unless you're born into a Hollywood family. It's impossible to work as a woman in film. The odds are stacked against you, or artists can't make money.
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Unknown
You have to choose either art or money. So these are all stories that I've heard from people, most of them from multiple people, and they're not very helpful.
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Unknown
I refuse to take that information in, and instead I'm going to operate on my own body's timeline.
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Unknown
And so the invitation is for your story to be stronger than the stories of the other people who are with you, for you to be the strongest radio signal in the room, that is, that is leadership and that is strength, and that is power.
00;12;53;29 - 00;13;01;24
Unknown
The first thing that you need to do to avoid bad acting on camera is to act less on camera.
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Unknown
The camera doesn't really like acting, actually, because it's a microscope and a magnifying glass, and it sees acting and it sees it acting as fake. So the best thing that you can do is just allow yourself to exist.
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Unknown
First and foremost, allow yourself to exist on camera and like, really allow like without judgment and without shame. Just allow yourself to be seen and be witnessed by the camera.
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Unknown
Number two, way to avoid bad acting on camera is to remember that you're in an environment. Now, that environment is very likely generated by your imagination. But if you're just locked in like dialed in, staring at your reader, the whole time, that is bad makes you look like an amateur.
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Unknown
focusing on changing them is going to help you take the focus off of yourself.
00;13;56;23 - 00;14;04;03
Unknown
Because when we're just having a regular conversation, most of us are not like, thinking of myself and oh, was that stupid?
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Unknown
Oh, I need to, like, really tell him, how was your day? Like, really nail that line. Like, no, that's not realistic.
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Unknown
We usually focus on the other person and, like, reading their body language. You know, we have in mind what we want.
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Unknown
So, you know, you got to mirror real life. And in real life we're far more focused on the person we're talking to and on getting what we want than we are worrying about ourselves. So the added bonus of that
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Unknown
is that it takes the self-consciousness off of yourself, and it gives you a purpose in the room to be able to focus on somebody else, thus mimicking real life.
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Unknown
Please never, never, ever record your self. Say the lines as the reader and then play it back to yourself. So you're talking to yourself in the audition tape.
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Unknown
It is so weird.
00;14;54;13 - 00;15;25;17
Unknown
All right, one last don't on auditions. Don't apologize. Don't apologize for your work. Even if you flub a line or you're you're late to the to the. You know, walking in or you're sweaty. We know we can see it's it's okay. Apologizing takes up energy. It takes up their time.
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Unknown
It burns their emotional energy. And then they have to take you. They have to make you feel like it's okay because you're feeling bad, and you don't want to make them give it any more energy than they already are expending, because they're already probably exhausted and they're casting director. They're probably seeing, you know, 100 actors in a day.
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Unknown
If they're a director, they probably got 100 things on their mind at any one time. So be confident, be proud. Don't apologize no matter what happens. You know, I mean, I guess if you like, stumble and fall into the lap of the director and and, like, hit them with your elbow. Sure. But we're not talking about that.
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Unknown
The Vermillion Podcast is sponsored by Vermillion, a home for artists. We offer classes, coaching and community for creatives and innovators in the arts. If you're ready to find your voice and build the life of your dreams, we are here to support you every step of the way. Check out Club vermillion.com and schedule a free call today.
